I am lucky enough to just be back from 10 days in Tarifa, "the windiest place in Europe", trying to learn to kitesurf.

Unfortunately, for the windiest place in Europe it wasn't really very windy - we were on the turn of the season and we only had about 4 days with really good kiting breeze.

I had been flying a 1.5m training kite for a year before hand, so my kite control was OK and the lessons proceeded pretty quickly, but once it was time to strap on the board everything came to a halt all progress came to a halt.

I got in about 14-15 hours instruction, and I spent the last lesson standing up for about 3 seconds and then falling back in, getting launched, losing my board etc etc.

I have a little snowboarding experience, but that is it, and my board skills were very poor - lots of skidding sideways, lots of digging in the downwind edge and launching over the top.

Now I am back I am looking at some lessons on Botany Bay before I forget everything I learned, but I am wondering if maybe doing a Wakeboarding lesson first to concentrate on my board skills would be a good idea.

Does anyone do this to help them get going?

Does anyone have any recommendations of a Wake school in Sydney - I assume I will have to go out to Windsor and do it on the Hawkesbury?

SB

PS - Check out the Tarifa goodness.....