People come to Mui Ne for one reason – the wind. Its bay gets a lot of wind off of the open ocean, making it the perfect destination for kiteboarding and windsurfing. I’d always wanted to try kiteboarding so I figured why not learn somewhere with beautiful scenery and cheap lessons. I only had a small window of time to fit in the five hours of lessons so the wind needed to cooperate.
The first hour was spent reviewing the equipment and safety procedures. After that, we practiced body dragging (picture two guys hanging onto one kite while being dragged out to sea). Normally, a beginner wouldn’t be allowed to get in the water so quickly, but my instructor was freelancing and he felt it best to throw me right in. It was very difficult to keep the kite under control, with even the slightest movement changing the direction or height. I think I would have preferred a little more time learning the basics of kite flying before trying to do it with waves crashing into my face. After two hours in the water, I was exhausted and frustrated so decided to save the last two hour for the next day.
Day two started right where we left off – dragging through the water. I was just getting the hang of it and was ready to move onto the board when the wind died and cut my lesson short. We practiced rescue procedures instead and finished rolling up the kite right as the wind came back to life.
All in all, I’m glad I got a taste for kiteboarding. Even though I didn’t get to use the board, I now know what it takes to fly across the water with ease (there’s nothing easy about it). I look forward to continuing my lessons back home. Maybe at the Gorge.
