parenting is about finding a balance between taking care of your offspring and taking care of oneself and one’s partner. I quoted Bill Cosby somewhere else on this website: I don’t know the key to success, but I know that always trying to please others is the key to failure. Parenting is all about that. Parents who don’t know where to find their own time and space, will eventually be frustrated and might even suffer from burn out syndrome.

I can’t say that I spend as much time with my children as I would like to, but being in a full time employment that challenges me an average 60 hours a week I need in addition to that some time for myself. Usually stress at work is accompanied by stress at home. As soon as I open the door of our apartment my daughter welcomes me with open arms. I don’t want to miss that daily welcome, but I would like to have some privacy afterwards; which usually does not follow. Instead I am asked to play with her, or my wife expects me to take care of our now 5 months old son. As I grow more experienced in my role as a parent I learn to understand my needs better and know that if I don’t have at least two hours of exercise a week and some minutes of sacred retreat in silence a day, my capability in being both father and husband at home and colleague at work diminishes sharply.

The last two family vacations gave me a new perspective in regard to being a parent. We picked the location for our CNY vacation on basis of two conditions: no Chinese mass tourism and a combination of safe beach and thrilling water sports. Our choice was Huahin, about three hours South of Bangkok by car.  A bliss of a beach, a great kiting location and a great hotel seemed to be our holiday jackpot. But I learned already on the first day that I could not do both at once, having a relaxed time with my folks and setting out for wind and waves. I therefore decided on the second day to leave kite and board in the hotel room and be fully available to my family, stroll together along the beach, play sand or just stretch out reading a book next to my daughter building a sand castle. By pleasing others I pleased myself, and I learnt that there is time even if being on vacation that is better spent with my family than with some kiting mates. But I promised myself, that there will be another week every year, where I just do what I desire, i.e. ride on either water or snow.

4 weeks later we are in Austria, where we extend my business trip with three days skiing in Ramsau, a small hamlet close to the world cup venue Schladming. Ramsau is well known for its Nordic skiing facilities and for its children skiing schools. Our daughter is fascinated by the „white playground“ where she learns every morning for two hours to slide down a gentle slope; but I am again torn apart between wanting to watch & teach her and wanting to get on the mountain after years of China induced snow boarding abstinence. I eventually settle for a good deal that will be my future vacation time management rule of thumb: morning hours with my family, afternoon hours for myself.  On the second day I am rewarded with both: watching our daughter together with wife and baby son, and a breathtaking sunshine ride on the Dachstein glacier in the afternoon. Let’s just hope that this form of time management will also work out the next time I have to wait for the wind to pick up.

to me kiting in summer (or any summer-like period of the year) is the equivalent of snowboarding in winter. getting into my gear and into the water and eventually on the board stirs the same feeling; a feeling that is difficult to describe but was already turned into one of my favorite movies (although not in regard to kiting but surfing): Point Break. Watch it and you might understand. Sport can be religious if it atones you to nature and thus to God. There is also another aspect to kiting that will be easily understood by sailors or fishermen: staring out into the blue sky or the greenish sea has a sort of meditative effect on my mind. After only three days on the water, not that many hours a day, I also start to dream of the sea and the sky and my sleeping world turns all into color, issues at work that bothered me a week ago recede into the deep of the ocean until they are eventually gone. I recommend to read "The Old Man and the Sea" by Ernest Hemingway. This short novel instills a sensation of what I am talking about.

• kiting is pretty difficult: it is actually the first sport that gives me a kind of a headache whether I will or will not succeed to reach a level that makes me enjoy myself. long years of snowboarding experience, having acquired instructor proficiency, certainly helped me to control the lower body and the kiteboard. in regard to upper body and kite control I have another story to tell. manoveuring a 10 meter wide kite on 25 meter long lines is quite a challenge. more than handling a medium sized sailing boat. If you have like me grown up far away from the sea or major lakes where you get the feeling for wind instilled with your mother's milk, be sure to take your time to develop a "wind-space awareness", as I call it. It is quite difficult for me as a corporate slave, who spends most time in office buildings, to switch from my own body awareness to one that includes these long tentacles and that huge sail. comparing kiting to driving a car might make this body awareness more understandable. if I drive a car, e.g. a rented car that I have never driven before, I need to develop a new body-space awareness, because it is not me moving forward walking or running, but it is me in a new "space set-up" that includes a car with new dimensions and features. Although an experienced driver, I need to operated a new vehicle for some 100 kilometers until I get a new feeling of safety for how to park and how to hard or soft I need to hit the brakes if I want to stop or what safety distance I require when I want to overtake another traffic participant. Now, all this learning happens too, if you start with kiting, but - at least for me - in a completely new "space set-up".
  
• chose your equipment wisely: I have had the experience that you will meet a lot of people who tell you anything about the equipement that you fancy to buy. it happened that two employees of the same shop told me within just two days that one particular kite board is in particular good for beginners and experts, but not beginners. that left me quite confused. since I don't have the time to try out different rental equipment several weeks a year, I was also not sure how to make a choice. but after all, you have to make your own experiences and what helps me a lot is to chat to other kiters, who honestly share their experiences. best thing you can do, when waiting for the wind to pick up. there is a good overview on wikipedia of what equipment exists nowadays, which provides the basis for theoretical understanding. the rest has to come from applied practice.  
• chose your kiting location wisely: choppy waters, deep water beaches, too strong or too weak wind, off shore wind, etc can all be reasons that you give up, because being a beginner is tough and such conditions cause an early tilt. windfinder and windguru are the classic sites for reliable wind information. in order to understand a kiting location its always best to talk to someone who spent some weeks there.
  
• record your instruction hours: you want to be better safe than sorry. if you take classes, you are well advised to make notes on the exact hours of instruction. I had my first classes in a school where I paid for two days, but wind actually never was strong enough to let a beginner learn. I wasted money and thought for a long time that I would never learn it. In another school I had a teacher who regularly would take out the kite and let me wait for him in the shallow water while he enjoyed some additional time on my expense. lessons start, when you are in your gear in the water, not earlier. lessons stop when you are out of the water, not when you have put your rinsed equipment back into storage.

>>> see also sports/kiting

These are some notes that I made after each of my 1st kiting lessons on Boracay, Philippines, where I had the pleasure to be taught by Kerem, a globetrotter from Istanbul, who had temporarily settled there to live his dream of kiting for living. The below notes are basically the contents of the IKO Level 1 training.

Lesson 1, 28.12.2011, 15:55-17:00

1.     Putting on a harness
2.     What to check about wind?
a)       Direction (with ears)
b)       Strength
                    i.   5 knots minimum
                    ii.  12 knots: waves show white topping
                    iii.  25 knots: objects like debris fly off the waves
                    iv.  5-20 knots: kiting range
3.     Explain on shore and off shore wind (see graph below)
4.     Explain down wind and up wind in relation to another object or kiter (see graph below)
5.     Security distance to other persons and objects: radius of two kite lines (50m)
6.     Wind turbulence security distance in regard to objects
                a)   times 8 of object height down wind; e.g. building 30m high, downwind 240m
                b)   times 3 of object height up wind; e.g. building 15m high, upwind 45m
7.     how to hold the bar
                a)   left is colored, right is black
                b)   thumbs touch each other
                c)   arms bent, bar at chest height
8.     body, bar and kite are always in parallel position
9.     2nd and 3rd dimension of wind window
                a)  12-11-10-9
                b)  12-13-14-15
                c)   Slight decrease of wind power between 9 and 10 / 14-15
                d)   Putting kite more into the depth of the wind window results in more wind power
10.   Start kite / land kite
                a)   Tumb up
                b)    Pat head
11.   Take off – circling eights (training without board)
                a)       12-10-12-10
                b)       12-14-12-14

Lesson 2, 29.12.2011, 16:10-17:30

12.   Setting up the training kite
        a)       Steering lines and
        b)       power lines
        c)       main tube facing bottom
        d)       enough space: kiter faces kite exterior
        e)       not enough space: kiter faces kite interior
13.   chicken loop / chicken stick
14.   safety leash
15.   sweet spot
16.   Body drag left – circling eights
17.   Body drag right – circling eights
18.   As soon as kite hits water – release bar
19.   Kite out of control – release bar
20.   Yield to kiter with right foot in front

Lesson 3, 30.12.2011, 16:15-18:00

21.   Criss-cross body drag upwind to get board
        a)       Kite 10 o’clock
        b)       right hand holds bar at the right edge
        c)       right elbow high
        d)       body balance with left arm into upwind direction
        e)       kite 2 o’clock
        f)        left hand holds bar at the left edge
        g)       left elbow high
        h)       body balance with right arm into upwind direction
22.   start position
        a)       bend both knees
        b)       good hand on bar
        c)       bad hand on board
        d)       if feet in board leashes, both hands on bar
        e)       board, body (shoulders/feet) and kite are parallel
        f)        sweet spot
23.   take off
        a)       12:30 > 10 o’clock and back to 12 until enough speed then stall kite at 10 o’clock
        b)       11:30 > 2 o’clock and back to 12 until enough speed then stall kite at 2 o’clock
        c)       Move hips forwards when kite pulls
        d)       Stretch front leg
        e)       Start to carve upwind only when enough speed
        f)        Until then board normal to kite

Lesson 4, 31.12.2011, 16:05-17:25
 
24.   Keep kite stalled at 10 or 2 o’clock after having gained speed
25.   Pay attention to sweet spot
26.   Keep body more or less straight after start
27.   Front foot completely straight

Lesson 5, 1.1.2012, 14:05-15:45
 
28.   Move kite more if less wind – juxtaposed bar movements
29.   Board, kite and harness/hook should form a triangle
30.   Get up, don’t sit, front leg always stretched
31.   Shoulders back, let the harness pull you, don’t use arms

Lesson 6, 2.1.2012, 14-15:15

32.   Even 13m2 kite is no fun, if wind around 10 knots
33.   Keep distance to other kites (had a bad crash)
34.   keep eyes/head in direction of board, this helps to get body into right direction
35.   Karem made me feel better: he said it took him 3 months to learn kiting (he lied, but it worked)

Lesson 7, 3.1.2012, 9:15-10, 10:30-12:30

36.   IKO Level 1 = coming back to the spot from where you left = kiting upwind
37.   Kiting is addictive, because you dream of it (has something like meditation or a pilgrimage)
38.   I want to be back asap
39.   Stall kite deep at 12 o’clock to turn from 10 to 2 or vice versa
40.   Gain height by edging with the back of the board (push back foot)
41.   Twist shoulders and hips upwind (parallel to head)

>>> see also sports/kiting