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Kiteboarding's Simple Plan

by John J. Holzhall

306 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #02-0795; ISBN 1-55395-081-X; US$28.95, C$42.85, EUR27.90, £19.40

Kiteboarding's Simple Plan provides easy-to-follow instruction for learning how to kiteboard. The book covers how to ride, where to ride, and what to ride for all types of people - athletes to enthusiasts.

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about the book      about the author      sample excerpts or Table of Contents      catalogue info

About the Book When entering the sport of kiteboarding it is crucial that the rider have a simple plan in place prior to launching a kite. After reading Kiteboarding's Simple Plan The Book, the rider should have a basic idea of how to formulate his "simple plan" to kiteboarding which, when properly used, will increase the enjoyment of the sport, while decreasing the damage to the rider, his gear and those around him. Having a plan for kiteboarding is important. Effectively applying that plan in different places, conditions, and with equipment is the key to continued riding success and enjoyment. With professional instruction, lots of water time, good winds, great gear and this book, developing your personal kiteboarding plan should be filled with fun and "next level" excitement. Aloha & Mahalo, John Holzhall

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About the Author Since the dawn of kiteboarding, Instructor-Trainer John Holzhall has been developing Kiteboarding's "simple plan". Countless days of personal training, along with logging over 10,000 instructional hours in Maui's challenging conditions, helped provide him with the answers to safe kiteboarding. A steady stream of international kiteboard enthusiasts and rider's has put those answers to the test. The result...Kiteboarding's Simple Plan, The Book. John makes his home on Maui. Teaching and offering instructor training continue to be part of his busy schedule. When he's not touring, teaching, or riding, he is working with print and film media. Following the release of The Book, Kiteboarding's Simple Plan The DVD is coming to a shop near you, or visit us at www.kiteboardcenter.com

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Reviews

A Look Inside "Kiteboarding's Simple Plan"

This is a short review of John Holzhall's new book, "Kiteboarding's Simple Plan", published by Trafford Publishing (2002). Kiteboarding is certainly exploding worldwide and many excellent "how to" videos have been released. Strangely enough, there have been few books. At 303 PAGES, this work is by far the most extensive book on the subject of kiteboarding that I have encountered to date. It presents an entertaining perspective on kiteboarding "soup to nuts" that should benefit new riders to experienced shredders. Along the way you will be regaled with some down-home jargon from the Northshore and perhaps John's fertile imagination! So don't be a kook (defined in the book, really!), keep tabs on your kite bro, warm up to caterpillar position but only once you are beyond being dangerously close! Also, don't bother trying to figure out how to turn it on, it just came back to me, you simply open a book and dig in.

The book provides the following information in introduction to the author, "John Holzhall is the Instructor Trainer for the Kiteboard Center, Action Sports Maui and the Kiteboarding Instructional Training Evaluation System." John is credited as having logged over 10,000 instructional hours and thousands of "ride" hours. I also understand that John is a kiteboarding Instructor Examiner or trainer for PASA.

The book describes "Kiteboarding's Simple Plan" as consisting of three elements including:

Pre-launch Plan that presents the core elements when preparing to ride,

Safety Plan that presents safety techniques required to ride,

Float & Fly Plan that presents handling techniques when the kite is in the air and the rider is on the water.

The book explores introductory concepts about the wind window, basic kite control and even treats the subject of soccer fields and first experience with large traction kites. On the later point, John firmly comes down on NOT risking all on the soccer field with something that was never intended to be used there but to learn on the water.

The Pre-launch Plan involves measuring the wind, kite selection, inflation, preflighting, etc. with a fair amount of detail covering each of these considerations. The emphasis is on practical hands on considerations as opposed to abstract or theoretical constructs.

John has a passion for language and novel jargon, like:

Bay Watch Firm, Reverse Tacos, Juiced, Back Door, Betty, Caterpillar Position, FWTS, Heckleable, MAT, Panic Pull, SLT, Snobberknocker, Wrap Race, Zen Harness Techniques and Z O O L A N D E R *

Rest easy though, he has provided an extensive glossary of Kiteboarding John'isms. This aspect of the book is plenty entertaining all on its own and worth a read.

The Safety Plan deals with important subjects such as depowering, buffer zones, self-rescue and safety gear. It also presents an interesting comparison of the demands and relative abilities of windsurfing vs. kiteboarding of particular value to cross over windsurfers. John includes a particularly telling statement early in this section, "Kiteboarding is 100% easier to learn than windsurfing! The bad news is that it is a hundred percent more dangerous until the rider makes it safe!" He also makes the point that "Most bad accidents occur after the rider has expressed an interest in stopping." For this and many other reasons the author describes SIX TECHNIQUES FOR DEPOWERING two and four line kites. Talking with John, he strongly feels that these techniques should be second nature for ALL riders to improve safety. It seems that all too many accidents occurred as a result of the brakes not effectively being put on with a powered up kite. It sounds good to me.

The concepts of buffer and drop zones are described and justified. All these points should be thought provoking and of interest to kiteboarders. Kiteboarding is a sport in which what you don't know or worse fail to appreciate, can still hurt you! John is working on improving the "knowing" part, now your turn! There are even more safety ideas in circulation and evolving in kiteboarding but the book presents many important concepts and perspectives that are far from common knowledge among riders BUT SHOULD BE.

He even explores the relationship between kite pants, (always a hot topic which is one of life's mysteries) and avoiding FWTS!