Free lessons, Feral Kiteboarding School (White Rock, BC)

General discussions about kiting: equipment, setup tips, safety, where to go, where you should have been, lost and found
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Island Noel
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Post by Island Noel »

I went over to Mue-ne in Vietnam for my lessons, pretty good value I got my certification, and a great holiday.
when i got back here I wanted to take a refresher lesson and talked to one of the local teachers, was told $100/hr.
I have a friend who had just finished Medical school and working full time as a pediatrician, a Dr who takes care of your kids, He doesent make $100/hr
Call me cheap or anything else, I don't and wont pay $100/hr for kite surfing lessons down at dallas road .
I know its a dangerous launch or can be if it goes wrong, but Its a principal thing for me. thats just to much money.
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Cj
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Post by Cj »

Supply, wear and repair of gear, insurance, qualifications, gas, equipment such as jet skis, trailers, trucks, camping supplies, storage space (year round), maintenance and depreciation. Stress.

There are more things to consider then just straight time.
somebody said " go fly a kite".
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Post by KUS »

How much would u charge?? Put yourself into this position:

-having to schedule meeting with some dood who (may not even show up or pay me) needs some form of refresher....
-drag ALL your shit (cuz u just don't ever know, right?) from the house into the truck down to the beach and
-on a nice day (when YOU could be out playing)
-spend it babysitting some guy who thinks he is a much better kiter than he actually is and
-watch him trash your expensive gear
-then run down the beach or use an exhaust spewing machine (you spent the last $500 fixing last week and busted your back to get into and out of the water, refuel it with $1.50/L long after the student is gone) to rescue the guy

A hundred bucks :lol: I can barely have dinner and a couple of beers for a hun with a friend :idea: Now, if you can't afford it, that's another matter but don't call it gouging cuz it ain't :idea:
Wish less, sail more!!
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Doing things the hard way since 1963....
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Island Noel
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Post by Island Noel »

VS a DR? 200k debt, 7+ years school, insurance, office space rental? STRESS,
My brothers a journeyman electricain, $30/hr
his friend Journeyman Plumber $35/hr
Registered Nurse $36/hr
PHD Dr to make sure your kids dont DIE $50+/hr
Drilling operator for Oil rigs in alberta $45/hr
Logging truck drivers. $35/hr

If asking a school/guy to drive over to niht nat and feed you and jet skies and such, ya, over $50 but they arent doing it for one person and a few hours nor should they,
But for some Get your feet wet beginer leasons hanging on the beach , work with you in water, body dragging ect... you honestly value that at more than your Doctor makes? think about that if have someone that needs to see an oncologist, or your kids end up in the hospital.

I know alot of work goes into teaching kiting and if paying to go to a school with maybe 3-8 people you could expect a high bill.
a full on set of kiting leasons with gear should not cost more here than the flight to thailand or vietnam with a week of kiting leasons with a holiday thrown in to boot.
just my $.02
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Post by KUS »

OK, ur really getting me cranked here (admittedly this is not usually difficult :lol: ) and I'm not even a kitesurfing school operator.....again.....how much would YOU charge to even take out the time? You are not teaching for an 8 hr shift, 5 days a week, you are asking someone to devote 2+ hrs of their day for 1hr at the beach, mid day! probably on their weekend...the other costs of gear, insurance etc. don't even enter into it for me

Would your electrician and plumber friends come to my home ...maybe on a weekend away from their BBQ with family.....with all their tools....in their truck from Sooke.....to do an hour's worth of work for $35????? Cuz hey, I have tons of work for him.....an hour at a time. Shit, call out alone for a mechanic to come to the house is $70 dood just to say hello, what planet are u from :?: This ain't Vietnam where rich Westerners can take advantage of the impoverished
Wish less, sail more!!
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Cj
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Post by Cj »

Service companies will be charging $100+ per/hr + truck charges, fuel surcharges, tax and minimum call out time. This is what the customer will pay.

Your Journeyman friends take home what you said + benefits. I doubt at the end of the year these instructors will be driving a nicer car.

It's all relative I think
somebody said " go fly a kite".
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Cj
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Post by Cj »

Don't get me wrong Dr's are good
somebody said " go fly a kite".
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Martin
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Post by Martin »

Just had the fridge repair guy out yesterday. $100 for 45 minutes and he didn't even have to put on a wetsuit. (or get wet). By the way, the fridge is toast.

Lets see; income less expenses = net income.
What is important to someone in business is net income. You can charge $200 @ hour and still lose money.
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Post by more force 4 »

Rule of thumb for the big environmental companies: hourly chargeout is 3X basic wage - or more. Person with graduate degree and 15 or 20 years experience will get $30-$40 an hour and be charged out at $120 for most jobs - or more.

You can't compare wages with what you pay for the service.

One of my daughters is an MD, now taking specialist training as a pediatrician in Miami. The residents figure they are paid about $10 hr. They're willing to do it because the wages will increase hugely once all the training (12-15 years past high school) is finished.

What did the airfare to Vietnam add to the cost of the lessons?
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Island Noel
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Post by Island Noel »

a weeks lessons in vietnam was under $500, airfare was around $900, but we went 2 weeks before Christmas so paid alot for 2 of us all hotels in vietnam on the waterfront , scooters every day, massages, for just over a month was about $1500, Great place for Max return on our dollar.
To call out a journeyman electrician billed from the company is $80/hr

I believe the one kite surfing instructor drives a Turbo diesel F250 or F350, so what? 60K truck?

Im sure im not making friends with my eallier reply about $100/hr being to much, but Its more than just that I don't think its worth that much money, I feel it is very cost prohibitive to try it for a day, my brother in law is a VERY highly specilised enviromental scientist and does get billed out at around the $100/hr BUT also there is a DAY RATE for his services by his company that is not the $100/hr.
I really believe that if there was a day rate for lessons or something for people who wanted to try this out it would grow and the instructors would make more money as they would end up having to hire staff and more qualified teachers,
sponsors would be putting more into the schools, and so on.
you don't have to agree with me about the money, I'm not trying to change anyones mind, but Im really happy to see that school on the mainland offer a free day to expose what kiting is about and how great it is, Ive traveled to alot of countries now and done alot of Kiting and know what a great future the sport has in front of it. I'm sure that it will pay off for them with sign ups, sales and so on, and really its just good Karma.
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Post by more force 4 »

Free days, or special intro packages are great to grow the sport.

It may be that kite lessons are where third world countires can gain some employment; people on vacation with just a few hundred dollars for 'discretionary spending'. The gear is still expensive, add jet skis and radio helmets (I found them really worthwhile) and some insurance and even paying the instructor $5 per day its still going to cost.

Turbo diesel 350, 2008 with bells and whistles goes for $25-40K, not really outrageous. I don't know who can afford to buy new. Same people that can afford kite lessons without blinking I guess.
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Martin
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Post by Martin »

Just out of interest, since I would like to try it some day, I checked out a beginners lesson in snowboarding.
3 hour lesson plus equipment rental (not incl.) and lift ticket (also not incl.)
is $560.
I am sure I could get it cheaper. Maybe by buying Kus a beer or two!
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Cj
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Post by Cj »

" Island Noels Karma Kite School "

When you start this successful business and are charging substantially less, then repost here and let us know how it's going.
somebody said " go fly a kite".
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Post by KUS »

Martin wrote:Just out of interest, since I would like to try it some day, I checked out a beginners lesson in snowboarding.
3 hour lesson plus equipment rental (not incl.) and lift ticket (also not incl.)
is $560.
I am sure I could get it cheaper. Maybe by buying Kus a beer or two!
Martin anytime u wanna borrow my gear, no probs, got several sizes in the household and don't use mine much. If I happen to be skiing then, I would spend some time to get you going but snowboarding is pretty easy to get the hang of and just time on the board so just utube it or something to get going :D my son learned to snowboard in an afternoon. I find the falls on the snowboard are NOT a happy thing and I try to avoid them by being ultraconservative, even the most benign rattle the old body pretty good.

yeah, I would say $560 IS gouging tho esp at a resort
Wish less, sail more!!
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Vik
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Post by Vik »

nanmoo wrote:I agree. Especially for the younger crowd, $500 is a lot to lay out for a sport you might hate. A day at Mount Washington with lift, lessons and rental gear is less than a third of that cost by comparison (surfing is about the same too - and let's face it, anyone in the business is directly competing with snowboarding/skiing, mountain biking and surfing).
Kiteboarding is not cheap. I have a number of friends who would enjoy it, but I know the cost is simply not affordable for them. That's too bad, but as you point out there are many fun things to do that are much cheaper and people will live just fine without ever kiteboarding.

There are a number of sports/activities I'd love to do [ie. heli-boarding, owning a nice sailboat, flying my own private plane, etc..], but realistically they are beyond my means unless I were to give up everything else I enjoy doing. That's life...

So instead of trying to make something expensive work for my friends who can't afford it I focus on what they can afford such as surfing and have a couple loaner boards to lend out and providing free lessons in the whitewater to get them started for the cost of a wetsuit rental.
Safe riding,

Vik
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