Kitesoul Magazine #17 English Edition

kite camps for women between forty-five and
sixty-five years old. I always found them to be
the most rewarding because normally they were
terrified and after spending so many years worrying
about kids and their household, they really
lost touch with themselves. I always found it so
rewarding to see the shear elation on their faces
when they got up on the board for the first time.
The journey from the first moment they touched
the kite to the getting up on the board is something
that they will remember for rest of their
lives. It's such a blessing to be a part of this
growth. Suzanne is a lovely woman who used to
be sporty back in her day but now is insecure
about her abilities like most women are. The one
thing teaching thousands of people to kite has
taught me is how to put a person at ease.
Teaching women: pleasure and pain
Women are different from men, in the fact they
want to know the How, Why, What if and go at a
pace they feel comfortable with. I’m very attentive
to my body language and the tone and cadence
of my voice. I go into great detail explaining
How the kite works and Why I want them to
hold the bar in a certain manner. I am also very
clear to combat all the What ifs.
She begins to visually relax and we move on to
getting out in the water. During the walk out to
sea in the slightly crisp knee-deep water, she
asks me the standard three questions every single
tourist asks us. Where are you from? How
long have you been here? How long have you
been kiting? Honestly I cringe every time I hear
this but I do my best to make it sound like it’s
the first time someone has ever asked me these
questions and I used the opportunity to distract
her from what we were doing as I casually hook
the kite on to her harness.
In my experience, women like to chat and when
I offer small talk in amongst the instruction they
have a lot more fun and learn to fly the kite with
ease. After an hour and forty-five minutes of
constant chatter, I'm getting tired of hearing the
sound of my own voice so I check my watch to
see how much time is left in the lesson.