It's easy at the moment
I qualified as a power kite instructor earlier this year. Because it's an extreme sport, I need various forms of insurance before I can start taking money to teach people. In three days time (when I get my student loan) I will be able to afford the insurance and can start work at something I've wanted to do for the last five years.

It won't be an easy job in a technical sense, but being paid to do something you'd do for free has a certain cachet. Until then, my job is to wander around the uni campus chatting to people in bars and suggesting that flying kites is actually quite fun...
( MatJ LOOK, Fri 10 Sep 2010, 15:19, 5 replies)

For anyone wondering:
Based in Edinburgh for the next eight months or so, lessons in kiting, boarding and non-aerial freestyle buggying, and there'll be a discount for B3tans...
( MatJ LOOK, Fri 10 Sep 2010, 15:22, closed)

Where do you do it? Cramond? Granton?

(Reverend Fister "a disciplined fuckwit", Fri 10 Sep 2010, 15:34, closed)

Actually
I've lived in Edinburgh on and off for a couple of years, but I've not been doing much kiting here for various reasons, so any suggestions for good spots are welcome.

Off the top of my head, Cramond is likely. So are Portabello, Musselburgh, Seton sands (bit rocky though) and North Berwick, at a pinch. Holyrood park might also be usable. It really depends on tide times and wind directions. The problem with Edinburgh is that all the beaches (by far the best place for me) are on the east side of the city, and the prevailing winds are westerly.


I think, actually, I'll be doing a fair bit of travelling to St. Andrews which, while a fair drive away, is one of the four or five best beaches in the country for kitesports as well as the home of the Scottish buggy racing circuit. Last time I was there, I could have made a fair bit by sitting in a deckchair with a sign saying "power kite instructor" next to me, so I may well give that a go.
( MatJ LOOK, Fri 10 Sep 2010, 16:26, closed)

This sounds a bit ace.
I stay in Edinburgh. Do you have a website or anything with more info?

Cheers.
( Gooddeed89, Fri 10 Sep 2010, 21:25, closed)

Not yet, sadly
Give me a week or so to get the insurance sorted out and I'll get onto putting something together. In the meantime, just gaz me with any questions you have.
( MatJ LOOK, Sat 11 Sep 2010, 20:00, closed)