Kiteboarding's Simple Plan [Paperback]

John J. Holzhall (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 6, 2006

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.

Editorial Reviews

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.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

FOREWORD

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 a personal "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.

Since the dawn of kiteboarding Instructor-Trainer John Holzhall has been developing Kiteboarding's "simple plan". Logging over 10,000 instructional hours in Maui's challenging conditions helped provide the answers to many questions. The steady stream of international kiteboard enthusiasts and riders put those answers to the test. The result...

"KITEBOARDING'S SIMPLE PLAN" THE BOOK

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

John Holzhall is the Instructor Trainer for the Kiteboard Center, Action Sports Maui and the Kiteboarding Instructional Training Evaluation System. Developer of the K.I.T.E.S (Kiteboarding Instructional Training Evaluation System) John participates with the Maui Kiteboarding Association, assisting the non-profit association in safety and instruction. John's relationship with the water began at an early age when he was introduced to competitive swimming. Years later, with a strong water base, John pursued the ocean sportsof Surfing and Windsurfing. They became focal points in John's life, leading to international travel searching for the "perfect" conditions.

After extensive traveling, it was clear to him that all roads lead to Maui. John spent years working for an established instructional center before teaming up with old friend and Master Instructor David Dorn. Together they opened up Action Sports Maui, a lesson center, offering every level of instruction for Surfing and Windsurfing.

After seeing the first marine traction kite appear on Maui it was clear that John and Dave should turn their focus to creating lesson plans for this imminent shadow of a sport!

It was then, at the dawn of kiteboarding, that John committed full time to kiteboard training and instruction.

Since then John has been teaching every level of kiteboarding as well as training instructors. Logging over 10,000 instructional hours and thousands of "ride" hours.

Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing (July 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 155395081X
• ISBN-13: 978-1553950813
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,861,434 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Kiteboarding's "A litte too" Simple Plan, December 6, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Kiteboarding's Simple Plan (Paperback)

I had a season of kiteboarding under my belt when I picked up this book. By the end of the season, I could maintain upwind ground pretty well, but actually getting upwind was still elusive. I had been reading Kiteboarding magazines feverishly and was excited to see someone had written a whole book on the subject. I was hoping for some good tips in such a concentrated source of kiteboarding knowledge.
I don't know how much money it takes to write a book that will be sold to such a small niche audience, but it seems that costs were contained by sending the book to press without it being edited. Their were-many annoying punctuation, errors not too mention sentences that were entirely to long with little continuity between paragraphs and peppered with a lot of slang probably in efforts of making the book cool. I didn't even know that this kind of thing bothers me until I picked up this book -probably because everything else I read HAS been edited fairly well.

I'm guessing that another cost cutting measure was the money saved not hiring a graphic designer to create diagrams that should have accompanied detailed descriptions of body position, wind direction and kite steering maneuvers. There were plenty of times that after I read a description of something I already knew how to do well I thought to myself "I can't see how a beginner will make ANY SENSE of this!" In the book's 278 pages I counted a whopping less than 10 diagrams.

Anyway with all that being said, if anything the book is comprehensive. It does cover quite a bit of material and the author's style is entertaining. And I did pick up some tid bits of knowledge after all. If you wanted to get into kiteboarding you may still like to have this book around. With any luck, you might even find a future "volume II" that flows well and includes many clarifying illustrations.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars lengthy but lacking, December 6, 2003

By 

kevin (Perth,Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kiteboarding's Simple Plan (Paperback)

Unfortunately this doesnt give enough basics and shows very little structure in its outline.Few diagramns that are really instructional.
Strong on safety and danger but little direction to the beginning kitesurfer.
It seemed more like the dialogue that a instructor would give you through a series of lessons and in that context would most likely be excellent.
I have been kitesurfing for about 5 months and can ride a board in and out - so I'm still learning alot but found the thrust of the book not really helpful.
With the amount of experience the author has,he would have a huge lot more to offer and perhaps may do next time.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Kiteboarding's "A litte too" Simple Plan, December 6, 2003

By 

Alfred Raschdorf "Al" (Kings Park, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kiteboarding's Simple Plan (Paperback)

I had a season of kiteboarding under my belt when I picked up this book. By the end of the season, I could maintain upwind ground pretty well, but actually getting upwind was still elusive. I had been reading Kiteboarding magazines feverishly and was excited to see someone had written a whole book on the subject. I was hoping for some good tips in such a concentrated source of kiteboarding knowledge.

I don't know how much money it takes to write a book that will be sold to such a small niche audience, but it seems that costs were contained by sending the book to press without it being edited. Their were-many annoying punctuation, errors not too mention sentences that were entirely to long with little continuity between paragraphs and peppered with a lot of slang probably in efforts of making the book cool. I didn't even know that this kind of thing bothers me until I picked up this book -probably because everything else I read HAS been edited fairly well.

I'm guessing that another cost cutting measure was the money saved not hiring a graphic designer to create diagrams that should have accompanied detailed descriptions of body position, wind direction and kite steering maneuvers. There were plenty of times that after I read a description of something I already knew how to do well I thought to myself "I can't see how a beginner will make ANY SENSE of this!" In the book's 278 pages I counted a whopping less than 10 diagrams.

Anyway with all that being said, if anything the book is comprehensive. It does cover quite a bit of material and the author's style is entertaining. And I did pick up some tid bits of knowledge after all. If you wanted to get into kiteboarding you may still like to have this book around. With any luck, you might even find a future "volume II" that flows well and includes many clarifying illustrations.