The ground school was enjoyable. However once we got out on the water, the instructor was nasty, demeaning and humiliating. I came away feeling awful and never took up my second (pre-paid) lesson. read more

What do you call it when someone takes your money, sells the business, and does not honor a prepaid gift certificate? Anyone can look up California law regarding gift certificates and decide if this is criminal or not. Made an attempt to use a gift certificate for an expensive three lesson package last season. Weather and timing did not work out by end of the season. Owner encouraged me to try again this year. Business has been sold and it seems others with prepaid gift certificates have been left high and dry. New owner reports being surprised by outstanding gift certificates and is unable to honor them. Not cool, beware! read more

Had a great experience with them! Ovi was very knowledgeable and helpful. He picked up quickly on what I could improve on and did a good job of describing how to do it. Would recommend heading out on the water with him! read more

Kite415 - Fitness & Instruction Near Me - South San Francisco, California

Kite415 successfully taught me to kiteboard, warranting the two stars, but looking back on it, my experience with them was miserable. The owner is known for being grumpy, and when I took a lesson with him he was condescending and had an attitude that gave me the impression he did not want to be there. My next lesson was with a friendly, encouraging instructor. However, he was inexperienced. He drove the jet ski so fast over large swells that it began to roll and both of us fell off. On the third lesson, I was sent out way overpowered. I was given a 12m kite on a very windy day even though I'm only 140 pounds. I struggled to control the overpowered kite, and was dragged around the bay, unable to focus on learning to ride the board. I was pulled in the air and came crashing down before we had to end the lesson early. My experiences during Kite415's lessons almost made me give up on kiteboarding. Eventually, I learned to ride, despite the miserable lessons. I enjoy the sport now, but wish I knew any of the much better kite schools at the time- my experience with Wind Over Water was excellent in comparison to Kite415. read more

I don't usually review but Kite415 is a fantastic kiteboarding school. I wanted to have a go after seeing my sister out having fun back home, but was quite anxious as it looked like a hard sport to grasp. Kyle, my instructor was great! He offhand is very friendly and enthusiastic which sets up a comfortable environment. He took me steadily through the land lesson and made sure I was understanding everything. I really was quite nervous, as I've never attempted learning a Watersport. Kyle was accomodating though, and helped me calmly learn, I did get frustrated with myself but he helped bring back the focus. Very patient teacher!! As just visiting, I don't know the area very well but seemed like a good location - they take you out with the Jetski on the water lesson so you're away from anything that could be an obstacle. Helped make me feel relaxed learning without worrying about anything around me and having Kyle give me instant feedback from the jet ski helped a lot! I definitely would recommend learning through Kite415, awesome service, was great not having to worry about gear since they provide. Really beneficial having an instructor and learning the techniques properly. I even got a DVD from them so I can study at home! Cheers! read more

Amazing, amazing, amazing!! At first I was a bit anxious to try a new extreme sport, but the professionalism of the Kite415 team is terrific. The helmet radio is a big plus and saves a lot of time when it comes to making small adjustments (down to the position of my hand on the bar!!!). Super friendly, conveniently located, I love them! read more

Kite415 + Hitech Radio Helmet = Breakthrough With the benefit of a waterproof marine radio helmet through which immediate instruction was received I was able to take long rides and stay upwind for the first time. What a difference! Instead of getting up for short rides before crashing, my instructor's calm voice directed me to position my kite, board, and body in the precise manner necessary to ride more comfortably than ever before. This is a breakthrough method which vastly reduced my frustration and made the process of learning much more efficient and fun. Using a Wave Runner the instructor took me right out to a nearby flat windy spot which was a perfect learning area away from any obstructions or other sailors. The equipment (for sale to students at a terrific discount) is all first class. I highly recommend Kite 415, who is to my knowledge the only school around using the helmet radio. read more

Great facilities marred by bad attitude KITE415 Airtime lesson with Ovi Banuta: Good: - All equipment provided if you need (wetsuit, kite, harness, shoes, radio helmet, lifejacket, although radio stopped working in the water) - Jetski ride (choppy!) and board retrieval (if he is feeling generous) - Great wind conditions this side of the bay (South SF) - Unhindered, wont run into other people. - Long stretch of water to go downwind - Standard pricing (~200 for 2 hours, although he would wants you to sign up for ~500 for 6 hours) Bad: - Credit card risk: Ovi wants complete credit card info including security code over the phone, won't let you do the paypal transfer yourself. The reason: "he's been doing this for 10 years and you are the first one to say anything" - Attitude: Arrogant and slightly sadistic when you are flailing in the water. - Yelling/Homilies: "You are wasting your money by not putting effort!", "My friend, they have color coded the bar so that you know which hand to use", "What takes you to your parking space? umm.. driving? NO! your car takes you there!" (When Radio went conk) "You don't need to hear me!" read more

Ovi, the instructor at Kite 415 is the most patient person I've ever met. I know this because I was terrible, the worst at kiting the first several lessons. More lessons than I want to admit to...until one day, I just got it. But that would've never happened without Ovi's patience and reassurance. He deals with a lot of different personalities and abilities and he works hard to find a way to reach his students. You can't go wrong with Kite 415. As long as you stick with it, you'll learn how to kite surf, all thanks to Ovi. Oh, and everything I said about Ovi...ditto for Jasper. He's great too! read more

Kite415 is great! They get you on the water with the best instruction. I've used them to learn basics and get refreshers.

These guys run a tight kiteboarding school and I was lucky to learn with them last week. I was looking to learn how to kite since watching my friends enjoy it. I did a two day, 3 session beginner lesson with Nick at Oyster Point and it was awesome. By the end of the first day I was able to graduate from body dragging to using a board and by the second day I was able to get up and ride. Nick was extremely knowledgeable, friendly, and patient. They have radio sets in the helmets and he was able to give me direct and solid advice the whole lesson that was straight forward and very helpful. Proved he really knew how to adjust my technique quickly to get me up and going. I'm stoked to keep kiting after this - they also set me up with my kit - and would go back to them as I progress for lessons in the future. They'll go above and beyond to make the lessons work for you, even in my case offering to stay a bit later than usual, and want to see you succeed. Thanks Nick and Ovi! read more

Ovi Banuta's Kite 415 has developed a system for fastracking learners through kiteboarding - this type of instruction is incredible because you are learning to the max - straight into the bay on a jetski and no distractions to slow you down. A dedicated instructor is there to guide you and to make you progress rapidly. This summer I was riding for literally what felt like miles and my instructor Ryan was amazing - patient, skilled, and ready to push me to the next level. I feel as if I made a lot of progress including riding upwind and flying over chop with much more confidence. Kite 415 with the accelerated approach gets you going much faster with the jetski, they are right there with you. Ryan, thank you so much. read more

I completely agree with Avitor D. I took my first 2 hours with Ovi and that's gonna be my two last hours with this guy. Man, that was funny. We started by capsizing the Jet-ski. Then when we tried to launch the kite, lines were twisted. Of course Ovi said I unrolled it incorrectly. But, I didn't gear it up and unfortunately the guy who did it even put the left line on the right side. Very helpful! When he was asking me to pull left, I had to remember that I had to pull on the grey line. Then the helmet was not fitting well. It was falling onto my eyes. Who can ride in the dark :-) After 5 minutes Ovi proposed me to hand it over to him, so no more communication devices. With the airplanes flying around... Sometimes it was really difficult to hear him. Anyway I had fun with the kite and was able to ride port and starboard for a couple hundreds yard. I learnt by myself, not from him. He even said to me that I had no skills at all. Ok, I am not that good. But is it something to say when you're an instructor? So if you want to have fun and ride with a guy that hands the board over to you (well, sometimes) then it's a great place to go. If you need a good instructor, then ask for another instructor. Take care, N read more

Ovie and Jesper really helped build my confidence and skill set after I had a bad crash with a different school. He taught me a much more gentle power stroke to get up on the board and drilled the upwind board skills into me and now I am riding at 3rd Ave and having fun. The Oyster Point location is an ideal place to learn in the Bay as there is zero kiteboarding traffic. This makes it much easier to concentrate on skill building. I took lots of lessons and highly recommend anyone getting into the sport do so as well. It will enable you to become an independent, safe rider that keeps everyone safer when you get to the busier locations. Thank you team Ovie for helping me reach my goals! read more

Very professional and the instruction was excellent. I highly recommend Kite 415 for anyone learning kiteboarding or taking their skills to the next level. read more

Ovi and the kite lessons at Kite415 ways exceeded my expectations. Pros: 1. Great instructors with lots of experience. The instructors are over eager to accommodate and help me learn. These guys teach lessons 3 times a day X 7 days a week during the wind seasons for many years. And they are patient in helping me learn at my own pace. 2. Cool technology. After they show what I need to do on land, they take me out to a windy spot a jet ski, launch the kite, let me practice, and then provide REAL-TIME instructions via a radio helmet I am wearing. The jet ski and the radio helmet are great help, allowing the instructor to monitor my performance closely at all time and provide just-in-time instructions. 3. Excellent service. The lesson location on Oyster Point is windy most of the time. The jet ski helps chase down the good wind spots. Scheduling a lesson is very easy. I call Ovi in the morning. He schedules me for a lesson promptly, and I am typically in the water for the lesson in the afternoon of the same day and a day later. This means I could almost always have lessons in good winds at my convenient times. Cons: The jet ski ride to and from the lesson location is a thrill by itself. Yet at times, it is bumpy when the waves are rough. When it is too much for me, I let instructors know and he would slow down. Oveall Kite415 is a great place to learn kite surfing. I highly recommend it as it has very experienced instructors, good winds, excellent technology (jet ski and radio helmet), and accommodating service. (Before you start kite lessons here or anywhere else, I would also strongly recommend that you learn to fly and control a learner kite well before going out in the water). Chi read more

Anyone wanting to learn to kite or advance your existing skills you should really not hesitate to call Kite415. The equipment and the jet skis are top of the line. Ovi the owner is skilled with scheduling appointments so what could be chaos right from the beginning is squashed by organization and profile. My instructor James made me feel instantly at ease. He was very upbeat, patient and very calm. He is able to sense your ability to move to the next step and get you there quickly with precise clear instructions in the heat of the moment. These guys obviously rip on the water. You can too with a good foundation from quality gear, exceptional instructors and a great lesson or 2 or 3. read more