Updated 08.19.26
This post is about the difficulty in logistics with learning to kite or wing in Alaska. If you live in Alaska and want to learn how to kiteboard, snowkite, wing, para-wing, or foil – please read our real-life experiences.
Most people live in Anchorage, and that is where we base ourselves when in Alaska. The biggest issue is the timing of the tides, the wind, and students’ availability. Our lessons are conducted at Carr Park in South Anchorage, and at several locations along Turnagain Arm.
In Turnagain about an hour before low tide, teaching areas start to appear. This provides about 3 to 4 hours before the tide changes and the incoming tides cover the teaching areas.
Students need to be available during those 3 to 4 hours each day, the weather has to be good, and there has to be wind. Don’t forget tides shift an hour each day also. If conditions were good three days in a row starting on Tuesday at 2pm, then Wednesday would be at 3pm, and Thursday would be at 4pm. Driving from the Anchorage area to Carr Park, isn’t too much, however driving to Twentymile River or Peterson Creek can be another two hours for the round trip.
You can start to see now that a 3 or 4 hour lesson is now 5 or 6 hours if you can make it, and the weather is good.
Consistency is the key to learning and progression; back-to-back lessons keep you in the learning curve. If days pass between lessons, it’s difficult for muscle memory to build and for you to build on the skills you learned in the previous lesson.
It has been our experience that trying to teach people in Alaska can take months because of all the variables noted above, most people start lessons then end taking a trip to North Carolina, Oregon, Texas or here to Baja. Consider visiting Baja and taking courses with us. If you learn in the winter, you can fly back to Alaska and go right out and snowkite!
Bonus Info: You do not need to fly all the way to Cabo and then drive 2.5 hours to La Ventana. Alaska Airlines has a flight from Los Angeles to La Paz which is about 40 minutes from La Ventana. You can get a direct flight from Anchorage to Los Angeles, making for about 7 hours of flying time between the two flights.
Below will be some YouTube videos of kiting in Alaska. Working on the embedding code
