Beach kites allow you to start while minimising costs and breakage risks but most of them are inadequate to tackle the freestyle.

Some are sturdy but too heavy for their size, which prevents them from flying in light wind. Others, with fibreglass spars, are not stiff enough to sustain the sometimes sudden movements used in freestyle.

The length of the lines is very difficult to set on the kites supplied with hook handles; to replace the hooks by straps and make the lines of equal length are the first things to do in order to avoid being penalized even before flying.

Most kites on sale there are satisfactory to put into practice tutorials 1 to 6 without being penalised because of the kite. A competition kite is recommended to do the figures in tutorials 7 and 8.

A good kite is characterised as follows :
- the kite must be light, even in a big size. Lift a few of them and compare.
- the spars must be made of carbon fiber and not fibreglass.
- the bridles must be fine and therefore not look like clothes-line.
- the bridles must be linked together by knots and not hooks, in order to be accurate
- if the kite is supplied with lines, check that they are linked to straps and not to hooks.
- the salesperson must confirm that the kite shown to you can handle, at least, the axels that you will be learning from tutorial 4 and if possible the fades.

In all instances, tell the salesperson about the kind of wind you are most likely to fly in.

For adults, select a fairly large type (2.2m) so as to enjoy a fair surface to the wind.

The kites with skegs are accurate and rather intended for flying in the wind than freestyle. The kites with 2 whiskers and a back with a flat part float better in the flat figures.