Kitesurf harnesses

Buying guide for a kitesurf harness

Are you looking for a kite harness? Together we can figure out which suits you. Choose from a wide range of men's and women's kite harnesses of top brands such as Mystic, ION, Duotone, Prolimit, Brunotti and more. A kite harness differs from a windsurf harness because a line runs across the back of the harness. You must attach the safety leash of your kite to this line. Windsurf harnesses do not have this option. To make the correct descision when purchasising a harness we wrote down a couple of things to pay attention to.

Kite waist harness

The first step is to determine whether you want a hip or seat harness. 90% of kite surfers opt for a waist harness. This type of kite harness goes around your waist and rests on your hips. The advantage of a waist harness is that it offers good support and a lot of freedom of movement. The hook with a kite harness is a bit higher than with a seat harness. The biggest disadvantage of a kite harness is that it sometimes wants to crawl up. Especially novice kite surfers suffer from this because they still have the kite hanging above them relatively much (12 o'clock).

Stiffness of the harness

Broadly speaking, you can distinguish between two types of waist harnesses. One type offers a lot of back support and is positioned around your waist. Kite surfers who perform tricks and want to jump high appreciate the stiffness of these kite harnesses. If you are more of a pure freestyle kitesurfer, you can choose the other type. These kite harnesses offer less support, but provide more freedom of movement for making all moves. We distinguish between hardshell, medium shell and soft shell. Medium shell being the most chosen one.

Kite seat harness

Wearing a seat harness means that it is positioned lower than a waist harness. You can immediately recognize this type of harness by the bands that run underneath. These limit the freedom of movement somewhat, but ensure that the harness remains in place. You are also pulled out of the water more from below. This is often experienced as pleasant by novice kiters. The reason to choose a kite seat harness is, for example, if you have back problems or if you find it annoying that your waist harness is crawling up. Kitefoilers often choose this type as well!

Important when buying a kite harness

The most important criteria when choosing the right kite harness is whether the harness feels comfortable. It is important that you hang well in the harness (just like when kiting) and pay close attention to any pressure points. If you already feel a pressure point, this will only increase during kiting. It is therefore important that the pressure of the harness on your body is evenly distributed. And you feel that you can go on the water for hours with the kite harness.

It is also good to pay attention to the following:

• Does the kite harness have soft neoprene edges for extra comfort? More expensive harnesses are often provided with this.
• Does the kite harness have a good spreaderbar to keep the hook of the kite harness in the right place? Feel that the harness does not crawl up easily and that the hook stays in place. A wider spreaderbar will help fix this issue.
• Can I easily put on the kite harness?
• Does the harness have a good knife (pocket)? This is a sharp knife to cut your kite lines in an emergency if necessary.

A kitesurf harness is a very important part of your kitesurf set. The price of a kite harness is of course important, but don't let this guide you too much. When the harness does not fit properly, you miss the comfort while kite and the control over your kite.

Help with choosing a kitesurf harness

Do you have any questions, are you still unsure about something or can we help you choose the right kite harness? Feel free to contact us for all your questions. That's what we're here for!