Kitesurfing

Tube kites, foil kites and the size you fly at altitude:

most riders fly leading-edge inflatables from Duotone, Cabrinha, North or Core. You pump up the front edge and the struts, and that air keeps the kite floating and lets it relaunch after a crash. A foil kite has no tubes: its cells fill as it flies, so it packs small and pulls well in a weak breeze, but it is harder to get back in the air once it is down on the water. Size depends on your weight and the wind, and on altitude too: air at Amatitlán and Atitlán is thinner than on the Pacific coast and pulls less on the same cloth, so a rider who flies one size at the beach usually wants the next size up on the lake.

Twin tips, surfboards and hydrofoils under the kite:

the twin tip, symmetrical and ridden in either direction with footstraps, is what everyone learns on and what most second-hand sets come with. A directional board ridden like a surfboard only earns its place where there are waves, and plain boards for paddling into them are under surfing. A hydrofoil, a mast and wings under a short board, lifts you out of the water and keeps you moving in wind too light for a twin tip, which on a slack afternoon at Amatitlán is the difference between riding and sitting on the shore. It is harder to learn, so it comes after the twin tip, not instead of it. Boots and bindings made for the pull of a boat belong to wakeboarding.

Control bars, lines and harnesses that suit the kite:

the bar steers the kite and carries the safety system: the chicken loop you hook into, the quick release that opens it, and the leash that keeps a depowered kite tied to you. A bar flies best with kites of its own brand and line set-up, so ask which kites it has been used with. A seat harness, with leg straps, sits lower than a waist harness and does not ride up, which beginners like.

Pressing the leading edge of a second-hand kite:

have the seller pump it up before you arrive, then go back to it once you have looked at everything else. If it has gone soft, a bladder or a valve is leaking. Look along the leading edge and wingtips for scuffs from landings on rock, which the shore at Atitlán hands out freely. Feel the canopy: new cloth is crisp, while cloth that has spent many hours under strong highland sun turns dull and soft and stretches. Check the bridle for fraying and the pigtails where the lines attach. On the bar, fire the quick release several times and check it opens cleanly and resets without sticking, then look for cracks in the chicken loop and wear on the depower line. Run each line through your fingers near the kite end for nicks and knots. On a twin tip, look for cracked rails and lifting laminate around the strap inserts. On a foil, check where the mast meets the fuselage for corrosion between the aluminium and the screws. Spare bladders and bar parts are hard to find locally, so a kite with its repair kit and a complete bar are worth more than ones waiting on parts from abroad.

Kite sizes, line lengths and board measurements in the listing:

give the brand, model, year and size in square metres of each kite, whether a bar comes with it and how long its lines are, and the length and width of the board. Say what is in the bag: pump, leash, repair kit, spare valves. Photograph the kite pumped and laid out on grass, every valve and patch, the bar’s release, and the board’s base. Photos show the wear but not how a kite flies, and Amatitlán is close enough to the capital that a buyer can come and watch it go up on an afternoon when the breeze fills in, so offer that, or a short clip of it in the air.