Action Sports Maui

Mika was so much fun from the start, putting my mind at ease as she is super knowledgeable with years of guiding and teaching experience. I progressed rapidly with the 3 days of kiting and can confidently ride upwind and stay up and ride. Had the best kiting time in my life thus far, confidently going out in 25+ and learning how to be more playfull on the board. I would highly recommend a lesson with Mika and i hope to cross paths down the road and get more kiting time.

After one of our friends came back with glowing reviews of his first session with Michaela, he inspired two of us to join him for the rest of the week. We were all completely hooked on kiting from the very first lesson and each of us raved about our personal instructors. They each adjusted to our own personal abilities and helped us make steady progress. We are all pretty much hooked now and can't wait to continue on our kiteboarding journey.

Michaela took me from zero experience to being able to do short runs in a matter of a few days. She’s patient, knows all the things and knows how to set a student up for success. Action Sports Maui had all the kites, harnesses and other equipment a student could want. I enjoyed my experience so much, I brought three friends along to learn from other instructors. I would STRONGLY recommend Michaela and Action Sports Maui to someone looking for some pro kiting instruction.

Super lesson ..very informative and I thought Mika was very professional.. she noticed several things about my learning progression and made substantial recommendations... I could feel myself getting better the whole time

I have had 5 kite-boarding private lessons prior to these sessions with Mika (Michaela Pilkenton) at Action Sports Maui. I am super grateful to have happened upon her. Mika’s enthusiasm, engagement and understanding of how to teach and build upon skills was WAY beyond the previous experiences I’ve had. I now understand all the basic skills necessary - kite, board & body - to get up on the board and ride upwind. I hardly ever lost my board because she taught me how to rise with my board angle, feet and weight in the correct position, pause, and sit back in the water and change direction, so I was FAR less likely to rise and crash as I did in previous lessons with other instructors (where these foundational bits of wisdom were not near as clearly explained and practiced prior to entering the water.) It was a joy to do a lot more riding and refining my skills and a lot less crashing or drifting. Mika is attentive to kite size and gear adjustments appropriate to my level of learning - finding a great balance of power - not too much power, which was fabulous because being thrown around by wind is not fun, but also not under-powered like I’ve had in another previously frustrating session I had a year ago (different kite school - not in Maui) which created a lot of sitting in the water with my kite flailing on the surface while I simply drifted down wind frustrated in many failed efforts to get the kite back up in the air and with eventually how thoroughly the lines had gotten twisted up creating a necessity to practice my self-rescue skills... if you are on the path of learning, I am sure you can appreciate how relieving it is to experience less drifting, crashing and losing your board, lol!! I’m thrilled with these sessions! So much progress made in each one! and I look forward to continuing to learn and refine my skills with this instructor :)

Felt 100% safe and 100% motivated the whole time. One of the great learning experiences of my life. Hope we meet again!!

Mika is a great instructor. I was standing up in the board already in my third day.