When I was growing up I had a stack of Peter Powell stunt kites - seriously heavy duty, PVC kites with fibreglass spars. The pull from even one would lift you off the ground in anything above a force 5, and living in Orkney, force8 and up is normal daily wind.

The solution - we attached a pulley to the fence, and once the lines were out to full extent, pass a cable round the pulley and hook each end to one of the control handles. That way the fence took the strain while we could control the kite.

With a stack of 3 kites I could get over 12 loops in a row, hover inches above the grass, hedgechop at speed and generally scare the tourists/cattle/passersby.

I hope this experience means my learning curve for kitesurfing will be pleasantly easy....