Do I need my own boat?

No. Many operators charter a boat for the season or by the week. What matters is that its layout and its cost work for the trips you want to sell.

How many guests can I take?

As many as the boat has berths, within what its licence allows. The cabin layout, not the deck size, sets your capacity.

When should I open bookings?

Early enough for guests to book flights and time off work. Operators often open the next season's dates several months ahead, and fill the last cabins closer to departure.

Guide for operators

Starting a kite cruise business

Running kite cruises means being a boat charterer, a travel organiser and a kite school at the same time. Here is the order in which operators usually put the pieces together, written from the operator's side: KiteDeck's founder ran Red Sea kite cruises for two seasons before building the software.

Create my account See how it is set up

Pick a spot and a season

Start from the wind: a reliable season, flat-water lagoons or reefs the boat can reach, and a marina to leave from. The length of that season decides how many weeks you have to fill, and so how much each week has to earn.

Find the boat and the crew

Most operators charter a boat for the season or by the week rather than buying one. Check that it can carry kites, boards and a safety boat, and that its skipper and crew know kite trips.

The cabin layout matters more than it looks: the number of cabins and berths sets how many guests you can take, and therefore your price per berth.

Check the rules where you operate

Licences, insurance, passenger rules and the status needed to sell trips differ from one country to the next. Ask the local authorities and an insurer before you take the first deposit, not after.

Build your price and your terms

Price the week from what it costs you and from the number of guests you need to break even. Then write down, before the first booking, how much deposit you take, when the balance is due and what happens if a guest or the wind lets you down.

Sell the first departures

Start with the people who already know you: your riding friends, kite schools, the guests of past trips.
Show the trip on Instagram the way riders live it: the boat, the spots, the evenings on deck.
Give every post one link to a page with the dates, the cabins left and the price, where guests can book and pay a deposit.
Once the dates fill on their own, add agencies and travel platforms to reach riders abroad.

Keep the admin light from day one

One place for the boat, the cabins, the bookings, the deposits and the emails before departure saves the season's evenings. KiteDeck costs nothing until you are paid: 3 % excl. VAT (plus 20 % VAT in France) of each payment collected online, no subscription, so you can set it up before the first booking.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need my own boat?: No. Many operators charter a boat for the season or by the week. What matters is that its layout and its cost work for the trips you want to sell.
How many guests can I take?: As many as the boat has berths, within what its licence allows. The cabin layout, not the deck size, sets your capacity.
When should I open bookings?: Early enough for guests to book flights and time off work. Operators often open the next season's dates several months ahead, and fill the last cabins closer to departure.

Ready for next season?

Create your account, declare your boat and open your first cruise. No subscription: you only pay on payments collected online.

Create my account