Our operators

The Rider Experience

Panama, Provincia de Panama, Panama

The Rider Experience is a UK-based kitesurfing travel company that runs kite cruises and a beachfront kite camp for riders of every level, from first-timers to advanced kiters focused on progression. Founder Brendan Rider started it after sailing from Colombia to Panama through the San Blas Islands. That trip became their first kite cruise, and soon after they set up a kitesurfing guesthouse in Punta Chame, Panama. Today Brendan runs the company with Ronja Geppert. They have more than 10 years of experience, and the owners personally run their kite camps and most of their cruises. Their two signature Adventures follow the wind through the year. From May to October, the Egypt Kite Cruise spends a week aboard a luxury motor yacht in the Red Sea. It sails out of Hurghada and moves between desert-island kite spots based on the wind rather than a fixed itinerary. From December to April, the Panama Kite House in Punta Chame puts riders right on the country's main kitesurfing beach, with the area's sandbars and lagoons close by. For private groups, The Rider Experience also arranges luxury catamaran and motor yacht kite cruises in the Bahamas, Panama's San Blas archipelago, St Vincent and the Grenadines, the Greek Cyclades, and Sardinia and Corsica, as well as private charters in Egypt. They can also send experienced kite instructors and boat crew to join a yacht a group already owns or has chartered. Every trip is built around maximum quality time on the water. That means lessons and coaching with radio helmets, current Duotone and Core equipment, and a social, small-group atmosphere. The operator says roughly half of their riders come back to rebook.