Hi all,

Just borrowed an 11m Ozone Edge and a 2011 Cabrinha raceboard (thanks SHQ).

Curious to hear what wind range I should be aiming for with this kit? I'm guessing 12-16 knots as I've had one twintip session on this kite and it seemed to work from 16-22 or so for my size - 78kg on my 50fifty.

Also, any tips for a first time raceboard rider? I have a lot of windsurfing race experience (slalom and course) so any similar/different techniques that may be handy?

Hey Jojo,

Here's a few.
-Don't let the fins hit you, and don't kick them trying to get on the board... They can do serious damage to soggy feet.
-Wind range will be bigger than you think, just gets harder on your legs the faster you go due to apparent wind.
- Try to keep board as Flat as possible when going upwind, play with this and you'll def see why. Yes pointing your toes will hurt until you get conditioned for it
- Don't stop if the wind gets light :-)... Speed is your friend.
- Stay away from shallow water...takes longer to stop and or turn around than you think.
- All combos have a sweet spot for angle Vs speed. You'll find that you can point very high and still carry good speed and it be fairly comfy on body.
Try to get that last few degrees of height (and carry good speed too) and you'll start working the body pretty hard.
- learn to go downwind at pace... Harder than you think, try figure 8 kiteloops if running square.
- careful when carrying it around that you don't damage it with your harness... Yes my race board has scratche/dents from letting mates borrow it!

Have fun bro, there is no feeling quite like roaring upwind on these things.
Chris.

Out of desperation and curiousity I got in a 20 minute session just as the sun went down today. Fawkner was reading 12-14 and that was just enough for me to get going with the 11m Edge.

What did I find out?

Certainly a delicate touch helps with the footwork; trim angle is everything for maintaining speed and height.

Early days yet but even in this marginal stuff the quad fin setup is clearly not oriented to slashy turns! This "stiff" feel is familiar to me from windsurfing race boards but still a new learning curve with the kite.

The Edge has amazing ability to generate power from apparent wind. The harder I dived it the more board speed I could build and yes, Ozone's spiel is true, it builds remarkable power on the upstroke when sineing.

It's quite surreal to be planing fairly fast, pointing upwind, with not much sense of pull through the harness and not much more than ripples on the water.

May get out tomorrow, though if it's more than 18 knots I think I'll take the 50fifty.

11m edge and 183 cab race board. should be going in 10. keep the board flat. dead flat, like on a slalom sailboard or course board. in light winds more critical to keep the board flat and load the fins....gently in light winds and stay over the board as a 2knot drop in wind is a heap in 10 knots. if your out off the board and wind drops by 2-3 in that light wind you quickly bog in.

I have only had a few goes too, but that's my findings to date.

Sick fun though. I'm hooked. I look forward to light wind days now....who would have thought.

trimming the kite is really important.

I had a good few hours on the weekend riding my race board and a 17m kite in light winds. I found when i pulled in all the depower my upwind angle increased significantly and so did my board speed all while reducing the load on my legs and body :) win win.

extend trimline/depower rope, keep in ya hand and constantly trim- hang in there and build your leg strength up..

i personally find it hard to ride fast over powered on raceboard.

hi there,

yep, as Marvin says, if you tweak your depower line in order to have more depower range and a longer rope that you can keep in your hands (or at least close to the bar) = it's gonna help a fair bit for keeping the body leaning back and keeping the board flat.

I found that a seat harness also significantly improves the ability to push the board flat for much longer without feeling your legs getting warm.

the kite size in racing seems to be the biggest you can handle upwind by keeping a good upwind angle: you depower your kite while going upwind and give more power to your kite downwind when you need the extra power :0)

I also found in lighter conditions, that I tend to get better upwind angle if I keep my kite higher than 45 degrees. From twin tip riding, we tend to keep the kite pretty low, but on your race-board you can try much higher, and I have the impression that it really helps in lighter conditions. Give it a try :0)

good to see more and more people getting on raceboards
Let's hope someone decides to organize a nice kite-racing competition in Australia in 2012 ;0)