One of the guys (Michael from Brissy) at the Bali wave camp decided to give riding his 9'ft 6 Mactavish in the waves with his kite.
I had seen a few people try this in light wind but it was a real eye opener to see what what was possible in decent surf and wind - after 2 days he really got it mastered and ripped.
Here are some pics - anyone else using a longboard???? I am certainly going to have a crack when we get some wind.
cheers
Bruce

Chris from monkeykites does all the time, he's very good.

I notice that he still has a leg rope on the board, would that be recommended? I would love to give it a go, superlight winds, small kite, massive board GOLD

dont start a leg rope discussion-

but yes big board and a small kite -

dont discount using a mal when the winfd and waves are good - I was amazed at what could be achieved - nose rides looked sick!!!

Hey Bruce

I spent the whole Mambo in 2003 on a 7'6" minimal and an Airush Flow. First time it had been done in a comp I think.

Its really fun

Good winds,

Saw a great shot of Robbie Naish jumping his HUGE SUP board recently, in Kitesurf mag, no straps, nothing. How about those watermen.

I tried this on a 7"2' awhile back and obviouslly got going really damn easy but it was very set and forget with board angle, it was soo hard to turn and keep up speed. practise makes perfect I suppose, i only tried once. well done to eveyone who has got somewhere with it, very old skool, very cool.

Great! ive got a Naish 6 6" hybrid that ive allways wanted to use with the kite.never gotten around to it.maybe this summer.

That looks like's a Cabrinha Revolver in the photo's. How was the Revolver stacking up compared to Revs and Fuels Bruce?

Hey Bruce looks and sounds like you guy's had a blast! you did however miss the swell of year here! no joke it was Massive! cross off shore at times as well.

Late one arvo the Caloundra bar was Pumping solid 8ft easy, only 2 guy's out kiting with whole bunch of windsurfers.You and Ben would have loved it

Talk to you soon mate.

Give me plenty of notice and put my name down for the next trip.

Cheers

Luke

Select to expand quote

KiteAction said...



Hey Bruce looks and sounds like you guy's had a blast! you did however miss the swell of year here! no joke it was Massive! cross off shore at times as well.

Late one arvo the Caloundra bar was Pumping solid 8ft easy, only 2 guy's out kiting with whole bunch of windsurfers.You and Ben would have loved it

Talk to you soon mate.

Dude... I know! Of course that was the day when my wife decided to go into labour. I also had my honeymoon three years ago when we had that massive cyclone swell pass through... arghhh. Priorites.

Looks like you had some decent waves there too Brucey.

Hi, Chris here. I have been using a long board for years, in 8 knots you can generate apparent wind + using the wave you can get allot of power. In 10 knots you can get the feeling of being overpowered at times with a 12m kite. This is better than sinking up to your arse on a twin tip any day. Also on a good minimal in light winds you get more of a surf feeling as you are using the board more than using the kite on the waves. Just don't ride the wave under your kite.

I was learning to kite on a surfboard back in 2000 and wondered why more people where not using surfboards, now using surfboards is very "in"

I don't think using malls will ever be "in" but it can be allot of fun.

And don't use a leash unless you want a mall flicking towards your head after a nose dive or wipe out.

Yeah, mals are heaps of fun for kiting. Interesting also that a bigger board will make a much greater difference in light wind kiting than a bigger kite by a long shot. You can kite on a 9m in 10knots with a mal when you'd be wishing for the biggest kite you could find for a twin tip in the same conditions. Chris really got the whole mal thing started in Sydney back about 2000 when we were sitting around one day with about 7 knots waiting for the wind to come up and he just grabbed my mal, jumped on it and away he went and we've been riding 9ft+ mals every since. Also, a 7'2" mini-mal is heaps of fun too. In fact, just about anything that will float can be fun to kite on, from boogie boards, to skimboard, to chunks of wood, to table tops, etc. etc...

PS One thing you'll find though is that on a big mal you need to change the centre fin to a small almost thruster size fin or the drag will just ruin you. Amazing the difference the fin makes when kiting. I put about a equivalent G5 one in the finbox on my 9'3" mal (along with two small sidefins) when kiting and use a huge like 12" thing on the same board for surfing.

Hey Splatt Wicked photo's Mate!

Love the little cover up! Nice work!

Regards

Luke

That trip was my first time on my longboard in waves with a kite, and It was amazing. I would not have been game to try it before I picked up some excellent tips from Ben and Bruce particularly on the unstrapped riding and unhooking.
As for riding the mal on big waves, it is a confidence game. but if it goes wrong, there is definitely an extra layer of complication with 9'6" of foam and glass attached to you.

At the risk of starting another debate it sounds a little to "complicated" to me.


I have used my 9'1" Mal a couple of times but have never been game enough to attach myself to it whilst kiting but I guess I have had the luxury of wide sandy bays.

I usually ride my 9'3 in sub 10 knots, with a massive 15m foil kite (I'm 64 kg...). this is great fun for light wind, you can even keep standing up on it for 2-3 seconds with no pull if necessary in the lulls. The big board also provide peace of mind in case you need to self-rescue: very practical to paddle back to shore. Also the big board handles chops very well, I think better than a 6ft, due to the inertie provided by its extra weigh. The usable wind range is much larger than one would think.

for waves, it might be pretty challenging to use such big board due to slow truning speed... only a beginer in waves, so can't really say.

found that by removing the centre long fin and just keeping the 2 very small side fins, it is very easy to attempt 180/360 with the board... not that easy to nail it smoothly though :D

HI JAques.
I have my VERY big centre fin in when kiting in solid waves, and need the bite to carve turns, particularly in larger waves. I will try replacing it with a smaller one next time and see how it goes. Probably in smaller waves. Not hard back in SE qld at the moment, just need some wind!!!

HI JAques.
I have my VERY big centre fin in when kiting in solid waves, and need the bite to carve turns, particularly in larger waves. I will try replacing it with a smaller one next time and see how it goes. Probably in smaller waves. Not hard back in SE qld at the moment, just need some wind!!!

I wondering how long before people started jumping on Mals. I've been thinking of doing it for awhile as well. The windsurfers have also started stepping into it using big boards in the waves and when the wind is 10-12knts - looks really fun.

I haven't used my mal for a while, having a decent 5ft 10ft fish and 14m kite can almost be just as good, and you have a lot more room in the car.

with a mal and a 12m or 14m I should be able to get going in 7knots or more. ( I am 83 kilos)

Waves and mals are fun.

Who is for a mal kiting contest?

Rob, do you want to organise a inflatable mattress kiting contest?

i am on, just have to prepare my board: