NSW
1654 posts
Hey all,
To those kiter's who mainly surf, what is the best way to wash off board speed and keep tension on the lines when it is over 5 or 6 foot. I was out riding yesterday, conditions were about 4 to 6 foot on the sets coming from the NE with some southerly starting to come in. South wind in the low 20ish blowing cross on, gusty at times but totally manageable. I was riding lefts, (natural footer) unstrapped, and would catch the swells from a fair way out the back but riding almost parallel to the coast. I had so much speed racing across on the swell waiting for it to start breaking, and when it did all I could do was either ride strait across the wave or point it toward the shore and cut back into it. How do the experts slow themselves down quickly so you can carve more of the wave and then use the juice of the kite to zip past a closeout section, or use the power to bounce off the closeout for a reentry. It was really fun doing those speed runs but I want to be able to turn on waves like I can when its 2 to 4 foot.
Thanks....
4862 posts
smaller kite?
The times i have felt like that are when i'm too powered.
PS i'm assuming your riding upwind on the wave face?
QLD
2797 posts
i try to stomp on the tail of the board, or point so high to almost stall the power completely. then as the wave breaks drop in as if you are surfing it.
if you take the drop later and rely only on the power of the wave this might help. just use the kite to get in position then forget about it.
QLD
2797 posts
wait, you're going left in a southerly? so as plummet said you're riding upwind?
if that's the case then he's right- you need to ride right or use a smaller kite
NSW
1654 posts
No, the angle was such that the lefts were slightly down wind. The rights were worse, I would outrun the kite every time and had to loop like crazy to keep it up and back into the zone That angle was more upwind. (I would have loved to go right, but it was an interesting angle and all you could do was a carve off the face and back into the other direction. The waves were too fast to carve back up. However, the lefts were lined up and long, which is great, but I really wanted to ride a bit more vertically. Maybe the stamping on the tail will be the go.
Thanks
WA
9789 posts
Dafish whats ya kite and board combo? Is it a good drifter?
So when you bottom turn, including really stomping on your back foot, is it a kite that you could slightly redirect then depower compeltely?
Or are you unhooked?
NSW
1654 posts
Hey Eppo,
kite drifts well, I think I had too much kite though. My 9 is trashed and it wasn't enough to be powered up on my 7, so I had my 11.5. Surfboard is a 6 1" thruster and 18 and half wide, plenty of concave. Very fast board and holds an edge well.
I ride hooked in but am started to unhook a little and small days.
New 9 is coming soon, but not soon enough...
