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Loftywinds said..

bigtone667 said..
This past weeks exciting beginner news is:


I got my arse dragged up a beach with a botched self launch (I was the only one there)........

And you didn't quick release the entire kite because?

The death rolls have happened to me maybe five times in pretty light conditions with no major drama's, bridle nearly always releases, so i have dealt with it.

Had a mate tell me my kites were not firm enough about a week ago!!

But i got done by a brisk wind on a small launch zone. Should have pulled safety immediately but assumed i could manage it.

It went wrong very very quickly.

As i was being dragged up the beach, head first on my back, my only thought was 'this is going to hurt'!

I will have a whole six weeks to mull on it.

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Phoney said..

Gorgo said...
There are two ways to get better faster:

1. Do a relatively long downwinder. You get to spend an hour just kiting back and forth without wasting all that time walking back upwind. That is how all the old school people learned. There are quite a few safety issues you need to sort out (beibng able to relaunch, beaches to land on, getting back to the start, etc etc)

This is a good tip. Particularly for those of you in Sydney & kiting in Botany Bay.

I battled one afternoon at Dolls point in a southerly kiting in and out in and out for 5 mins, then walking back up the beach for 20 mins and getting completely knackered in the process.

Then I met a friendly old hand who suggested that rather than walking back up the beach, keep going down the beach for the next 5 kilometres all the way down until where there are other kiters who can help you land down on the beach. Deflate your kite and wrap it around your board, keep $5 in your boardies to buy yourself a cold drink and a bus ticket back up the road to your car.

So I did that the following day and I probably kited more in that hour than I had in the previous half a dozen sessions. Got some funny looks when I got on the bus dripping wet in wetsuit carrying a board & a kite though

Just bookmarked this thread, a wealth of information in here.
And this tip above is a brilliant idea that I will try next time I'm at 1st car park. Kite all the way down to Dolls Point and catch a bus back up, clever!

What tired me out the most is doing the walk of shame over and over.

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Kajo said..

Phoney said..

Gorgo said...
There are two ways to get better faster:

1. Do a relatively long downwinder. You get to spend an hour just kiting back and forth without wasting all that time walking back upwind. That is how all the old school people learned. There are quite a few safety issues you need to sort out (beibng able to relaunch, beaches to land on, getting back to the start, etc etc)

This is a good tip. Particularly for those of you in Sydney & kiting in Botany Bay.

I battled one afternoon at Dolls point in a southerly kiting in and out in and out for 5 mins, then walking back up the beach for 20 mins and getting completely knackered in the process.

Then I met a friendly old hand who suggested that rather than walking back up the beach, keep going down the beach for the next 5 kilometres all the way down until where there are other kiters who can help you land down on the beach. Deflate your kite and wrap it around your board, keep $5 in your boardies to buy yourself a cold drink and a bus ticket back up the road to your car.

So I did that the following day and I probably kited more in that hour than I had in the previous half a dozen sessions. Got some funny looks when I got on the bus dripping wet in wetsuit carrying a board & a kite though

Just bookmarked this thread, a wealth of information in here.
And this tip above is a brilliant idea that I will try next time I'm at 1st car park. Kite all the way down to Dolls Point and catch a bus back up, clever!

What tired me out the most is doing the walk of shame over and over.

Me too Kajo! But this afternoon was the one where a lot of things came together for me. FINALLY figured out to fly the kite and edge (at least some of the time) so got through the longest runs ever sine-ing kite and hopefully not too poohy-stanced. Had one of two face plants when the fins dug into sandbars which were fun as no damage done.

learnt today that 12m kites and trees dont mix well(ranger taking pics),way to windy and crew still get them out.i ended up using a 7m but soon ended up watching and knowing my limit.

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fuall said...
learnt today that 12m kites and trees dont mix well(ranger taking pics),way to windy and crew still get them out.i ended up using a 7m but soon ended up watching and knowing my limit.

What unit had a 12m up today, with the Ranger taking pics kiss that spot goodbye. Can't wait till those river guys that like to bounce their kite down the street or into trees get banned and come down to the ocean, awesome.

One of the benefits of being sick yesterday was that I could read all 20 pages of this thread, lots of good tips and advice - thanks everyone! Looking forward to getting out there and trying my new hobbie! See you on the water in WA!

all i know is, know your limits, wind speed v Kite size and dont launch next to the biggest funk off tree in the hood,actually no trees at all! These crew that right it on just stuff it up for the rest of us! GGGGRRRRRR! yew!

That sounded seriously scary Bigtone, so glad you came out of it relatively unscathed.

Hello,

I've been reading this thread so I thought I'd post on my progress.... Yesterday at Botany bay was my 3rd proper session where I was going back and forth on the board. I have lots of troubles dealing with the chop at Botany bay (first car park), I keep crashing into the chop especially when going fast and lose control I can stay upwind but doing the poo stance too much. I felt over powered many times with my 11m switchblade and 142cm board. Even with de-power all the way off I struggle to keep it under control. I try to absorb the chop by bending the knees but so many things happening at the same time, including looking at the kite too much. I stop looking at it, it flies back toward 11/1 and loses the edge...
Ok I need to learn back further, edge and park the kite more during the gusts ? Is there a quicker way to get the kite to the edge in gusts ? Oh and a mate said to push the bars down near the waist, what effect does this have exactly ?

Also does a 142 board make me go faster than say a 136 board ? Time to go smaller (I'm 81kgs) I know people say smaller board gives you more control, I feel I have a lot of control with the slingshot misfit though which I love

Cheers,

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Alysum said..
Hello,

I've been reading this thread so I thought I'd post on my progress.... Yesterday at Botany bay was my 3rd proper session where I was going back and forth on the board. I have lots of troubles dealing with the chop at Botany bay (first car park), I keep crashing into the chop especially when going fast and lose control I can stay upwind but doing the poo stance too much. I felt over powered many times with my 11m switchblade and 142cm board. Even with de-power all the way off I struggle to keep it under control. I try to absorb the chop by bending the knees but so many things happening at the same time, including looking at the kite too much. I stop looking at it, it flies back toward 11/1 and loses the edge...
Ok I need to learn back further, edge and park the kite more during the gusts ? Is there a quicker way to get the kite to the edge in gusts ? Oh and a mate said to push the bars down near the waist, what effect does this have exactly ?

Also does a 142 board make me go faster than say a 136 board ? Time to go smaller (I'm 81kgs) I know people say smaller board gives you more control, I feel I have a lot of control with the slingshot misfit though which I love

Cheers,

I was being lifted off the water yesterday on a 10.5 metre kite and i am 100kg. I ended up fully de-powered and still had exciting moments. Your 11m kite needed to be an 8m kite.

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Alysum said..
Ok I need to learn back further, edge and park the kite more during the gusts ? Is there a quicker way to get the kite to the edge in gusts ? Oh and a mate said to push the bars down near the waist, what effect does this have exactly ?

On gusty days I try to ride with the bar pulled in more than 50% all the time (~75% normal riding to give a bit of play both ways). This gives immediate reaction to a gust by letting the bar out, which will hopefully give enough time to carve more upwind or raise the kite to dump the rest of the power. Your mate might be referring to this?

You can also ride at ~80% controllable speed as well so that you can handle more speed while you correct your kite if you're caught off guard.

Keep an eye on the water too. Severe gusts will make the water ripple and darken, but your kite is high enough to get the gust before it reaches you on the surface (wind will drag on the water surface, slowing it down from the true gust up higher). Rippling ~15m upwind will be a gust about to hit your kite. If the water is already choppy it will make it harder to pick up surface indicators, but they will be there when you get to know your local spot.

Also note that some locations are more gusty than others. If the wind is coming over trees / buildings, there will be eddies extending as much as 200m downwind causing gusts and dead pockets (I reckon much worse than gusts as they can drop your kite and need a minute or so to relaunch & get going). Wind coming over the ocean will have the minimum amount of gusts and also be more like a surge than an immediate slap onto the kite.

Thanks for the responses.

bigtone667> I think I had the right kite size for the nor'easter that day, 11m is common for 20-24 knots. There were some gusts to 27/29 which were tricky to control. Perhaps a shorter board is the next move... No one was out on an 8m kite that day, mixture of 12,11,10,9m.

VRBones> Interesting approach, do you mean you pull in i.e. arms not straight to "choke" the kite when it's parked and ease in gusts ? Either way my arms are always well extended.

Reading the other threads, I think I just need to learn further back and edge the board HARD by digging the back foot to steer the board upwind to slow down ? It's when I go very fast and get out of control that I just let go the kite that I'm trying to control

Pretty stoked with my session yesterday and hope this encourages a few others that are battling with the basics of getting going reliably.

You WILL get there...this has taken at least 25 hours to click for me and a lot of struggles; but it is so worth it to persist.

Nothing else matters when you are out on the water.

Boxing Day wind around 1pm was a little up and down at Altona. SW coming in between 10 and 17 knots.

Got that sick feeling that the wind was going to drop away to nothing just as I was setting up my 10 as I got caught a couple of times with setting up and then needing to pack down with not enough wind.

One of the local blokes who was there who I've met a few times and scammed lots of tips off offered to launch me (I can self launch most of the time now by drifting the kite off the water's edge; but always nice to have a hand and save a bit of wear and tear on the gear)

What was learnt/consolidated?

1/ Apparent Wind is your friend!
2/Don't be so afraid to pick up a bit of speed ....flying the kite smoothly combined with digging in the edge means you can control your speed before things get a bit scary and out of control
3/ If you lift your toes the edge will dig in. It will NOT slip out from under you. Physics works! Remember : weigh on back leg (quads)!
4/ When you open up your front shoulder to get a better stance, be mindful that the kite doesn't fly up to 12. Keep the kite at 45 and just pulse it an sheet in and out to regulate speed
5/Hands loose on the bar....fingertips only! This for me was a big breakthrough because once I did this, my feel of what the kite was doing was so much better.
6/Enjoy the sound that the edge makes as it cuts through the water....just magic.

Next targets are :
a/ more consistency with going up wind (got a good tip to make longer tacks so will implement that), get better at adjusting trim strap to encourage this.
b/ transitions (nearly got one or two of these by accident when kite went up to 12 when I wasn't looking)
c/ a jump or two?


Always something to try and learn next at this stage !

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Alysum said..
Thanks for the responses.

bigtone667> I think I had the right kite size for the no

Alysum said..
Thanks for the responses.

bigtone667> I think I had the right kite size for the nor'easter that day, 11m is common for 20-24 knots. There were some gusts to 27/29 which were tricky to control. Perhaps a shorter board is the next move... No one was out on an 8m kite that day, mixture of 12,11,10,9m.

VRBones> Interesting approach, do you mean you pull in i.e. arms not straight to "choke" the kite when it's parked and ease in gusts ? Either way my arms are always well extended.

Reading the other threads, I think I just need to learn further back and edge the board HARD by digging the back foot to steer the board upwind to slow down ? It's when I go very fast and get out of control that I just let go the kite that I'm trying to control

r'easter that day, 11m is common for 20-24 knots. There were some gusts to 27/29 which were tricky to control. Perhaps a shorter board is the next move... No one was out on an 8m kite that day, mixture of 12,1

Hi Alysum, i got lucky on the day with much steadier 25-30 knots. I had chat with a mate who was there for your 10 to 15 knots of variation and he started on a twelve and went down to a ten with lots of trim.

All you can really do with that much variation is try to have your bar at about 50% travel (massaging the trim), this will allow you to release the pressure of the gust by pushing the bar right out. If you are already fully trimmed and still saluting, you need to drop your kite size.

A smaller board makes a difference, just adds more drag which can help in pushing the kite closer to the wind.

The botany bay chop can also be unhelpful. As you come to top of all those little launch ramps, you need to push your bar out a little, lift your knees a little and drive your board down the other side.

It is all good practice for winter winds on botany bay.

Today I learned how to confidently fly the the kite at an angle whilst walking back up wind I also got up the board more frequently, although only for short periods, then I just seem to lose power and sink back in or the board sinks. I ensured that I do not choke the kite, dunno what I'm doing wrong?

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Medic said..
Today I learned how to confidently fly the the kite at an angle whilst walking back up wind I also got up the board more frequently, although only for short periods, then I just seem to lose power and sink back in or the board sinks. I ensured that I do not choke the kite, dunno what I'm doing wrong?

This is something I only just learned so it's still fresh.

Is your board pointing downwind when you dive the kite?

Losing power is often because you don't have enough board speed to get planing.

Going downwind a little gets you the initial boost of speed you need.

You also need to keep the kite moving smoothly...so think ahead to the next movement...sheet in...sheet out...move the kite up and down just a little. Someone else here said it takes about 3 pumps to get going enough for the apparent wind effect to kick in.

Combination of kite moving, sheeting in and out, and board direction (and stance).

Stick with it...you aren't far off being up on the board and cruising along.

Also helps to chat to the locals when things are quiet or offer to assist them launch and land, then some of them will give you suggestions of things to try
(also makes the whole experience more fun when you get to know some friendly faces).

I finally can upwind and then two lines snapped on the way back in-DOH!

Sure was cruising today Got up on the board more often than not, had a couple of decent runs, both sides! Awesome feeling when it all works out, even managed to go a bit upwind on one of the runs! Thanks for the advice! Super stoked!

Sick one Medic! now how to go both ways with out stopping,switchfoot is my next learning curve? any suggestions anyone? My goal is to be going both ways and upwind without stopping by season end-Cocos Islands mmm maybe?

Botany Bay first car park today from 4pm, blowing 25 knots peaking high 20s. The trouble wasn't the wind with my 11m fully depowered, it was the chop ! It was so messy and nasty that I struggled big time... I can go upwind no problems, I just find it hard trying to absorb everything by leaning back and bending the legs... Any tips for dealing with that kind of chop ? I'm guessing a 142 board doesn't help either

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Alysum said..
Botany Bay first car park today from 4pm, blowing 25 knots peaking high 20s. The trouble wasn't the wind with my 11m fully depowered, it was the chop ! It was so messy and nasty that I struggled big time... I can go upwind no problems, I just find it hard trying to absorb everything by leaning back and bending the legs... Any tips for dealing with that kind of chop ? I'm guessing a 142 board doesn't help either

I'm with you on that too Alysum. I was on a 12m Cabrinha Vector using a 140/42 board and struggled with the chop. This was before the wind picked up and I was done by 4pm.
I was told that I need a smaller board which would help.

Any ideas on this?

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Alysum said..
Botany Bay first car park today from 4pm, blowing 25 knots peaking high 20s. The trouble wasn't the wind with my 11m fully depowered, it was the chop ! It was so messy and nasty that I struggled big time... I can go upwind no problems, I just find it hard trying to absorb everything by leaning back and bending the legs... Any tips for dealing with that kind of chop ? I'm guessing a 142 board doesn't help either

I found the following solutions for me .....

- The more experienced I became, the better I edged, and the less the chopped smacked me around.
- I got rid of my flatter, rockerless boards
- Shinn Speedball was excellent with chop, like riding a pillow
- Mako King was also excellent (massive rocker and concave)
- Cabrinha Tronic was also excellent, massive flex!!!

I am soooooooooooo hooked. Had an absolutely epic session last Saturday at Botany (the choppy day). Finally managed to stay upwind and kited the same spot for two hours. My legs are so sore from dealing with the chop and edging and I was getting overpowered on my 12m kite in the 25 knot wind (with kite 75% depowered). It was so much fun, to finally be able to stay upwind and no more tiring walks of shame.

Tbh it's always been heaps of fun, but also very scary as I have been so concentrated not to get injured and stay in control that I didn't have a lot of time to just relax and enjoy the experience. Until last Saturday when I learned how to really control my speed, the chop etc. I'm so psyched, I can't stop thinking about how f*king amazing it was.
I used to be so scared to get overpowered and lose control, but it feels so good to be able to deal with it and have fun doing it at the same time.

What an awesome feeling and I haven't even started jumping yet. Even managed a couple of transitions.
Flying towards the beach with what feels like 40-50km/h and being able to break in time without riding up the sand into a bunch of people is sooo sweet.Just generally riding sort of parallel close to shore is so much fun as you see how much ground you cover...

I could go on for hours....

Next step is a smaller kite to deal with those 22 knots and up...Maybe a 10...?

go an 8 or 9m Ozone Catalyst

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bigtone667 said..

Alysum said..
Botany Bay first car park today from 4pm, blowing 25 knots peaking high 20s. The trouble wasn't the wind with my 11m fully depowered, it was the chop ! It was so messy and nasty that I struggled big time... I can go upwind no problems, I just find it hard trying to absorb everything by leaning back and bending the legs... Any tips for dealing with that kind of chop ? I'm guessing a 142 board doesn't help either

I found the following solutions for me .....

- The more experienced I became, the better I edged, and the less the chopped smacked me around.
- I got rid of my flatter, rockerless boards
- Shinn Speedball was excellent with chop, like riding a pillow
- Mako King was also excellent (massive rocker and concave)
- Cabrinha Tronic was also excellent, massive flex!!!

Thanks for the response. I ride a Slingshot misfit which already has lots of rocker and flex... but I'll take your advice to become more experienced ! I love that board

I have also ordered a 9m kite for those upper 20 knots days, a Switch Element 3

Yesterday I was at Botany for an evening session and I was out on my Switch Element 3 13m kite in 16-20 knots, it was an amazing session was pretty much the only one kiting... And the kite is such a great kite, much better than my Switchblade 11m... It's so smooth, lots of depower you just park it there and it stays there.

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bfg said..
Pretty stoked with my session yesterday and hope this encourages a few others that are battling with the basics of getting going reliably.

You WILL get there...this has taken at least 25 hours to click for me and a lot of struggles; but it is so worth it to persist.

Thanks for the encouragement bfg. I really need it after my disappointing day today.

I have had 3 lessons so far and that has given me the confidence to take the kite into the water on my own to get a better feel for it and do some body dragging practice. I've had three good afternoons body dragging across the Maroochydore river mouth. I even surprised myself with making my way upwind (the outgoing tide did help ........ a lot).

So today I decided it was time to have another go at getting up in the board and headed up to Lake Weyba (I didn't want to risk watching my board heading out to sea on the outgoing Maroochydore tide). What a disaster it turned out to be!!

I just can't believe that adding the board to the piece can cause me to lose control of the kite so quickly!! When I was body dragging I felt we'll in control of the kite. Damn!!

On the third attempt I crashed the kite really hard and tore a hole in it (she is/was a rather "tired" old Cabrinha Switchblade 3 that had several "war wounds" when I acquired her). I had to pack up and went home, tail between the legs and a very, very deflated enthusiasm for my new kiteboarding adventure.

Oh well ....... hopefully a good nights' sleep will help me get over it.

Today I did my first jumps, they were quite messy but exciting

Also learning to turn heelside to toeside for the first time, so far I've crashed on each turn, I think I turn the kite the opposite way too soon before my board is pointing in the new direction. Is this turn this the best way to learn toeside I've never kited toeside so it will obviously feel unatural at first

Mate,

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SansWind said..

bfg said..
Pretty stoked with my session yesterday and hope this encourages a few others that are battling with the basics of getting going reliably.

You WILL get there...this has taken at least 25 hours to click for me and a lot of struggles; but it is so worth it to persist.

Thanks for the encouragement bfg. I really need it after my disappointing day today.

I have had 3 lessons so far and that has given me the confidence to take the kite into the water on my own to get a better feel for it and do some body dragging practice. I've had three good afternoons body dragging across the Maroochydore river mouth. I even surprised myself with making my way upwind (the outgoing tide did help ........ a lot).

So today I decided it was time to have another go at getting up in the board and headed up to Lake Weyba (I didn't want to risk watching my board heading out to sea on the outgoing Maroochydore tide). What a disaster it turned out to be!!

I just can't believe that adding the board to the piece can cause me to lose control of the kite so quickly!! When I was body dragging I felt we'll in control of the kite. Damn!!

On the third attempt I crashed the kite really hard and tore a hole in it (she is/was a rather "tired" old Cabrinha Switchblade 3 that had several "war wounds" when I acquired her). I had to pack up and went home, tail between the legs and a very, very deflated enthusiasm for my new kiteboarding adventure.

Oh well ....... hopefully a good nights' sleep will help me get over it.

Mate,

You will get there eventually. Just lean back into the harness and play around with the kite. Once you start to lose power just do a power stroke and keep power stroking until you get the jist of it. Something will click I promise you!

Took me about 3 sessions to get properly going on my board.

I'm going out today for my 8th session and can comfortably say I can go upwind fine. Which I am stoked about.

Also started attempting some jumps.

We have all had night mares on the water (or should I say Kitemares). They are very rare but once you deal with them you will learn along the way.

Keep at it and you will notice something you are doing wrong.

Oh and one more thing...
Don't keep doing the exact same thing as what you are doing at the moment.
If things arnt going the way you plan, then you should change your method.
When I first started, I started fine, but then I just sank after 2 seconds.
Took me about an hour to realise that I wasnt power stroking the kite into the power zone (full downwind) I was just power stroking a little bit to the side of the power zone, so when I got up on the board I completely lost all power and sank.
I felt so stupid once I figured out what I was doing wrong.

All the best

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PaulyOS said..

When I first started, I started fine, but then I just sank after 2 seconds.
Took me about an hour to realise that I wasnt power stroking the kite into the power zone (full downwind) I was just power stroking a little bit to the side of the power zone, so when I got up on the board I completely lost all power and sank.
I felt so stupid once I figured out what I was doing wrong.

Sounds like you were also trying to upwind to quickly after starting. Its so much easier to go downwind for a bit to get your speed/edge on then to start going upwind.

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SkipSkip said..

PaulyOS said..

When I first started, I started fine, but then I just sank after 2 seconds.
Took me about an hour to realise that I wasnt power stroking the kite into the power zone (full downwind) I was just power stroking a little bit to the side of the power zone, so when I got up on the board I completely lost all power and sank.
I felt so stupid once I figured out what I was doing wrong.

Sounds like you were also trying to upwind to quickly after starting. Its so much easier to go downwind for a bit to get your speed/edge on then to start going upwind.

Pretty much, I felt so bloody stupid when I realised it