Hey fellas / any one out their any good at switch footing on directional boards . Learning to do it but keen for any help / advice . Do you raise the kite before attemping to do it / so as to take weight off your feet . I seem to over load the board on changing over .?

Jeff .

or you could ride toeside.

Kitehard said...

Hi Jeff,

Yep no worries mate. To gybe a kitesurf board is the same as a windsurfing gybe. To begin with, you need to keep some speed so as not to come off the plane. Take your back foot out of the strap and place it on the board just in front of the back foot strap, then loosen your front foot out a little so it is easy to get out quickly when you need it. Start bringing your kite up towards zenith and move your rear foot slightly to the downwind rail to even the weight out on the board as you start riding downwind.

Once your kite passes 12 o'clock, remove your front foot and put it along side the backfoot but balancing the board by keeping both feet either side of the centre line of the board just behind the front footstrap. Then, quickly place your new front foot into the front footstrap (this all needs to happen quite quickly) and apply some pressure to complete the turn of the board fairly quickly.

Slide your back foot into the centre of the board just in front of the back footstrap and leave it there to trim the board until you get some speed up. Once you get some speed up, shift your weight on the front foot to allow you to insert your back foot into the strap, then resume normal foot weighting to ride upwind.

Smile and wave to your adoring fans!

If you have no straps, it's just a shuffle of your feet similar but easier than the above.

Good winds,

Kite hard / Thanks very much . I have looked at a few dvd's but it is always better obtaining some advice . I will be giving it a go today and are determined to succeed . I have sailed sail boards as well so that may help .

Thanks
Again

While we are on the subject of riding toe side, I'm having trouble staying up wind riding my mutant while toe side. Am I not getting enough weight on the rear fins? The whole stance feels a bit weird at the moment too, kind of twisted. Which way do you actually look towards? ahead of you or more to the kite?
Control of the kite is not easy either.
Where am i going wrong?

slimjim said...

While we are on the subject of riding toe side, I'm having trouble staying up wind riding my mutant while toe side. Am I not getting enough weight on the rear fins? The whole stance feels a bit weird at the moment too, kind of twisted. Which way do you actually look towards? ahead of you or more to the kite?
Control of the kite is not easy either.
Where am i going wrong?

Hi Slimjim,

For a start you are on a mutant which is a small board so you use more power than a directional surfboard. Biggest mistake people make when learning toeside riding is to sheet out too much as you try and maintain balance. Second thing is your harness. If you are wearing a seat harness, start looking around for a good waist harness as a waist will allow the hook to pivot around to face the kite which means your body doesn't have to. This makes it easier to take a comfortable upwind riding posture.

As you are used to having most foot presure on your back foot, when you go switch, your brain tends to want this to continue and so inadvertantly your front foot ends up with too much pressure and causes downwind direction. By laying your body out and letting go with your new back hand, allow your front arm, shoulders and back arm to form a straight line and your body will open into a nice position allowing you better balance and control, and will allow you to get more weight onto your back foot.

Remember you need to lean forward away from the kite to edge against it. Keep your back leg bent and fly with your forward hand only initially, allow your other hand to trail and do some nice hand drags if you want to do something with the spare hand. It will make the job a lot easier.

Your leading shoulder needs to face the kite, your body should face upwind and look in the direction you want to ride in.

Give it a go and have fun.

Good winds,

If you like using a seat harness (because of a crook back, hate a waist harnesses riding up under your armpits, broken ribs, etc) then try using a narrow sliding spreader bar - this enables the hook to slide across to your hip and avoids fighting the twisting of a fixed spreaderbar.

Yep I'd like to see a pic too as I've never seen a sliding spreader bar

Hi guys,

It seems to be a common misconception that a seat harness is good for a bad back. This may or may not be true depending upon the reason for the bad back.

I heard it said by a doctor that a seat harness allows the upper body to remain in constant compression and with the jarring and bent angle as you try and remain upright, that any compressional pain related injury like slipped disc, bulging disc, worn discs, pinched nerve etc is actually worsened by a seat.

A good Waist harness on the other hand allows the back to unload the compression and helps keep the back straight thus releiving some of the pain of compression and bending. You will bend at the hips rather than the lower back. This is true only of a good supportive waist harness like the wide and high back Flight Control by Flying Objects.

A narrow spreader bar although when setup on a wide tape running from one side to the other of the harness will slide around making it easier to ride switch and blind, it will also pull upwards and roll more digging into your ribs which can be augmented by using a spreader bar pad. However, add this to a narrow spreader bar also pulling the two tapes in on a trapezoidal angle will unecessarily pull inwards towards the spreader causing acute compression of the ribs which leads to a lot of pain and worse.

A Spreader bar is designed to spread the load to as wide as possible to prevent rib compression due to a narrow pulling angle created by a short spreader.

The one in the pictures above would be ideal but it looks big and cumbersome. Better to just ride a waist that will slide around your body as required. If your waist doesn't slide, wear a rashie under it and it will rotate nicely.

Good winds,

Love your work Ian, and it's getting windy.

We shall be setting up from 2pm.....fingers crossed.

I just love the 10 year old pink harness.........a man way ahead of the times.

Hey " Poor Relative " is that your seat harness or waist harness you are wearing in the photo . ( excellant photo )

Just as a point of interest / I have converted a Dakine seat harness into a sliding waist harness simular to Ian Youngs and it is a treat to use . Actually makes back rolls easier and toe side riding comfortable . Easy to convert and works well .

It's easy. Just go into your turn but leave your feet fixed in place. Make sure you put plenty of wax on your board. It helps to be right in the middle of your comfort zone in terms of wind strength.

jeff; you still have to have a fair bit of power and momentum when you switch your feet or the board tends to bog in and you lose balance easily.
i switch feet, get my balance and stance right, and then turn. going the other tack i turn, stay toeside for a bit until i have some speed and balance, and then change feet. i've seen heaps of different methods though.

practice on flat water and you will find the most comfortable way for your riding style.
it takes some time but i reckon its worth learning to gybe, its much easier to get out through big surf heelside, you get upwind quicker, and you give your back foot a rest.

Bang on Neil, I too have learnt switch. It's kinda nice to have the ability to smack a wave in any direction at any time, especially in onshore slop. Will endeavour to master the pre-gybe foot dance as you described, looks like the way forward.

Hey Fellows / I am riding a Spleene Zone . It is a bit thinner than most boards but find it awsume to use in the surf & fast to plain .

Thanks for all your advice , I guess it is now up to me .

These guy shave it nailed... very impressive and many years off for most of us if at all unfortunately