KIT33R said...
Good thread guys. On the topic of downwinders - This is a great way to get time on the water without having to work up wind (wind or foot power) - consider teaming up and leave a car at the downwind finishing spot. Then get everyone to pile into the car for a return to the starting point. Saves a long walk or a bus trip.

No shame at all mate! I mean 2-3 sessions AFTER i figured out the kite. Haha being comfortable on the board means you can skip that phase of learning once you have the kite pulling you along.

From there its just understanding how to get power from your kite to hold your line which just takes some trial and error.

A few things I found really helpful when starting:
- Did a long long downwinder without the board. Helped learn kite control and was great fun. Also used that time to practice upwind body dragging to a boat mooring float.
- Had to learn not to choke the kite.
- Most helpful when waterstarting with board: point the board at the kite until planing. Then gradually bear off. Most useful tip anyone gave me.
- It was easier to learn when adequately powered than when underpowered.
- Flatter water helped to develop the initial the board control.

Good luck guys.

SuperPoop said...

...

How was everyone else's lessons setup?

I had 5 hrs of lessons. Hr 1: Started on the beach with trainer kite. As I'd already been practising on my own kite, I quickly moved to the 'big' kite and into the water, to learn body dragging, self rescue, and due to the lack of wind, lots of water re-launches.

Hr 2-3.5, out on the water practising water-starts (badly) and how to give oneself a cheap saline sinus rinse.

Hr. 3.5-5, more of the same water starting ..

SaltySinus said...

SuperPoop said...

...

How was everyone else's lessons setup?

I had 5 hrs of lessons. Hr 1: Started on the beach with trainer kite. As I'd already been practising on my own kite, I quickly moved to the 'big' kite and into the water, to learn body dragging, self rescue, and due to the lack of wind, lots of water re-launches.

Hr 2-3.5, out on the water practising water-starts (badly) and how to give oneself a cheap saline sinus rinse.

Hr. 3.5-5, more of the same water starting ..

Were your lessons split up into three days, or was it a 5 hour day?

Took the trainer kite out today. The wind was up around 20 knots and I can't say I enjoyed it, felt like my arms were going to rip of. Completely different feeling to the 10-15knots that I usually fly it in.

Hi Everyone,

First post and I have already learned a lot just reading the posts. Just had my first lesson and the second one is just around the corner. Looking forward to getting on the board and have some fun !

Cheers

Thanks Salty, My second lesson with Toddy was postponed to thursday due to the lack of wind.
Hope to meet you guys out there. Happy new year to all

Cheers

Today I've got my second lesson, it was pretty windy (>20 knots) and it was much harder than i thought it would be, didn't get to stand and ride only body dragging with and without the board. So the lesson learned today was, don't holding your expectations too high, be patient and walk a step at a time. Will be back tomorrow :)

BoardGirl said...
Don't be in a hurry to stand up and get going - it is very important to learn to body drag well both with and without the board.

There are a number of people who are incapable of body dragging upwind and therefore struggle to get back to their board if they drop it. There isn't always going to someone out there to get it for you.

Good luck with your next lesson.

I remember Uncle Ray saying try the board after about 10 hours of dragging time. Seems like a lot but it's really only five sessions. People carry on about the walk of shame as well but as a beginner it's pure gold. That time spent controlling the kite with one hand while you walk up the beach trying not to flatten sun bathers is irreplaceable.

After nearly a week being too busy and when I had time, there wasn't wind, I finally went to KFC today (Friday). Nice 15 ish knots and I GOT UP !!!! well for just about 2-3 seconds but I have seen the light..... It should be more improvement tomorrow.

I got my body dragging done ok but i tended to park the kite lower to the water than i should have, Ive seen the 45 degree thing here somewhere and that's when the kite worked best.
One thing i did do when dragging was to roll over on my back slightly, this made me get pulled downwind rather than moving up wind as when you have your body positioned in the water like a keel giving resistance to the kite. It kinda bent me like a banana.

I realised that i had to keep the kite powered up a bit to be able to turn. That was a bit off putting at first because you see all those disaster movies where people power up the kite and get launched.

I did a downwind run moving the kite from 10 - 2 and again found that a sufficiently powered up kite made it a hell of a lot easier. If i whimped it the kite wouldn't turn , once powered again it turned like a dream.
Second lesson next week

Hey superpoop,

well done mate, try to get as much trainer kite time as possible and good luck. Who is your teacher ?

fcalmon said...
Hey superpoop,

well done mate, try to get as much trainer kite time as possible and good luck. Who is your teacher ?

This isn't the best advice. As a beginner with lots of flying time on a trainer kite getting a first lesson on a larger inflatable kite you'll have to make all of the following adjustments:

-Get used to getting pulled from the harness, not the arms
-Get used to not feeling much pressure on the bar
-Constantly adjusting the power of the kite
-Not pulling the bar too far down to feel pressure on the bar
-Finding the sweet spot of power on the bar throw.
-Not launching your kite through the power zone
-Not doing intense figure 8's with your kite on the beach
-Get used to stabilizing the kite with your hands closer to the centre of the bar
-Get used to a kite that can develop 3 to 4 times the amount of power as the trainer

From experience, it's much harder and more dangerous to teach someone with extensive flying time on a trainer as opposed to someone who flew the trainer for only an hour or two. Basically many hours on the trainer kite = many habits to change, many things to adapt/un-learn and transfer to the new style of kite. In other words, it can be a slower learning process than someone who never flew a trainer kite before.

When you use a trainer, it's all about optimizing your flying time, not trying to maximize it and get too used to this style of kite.

cbulota said...

fcalmon said...
Hey superpoop,

well done mate, try to get as much trainer kite time as possible and good luck. Who is your teacher ?

This isn't the best advice. As a beginner with lots of flying time on a trainer kite getting a first lesson on a larger inflatable kite you'll have to make all of the following adjustments:

-Get used to getting pulled from the harness, not the arms
-Get used to not feeling much pressure on the bar
-Constantly adjusting the power of the kite
-Not pulling the bar too far down to feel pressure on the bar
-Finding the sweet spot of power on the bar throw.
-Not launching your kite through the power zone
-Not doing intense figure 8's with your kite on the beach
-Get used to stabilizing the kite with your hands closer to the centre of the bar
-Get used to a kite that can develop 3 to 4 times the amount of power as the trainer

From experience, it's much harder and more dangerous to teach someone with extensive flying time on a trainer as opposed to someone who flew the trainer for only an hour or two. Basically many hours on the trainer kite = many habits to change, many things to adapt/un-learn and transfer to the new style of kite. In other words, it can be a slower learning process than someone who never flew a trainer kite before.

When you use a trainer, it's all about optimizing your flying time, not trying to maximize it and get too used to this style of kite.

I see what you are saying. But It did help me getting as many hours as I could on a trainer kite. I did feel the difference when I started using the real Kite but the trainer gave me the kite behaviour experience, of course with a much much ligher pull. I guess it may work differently for different people.

awesome thread.

@Salty - keep posting mate .. I'm at about your experience and it's great to hear that the learning curve is as steep for most, but the sharing of experience is amazing.

@Phoney - was that friendly old guy's name in SYD "Ian".. I'm a kook/noob terrorising the crew at 1st Carpark and headed down to Dolls Point the other day for a look, Ian came over, said g'day and shared some awesome local knowledge learned from 12 years in the sport, a gentleman and ambassador for the sport in my books!

My lessons learned so far ...
1. Lessons, lessons, lessons - the safety aspect of this sport is so important, and a professional trainer will make sure you're drilled before you take a board out.

2. Introduce yourself, ask questions - unlike surfing, the guys and girls in this sport are so friendly and are happy to share their experience and 'kitemares' to learn from. This is awesome.

3. You're an ambassador for the sport - those of us who kite in Sydney share the beach with hundreds of families enjoying the awesome stretch of sand which is Botany Bay. The moment we take the Le'sands strip for granted, show disrespect to non-kiters on the beach, or each other accidents will happen and council will hear about it.

4. Practice the 'worst possible scenario' over and over again. My DPS triggered unexpectedly two days ago 20 metres from the 2nd carpark nets and groin ..... luckily my mate who got me into the sport had forced me to drill on DPS, line recovery and getting back to shore .. I got back into shore without issue, but ****e what a tangled mess of line. Took about an hour to unravel.

5. Like a previous poster ... know your limitations - coming from surfing this is kind of burnt into my brain, you never paddle out into a triple overhead beach break that you've no local knowledge of, if you're second guessing whether it's safe then it's probably not ....... 26knots on a 12 metre Switchblade :P

Great thread and a great sport guys - I'm addicted!

Hi vkay89,

Check this out