zarb said...
Ha ok my bad :)

Now for your punishment, give me 10 back rolls, and 10 kite assisted jumps... then tell me how to do them!

zarb said...
How are the assisted kite jumps going for you? Initially I found it hard to time it, but after enough stuff ups it becomes quite intuitive and you will know when to edge hard and when to send the kite. Just keep trying! I'm going to start trying to fit some rotations and grabs in next session.

Hey Zarb, thanks for asking. The assisted kite jumps are really waiting for sufficient wind to assist me... I did try one on Thursday on my new North Vegas... it kind of almost ripped my arms out of the sockets, which I hear is a trait of the Vegas... labelled as 'lots of pop'.

I've had a few sessions where I've had little unassisted jumps over waves which I think is helping me getting the landing position sorted...

How about the unhooking? Weren't you going to give that a go? What are you doing with the leash setting? Standard or suicide?

zarb said...
I had a go of the unhooking process, getting it on and off the spreader bar without problems. By the time I was feeling good and ready to try some tricks, the wind was too much for my 8m and I couldn't depower it enough to safely unhook. So I just made the most of the crazy wind and tried some massive boosting and just playing around in the waves.
I was riding suicide most of the time while playing around unhooked, also because I was trying spinning transitions and back rolls (the Ozone swivel only works when you are clipped in suicide).

What the hell are you doing stalking the newbie's section with skills like that ;-)

Whilst riding suicide, did you let go of the bar and see what happened? I think I'd need to do that before doing anything else...but I'm neurotic about such things...

You're riding directional, right? What kind of board is it? Crazy Fly? I heard the regular surf boards have a propensity for breaking when one jumps... but that could have just been sales guff.

Be good, good luck with unhooking. Are you in Sydney?

zarb said...
I am still pretty green with the sport so I am still stalking the Newb section

Yeah I let go of the bar and the kite just slowly drifted down to the edge of the window. No problems recovering!

I am playing around on the twin tip for the tricks, out on my directional when it's powered and practicing gybes and tacking. I am picking up a new kite-specific directional with a little bit more foam so I can still get out on those lighter days.

I am still in VIC for another 4 weeks or so, then back home to JB NSW!

Been following your post salty good work I have been off the sport for about a year after graduating from a newbie and i have found some of your tips great for jogging the old memory box in things i have forgotton. Thanks pete

SaltySinus said...
Hey Pete, you're very welcome, but thanks for the thanks!

It seems although everyone's experiences/hangups differ, there are some common threads that we all struggle with.

My current 'activity' is getting myself toeside. I tried originally to go to toeside via a carving turn, which have so far been epic failures. I'm finding it easier to transition 'on the spot' but so far, I head straight down wind, ... need to practice my stance off the water, me thinks.

Anyway, welcome back to the sport.

try to rotate off your front foot just changing ballance from the hips, then work to popping and itwill come. once your toe side I find leaning out with your hand gets you on the edge a bit more and holds you. get going then you can have a curve to heel. it may take a few goes

Early Saturday morning is looking OK.
I found when going Toeside it is much easier to just bear off a fair amount downwind so you can gain some speed and then try edging more aggressively. The instinct is to put more weight on your backfoot, so force more weight forward.

Also, I found it helps to have your harness a little looser than normal so it can shift around when you go toeside.

zarb said...
Early Saturday morning is looking OK.
I found when going Toeside it is much easier to just bear off a fair amount downwind so you can gain some speed and then try edging more aggressively. The instinct is to put more weight on your backfoot, so force more weight forward.

Also, I found it helps to have your harness a little looser than normal so it can shift around when you go toeside.

Zarb, I never doubted you, but you're quite right. I was giving it a go on Sat a.m down st. K. My instinct was to edge to hard and resulted in sinking into the drink face first.. or worse, shifting weight to my front foot, causing the board to nose dive and flip me off the kite... so to speak.

I def. made some progress with it, although panicked and lacking in style, there was def a carving turn or two.

Hey Zarb... Well, I reckon I'm 3-4 sessions off perfecting the toe side... so far, I've only been going one way (I'm more comfortable switching when riding goofy) and have not tried it going non-goofy.

Ironically, I'm more comfortable trying the powered jumps going non-goofy. So next few sessions I'll be trying toeside going 'port' and trying powered jumps going 'starboard'.

Then when either or both are mastered, time to try the same thing on my weak side. Once I've got these nailed... it's time to try transitions (i.e. changing directions with jumps) and also back/front rolls ... can't wait!

zarb said..

Been out lately Salty? I have been desperate for a kite these past few days... And nothing is on the horizon from what I can see

Nah, stuck in the office week days and weekends seem bereft of wind... How long until you're back in NSW?

SaltySinus said..

zarb said...
Ha ok my bad :)

Now for your punishment, give me 10 back rolls, and 10 kite assisted jumps... then tell me how to do them!

Guys sorry to drop in on you conversation but as Im new to kiting when i say new ive had lessons and going out for the first time on my own. Want to go out tommorrow and need some advise on best place for a new guy. I live in frankston and was thinking Rosebud.
What do you think?

thanks

Birchie.....when you are really new it doesn't hurt to go to the beach in lighter conditions and practice setting your gear up. At least you can take it nice and slowly and triple check everything whilst pretending to be waiting for the wind to come in. Depending on the location you can still go into the water waste deep without your board and practice flying your kite.

kitebt said..

Iam fairly new to sport as well (started in February) and got to say have been pretty frustrated by winter conditions although had a great session last week at Kurnel in a Westerly. I decided if I am itching to do something on a light wind day in winter self launching and landing would be the drills to practice providing the beach has plenty of room and the wind is light enough that if something went wrong I could walk backwards against the kite.

So far I have had three sessions doing this and can now self launch competently in winds up to 18knots. Not that it is my preferred launching method bit I figure at some point I am going to want to go out and no one will be around.

Lesson learned is if the wind is light there is still plenty to learn and do. I don't think you can set your kite up enough and launch and land it.

Good on you Kitebt... it certainly all helps and it's nice to be out in the open air eh. Yep Winter is hard... but all these difficult lessons you learn now will put you in a good position come the better/more stable weather. Thanks to my eagerness, I had plenty of opportunities of rescuing my failing kite from the water when the winter wind failed me.

I'm seriously glad of the opportunity...

I assume you mean sliding transitions?

Big tip from me is to not be afraid diving the kite aggressively to get going in your new direction. I was too timid to begin with, and would either flop back in the water or I would end up underneath my kite with slack lines.

I think a lot must be said about being comfortable copping a wipeout (when it is safe). If you are comfortable crashing (or if you even enjoy it like I do :D) theb you will progress much faster.

kitebt said..

Absolutely SaltySinus. All that practice came to good use yesterday in a ripping southerly at Dolls Point. Awesome 4 hour session and am now able to hold my place on beach consistently and body drag myself out of trouble when I need to. Next step is to start working on my turns. That may need to wait until a more consistent summer breeze though as getting ripped off my board in a Southerly when practising new skills is not my idea of fun.

I would be keen to hear from anyone on tips and lessons that will make mastering turns easier. The Kiteboarding Progression Videos are good but nothing like getting first hand tips from people who have mastered the skill.

Thanks mate. Assuming sliding turn... steps are:

1. whilst going along, say to your left,
2. push the bar out to lose power and the kite will come up to 11
3. you're still going along left at this point, but you'll be slowing down...
4. get ready to dive the kite from left to right (as if you're doing a water start to your right)
5. just before you dive the kite edge really hard i.e. push on your right foot down into the water which will turn the board direct up wind and affectively stall your progress... at this point you're still standing ontop of the water and without intervention, you'd sink in a second or two.
6.dive the kite as if you're doing a water start from left to right. Ensure you're board is pointing almost direct down wind. This something I didn't do well when I first started and really felt like I had to over exaggerate.

Build it up, better to start off diving the kite less aggressively and sink in the water than go too hard and launch yourself over the board and spend your time having to retrieve your board. Like all these things... you've got to imagine yourself succeeding at it for it to work. Fret about failing and you'll have stiff legs and fail. It's fun, enjoy it!