I agree that learning to do without is the way to go. I can also see the benefit of spending more time with the board at your feet than spending most of your time body dragging when you are learning. Now, no responses please defending the merits of good body dragging skills, I'm not questioning them. Where I kite, the winds can be very hit and miss, so when learning, I wanted to spend as much time as possible on the board as it could be a while before I got another chance.
Note do dave...... turkeyboy will never stick, seriously
(see how i spelt yours correctly, even the right number of fullstops!
. An instructors tip# When teaching someone to bodydrag, after they have got reasonably good, Id throw a board 10m upwind of them and make sure they are competent to get back to the board, before ever thinking about teaching them the waterstart. The IKO is a great lesson guide, but you can modify it slightly to make it more competency based for what a bodydrag is all about. Of course write your name and phone number on your board. It only costs you a carton to get it back, a pretty good investment on a $700-$1000 board.
