@kiterkook, Yes I think it was Ian. Top bloke! :)
Well I had my first lesson yesterday through Kitepower. Dave was my instructor, top bloke who had me feeling relaxed in no time. I say relaxed as I was absolutely ****ting myself prior to launching the kite.
Had a blast of a time. I never ended up getting up on the board though, which was abit of a let down. But apparently that's quite normal for the first lesson. Im sore today, but I can't wait to get back out there, and hopefully up on the board.
For a big kite yes, for his trainer: This is what's in my ozone ignition manual....
Reverse Relaunch
"Take the safety wrist leash line, and pull it up until you see the kite reversing. As the kite reverses off the ground, keep holding the safety wrist leash line and turn the bar at the same time. This helps flip the kite over ready to re-launch"
Tops session at Le'Sands 1st Carpark yesterday, a great crew frothing over 15kn fun.
Lessons learnt:
1. Tony shared a kitemare story explaining why I should always launch with the kite at the waters edge and me away from the waters edge.
2. A tip practiced from this thread .. when taking-off, drop the kite with agression, point the board down wind and let the harness pull you out of the water. Feels awesome when you get the hang feel of this, and every start'll be a confidence boost for the run out.
3. After hooting me while passing on my first 'trimming' run out, Craige from Liverpool (tops bloke) gave me this tip: when passing, the person up wind keeps their kite high and the person down wind keeps their kite low. Me? until yesterday I just ****e myself, put the kite high and dropped into the water when anyone came near me :P
Now I know the protocol and have no need to fear passing.
By the way .... if ur a SYD noob, check 'the hook up' threads, there's a few of us who are letting each other know when we're heading for kite.
Kook, I would have hoped they teach you this as standard practice during lessons?
kitesurfing-handbook.peterskiteboarding.com/safety/right-of-way-rules
Plenty more safety and "rules of the road" in the above link.
Cheers
Really do like this thread it's be massively helpful!!
Did a down winder today that gave me about an hour on the water....loved it..gives you so much more time to work on skills like edging and getting over waves without getting smashed
The advice on getting up via harness pressure instead of using your arms made a big difference and setting up your lines by connecting the centre 2 first then unrolling is a ripper!!! So much easier.
Thanks guys
Today i learnt (after several goes) not to put the wrong foot forward when water starting other wise you very quickly end up crashing the kite and face planting hard.
So far my kite control is rather good but i can see getting up is going to be a bit of a challenge.
Also i think sunnies are going to save my eyes a world of pain. Thanks to a day spent trolling for cairns marlin a few years ago without sunnies, my eyes have never been the same.
Definitely hooked hard but it'll be even better once i' half reasonable :)
@rodno, you are a gentleman ! 99% of people I met at KFC are nice like you. Been surfing since i was a kid and we don't see that many people being nice to newbies...
I'm going out this weekend for the first time in a month... I can't help but feel like I'm back to square 1.
Fingers crossed for good weather on monday at Rosebud!
Learnt something the other day from my day job that I can transfer to kiting:
After coming off the board, count to your self while upwind body dragging and having the kite parked (if possible) sometimes it can be difficult to find exactly where the board is but if you count say 20 seconds in one direction and then come back another 20 seconds in the other direction you would be pretty unlucky to find your board anywhere but immediately downwind of your final position, works for me anyway.
Has anyone else found themselves selling of things to fund kite gear? On that note if anyone wants to buy a kayak or SUP
Oh , I went out for the first time last night in weeks. I accidentally edged up wind last night! If only I could recreate it.
Hello, I'm struggling to get up wind. So I've set myself the following home work:
Read:
www.seabreeze.com.au/Articles/Kitesurfing/How-to-go-upwind-on-your-kiteboard_3214258.aspx
and read:
kitesurfing-handbook.peterskiteboarding.com/progression/going-upwind
Note to self, get the board 45 degrees + off the water.
Just got kitted out by Steve at Kitepower (Thanks!), and we are being rewarded by 3 days of awesome wind down at Jervis Bay. Hope the N'lry isn't too gusty!
Hey all, I'm really enjoying this thread, some excellent stuff being passed around. I've recently been taking leaps and bounds in my ability, starting to head upwind in my natural direction (left). I'd been really struggling for a while so took a lesson while I was in Merimbula on holiday with the local school and Peter really ironed out some bad habits I'd developed, I couldn't believe how much kite control techniques I'd forgotten!
One that really helped me with getting rid of the tendency to pull the bar in while starting was to only ever pull the bar in momentarily to turn the kite and generally let it fly on its front lines. Obviously this isn't a universal rule, but when there's enough wind and you're only doing basic stuff it's super helpful.
Also, when trying to body drag upwind to your board (I've had plenty of practice) keep the kite really high, not low, otherwise it will drag you back down wind.
One question though... I was out at St.Kilda on Monday (soooo busy) and I caught up to a guy on the same tack, I'm not so sure how I could slow down so I just dropped and did a water start in the other direction. What's the deal if you're going faster than someone and want to pass?
Cheers.