Schmik

Talk to locals as well as stay downwind of the main launch area.
Most people are willing to talk and help out. At least if you make yourself known, people know who you are and may even come to help if you're in trouble.

Season's almost over now though so get ready for a long and fruitless winter of little wind

Cheers

Thanks guys. I shall keep out of the way.

Winter does not bother me at all... I like being cold and gusty winds are fine. I landboard inland and 15knots gusting to 25knots happens all the time... or 8knots gusting to 16. You just learn to ride it out and hope to god you don't get a huge gust mid flight! So I just keep on landboarding and hit the water when ever the wind is east(ish).

I have seen a few kite tangles on dry land and it ain't pretty. One guy (over 40 and also over 100kg) got in a tangle with two 3m foils (about a 5 or 6 m LEI each) in 25-30knot winds. He got lofted , slammed into his own car and then dragged 60m down wind until 2 of us jumped on him to hold him down. The irony is that this happened on lake george, this place is 15km x 5 km in size and baren! So hitting a car is just stupid! Anyway the point is that most dangerous situations can be avoided.

later
schmik

One major rule is that anyone riding a 13m venom has right of way in all circumstances. So you should be ok schmik!

If it does look like you're not sure what's going on, I just pull up to a stop, and put the kite above me with my feet on the board and let the other kiter work it out. Sure this might be a pain in some situations, but i'd prefer to annoy someone on their tack rather than being pulled into them such as in the case of Ben.

cheers
James

Ellery said "If it does look like you're not sure what's going on, I just pull up to a stop, and put the kite above me with my feet on the board and let the other kiter work it out."

ARRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHH - I hate you Ellery Die Die Die

Actually mate - havent seen you on the water much lately - I take it summer hols are over and you are back to Uni?

Yes, uni has begun!

nads, landboarding rocks! Never done it at lake george but i'm sure there would be a park near you where you could do it. (preferably ocean facing) To learn with just start with a small kite. It starts to get fun when you would be able to stay upwind on the water (start doing jumps on the land). When you're really powered up it can get uncomfortable though! Can use any type of kite, but Lei's aren't the best. Best kite i reckon is a venom. A bit off topic but i actually think that landboarding is safer than kitesurfing. Sure you can break an ankle easier on land or get scratches (minor injuries), but if you wear good protection you're usually ok. With kitesurfing you need a bigger kite, thus if the wind picks up and you still need to come in it can get dangerous. If you get too powered up on land, pull safety, drop the kite there and then and walk away, whereas if you have to pull the safety out at sea it can mean a long swim in.
It's also great when you start doing grinds and jumps on benches and things! (Note that the word "great" can also be replaced with "dangerous")

cheers
James

Hi Schmik

You can do yourself and everyone else a favour by leaving your board in the bag until you can safely and confidently fly your kite. If you are struggling to keep your kite in the air and you are trying to mess around with your board then you will just lose control and be crashing your kite endangering yourself and everyone else.

Spend plenty of time body dragging until you can reliably relaunch it every time and can hover the kite on either side of the window in any wind strength, and move it carefully from side to side of the window. You should be able to do all this almost without thinking. It's all about having reasonable control of your kite. Being able to body drag upwind would be a bonus but it's probably a bit much to ask you to develop this skill when some people never do it.

Once you can control your kite find a place with a safe launching place and a safe landing place a couple of km apart. It depends on how far you are prepared to walk carrying your gear. 2-3 km is no big deal. Get yourself out in some deep water well away from the beach and start working with your board. You should have clean wind out away from the beach and will avoid dropping your kite on other people. Cross onshore wind is ideal because if you have any problems you will eventually be blown to shore. If you are worried about deep water then wear a life jacket ... or take up golf instead.

Just spend your time trying to ride ... in both directions. Ride away from the beach and ride towards the beach. Do not come into the beach until you can ride or you have reached your landing place. Do this and you will have had 30 mins to an hour of riding practice instead of the usual 2-3 minutes most guys get.

Don't make the mistake of landing really close to your starting place and walking back up the beach. You will get good at walking with your kite (which is not such a bad thing I guess). You will not get good at riding because you will only get 2-3 minutes of riding practice in between each walk up the beach.

Don't make the mistake of riding out then dragging back to the beach. You will learn to ride in only one direction. The only thing stopping you riding in the opposite direction is lack of practice so do heaps of riding in both directions.

Kiteboarding's Right of Way Rules

www.waksa.org.au/right-of-way-rules/