I'm looking for pointers on staying in control while going upwind, when the kite is at the top of it's useable wind range.

I'm 78kg, riding Wipika gear (13.5m and 11m 2005 matrix kites, SS 135 twin tip board), started kiting in March this year but have 20years + experience in surfing and surf-sailboarding.

I'm currently working on an island on the far northern Great Barrier Reef -have been here for 2 weeks, another 2 to go. Problem is that the trade winds are solid at 25-30knots day and night and 11m is my smallest kite (apologies if that is an arrow through the heart of all the poor southern crew sitting in the cold waiting for wind!!).

Have had the kite out for a couple of great sessions when the wind dropped back closer to 20knots, planing back and forth, going upwind nicely, but it is right on the upper limit for the kite. I have my depower strap pulled on as far as it will go and still have to ride conservatively in order not to generate too much speed.

In yesterday's session a couple of stronger bursts came through, I guess 25 knots plus, I was already riding slowly upwind, kite low, bar pushed fully away to give max depower, edging the board as hard as I could, and when the gusts hit the kite just accelerated and I couldn't slow it down. Tried dragging my arse in the water as has been suggested in the FAQ on this forum...didn't really help...in fact it made me loose the edge and a nice lofting and tea-bagging followed.

Just wondering what else I can do in this situation, when already going upwind and with all the brakes on as it were? This situation is distinct from the down-wind overspeed problem which I also know about! I know the simple answer is "go out in 25 knots on an 8m kite not an 11m", but I'm sure many of the more experienced crew must have dealt with being overpowered, and for those of us with a limited quiver it seems to be a skill worth mastering, if for no other reason than to safely get back in to shore in the event of an unforseen wind increase.

Any tips or suggestions most appreciated.

peace

Dr Andy Lewis www.tevenei.com

try adjusting the kite at the pigtails for depower, then adjust the depower strap as well. you might get a bit of extra depower this way - worked for me on a caution spitfire 12 up to 30 knots. i will say it wasnt much fun after about 27, so im saving for a smaller kite for the 25-30 range.

Use a smaller kite and work it a little more to maintain planing speed. Get a sweat up.
You mentioned you had windsurfing experience....it's just like pumping the rig to hop on the plane. Same principle.

Get a 5th line !

Solve all your problems. Just give it a quick pull when you are overpowered.
Also shorter lines.

Another possible solution when being overpowered into a 'death run' is to swivel your board slightly so it's pointing more downwind, with its nose higher out of the water.

This is an efficient way to sink the tail of the board and slow down. After someone passed this pointer on to me, I found it so enticing to do (after all, the alternative is a tea-bagging, involuntary enema, losing board, losing ground, body dragging, walk-of-shame...) that for the next few sessions I did a huge amount of slow wallowing and bugger-all planing. My excuse to myself was that I was practising a new skill, but deep down I knew I was being a wuss and not living on the edge

thanks for those additional pointers.

I had another session on the 11m in a solid 22-26knots yesterday, rear lines on the last knot, full depower, did seem to make the kite a little less powered up. Concentrated hard on keeping board speed manageable by really ripping the edge in if it looked like speeding up in the gusts. Seemed to work - I didn't fall off and landed after half an hour with the kite still dry :-)

would still like to hear from people on the tell tale signs that wind is getting up near kite's max range? (apart from the obvious - loftings and runaway down wind tea-baggings, etc)

I know from sailboarding, when the back hand had trouble holding the boom fully sheeted in and the fin wasn't handling the speed, it was a good pointer to change down a size. wondering if there are similar subtle things with the kite??

thanks

Andy