I am curious how many kiters ride waves switch stance in order to ride the wave frontside down wind?

The reason I ask is that the majority of kiters I see at local breaks and in vids seem to be riding waves frontside. I am a natural stance so in our summer seebreezes I have to hit the majority of waves backside, which I find much harder(and less fun) than frontside. But I am terrible at surfing switch. Is it just an illusion or should I start practicing surfing waves switch?

bennie said...

I am curious how many kiters ride waves switch stance in order to ride the wave frontside down wind?

The reason I ask is that the majority of kiters I see at local breaks and in vids seem to be riding waves frontside. I am a natural stance so in our summer seebreezes I have to hit the majority of waves backside, which I find much harder(and less fun) than frontside. But I am terrible at surfing switch. Is it just an illusion or should I start practicing surfing waves switch?

Depends if you want to look like a kook riding switch for a year or carry on toe side like a pro

bennie said...

I am curious how many kiters ride waves switch stance in order to ride the wave frontside down wind?

The reason I ask is that the majority of kiters I see at local breaks and in vids seem to be riding waves frontside. I am a natural stance so in our summer seebreezes I have to hit the majority of waves backside, which I find much harder(and less fun) than frontside. But I am terrible at surfing switch. Is it just an illusion or should I start practicing surfing waves switch?

practice in the mirror first

^^^^ yeah I was thinking that too. smashing the lip backside on the way out is so much fun, so If I can then combine this with riding switch its almost the perfect combo. Only problem is I think It will take a LOT of practice to make carving switch feel natural.

I guess the ultimate would be to be able to approach a wave in any stance and feel natural

Get dialed in to those frontside upwind punts!!

If you really want to go goofy, practice on a skateboard. The key is getting the shift in body weight to the left foot - skateboard helps a lot with this.

Having said that, I still maintain a natural stance. 20 years of skating and surfing natural is hard to reverse!

I learnt to kite before i surfed, although was on a surfboard from the start, and because the guy who taught me was natural I became natural too. Last year found out i much prefer to skate goofy. So i'm confused

We went to Fiji this year and Cloudbreak is the by far the biggest and heaviest wave I have ever kited, or at least it was that week (Kelly Slater & Reef Macintosh were on Tavarua for the swell... omg, hero worship... best moment of my surfing experience so far was watching them tear it up from the channel) and for two days i struggled trying to hold my nerve tacking upwind switch until i was in position, then jump around and ride down the line on my backhand. Then one wave i left it too late and had to go for it switch. and it felt gooood. Now my mission for the next year is to go both ways!

For a short time, particularly in my early days kiting, I used to think "I wish I was goofy" but not anymore.. as a surfer I always liked watching good backside surfers.. now I just take this thought into kiting and once your kite handing/positioning gets spot on, it doesn't matter so much - just work on your backside riding and kite skills (getting your kite depowered and drifting is the key).. and like bene said its easier to punt some nice airs going right, slightly upwind :)

When I watch local goofy kiters, all they seem to do is cutback after cutback (nothing wrong with cutties!) but theres nothing like variation in my opinion and the guys I see with more variation in their game tend to be regular footers.

It seems a lot of kiters think you cant rip kiting waves as a regular on the SWer.. I say BS to that

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/Wave-sailing/Goofy-footed-Upwind-wave-sailing-problem/

Dude i surfed backdside lefts for years then jumped n a windsurfer and couldn't ride down the line back????? So my stance is normal rather go rhander backside downwind any-day. **** has got us baffled ???? your not the only one with this problem. I was under the impression that it was a bad habbit picked up long ago and requires versatility

My mates suggested I ride switch when I started doing downwinders. Now this side feels way better than natural and I'm stoked I did.

Now just to sacrifice a season of surfing to learn to paddle surf goofy. Not as easy.

harry potter said...

bennie said...

moons said...

its the same for the east coast

Huh.....?????? its the opposite

yeah our seabreezes are from the ne, opposite to the sw that the west coast gets.

On the plus side east coast southerlies are great for natural footers

i'm goofy..... (waits for onslaught)

Get a twin tip and enjoy both.. on the same wave even.

I can't tell the difference between goofy or natural in my own riding, it's almost confusing to me to hear you guys talk about it! I don't have a preference of a front foot, be it snowboarding, surfing, kiting or windsurfing.

Same thing riding toeside, either way, feels the same to me. I'm equally sh-t either side.

Skateboarding, however, I can only really do left foot forward (and poorly!). Probably because I never had to switch.

Yep, I ride "switch" however, coming from windsurfing, it is just the way you do it!! I surf natural and when I started riding waves on a twin tip 7 years ago, I used to flick it around to ride natural in Perth. I got going ok but then went to jibing and riding right foot forward as I was used to from windsurfing and it is all good.

However, I read this thread this morning so this arvo I was giving backside bottom turns anotger go. All good. Good to do both.

I have been trying to ride goofy for the last 2 seasons. when I first started I could barely ride in a straight line. Now in good conditions I can manage pretty well. soon as I get bit powered with some choppy and or hollow waves and I fall apart. tight bottom turns and keeping power in the kite is my main issue.

frontside I find far more rewarding in smaller surf and lighter winds than riding backside. I typically tend to do 50/50 during sessions to keep it interesting. doubt I will ever be amazing at it but its a nice change.

Jared888 said...

getfunky said...
Get a twin tip and enjoy both.. on the same wave even.

no drive on a Twinny, and they turn into bars of soap when dropping into anything bigger than 2 feet

Your'e not doing it right.

Yeh I know your points are (partly)valid in the big stuff, but day to day thrashing in soup - can't beat a twinny IMO and it's sooo much fun changing stance and smacking differant sides within one section or wave to wave.

Drive is possible on a bigger TT I reckon. Still some kite input needed I grant you but drive all the same.

Whatever floats ya boat tho. Enjoy.