I've been spending some time in the surf, most days when i'm out it's reasonably on shore which means that to surf a wave you end up catching your kite downwind.

Any tips to stop me 'catching' the kite and the lines going slack, i have been trying to move it back and forth across the wind window but that doesn't help too much.

is it mainly a skill thing, like watch other guys, practise etc.. or would my 05 fuel and 122cm board make it considerably harder than a surfboard with newer bow/hybrid kite?

meerkat said...

....right and you will need to learn a poley jibe or a hip hop direction jingo jango....

Moahahaha, love the jargong

Furthermore I don't really agree that you can't "surf" the wave with a twintip. I've caught some waves even down at scarbs with my 120 MILF and back when I had a Wave's 135 I could catch even more.. You just need to get the same speed as the wave and then work it a bit.

Personally I prefer riding a twintip even in waves any day. The ability to instantly switch from toe to heelside, boost big air off waves and other things suit me better.

Kitebored,

A surfboard is fine for riding-over time you'll dent the deck-but don't hesitate, grab your surfboard and get out there-strapless too-it's a blast.

Kitebored,

I use the same method for riding waves weather I'm on a TT or a Wave board, Because I like to ride very fast and with lots of power, I always keep my kite about half a move ahead of myself. If you can imagine two "S" shaped tracks, I am nearly following my kites exact path the whole time. As I am preparing for a bottom turn, I full lock the bar (for an aggressive turn) and send my kite back to the other side of the window as low as possible, as the kite goes trough the power zone, I should be half way through my bottom turn (this is optimum), as soon as I finish my bottom turn I full lock the bar again and re-direct my kite back to the original side of the window, once again, as my kite goes through the power zone I should be hitting the lip. Now because I am always going towards my kite as it goes through the power zone, I can control how much power I want, a tight,hard turn will have heaps of power, and a more open less aggressive turn will have less power. From here you can add kiteloops to get double hits and more drawn out bottom turns. This style of riding is quite fast, and will take some time to get your timing right, but your pretty quickly find out what your doing wrong, if you slow down or fall off the plane, you turned your board too early, if you get pulled off your board you turned too late. As you get this mastered, looking ahead at a wave you can map out what you want to achieve on the wave, and put the kite moves into your mind and then it's just surfing with maximum power and speed!

This is just my method, and there are many different styles out there, but for a TT this method works really well!

Have fun,

JB

JB said...

Kitebored,

I use the same method for riding waves weather I'm on a TT or a Wave board, Because I like to ride very fast and with lots of power, I always keep my kite about half a move ahead of myself. If you can imagine two "S" shaped tracks, I am nearly following my kites exact path the whole time. As I am preparing for a bottom turn, I full lock the bar (for an aggressive turn) and send my kite back to the other side of the window as low as possible, as the kite goes trough the power zone, I should be half way through my bottom turn (this is optimum), as soon as I finish my bottom turn I full lock the bar again and re-direct my kite back to the original side of the window, once again, as my kite goes through the power zone I should be hitting the lip. Now because I am always going towards my kite as it goes through the power zone, I can control how much power I want, a tight,hard turn will have heaps of power, and a more open less aggressive turn will have less power. From here you can add kiteloops to get double hits and more drawn out bottom turns. This style of riding is quite fast, and will take some time to get your timing right, but your pretty quickly find out what your doing wrong, if you slow down or fall off the plane, you turned your board too early, if you get pulled off your board you turned too late. As you get this mastered, looking ahead at a wave you can map out what you want to achieve on the wave, and put the kite moves into your mind and then it's just surfing with maximum power and speed!

This is just my method, and there are many different styles out there, but for a TT this method works really well!

Have fun,

JB

Good stuff from John there. Takes timing and a fast kite (short lines may help).

I saw Andy Mac in Sumbawa this year just tearing the waves apart pretty much using the method JB described-his kite was whipping all over the place with his turns-he was using a very small kite (6m I think) AND short lines on a wave board-and to great effect.

For once I agree with ya spruce

learning to gybe makes life a lot easier in ther long run; you can get upwind faster on your heelside, plus getting back out through the whitewash is much easier heelside (especially when its big), and you can give your back leg a rest when you swap feet.

Of all the posts I've looked at on this site, JB that was by far the most imformative.

Thanks, now to try and put it in to action at Narrabeen this weekend.