I'm still very much new to kiting myself, but what helps me get up and going, especially in light winds, is to aim the board down wind for the first couple of kite dives.

What I am trying to say is that if I quickly move to a balanced stance with some weight on my front foot then I can get up to speed and then onto an edge in a single dive of the kite.

Conversely if keep ALL of my weight on my back leg forever then it might take 5 dives of the kite to get enough speed up to start edging.

Academically I know this but in practice I find it really hard to move my weight.

I was the same when I learn't to water ski on a single ski. The boat needed full throttle because of my bad stance where everyone else pulled out easily.

I had loads of kite a big board and loads of wind.

Hi Loftywinds, I think you could be onto something there!

I guess mussel memory will take over eventually.

KiwiDave said..

Conversely if keep ALL of my weight on my back leg forever then it might take 5 dives of the kite to get enough speed up to start edging.

With all your weight on your back leg, your board will act like an anchor.

In lighter winds, I try to visualise keeping the board flat on the water and lifting myself on top of it. All this really means is I bend my rear leg, keep my front leg somewhat straight, and try to flatten out the board on the water using my ankles. Once I get a bit of speed up, I can start to edge. And occasionally, in truly light conditions, I will need to dive the kite down to 45 degrees, back to 12 and then down again to lift me up on top of the board.

If there is lots of wind, I can do whatever the hell I feel like.

bigtone667 said..
In lighter winds, I try to visualise keeping the board flat on the water and lifting myself on top of it.

I more or less do this too. The object is not to get the kite to grunt pull you up from the water while keeping your eventual stance, but lift you up enough to get you on the board (to cut the water resistance), then get moving fast enough to start planing. After you're planing you can start edging and worrying about normal kiting stance etc.

Another way to think about it is "jumping" onto the flat water. Imagine if you're trying to jump onto a knee high bench as smoothly as you can. You'll need a bit of force to start the jump off with, but your body mass shouldn't rise that much and you land on the bench with a crouch before straightening up. You want to get onto the board with as little force used from the kite as possible so that the rest of the kite power can start pulling you up to speed. Dive the kite and try to pop up onto your board in a crouch and balance as if the board is not moving (like the bench), then gradually extend your legs when you feel the board speed increasing.