Hello all! Loving the forum, read many threads and learned so much so thank you all!

I'm a new kitesurfer, got the waterstarts down now and working on my technique, stance and keeping upwind on my twintip (140x41.5).

I'm 85KG and have 12m and 9m Switchblades. Looking ahead I want to expand my quiver, ideally with a larger kite and a smaller 7m. My ultimate goal is to get in amongst the surf on a directional board.

What I'd like to know is, when is the best time in my progression to look at starting to also learn my directional board skills. I particularly like the look of the North Nugget and would like to begin learning one of those someday.

I have a long way to go with my TwinTip skills learning toeside and carving turns, should I do all of this before I start complicating matters or is it a different skillset?

It would be great to add the board sooner rather than later as it may also allow me to get out in lighter winds.

Hope I was clear, thanks in advance for any advice and tips.

When you no longer have to look at the kite to know where it is and can ride toe side okay I'd start looking into getting a surfboard, start off with an old surfboard to learn the basics and then once you're up and going I'd go for a kite specific board. If you're learning on flat water learn strapless as you'll be able to move your feet around easier and work out what's best for you.

Awesome, thanks so much for the advice. Differing opinions but all of which I think are correct depending on how I want to approach things.

The water here is rarely flat so I would be using straps with a view to learning without them once I had it going.

A dealer here is offering to demo me a Sector 60, I think they look great and from what I'm reading, could be better than the Nugget for lightwinds and carving turns, but it looks like that wouldn't be as good in the surf as the nugget. It's quite a bit fatter. I'm a newbie so please correct me if I'm wrong on this.

We don't have great surf here, mainly small and messy waves but I had fun riding a few last week on my twintip and I'm thinking the Nugget would be great for this, maybe better so than the Sector - so overall Nugget could be my better option. They each seem to be better at different things but I can't afford both.

Looking all over the net for comparisions but other than this forum it's surprisingly hard to come by info. Much less on YouTube than I expected.

Cheers again all!

You should get on a surf board whenever you feel like it. You should go strapless whenever you feel like it. You won't learn how to ride a strapless surf board by riding a tt. And, you can progress with your kiting on a surf board no problem.

Cheers guys, at this point I'm convinced on the North Nugget. Need to pay off my holiday then I'll have a shop around for one. More useful than adding a large light wind kite at double the cost, I reckon.

I found the typical 6'2" surfboard is ok to have a crack at the SB thing but they bounce around a heap - and it makes it harder to get the directional thing !!

My suggestion is to grab the likes of the older underground Kipuna or the newer Axis board of the same - or even the Nobile infinity - they just are easier to learn direction board stuff on - more flex and less bouncy.

I bought a Bic epoxy 6'2" and put plugs in it - was a great intro to directional and cheap - also tried an Underground Pohutu 6'2 - but seriously they bounce around a lot more than the boards Ive mentioned above.

that just my 2Cw - take it or leave it :-)

FlipFlop said..
Awesome, the slingshot Tyrants look similar to what I want to try so knowing you got up on those after a month is promising! What was your progression BigTone? How did you work up to the first gybe?

Cheers for all the board suggestions Lambie! Surfing is not that popular where I am due to crappy surf so I've had to Google most of the boards you mentioned there to see what they look like :) I've read such good things about the North Nugget I'm pretty set on that.

What size should I go for? I'm 85KG so according to the charts I could go with either which is confusing, I plan on dropping a couple of KG if that's relevant.

Here's the chart from the site if anyone is able to advise, thank you again guys!


SIZE VOLUME RIDER WEIGHT
5'2" x 21" x 2 3/8" 28.9L 60–85 KG
5'5" x 21" x 2 7/16" 32L >80 KG

http://www.northkiteboarding.com/products/boards/surf/nugget/

I am a slow learner, so everything I do takes time. But I think I still have the footage the first time I was able to go from heal side to toe side on the tyrant. There was a lot celebrating on tape.

Two years down and heal side to toe side is a breeze, swapping feet on the fly is a breeze. I can even go toeside in either direction (although I am very awkward in one of those directions!!!).

North Nugget is a really good all round board. I went the 5'5 with straps and I am 100kg. I use it for light wind, heavy wind, slop, real waves, jumping ....... I added a little SUP rail tape to the edges for protection. At your weight, a 5.5 will make a awesome light wind to medium wind board.

FlipFlop said..
Thank you BigTone, OK I shall go with the 5' 5", makes more sense as you say for light wind.

I'm so tempted to buy one now as there's a 15% discount code here in the UK, however don't know if I'm being too hasty as I still don't have my sliding turns sorted on the TT, maybe I'm just wasting money.

I've confirmed this is the board I want after lots of reading and people have said it's a different skillset so maybe the TT thing makes no difference.

Just it occurs to me I still have a lot of progression to do with my current gear and maybe the prices will come down on the North Nugget if I don't be so hasty.

Birthday next month though lol .... hmmmmm! :D

In my opinion, a TT is a very different experience to a surf board. Take the discount while you can or buy a second hand one. Make sure try it strapped and unstrapped.

FlipFlop said..
Just to say a big thank you to everyone for all the helpful advice, I've ordered a 5' 5" North Nugget :)

Hopefully I'll be able to report back with some progress in a few months!

Sounds like a good choice! If you end up getting more kites in the future, go for more 'agile' models (faster turning) - Switchblades are great, forgiving, steady pull, good for learning kites but they don't turn very fast and don't drift too well - something you eventually want when on directional.

FlipFlop said..

Swavek said..

FlipFlop said..
Just to say a big thank you to everyone for all the helpful advice, I've ordered a 5' 5" North Nugget :)

Hopefully I'll be able to report back with some progress in a few months!

Sounds like a good choice! If you end up getting more kites in the future, go for more 'agile' models (faster turning) - Switchblades are great, forgiving, steady pull, good for learning kites but they don't turn very fast and don't drift too well - something you eventually want when on directional.

Awesome, thanks for the tip Swavek. I'd read that they were OK for directional but I know it's not their speciality, is that the Drifter and maybe the FX that does it better?

Is there anything I need to know about board care? I've never owned a surfboard. Somebody mentioned putting SUP tape on the sides, I don't know much about this. What about wax or do you not do this with this type of board? I take it a rinse off in fresh water each time like I do my TwinTip is the basic minimum?

Not quite sure what you mean by Sup tape? Is it to protect that board? I'd look at getting some deck grip (nugget might come with some as the north boards I've bought do), I don't like wax on my board for kite surfing - no matter how much I seem to wax it near the end of my sessions I find the odd slippery spot and it annoys the F@$k out of me sometimes when I'm going along and slip off. I also haven't rinsed my surfboard in fresh water either but it couldn't hurt.

RE Switch blade, no problems (actually great) for learning, but when you do get in waves or swell, you'll want a more wave friendly kite. I'
ve just swapped by 8m switchy for a drifter and its no contest - the switchblade needs to be powered and tends to pull you off the wave/swell.

Re care - just don't drop the edge of the nugget on anything hard. They don't bounce and fracture along the edge. Cracked mine from what I thought was a pretty soft kind of bump.

North deck grip seems to work fine, so +1 for the advice from Broham.

Katz said...
RE Switch blade, no problems (actually great) for learning, but when you do get in waves or swell, you'll want a more wave friendly kite. I'
ve just swapped by 8m switchy for a drifter and its no contest - the switchblade needs to be powered and tends to pull you off the wave/swell.

Re care - just don't drop the edge of the nugget on anything hard. They don't bounce and fracture along the edge. Cracked mine from what I thought was a pretty soft kind of bump.

North deck grip seems to work fine, so +1 for the advice from Broham.

I put SUP rail tape on my nugget... Seems to be doing the job brilliantly.