I'm learning how to do bigger jumps. It's awesome fun, and always leaves me with a huge grin on my face.

BUT I'm having a few issues.


#1 - Kite ends up behind me, falls in the water, inverts lines.

I think this happens when I have time to swing under the kite in bigger jumps. I'm now trying to aggressively redirect the kite forward, or direct it forward sooner to fix this. Seems to be improving. On my super low ratio beginner/surf kite I get away with this more often as the kite drifts back, but my higher ratio kite is less forgiving.

#2 - Uncontrolled Rotation

I have difficulty keeping myself pointed in the right direction. Obviously the key thing to do here is work on not generating rotation on takeoff, but what are my options when it happens? If there's enough rotation I can commit and (try to!) go for a back roll (tuck my legs up to speed up the rotation). If it's just a little bit, what do I do? Can I use the air on the board to try and keep myself straight? Try for a half rotation and land toe-side?

#3 - How do I bail?

When it's all going wrong - I've rotated, directed the kite too fast, swung in some random direction... what's the best option for bailing out? On the water, if I'm confused the go-to response is to let go of the bar, re-orient myself, and try and grab the bar to stop the kite falling out of the sky once I've got my bearings. I'm guessing in the sky I should keep input minimal and keep the bar pulled in. What do I do if I'm disoriented, and the kite is already powered/redirected? Is it better to kick off the board as soon as I lose control, or keep it on in the hope of landing it? I almost landed b***s first on top of my board after kicking it off yesterday!

#4 - Crashing in comfort

I almost winded myself yesterday, by landing hard on my side and ear. I was wearing a hat with ear flaps, so no worries about ear drum issues, but even then my ear felt at a funny pressure! Is this what impact vests are for? I already wear a thick wetsuit, so I'm unsure how much an impact vest would add.

#5 - So what do I do up in the air?

So for small jumps it's easy... just redirect forward as I need more power on landing. Medium jumps - redirect forward sooner so I don't end up in front of the kite. High jumps - ??? Do I wait until I'm coming down before redirecting? Fly the kite backwards and forwards? Helicopter loop (whatever that is)?


So, any hints? Taking off is coming along nicely, but I'm not sure what to do when I'm sky high!

Thanks!

When i was first learning jumps the best advice i recieved was to let go of the back hand once your in the air. It will automaticlly redirect the kite in the right direction before you land. On higher jumps if you have your hands closer to the centre it wont redirect too fast. Also this frees a hand up to do board grabs with.

OK, so it sounds like the key point is that once I'm up there, I should leave the kite alone at 12 and redirect forward at the last moment.

Unwanted rotation is due to my takeoffs needing work. I might be able to correct minor spin better by pulling my board up, spotting the water.

I should make sure I'm sending the kite to 12, and not to 1 or 2 to prevent swinging. I'm not sure where it goes to right now - I feel the point that I can't hold the edge any more and jump from there. I used to send the kite too far back though before I got the edging sorted, so I might be slipping back into bad habits sometimes.

I think I'm edging correctly most of the time now (getting some proper height), but the swinging might be when I mess that up. For the edging I keep the bar at half power, lean back and edge upwind, then when I can't hold on any longer I pull the bar in and up I go. My release might need work, but I'm getting plenty high enough for now, until I can land properly!

I've studied Dmitri's video carefully already - that's what got me to this point! It was helpful to watch again though.

Thanks for the tips - I'll let you know how I get on after my next session!

Unwanted rotation on the way up:
Carving too hard upwind with board or body

Unwanted rotation on the way down:
Redirecting too early and sending the kite too low

You *can* send the kite back as far as you like, but it'll produce more of a pendulum up (like jumping off a swing) than lift, and you'll have to have you redirect wired tight or youll get dropped.

Edging is more about holding your line than carving upwind: notice Dimitri just gives the board a little flick before take-off. Wakestyle, you want a big strong carve to load the kite and use the elasticity of the lines etc to pull you off the water.

I don't know where I send the kite to cos I never look at it. I think just behind 12 is good... and when it's there, leave it there.
A good boost will have you going up and down in a parabola... which will curve around with the kite as the anchor point. Going straight vertical with no movement across or downwind is harder to control initially.

Don't think about a single perfect bar position... it'll depend on conditions, kite trim etc. Let the kite fly.

Redirecting will soften the landing. If the kite is "behind" you, it'll come across the top of the window and supply a little lift, as well as giving a little downwind speed...

You'll need to work out your own timing for the redirect - kite will be a big factor. You can do it earlier (or later) if you redirect slower (or faster/harder). Kites with less float will need more aggressive redirects....

Sheet in on the way up and hold it till you touchdown. You can sheet out (then back in) just a little for the redirect BUT if you sheet out too much, the kite will zip across the window and pull you off balance and drop you like a stone... which can be fun too

Spotting your landing is vital because you judge the redirect timing from height above the water.

The basic technique should serve you well for any height.

samokta said..
I also have issues with boosting really big. I can get really high. But I can never land them and ride away. Im not sure what the problem is. Feels like I come down to fast and just crash into the water. Re directing the kite seems like it isn't going to make me slow down but make me fall faster. Maybe I need to down loop im not sure.

Is it possible you are sending the kite from too low down? Starting the kite from low down will tend to result in a flatter, lower jump with a fast landing.

Yeah, knees up helps cos it keeps you stable while your kite skills are iffy. Once you get the kite sorted, you can do all sorts of whacky stuff with your body

You don't need to fish pole the bar. I bet my Speed3 21 is slower than any of your kites A little and short sheet out for the redirect will accelerate the kite across the top of the window, giving a little lift to soften the landing... and the kite will be on the other side of the window but still above you, so you'll glide under the kite on it's downwind flight path.

Honest, it works watch that Vimeo video I posted.

Kamikuza said..

weebitbreezy said...

samokta said..
I also have issues with boosting really big. I can get really high. But I can never land them and ride away. Im not sure what the problem is. Feels like I come down to fast and just crash into the water. Re directing the kite seems like it isn't going to make me slow down but make me fall faster. Maybe I need to down loop im not sure.

Is it possible you are sending the kite from too low down? Starting the kite from low down will tend to result in a flatter, lower jump with a fast landing.

Not if you can hold your edge till the kite's above you. Release your edge too early, when the kite is still on its way up, and you'll skim the water... and the kite will end up behind you and probably falling out of the sky in a front steal.

This is all really confusing to me. I think you have both missed my point. I can jump high and release my edge at 11 and get quite high its when im coming down I feel as I come down way to hot and a lot of the time I just hit the water with my board and fall backwards into the water. Maybe im sheeting out a little bit to much on the decent im not sure. With the kite above me and the feeling that im coming down to fast to be able to land the jump makes it very hard to pull the kite from above you and forward.

Practice makes perfect

Good news! Sounds like you're getting there! You gotta punch through this phase then it's gravy.

When you redirect, you're only sheeting out like an inch or so, and only until the kite has reacted by moving in the new direction. If you don't sheet out, you have to redirect sooner to account for a slower response from the kite, and you'll end up with more speed downwind in the landing, due to the kite not moving across the top of the window so much. It's a subtle thing...

You can sheet right out on the way down and drop like a rock then sheet in hard to catch yourself just above the water...

Sometimes (and with some kites) the lift of the redirect is enough to give you a second small jump, so you kinda hover just above the water Flysurfers are really good at this.

Then there's a flaw in your decision making process...