Sounds like you just need more kiting time !!
Focus more on your kite than your board other wise you will be dropping your kite heaps.
Board skills will come in time . Try watching progression videos that will help with your board skills as well.
It just comes down to practice and time ,
You will feel like you are not getting anywhere but don't worry all of a sudden it will start to click and you will be having the time of your life !!

Can you say little more about what aspects you are having trouble with?

Eg. Is it the initial thing of getting up on the board? Do you get up and going for a little bit and then sink ?

For the first one- there's a lot of good advice on here in the famous "Lessons learned" thread, or if you are more visual learner, as stuntnaz says, the videos can really help.

Ultimately, you will need to develop muscle memory and the required motor patterns.

I was initially really scared to dive the kite enough because when I did I kept face planting.

What helped was being super aware of my back edge prior to and during the first dive, and then thinking "just roll up onto board with slightly bent legs" ie trying to keep my point of balance low until the kite had made the dive and was in the zone for the pull. The relationship between your edge and power of the kite is the key so if you can link them in your mind and body you will quickly have more confidence and the power will (mostly) be yours to control (got to leave some power for the sea and the wind to remind you of your place in the world!).

Let your harness take the pull, lean back and point your belly button towards the kite.

For the second one, for me it was about remembering to keep the kite moving even just a little bit because then you will feel when you need a little more or less power to keep the board tracking.

Good luck...you'll get there soon.

If I were to assume that in your one dozen outings you spent no more than two hours swinging a kite through the air, then you only 24 hours of kite time.

After 24 hours, i had learnt walk upwind with my kite really well, body drag and not much else.

If you want to improve you need to kite more......

Everyone is spot on with what they're saying, having just gone through a long learning curve myself.
I took up the sport 3 years ago, and it was only this summer I made some real good progress (able to start riding upwind) because of one reason alone- I was fitting in 2-3 sessions per week.
Prior to this, I was only going heading out once every 3 weeks or so during summer, and 2-3 times during winter. Evidently, there were periods of 6-8 months where I didn't even go out at all, and this really hampered my progress. So my number one tip to you would be as Christian suggested, really start committing to it and get out a few times a week. You need to build that muscle memory, and that only comes with repetition.

The other thing I will suggest to you is when you're starting to learn how to water start, have as many attempts as you can even if you're drifting downwind to the next beach. A lot of people have a couple of short tacks and do the 'walk of shame' back up to there starting point. This really stagnates the amount of attempts you can fit in a session. Obviously you must know how to self land (you can find the videos on these forums) as there probably won't be any kitesurfers along the next beach to help you land.

This sport really does test out your determination and perseverance, and that is one battle you can't lose if you want to succeed!

Find good spot, shallow, lots of space. It's hard lear in deep water. You just drift downwind, go back up and get tired.
Wait for an good day. Ideal conditions 15-18kts. If there are kiters around, there should be some who rides. If you are alone, something is not good. 99% no wind
Be comfortable and enjoy what you are doing. Setup, self launch, etc...
Have a plan. I'll drift up to here, body drag up there, if something happens safety zone is here. If you just wait to some magic to happen, it will not happen.

Practice. Move kite a lot. a lot. Fly it. You should not stop move it first two or three dives to get up & planing. Let front lines pull you (first dive) and then sheet out and pull hard on harness so you are pulling kite up. Repeat that until you can park it or crash :)

Read this: www.bayareakiteboarding.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=7845

In two sessions, at least 2 hours in water keep trying you'll be up & riding even shouting on wind when your kite lines starts to sing.

Good luck

Swavek said..
Lots of good info in the link provided above except one - don't expect to ride upwind in 4-8 hrs as claimed in the write-up. Most people need 40-60 hrs in the water to get going ( for me it hapened after about 15 sessions 3 hrs each). There are exceptions, some peple may have a gift, but 4 - 8 hr learning curve sounds like rubbish to me .

Completely agree with Swavek. I've taught over 500 students and the progression described in this article corresponds to only 10% of them, typically those who are naturally gifted with kite control and have a solid background in board sports. For the other 90% it's gonna take more time.

I watched and rewatched and rewatched the progression DVD1. It contains a wealth of knowledge. But you gotta watch it more than once for everything to sink in. I used to watch it in small increments depending on which level I was at.
I am still learning but have become pretty confident on the water. You just gotta get out and practice regularly in order to increase your learning speed and fitness.

Good luck, it's soooo worth it.