Hi Salty,

I went to a surfboard because I struggled to have kinked back leg on a TT. I found I could kite with mostly straight legs both forward and back on the surfboard.
I generally only really bend my legs if I want to lower the centre of gravity to board and make board hold more of me than the kite during light wind sessions and occasionally in big winds if need to edge really hard.

You will have no issues getting going on a directional...... take you ten minutes to find the balance for starting and coasting.... But why not go and have a surf coach teach you to ride a surfboard for good feet position?

Got to be careful swapping between tt and sb with your foot pressure. With a tt you go 80/20 back foot but with a sb you go 80/20 front foot (upwind and transiting) - if the nose of your board is pointing above your head you'Re dragging your tail and being inefficient. Stay over the top of the board and just look where you want to go same as with the tt. Don't be afraid to go right up the front of the board when going upwind, like, right up the front where you don't usually wax. When you look upwind you will naturally edge the board a little but no need to lean out unless you're overpowered.

Besides that:

Get comfy moving your feet around the board when it's moving, it takes a while if you're not a surfer.
Give the straps a miss unless you're willing to take your feet out for upwind
Toeside is easy but really good toeside can take a while to develop, learn to ride switch for easier upwind early days. Chances are coming from the tt this will be relatively natural anyway
Bring your back foot back for going over waves and doing big turns

SaltySinus said..
Cheers Tone. Appreciate that. So when you're planing along on flat stuff do you lean back and push the edge of the board in, or do you keep the board flat, straighten your ankles and let the big a$$ fins do the gripping?

Good tip on the surfing, although I think I'll wait for the water to warm up (as I've only just managed to get the undercarriage in the landing position since my last kite session.)

I'm sure I'm missing a good source of info, but seems kiting with a twin tip is covered well in learner dvds like Progression, and more advance wave riding is covered well on Ben Wilson DVDs etc. but there doesn't seem to be much for getting up and going on a directional... may be if I spent more time on the water rather than researching it, then I'd be doing a bit better!

If the water is superflat, I find I can keep the board relatively flat and do most of the upwind steering through the fins (especially with good speed).

If the water is choppy, I edge hard on the rail to reduce the slap and bounce.

If I really want to get maximum upwind advantage, I edge hard using the rail of board to advantage and I make sure I am healside.

In a perfect world, you will learn to ride healside and toeside in both directions, you should also practice gybing.

I lot of guys at my local are old surfers who ride either natural or goofy and nothing else. You never them see gybe, but they are so good toeside, that they travel upwind like Australia II with a winged keel.

SaltySinus said..
All great advice and guidance, thanks guys. The 80/20 over front foot is the kind of information I haven't found anywhere else. Much appreciated all round.

After a (very) few attempts, I found a single centre strap is the best for me. It's enough to stop the board scooting off.

Just remember that it is really easy to perform the "chicken wish bone" with only one strap!!!!

Cheers Dave,

yeah, I'm able to get up and going ... just need some medium sized finessing!

Thanks Werty, great tip. The surf is pretty crap in the bay...

Hi Salty, strongly recommend learning to ride toeside both ways and switching your feet after gybing. Just gives you so many options when you are in the waves. I'm weaker riding toeside right foot forward and I'm trying to really focus on that at the moment so I can go toeside out through the waves when needed without disaster! Have fun!

Hi Peeps,

Going from a twin tip to a Surfboard is a radical step requiring totally different riding style.

Firstly, against popular belief, a surfboard won't actually go in much less wind than a large twin tip. The added tail rocker and narrow tail tend to make them drag and bog into the water more than a big twin tip.

Stance - Twin tips need most of your weight over the back foot strap and the board to be ridden on the edge to go upwind. A surfboard needs equal pressure on both straps for normal surfing on the wave, but riding upwind usually works best with equal weight on both back and front foot but with the back foot moved in front of the back foot strap. This allows more of the rail to be in the water and helps the board to stop bogging in with too much tail pressure.

I'd only ride a surfboard in the waves. They don't like going through chop with so much planing area and will bounce around heaps whereas a twin tip slices through the water and takes much of the banging out of the picture.

As a beginner, although it may feel weird and a bit counter-intuitive, take the back foot strap off and loosen the front one off so if you stack it, you'll come out of it and you won't twist an ankle. The back strap forces you to weight too heavily and won't allow trimming. it will also get in the way when you are learning gybing. Better to have a clean deck.

Riding a surfboard unstrapped requires you to ride at a slower pace than you would on a twin tip. You also need to ride with both knees bent a bit so your legs can act as shock absorbers over the chop on the way out.

It's not difficult, it's just different. Learning to "read the surf" will take much longer.

The best board to learn on is something a bit wider in the tail and a bit wider in width to allow you to learn to gybe. Gybing is the hardest part. As a windsurfer, it's the same old "two step" dance move of back foot to opposite rail of front foot, then front foot back to rear foot position, then a bit of awkward wriggling of toes to get them into the straps. It's much better if done as a fast and fluid two step manoeuvre rather than prolonged period of both feet out of straps in a parallel stance.

The fins of a surfboard give you a surface to "push against" so you don't have to rely on so much of an edge on the board itself.

Hope this helps,

DM

nikmcc said..

ActionSportsWA said...
Hi Peeps,

Going from a twin tip to a Surfboard is a radical step requiring totally different riding style.

Firstly, against popular belief, a surfboard won't actually go in much less wind than a large twin tip. The added tail rocker and narrow tail tend to make them drag and bog into the water more than a big twin tip.

Ah, cool. That was gonna be my next question as I was thinking it could double as a light wind board.

I might hold off on the surfboard idea for now, I haven't even taken the TT in the waves yet. best I get that sorted first

Hey nik, if your heading for the waves and still want to ride a TT, the shinn speedball is a great leg up. Im 97 kg and the speedy is an absolute blast. Ive surfed all my life, but still feel a bit out of depth in the surf. The speedy is a very easy board to ride through the white wash and pretty cool back in.

Plummet said..
My 9 cents worth is to say, also consider mutants, and or wave TT's.

If you have epic down the line surf conditions and want to ride like a surfer on the wave with very little power from the kite then go and get a surfboard.

If you have average breach break mush and just want to blast in the waves jumping and riding waves back in then mutants and wave tt's are the shiz.

Sweet, eventually I'd like to do both.
But for now it sounds like I've got the right TT board (Cab tronic)

Gumble said..


Hey nik, if your heading for the waves and still want to ride a TT, the shinn speedball is a great leg up. Im 97 kg and the speedy is an absolute blast. Ive surfed all my life, but still feel a bit out of depth in the surf. The speedy is a very easy board to ride through the white wash and pretty cool back in.

Cheers

ActionSportsWA said..

Firstly, against popular belief, a surfboard won't actually go in much less wind than a large twin tip. The added tail rocker and narrow tail tend to make them drag and bog into the water more than a big twin tip.

Finally, someone of respectability has come out and formally debunked the myth that twin-tips need more wind than surfie shapes.

Good onya.