When I go out its usually very choppy water and I feel that im struggling to get enough speed to edge upwind, what can I do to stay upwind in these conditions. (My board is a Airush Vox 135 x 38, 10m 2012 slingshot RPM, Im about 70kg and have been riding in 18 - 25 knots)

Could be one of many things. At your weight you should have enough power in the kite to go upwind so here's a list of possible ideas:

- Not going downwind first to get speed up first
- Weight too far back over the tail slowing you down
- Not trimming the kite before starting so it back stalls when you sheet
- Stance too rigidly upright (twist a little at the hips to make it easier to go upwind)
- Board too flat. Push your weight through your heels for better drive.
- Poor wind direction awareness. You think you are only going a bit upwind but actually you are trying to head much too far upwind. Can be caused by wind shifts or differences between the wind direction onshore and offshore.

All I can come up with from the top of my head (remembering the things I had to sort out when I started). One of the instructors on here might have a few more common problems.

If money is a problem at the moment, you could ask one of the more experienced kiters at your local spot to observe you and give you some feedback. Radio helmet class with an experienced instructor is a good way to resolve this if you have some money to invest in your hobby. Agree with the comments above too - most likely too much weight on the back foot and aiming too much upwind with not enough speed.

If you're not powered up on a RPM, forget going upwind and if you don't have a flat wide board you'll be even worse off.. It's the same with all kites. Match your kite n board n skills with the conditions. Until you are able to do this on your own or with help... A north kite won't make the slightest difference..

So funny some responses on here..
Get a muggachino from Dongara although that won't even help in the slightest either! Yeow

Fly on da wall said..

cauncy said..

NoBreezeNoFun said..
When I go out its usually very choppy water and I feel that im struggling to get enough speed to edge upwind, what can I do to stay upwind in these conditions. (My board is a Airush Vox 135 x 38, 10m 2012 slingshot RPM, Im about 70kg and have been riding in 18 - 25 knots)

Board size is fine
kite size and weight, the rpm is an open c kite not the most amazing upwind ability, especially when you get pretty powered up they don't point you upwind compared to certain other models, so it'll certainly show your faults or technique, if you've a mate with a kite like a rebel etc take it for a run to see and feel the difference, if not you'll have to work on it, a wider stance on the board ( change settings)
fix a position on the beach when heading upwind, dropping your upwind hand off the bar automatically brings your body around inc hips , also I'd say you might be flying the kite too high or low in the window, too high can take your ability to edge , too low can kill the power inc your momentum, a relaxed riding style is what your looking for, get sometimes a photo shows your faults in body positions and you can use this as an aid

Rpms go awesome upwind, but ofcourse not as well as the crappy ozones n whatever else you get your deal's to pimp Chauncey.. Give it a rest.. Your a sad sad individual on Seabreeze.. Like a lot if people here.. I'm sick of your balony..
A washed up used car salesman has more cred.. Lol

Hahn lights on special today it seems

Coming from the choppy, gusty english channel I can throw some cents in here which might be useful because we deal with this **** in the uk all the time:

10m at 15-25 knots is plenty for your weight (even though I have noticed that European winds seem to have perhaps 2-3 knots more power).

There's actually 2 ways you can go upwind on a kiteboard.

a) gaining speed, then reducing your own weight by keeping the kite high, perhaps at 80 degrees and pointing slightly upwind, rinse and repeat.
-> very popular in flat water with slow winds and huge kites. You basically lean really far back and keep the kite high. The board is mostly on edge and usually fairly horizontal in the water.

b) Kite lowish in the window (30-45deg), board on edge and completely horizontal.
-> works only if you are almost overpowered but is a popular approach in flat water with larger boards. Basically you exploit that the kite will turn slightly upwind the more it moves towards the edge of the window. By edging the board hard the kite will have to drag you upwind.

c) This is the happy medium between a and b. You keep the kite at about 45 degrees.

By mixing these techniques as you go along you can stay upwind even if you have waves or chop coming along.
The crucial trick here is to lift the frontfoot out of the water. This might seem counter intuitive because you are reducing the surface area of the board but it seems to stop the board from getting caught in the chop. I find that smaller boards have particularly a tendency to get caught in the chop and are very punishing if you dont lift the fronttip out of the water. I presume this is due to the front foot being close to the edge of the board so the weight of the foot pushes the tip into the water or something. Once you get the angle just right you will notice how you all of the sudden speed up drastically.

When you get a bigger roller coming at you you then move the kite to like 80 degrees or so and lean really far back. The lift of the kite will carry you over the chop like you are flying while still going upwind. If this is not possible, i.e. because it is a wave breaking or so then still put the kite at 80 degrees but flatten the board so you float over the whitewater downwind.

Looking at a fixed point upwind also helps.

thanks a bunch everyone for the help

As everyones saying it could be a lot of different things, but my tip is simple when you go slow you are usually going up wind and when you go fast your usually going down or across the wind , especially when its choppy, so try going a bit slower
Hope this helps .George