It’s my first post here and I’d like to start with a great thank you to all of you guys. This is an enormously useful topic with loads of information.

Yesterday I learnt a few lessons.

Went out with my brand new Best Kahoona+ kite. For unknown to me reason, Best Kiteboarding equipped its 2014 Best RP bar safety leash with a Velcro strip (instead of a metal carabiner) that attaches the leash to your harness. So, after spending about an hour practicing my water starts, I got accidentally unhooked and the strong gust just ripped the whole thing off my harness. The velcro strip wouldn’t hold and I can tell you, it is not the most pleasant experience to watch your precious new kite blown away from you down the river. I understand that when the chicken loop comes off/safety release is activated and your kite is attached to you by the safety leash only, it supposed to depower fully. I have no idea why it did not happen in my case. It just happened so quickly that the only thing I heard is a sound of a velcro strip getting opened and off my harness. Did anyone have the same experience? What did you do in such situation? I am going to replace the velcro with a good metal carabiner of a kind used on most safety leashes. Are there any precautions to doing this?

Second lesson: It only takes a little bit of misfortune to realize how kind and gracious people around you might be. A couple on their kayak paddled about 1,5km after my kite chasing it. They caught it by the bar, managed to bring the bloody thing to the shore and hold it while I was running along the shore to get it from them (oh man, those sharp river shore stones! My feet have never experiences such thorough massage. Today I can barely walkJ). Another guy offered me to use his lawn to deflate and fold my kite and, finally, when everything was done, the third fellow asked me if I need a drive back to the park.

I know, it’s too many of me for the first post here, but I need to ask another question.

Most of the time I am able to get up on the board and even do a small runs. However, I quickly lose power and sink. The board I use is Best Breeze 145X44, which is, essentially, a light wind board. However, with the majority of winds in my area being around or lower 15 knots, how useful it will be if I upgrade to, let say, Spleene Monster Door? Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hi Mate..welcome

15 knotts and above of cold Canadian wind should see you up and about no worries at all on a 145 x 45 TT using a 12m and above kite as long as you aren't too heavy.

Doors are good for mowing the lawn and as a newbie that will keep you happy for a while ( not long )

As WeirdEd says ... need a bit more info....

Thanks for your replies folks!

I am 85 kg and the kite I was talking about was 13.5 m. The problems, as I see them, are:

1. Lack of my experience. I am still learning how to work my kite to create an apparent wind and any advice on this technique will be invaluable;
2. We rarely have winds more than 15mph;
3. Even if we have stronger winds, they are very gusty, which, obviously, does not add to my stability on a board.

It is because of ## 2 and 3 I am thinking about getting a bigger board, which will allow me to get more of #1. My assumption here is that this huge size board would allow me to get moving in winds as low as 10mph, which, in turn will provide for more practice time.

Yes, weebitbreezy, it is a micro leash indeed. I am going to replace it with a regular leash from my 9m Liquid Force kite. However, liking the small size of this micro leash, I would like to continue using it, but not with this ridiculous velcro strip. Any suggestions on a kind of carabiner I can use to replace the velcro?

Also, could anybody share their experience with relaunching the kite in deep water. While taking lessons, I only was taught to relaunch it in shallow waters. Last time I was able to get on my board and get running about 300-400 m, and even upwind (see, I am not completely hopeless). Crashed in deep water and felt desperate trying to relaunch there. Using a board on my feet as resistance would help. Unfortunately, when you crash, you lose your board. To get to your board, you have to body drag yourself upwind. But how the hell you can do it without relaunching your kite? Any tips on how to do that efficiently?

FlyingHippo said...
Thanks for your replies folks!

I am 85 kg and the kite I was talking about was 13.5 m. The problems, as I see them, are:

2. We rarely have winds more than 15mph;

[] huge size board would allow me to get moving in winds as low as 10mph []

If you use a SUP maybe you will be able to get out in 10 mph. I have a 17m Ozone Zephyr and a North Nugget as light wind setup and I need at least 12 knots to be nicely powered. I was able to hold ground at 10 knots but that's hard work.

I am guessing you are trying in winds that are not strong enough. What's a common setup at your spot and do the other riders weigh about the same as you?

Hi mate,

Welcome to the forum and well done picking an awesome sport to start learning.

I agree with most of the guys on here that are probably more experienced than me only couple of things that I would add for what it's worth:

1 - don't be afraid of more wind than less, it's heaps easier to be a tiny bit overpowered than under powered when learning. A common mistake for new guys is they get nervous of stronger winds for no reason. If your spot is really that bad for good winds it sounds to me like a bigger kite would work a lot better than a bigger board. I know it costs money to get a bigger kite but remember an extra kite gives you a lot more wind options and gets you out there twice as much. I know not everyone can afford a 2 or 3 kite quiver but the reality of this sport is that most places in the world need at least 2 if not 3 kite sizes to get out fairly often.

2 - when crashing your gunna crash and at the level your at the crash is probably really only going to dint your pride rather than be a hugely dangerous crash, therefore when you feel yourself going over or about to crash, concentrate ONLY on the kite and try your best to pull it up to 12 with the bar out to keep the kite flying. A crash loosing the board with a kite still in the air is a lot better than loosing 10 meters plus trying to relaunch. Another tip when crashing which an advanced instructor taught me and it actually works - if your heading say right and you crash and loose the board and can control the kite keep going right as your first upwind body drag before Turing left to body drag towards the board again. A lot if people drag the opposite direction first and in the process of putting their kite through 12 to switch direction loose a lot of ground straight away. Therefore if you crash and manage to feel yourself go and control the kite and it happens to be at 12, start your body drag ASAP to stop from loosing ground with the kite at 12. A lot of info I know but if you read it well it all makes sense and doesn't take as long to do as it does to write about.

3 - if you are in light winds and your kite drops back on itself learn how to hot launch. I would suggest getting an experienced kiter to teach you this. It's a good skill to know and it is safe if taught to you correctly. You shouldn't be pulling any power on the bar to hot launch and it's not suggested for beginners in strong winds but light winds are safe if taught properly.

4 - reverse hot launch is also a good skill to learn and again should be taught to you by an experience kiter, but the basics is simple and again safe in light winds. It happens pretty quickly so good to get you out of the s**t if needed. Basically you grab the steering lines (outside lines) a fair way above the bar and pull them both back toward you and it will lift the kite out of the water then you release only one of the lines (depending which direction you want it to launch) and it will turn and launch. When releasing the line depending on the strength of the wind will depend on how fast you release the line. Light wind drop it quickly, strong wind a lot slower.

All these things you should practice with an experienced kiter and broadens your skill set givin you more relaunch options rather than beating your head on the water holding 1 line and spending what feels like 10 minutes trying to relaunch.

Kite carefully and learn from experienced guys there ain't no better way to learn!

Final tip (man I can go on and on) speak to 'old' fishermen and water sports men and boaties around your area because they will have been watching the weather and wind for years and years and can give great tips on what happens with the weather like when you said the higher winds are gusty they probably know the signs of the heavy gusts coming like the type of clouds coming, the way boats move in the water, misty squalls in the distance etc....

You can never have enough knowledge when it's just you a piece of ply wood and a bed sheet tied to 4 bits of string. Knowledge is king!!!

Daniel1973 said...
Hi mate,

Welcome to the forum and well done picking an awesome sport to start learning.

I agree with most of the guys on here that are probably more experienced than me only couple of things that I would add for what it's worth:

1 - don't be afraid of more wind than less, it's heaps easier to be a tiny bit overpowered than under powered when learning. A common mistake for new guys is they get nervous of stronger winds for no reason. If your spot is really that bad for good winds it sounds to me like a bigger kite would work a lot better than a bigger board. I know it costs money to get a bigger kite but remember an extra kite gives you a lot more wind options and gets you out there twice as much. I know not everyone can afford a 2 or 3 kite quiver but the reality of this sport is that most places in the world need at least 2 if not 3 kite sizes to get out fairly often.

2 - when crashing your gunna crash and at the level your at the crash is probably really only going to dint your pride rather than be a hugely dangerous crash, therefore when you feel yourself going over or about to crash, concentrate ONLY on the kite and try your best to pull it up to 12 with the bar out to keep the kite flying. A crash loosing the board with a kite still in the air is a lot better than loosing 10 meters plus trying to relaunch. Another tip when crashing which an advanced instructor taught me and it actually works - if your heading say right and you crash and loose the board and can control the kite keep going right as your first upwind body drag before Turing left to body drag towards the board again. A lot if people drag the opposite direction first and in the process of putting their kite through 12 to switch direction loose a lot of ground straight away. Therefore if you crash and manage to feel yourself go and control the kite and it happens to be at 12, start your body drag ASAP to stop from loosing ground with the kite at 12. A lot of info I know but if you read it well it all makes sense and doesn't take as long to do as it does to write about.

3 - if you are in light winds and your kite drops back on itself learn how to hot launch. I would suggest getting an experienced kiter to teach you this. It's a good skill to know and it is safe if taught to you correctly. You shouldn't be pulling any power on the bar to hot launch and it's not suggested for beginners in strong winds but light winds are safe if taught properly.

4 - reverse hot launch is also a good skill to learn and again should be taught to you by an experience kiter, but the basics is simple and again safe in light winds. It happens pretty quickly so good to get you out of the s**t if needed. Basically you grab the steering lines (outside lines) a fair way above the bar and pull them both back toward you and it will lift the kite out of the water then you release only one of the lines (depending which direction you want it to launch) and it will turn and launch. When releasing the line depending on the strength of the wind will depend on how fast you release the line. Light wind drop it quickly, strong wind a lot slower.

All these things you should practice with an experienced kiter and broadens your skill set givin you more relaunch options rather than beating your head on the water holding 1 line and spending what feels like 10 minutes trying to relaunch.

Kite carefully and learn from experienced guys there ain't no better way to learn!

Final tip (man I can go on and on) speak to 'old' fishermen and water sports men and boaties around your area because they will have been watching the weather and wind for years and years and can give great tips on what happens with the weather like when you said the higher winds are gusty they probably know the signs of the heavy gusts coming like the type of clouds coming, the way boats move in the water, misty squalls in the distance etc....

You can never have enough knowledge when it's just you a piece of ply wood and a bed sheet tied to 4 bits of string. Knowledge is king!!!

Hi Dan,

Thanks for the great tips! You would not believe, how right you are about stronger winds being better than the lighter ones. As I mentioned above, last weekend was the wind was strong enough and I was able to do long runs, go upwind and even successfully practice my sliding turns. With regard to the gear, I am in complete agreement with you. I, actually, have 3 kites in my quiver: LF Envy 9m, Kahoona+ 13.5m, and recently got Best TS 17m. Thought the bigger board will make me flying in almost any kind of wind, but now, I understand it is more of a skill development exercise rather than a gear upgrade.

Also, now I am starting to appreciate what people mean when they say It's all about practice. On Saturday I was crashing and loosing my board every time when I crashed. On Sunday, it just clicked and I was able to hold my board on my feet most of the times I crashed.

"3 - if you are in light winds and your kite drops back on itself learn how to hot launch. I would suggest getting an experienced kiter to teach you this. It's a good skill to know and it is safe if taught to you correctly. You shouldn't be pulling any power on the bar to hot launch and it's not suggested for beginners in strong winds but light winds are safe if taught properly." - Did you mean the kite is sitting in a water leading edge up?

Thanks again! Any tips on riding toeside?