Hi all,

Just started to really ride the waves strapless (absolutely loving it, totally new sport), and am wanting to go to the next step of riding waves unhooked, and am after some pointers. (I come from a surfing background originally).

I ride unhooked a bit on flat water with my twin tip, but it is more just: unhook, veer upwind, jump/trick/whatever, then hook back in. From what I have seen on videos, a lot of wave riders unhook for a big portion of the wave.

How do you hold the power of the kite whilst unhooked? I just seem to lost control when I unhook for more than a few seconds. Do you need to steer towards the kite when it starts to get hard to edge against the power? Any other pointers to start with? Should I just drop in on an 8 foot bomb, unhook and see what happens? Or are there certain learning progressions that people take going from hooked strapless to unhooked strapless?

Cheers,
Tom

tmiddled said...

Any other pointers to start with? Should I just drop in on an 8 foot bomb, unhook and see what happens?

yes..... But please please make sure someone is filming.!!!

i am pretty sure the idea is ... That once you are on the wave you are not looking to gain power from the kite but actually surf the wave in a normal sense.

Most of the very good guys seem to be able to just park the kite and allow it to drift back. This means there is very little pressure at the bar and only very minor inputs may be required.

The key to this is also the right sized kite and wind direction in relation to the wave direction.

Ok, thanks. Yeah I kind of see they are just using the power of the wave to ride. My problem is that whenever I unhook, I unless I travel downwind I am continously getting pulled.

So the wind direction relative to the wave needs to be in a way that the kite will kind of be naturally drifintg back as I'm surfing the wave, and not pulling me. Cool.

Anyway, I think I'll try the 8 foot bomb idea, whats the worst that can happen?