hi guys just got back into kiteboarding after 8 years on and off the kite. i mostly wavesail but got jack of sluging around in light winds so got a 2nd had 2012 BWS 12 to get going when its light. so been out twice now on the new gear and my last kite was made in 2004 and was a old c kite. dam the new kites are so much better. so easy to ride.

i can ride up wind fine. and get around and jibe. so kiting around its not the problem. but when i get on the wave it all is a big flop. im alway going way to fast and over shoot the wave and i dont know where i should put the kite when doing a turn. when i luck out and am in the right spot for the wave the kite kite goes dead and i have no power and drops into the water as i ride towards it. dont know what im doing wrong. im not flying the kit around which makes me wonder i should be.

should i be turning the kite as i got to do a bottom turn or just keep it flying towards the beach.

also had a big crash today because i was going way to fast on a surf board. any tips to slow down would be good to.

cheers tommy

Dl33ta said..

Check out the BWS movies on kite placement , I found them pretty handy. I usually lead the turn with the kite and control the speed of the turn with the amount of backfoot pressure. Something I've been mucking around with lately is the height of the kite when I turn, there is a sweet spot in there that changes depending on your wind/kite size ratio. Usually if I have the kite size right bringing the kite across a bit lower makes for a much nicer turn. Too high and the kite will flutter across the window and give too much lift, too low and you get too much horizontal board speed.

With board speed I change my boards. If it's decent size waves and good wind I'll use my s-quad, bit more rocker and it seriously digs in a rail when you come off the face of a wave giving complete control. On the usual days around here using the BWS drifter, too much speed usually isn't a problem as the wave face is too small. If I get caught out on it though it can be scary and painful hurtling out of control.

I'm assuming you're talking about the kite falling out of the sky when you've out manouvered yourself into a no power situation, i.e. no wave power pushing the board and the kite backstalling from its position?

thanks mate there is some great info there. yea the kite stalls when i ride torwards it. thou i think ive been just placinging it and then riding towards it. in stead of flying the kite to match my turns. il try this next time im out.

yea i seem to have to much speed on my fish. will try to change my board and see if it helps\

thanks tommy

bene313 said..


If you are riding a fish, make sure your back foot is back. Stomp on the tail and try pivot turns rather than rail to rail turns.

But to me, sounds like the kite is too big. Strapless requires under-powered riding generally.

yea i was wondering about the size of the bws. it does feel big. interesting you say that under powered riding. because when it light i can get around just fine point up wind using the fins. i also think ive been out in really small surf so might be better when i get out in 2-3 foot.

so when flying the kite around to turn up the wave. do i take it past 12 or just up and down still kinda heading towards the beach.

what size kite shoud i be running. im starting to think i need a 9-10.
im trying to fill the gap from 12-17knots any more and ill go wavesailing

i can get a 2012 9 or 11 drifter new for pretty cheap. might be worth looking at those. any suggestions would be great.

im also 99kgs, thats why i got a 12 bws. but been overpowered on it a few times and it sucks. and when its light i sometimes want a faster turining kite.

I'm the same weight as you and ride a 11m cab drifter with surfboard. If it's not 15 knots I don't even bother, I've tried but you end up flying the kite hard just to mow the lawn, let alone get out through a surf break. An 11m works great for me up to 25 knots. Then I downsize to a 9.
I come from a surfing background and have found the kite needs subtle adjustments either by depowering the line when riding in or sheeting the bar in and out a bit. Depends on wind strength but the drifter also allows you to adjust steering lines for power adjustments.
Even these so called slack line drift kites will fall to water if you ride hard towards them, it comes down to how fast the kites flying and the speed of your wave , where your kites positioned and the wave direction. Don't be too worried about dropping the kite if your riding towards it, it's normal behaviour, you can turn the kite in the other direction and then back in the direction your riding, just be prepared to get towed away from the wave a bit.
Where your kite will drift is when riding downwind with the wave and the wind speed is greater than your board speed. Some just drift better than others and that's where the freedom of wave kiting comes into it. Otherwise any kite works in the surf if your happy to allow the kite to do the work on the wave.
Enjoy your BWS and don't worry too much about marketing hype

Yeah I suppose 12m around 15kn should be fine for your weight. Maybe grab a old high-performance surfboard to replace the fish when the wind is up a bit.

wintortree said..
I went out again last night and recon I found one of the problems I was having was my kite wasn't trimmed right. When I sheet in all the way the kite was feeling like it wanted to stall. Which I think has been why it drop out of the sky when I rode towards it compiling the problem. Now it has a better setup it has power and pulls when I fully sheet in.

Well it's good to sort that out. Kite falling out of the sky because you ride towards it (loss of power), is different to kite back-stall (over sheet). The former is associated with slack lines, whereas the latter due to short and tight back lines. Still, see how you go, a correctly trimmed kite will of course fly better.

In the finish, it's a 12m kite and it's not going to drift well. You need to fly the kite while on a wave to keep it in the air.

wintortree said..
so when flying the kite around to turn up the wave. do i take it past 12 or just up and down still kinda heading towards the beach.

You fly it across the window. You follow the kite on your board. Not up/down - you can do this with a smaller kite but instead of flying up and down you loop it in front of you while you continue riding towards it.

wintortree said..
Should I turn the kite and follow with my board. What I mean is turn the
Kite up as I bottom turn to the lip and turn it back towards the beach when I hit the lip.

Yes. You turn the kite then follow it.

Best way I can describe it for you is if I'm on a right hand wave heading upwind I do two things,
1. Trim my kite so I'm not completely powered up riding
2. Sheet in to get on the wave, then sheet out when I'm on it so I'm not getting pulled along. Then I can think about hitting the lip. You got to set the kite before pulling of any manoeuvres.
3. If you hit the lip and ride back towards your kite you'll have turn it towards the direction your riding, sheet in a bit, pick up a bit of speed and go again. I don't turn my kite when hitting the lip and ride towards it. I just sort of set and forget then power up a bit again.
4. The only time I would turn the kite back towards the other direction is if I went for an aerial and wanted to get back down the wave, that's an advanced manoeuvre and one that requires a fair bit of skill ( past my ability atm )

Your BWS has plenty of grunt being a twelve so I reckon it be perfect for up to 20 knots, over that and your probably going to be overpowered and trimming won't change too much.

pull more cutties m8