raffaeu said..
Update on the past week-end
I still have 2 problems, anyway:
- I had to do 1 body drag and with a surfboard is almost impossible, how do you body drag with a surfboard? You don't?
- Water start is hard as hell, how many sessions will take in order to have a good handle of water start in deep water? 5-6 sessions?
Anyway I can say now that is addictive, for me, coming from surf/SUP/Windsurf the surf board is way more funny than a TT, but I don't like freestyle, so that's why.
Hey raffaeu, glad it is all starting to happen for you! Sounds like some solid progress
When you say 'body drag with a surfboard' do you mean you were trying to body drag while holding the board? Or body drag to the surfboard?
I'm not sure why you would need to do the first one, but the body drag skills should be the same as with a twin tip. If you are trying to body drag with a surfboard then you can plant a hand a bit in front of the middle of the board and body drag with one hand. Not really a skill you need but sometimes something i do to get out of the way of a pounding wave without losing the board.
The strapless water start will certainly help to dial in your kite skills, as there is a bit less room for error. The process becomes automatic, but i'll try and break down what i think i do...
a) bend your legs into a crouch
b) grab the tail of the board with your back hand and pull it under your back foot so your back foot is on the tailpad with your leg still bent.
c) bring your front leg onto the board with a 30 deg or so bend in the leg. If you can't reach the board, straighten out your back leg which will cause the front of the board to swing towards you
d) make sure your back is into the wind same as you would on a TT. twist your body if you need to
e) point the board about 45 degrees downwind by straightening your front leg a bit (you won't need to do this as you get better but start around there)
f) bring the kite to about 11 o'clock (assuming your taking off goofy to the right), and send it to about 1 o'clock while putting weight on your back foot. Unlike a TT you don't need the big punch of speed to get you planing - you are more interested in getting you standing using the kite, then bring it down to 3 o'clock or so to get moving once you are up. key differences - weight is more on the tail than a TT, we are not trying to edge, we are trying to plane. If you get lifted off the board or go over the front, then move the kite a bit slower.
This skill gets
significantly easier the faster you can do it. practice on flat water making it a fluid movement, ideally when you fall off the kite you should be able to grab the board as you come off, flick it under your feet and be back up and riding in a couple of seconds. This skill will save your session! Once you start hitting some solid swell, you are generally going to be falling off in the white water, and the next wave is 4-15 seconds behind, ready to pound you. So if it takes you any longer than this to get back on your board, then you are heading for a world of hurt!
If you can, spend a session just focusing on the water start, it is going to save you a lot of time and energy in the long run. If you already have a surf/sup background, then you already know what to do on a wave, spend some time dialing in the waterstart, board retrieval, going upwind and getting over whitewater, and you'll cream it.
^^ I like this guy!
