Angry but determined 18 year old

[kender]

I just got back in from attemtping to kitesurf and I am furious. Let me start by saying I have windsurfed, surfed, and wakeboarded my whole life. I waas down in aruba over break and picked up kitesurfing by my second hour of a private lesson. I could get up and ride for about a hundred yards and everything....so being the jew that i am I bought a cheap ass kite online. Its a 2003 8 meter santa cruz caution. Every time I go out the kite gets so high in the neurtal position that it goes back over my head and backwinds itself. The kites I used in aruba never backwinded or came that far up into the wind....they were always comfortable out in from of me....what should I do? Is it the kite? Is it me? Am I not blowing up all the blatters hard enough? Thanks all feedback will be helpful. Thanks alot

[Germwise]

2nd hour? thats pretty quick... Did you have time to go over kite setup all the safety features, how to self launch, land kite, self rescue upwind body dragging?

Take it slow, Its probably not the kite but that you just need to practice some. I often have my kite trying to pass me, when that happens I usually pull it to a side or keep it moving.

If you got it down, well damn I am impressed.

--Marcelo

[Bob]

kender...first take a big deep breath and chill. you aint seen nothing yet. this sport is full of things that we just have to put up with at times, but it's all worth it when sessioning is great.

was the wind in aruba fairly consistent? if so, most every kite will stay overhead and not hindenburg. the gustier the wind, the better flier you better be with the kite.

i've hard nothing but good things about caution kites, so i doubt it's the kite.

tips...
1) don't keep the kite overhead at all except right when you're ready to waterstart. keep it slightly to the side...put your board on...take it overhead...dive the kite. done.

2) if kite is overhead...the second you feel the kite surge forward in a gust, start moving the kite around in the wind window above you to keep it moving. this needs to be instinctual. comes with practice.

3) if kite is overhead, and it starts to surge forward, you can also pull in on the bar. this will slow the surge and the kite will not go quite as far above your head in the surge. then, if the kite starts backing up, but it's not falling or hindenburging, the sheet out the bar, or push the bar away in the chikcen loop and the kite will surge forward again.

practice these 3 skills and you'll drop the kite much less in our awesome gusty midwest winds. hahahahaha.

good luck.
bob

[Guest]

none of the above. you have your steering (outside) lines too loose which causes your kite to rise up and over your head. you must have tension on these lines so that you can steer the kite to the power zone. next?

[V]

none of the above. you have your steering (outside) lines too loose which causes your kite to rise up and over your head. you must have tension on these lines so that you can steer the kite to the power zone.

Agree. Which is the same as Bob's #3, by the way. Shorten your rear lines by one knot on the leaders at the kite. Attach them closer to the kite or attach them one knot closer to the bar on the leaders at the bar. Or you can lengthen the fronts by attaching them one knot away from the kite on the leaders at the kite. Or lengthen your chicken rope.

Also, everyone puts their kite at 12 oclock eventually. When you do this. Steer it up slowly and keep the bar sheeted in as you do it so the kite doesn't "overfly" then stall and fall outta the air.

How much do you weigh? An 8m seems small for around here.

[kender]

Thanks guys...yes I did it in my second hour...it just came naturally to me. I am 140 pounds but it was howling yesterday. I am actually in JErsey but this is the only forum I could find with pple that were helpful. I will try to fix my lines and hopefully it will help

[Guest]

You just need a little more flying time, "grasshopper." You will not know it all in a few hours playing this game. The boat does not always come around to pick you up.

[kender]

I went out just flying the kite on the beach today and tried tightening the back lines and loosening up the front ones a little. I dunno the kite didn t' really seem to respond as well.....it kinda felt like i was only using 2 out of the 4 lines at some points. ITs hard to explain but I dont thing i ever had all four lines tought. any more tips?

[V]

Well, if the rears are still too loose, shorten them a bit more. Here's a good illustration of what the kite should look like when properly "tuned" (more below the photo):



Basically, if you oversheet the kite out (pull the bar all the way toward you effectively making the front lines too LONG), the kite will flare out as the rear lines get over-tensioned and it will choke, or stall, the kite. This setting should be known by all, and depending on your riding style (riding the knot, or sheeting completely out during a jump by sheeting the bar in) you can prevent stalling by setting max power at a decent flare, but not over-flared. No flaring basincally means the kite is depowered. If the canopy of the kite starts to flutter, that means you're depowering the kite too much or the wind is lulling. You don't want your rears too long or you can't increase the kite's angle of attack enough, which means the kite will be depowered the whole time, overfly, and tend to stall out. You don't want them too short, either. Find a happy middle ground. Usually people will tie two leaders one for each rear line and attach them to the kite. Make them 10 inches long with a knot at each inch marking. Make sure they are spaced equally on both sides. Then test each setting till you have it right.

By watching the kite and "knowing" it, you can really tune in to the power of the kite. These techniques can really be used for any kite on the market. Every kite will flare out at stall. Every kite will overfly if the rears are too long.