Billy B. wrote:It is when you kick the board under your feet into the new direction, with your back facing the wind. The term comes from the skateboard, wakeskate, skimboard trick. "shove it".
The board makes the tack and your body does not, I am assuming this is the tack you are currently doing?.
Yes, that is a "normal" tack, jumping round back to the wind, like in windsurfing
But "kicking" in the new direction ?
Maybe this goes for a skimboard or strapless or airborne waveboard - but on a raceboard you glide up through the wind (admittedly pushing hard with your back foot, true), but you actually pull with your front foot in order to turn the board fast and narrow - and no kicking.
The big fins wont turn fast just by rear foot pressure - and "kicking" the tail is (IMO) impossible on raceboards, unless your boardspeed approaches zero maybe, so you stall the fins
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Actually, the reason why the duck tack seems so "odd", is that I can not mentally see how it physically is possible to do it
Strange - as one CAN do it, quite easy (when you can), but having a kite "line" pulling slightly up and downwind - while you move upwind and turn around with your body underneath to LEEWARD, is soooo physically wrong and an unstable situation.
Find it almost impossible to do when standing on the beach, if you have a bit of power in the kite.
Dont know if anyone understand what I mean ?
And yes, I know it is "just" my brain/mind that is a drawback here....
Wonderful to experience the duck tack myself a couple of times, eventhough I can not do it yet (except by almost pure luck)
Because the normal tack is a "stable" and controlled situation where you can counteract in many differenet ways (your kitepull and you are balanced and counteracts correct at all times), you can do it both slow and fast and however you like - so it is quite "safe" I think.
But as with everything else, like jibes etc - when you CAN do it 100%, other tacks might become easier/safer ?
Peter