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how to maintain speed when popping to toeside?

Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2012 4:43 pm
by coleman
I always seem to lose board speed when going to toeside. can anybody give me some tips on how to make it seemless?

thanks!

Re: how to maintain speed when popping to toeside?

Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2012 6:41 pm
by toyletbowl
Yea, make sure you're hauling ass. I mean really hauling ass and then look for a small piece of chop and try to switch to toe side as fast as you can with as little air as possible.

If you are in the right stance before switching, the lower body does all the work.

Meaning, if you're upper body is progressively looking in the direction you are going, then switching fast to toe side is all done with the lower body. You're head, arms, upper body don't have to move at all.

Make sense? Practice and you'll nail it and then when it get's really good, you can time the ollie with a hard turn and throw massive spray if that's what you are after.

Hope this helps,

Bob
www.kiteridersllc.com

Re: how to maintain speed when popping to toeside?

Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2012 8:00 pm
by edt
coleman wrote:I always seem to lose board speed when going to toeside. can anybody give me some tips on how to make it seemless?

thanks!
viddies pls. You are doing something wrong that is not obvious. There isn't much to popping toeside you hop out of the water and swing the board around.

Re: how to maintain speed when popping to toeside?

Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2012 10:52 pm
by dyyylan
edt wrote: viddies pls. You are doing something wrong that is not obvious. There isn't much to popping toeside you hop out of the water and swing the board around.
Hmm, I have the opposite problem. Whenever I try to pop toeside I seem to have so much power I can't edge hard enough against it. I start by riding fast heelside and start to bear off slightly and load up, hop around to toeside and sheet in the rest of the way, start edging hard and unhook, and at that point I'm about to get exploded off the water and have to hook back in. If I don't go as fast, by the time I unhook my kite has no power. Any advice there?

Re: how to maintain speed when popping to toeside?

Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2012 11:01 pm
by edt
dyyylan wrote:
edt wrote: viddies pls. You are doing something wrong that is not obvious. There isn't much to popping toeside you hop out of the water and swing the board around.
Hmm, I have the opposite problem. Whenever I try to pop toeside I seem to have so much power I can't edge hard enough against it. I start by riding fast heelside and start to bear off slightly and load up, hop around to toeside and sheet in the rest of the way, start edging hard and unhook, and at that point I'm about to get exploded off the water and have to hook back in. If I don't go as fast, by the time I unhook my kite has no power. Any advice there?
I think you already know the answer, flatten the board a bit and bear downwind more when you are toeside, you're edging too hard

Re: how to maintain speed when popping to toeside?

Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2012 11:55 pm
by juandesooka
Coleman: I'm a relative newbie, but have spent quite a bit of my time practicing toeside, as my goal is kiting in waves. I know exactly what you mean. When first trying toeside riding, I could only do it nearly straight downwind, doing figure 8s with the kite. Gradually, with practice, I've been able to dig my edge in more and and I can now hold my line or go a little upwind while riding toeside. So, riding a surfboard, with straps, I can usually ride "regular foot" the whole time, without needing to switch stance.

But, toeside riding for me still has probably 10-20% less power than regular heelside riding. Meaning if I'm in low winds, I may have to switch feet position every few tacks to make some better upwind progress when I'm right hand forward. Though one helpful thing from this ... if slightly overpowered, rather than trimming the kite, I can take off a little power by riding toeside and be perfectly powered for doing toe to heelside carves along the waves ... woo hoo!

Anyways, back to your question ... for me, I find I have to work the kite much more aggressively while riding toeside, often sining the kite, and sometimes having to do little downwind turns to regain some power. Less so than when I first tried, as I am learning to use the kite power more economically. So there's my answer to you ... practice digging in that edge and working upwind as best you can, sine the kite when you need to.

Re: how to maintain speed when popping to toeside?

Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 12:29 am
by knotwindy
also when first learning, use the kite as little as possible for the lift, so keep the kite a little lower for power and use your legs and a piece of chop to get your board off the water so the kite keeps pulling forward and as said earlier twist the upper body first and the board will follow

Re: how to maintain speed when popping to toeside?

Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 12:39 am
by juandesooka
I forgot to add ... I don't yet do the hop and turn that you're talking about to get to toeside. I tried it once, caught my downwind edge, big wipeout, and haven't tried it since. :-?

I either do a heelside to toeside carving turn for a transition,
OR the little "sliding/wishbone" turn from the Progression video .... where you turn the board sharply upwind to 90 degrees, then reverse to downwind but now facing toeside. (that sounds more confusing than it is....easier to see it in the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtg1u8eW0Fs)

Re: how to maintain speed when popping to toeside?

Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 6:02 pm
by coleman
thanks for the tips, sounds like i just need more board speed before switching.

:bye:

Re: how to maintain speed when popping to toeside?

Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 7:09 pm
by frankm1960
coleman wrote:I always seem to lose board speed when going to toeside. can anybody give me some tips on how to make it seemless?

thanks!
Same for me... I lose a lot of speed during the transition, I just slide around usually, no chance of maintaining speed doing that. It's gotta be a quick hop around, need some wind for that and a little wave is useful. Aggressive riding and lots of practice is the only way to get it done I'm guessing. The other thing is a person is likely not nearly as efficient riding toeside as they are on healside so no matter how quick you do pop around you're still gonna experience a slow down in speed. That's the way it is for me, toeside riding is just not as fast and I need a bit more wind just to keep going.