Trainer kite on a paddleboard

[Rybuffett]

I was thinking about getting a kite to help the girlfriend train, but hoping I could also use it with a skateboard on pavement and to cruise around on a paddleboard slowly. I was thinking of a 3-5m SLE type kite. Thoughts on which size would be better of other suggestions?

Thanks

[juandesooka]

I was thinking about getting a kite to help the girlfriend train, but hoping I could also use it with a skateboard on pavement and to cruise around on a paddleboard slowly. I was thinking of a 3-5m SLE type kite. Thoughts on which size would be better of other suggestions?

Thanks

Skateboard on pavement would be fun I'm sure. On a paddleboard it is challenging...as soon as you try to climb on the board, it will quickly float downwind as fast as the wind -- and unless you can keep tension on the lines, the kite will then crash. Way harder than it looks. Benefit of a twintip is you are in the water, anchoring against the wind's pull, to give resistance.

You can have fun with a trainer kite in solid wind just body dragging down wind....doing figure 8s through the power zone and ripping along, doing the superman on gusts.

[Rybuffett]

Ahh I see how the paddleboard could be a chalange, maybe an old windsurf board with a centerboard would work better.

[t3rse]

I bet you could do it on a paddleboard but I haven't tried personally. I have seen people use LEI kites on paddleboards with success.

A skateboard is a blast though and I can get going pretty good on a mountainboard on hard sand with my 3.5m trainer. I got a cheap 7M Cabrinha Convert that I use on low winds (under 15kts) to let my friends try it once they have solid trainer control.

[reyrivera]

I use a home made 4 meter strutless kite with a carve board in an empty parking lot. Carve board (or any strapped mountain board with suspension) gets you closer on how it feels on water.

If she does not have balance yet or if she is not used to skateboards, have a knee pad, elbow pads and helmet handy.

[edt]

kiting on a skateboard or a stand up paddleboard are both a bit different than regular kiteboarding. The skateboard doesn't give you great edging ability, but on the other hand can roll so easy that you can use a really small size kite. If the wind is light, you can ride a skateboard with anywhere from a 1 meter kite up to a 12 -- the huge size range because if the kite can stay in the air it is enough. On the water you need enough to get on a plane but for a skateboard all you need is for it to stay in the air.

In practical terms this means any foil kite will do. It's really more about how gusty your parking lot is, so you want to find a parking lot near the beach. You are not going to be doing any cruising down the street on a skateboard or at the outdoor terrain park because the kite will fall down all the time.

longboard kiting can be fun and if you can already skateboard and kite it's really just about picking the right wind conditions.

As for a stand up paddleboard, this is real finesse type of riding. You need to dig the rail of your SUP into the water and it is harder than it looks. If you are not careful you get knocked over or if you flatten out the board you get dragged downwind because the fins are not enough to hold back the pressure of the kite. Also if you are doing this in light wind conditions and drop the kite, it can be a real pain to relaunch the kite, sometimes you have to jump off the SUP, because if you are just sitting on top of the SUP, there is not always enough resistance in the SUP to let the kite catch air.

Once you get an edge on your SUP, then it is possible to ride with less kite than you would with a twintip or surfboard because you can plane at any speed. But in practical terms it is easiest to start with the same size kite as you would on a normal day, just to get some practice in, and ride the SUP instead of the twintip. You just don't go out on the SUP and start riding it's something you have to practice a little bit first.

What I'm saying here is choose the kite size according to what is best for a trainer. Any size will work for a skateboard and you will probably end up using regular sized kites to SUP-kite or as they sometimes call it SUK, stand up kiteboarding.

An old windsurf board is usually no better than a twintip, the flotation on most of them isn't enough to keep you planing in minimal wind and those old boards are not very fast, you get a lot more apparent wind on a twintip.

If you really want to get out in minimal wind you have to put down the money for a kiteboarding race board. Those things move in even the lightest wind.

I would get any kind of foil trainer because they float in the air best on days with minimal wind.

[Bille]

Here is --plummet-- on a skateboard :

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2382988

Seriously though, i'd get her a three-wheeled buggy to learn on , (safer at first) ;
after she learns to tack & jibe , then go for a mountain board with those big
blow-up wheels and protection like helmet and pads. They can go on beach sand
and grass quite easily , (the skateboard Can't).
OR
A mountain board in grass, with NO foot-straps --- is the way i'd teach her ; first
time she gets pulled Over the board with her feet still attached ; she won't ever
want to kite on land again .

The paddleboard is "Easily" do-able with a traction kite ; just Velcro the
paddle to the board along with a lanyard, because it will probably be needed.
A trainer kite that Floats would be recommended , just roll it up if it hits
the water, then paddle back in to shore if it can't be relaunched. First time she does
a down winder, then paddles back, (she's HOOKED) for life !!!

Here is a local girl on one of those two-wheeled things ; she can hull-ass
with it on the dry-lake bed. I seen her out in a 35kt wind before, using a 1-M Ozone.

Bille

[edt]

what is that a dirtsurfer? Looks awesome, thanks a lot now I have another board I need to go buy. Doesn't look too expensive a dirtsurfer seems to list for under $400

[Bille]

what is that a dirtsurfer? Looks awesome, thanks a lot now I have another board I need to go buy.

Check this --edt--
the year that the landsailer broke the record of 126mph at Ivanpah , there
was maybe 200 to 300 people from all around the world there that day.

The wind is blowing a solid 35kt in the morning, and there's (1) person out on the lake-bed , and
using that devise pictured in my last post.

SO -- this French guy says to his Buddy : "that guy's got Balls" !!
To which a local responds with :
"That ain't a Dude ; that's a Chick named Romona" !!!

We All Laughed Real hard, when the guy wouldn't go follow her.

Yea -- it's a dirtsurfer.

Bille

[edt]

Yea -- it's a dirtsurfer.

went online shopping for one. The company went out of business. Well on the good side I just saved $400.