Contact   Imprint   Advertising   Guidelines

New to Racing questions

Forum for kitesurfers
Asam
Rare Poster
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Apr 06, 2016 2:41 pm
Local Beach: NY, Brooklyn
Favorite Beaches: Cabarete, Isla Holbox, Brazil, Ras Sudr
Gear: Cabrinha
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

New to Racing questions

Postby Asam » Thu Apr 28, 2016 7:47 pm

Hi All,

I've been kiting for few years now, consider myself intermediate rider. I want to get into racing but I don't know where to start.
Do I need to buy a racing board or practice with my twintip?
Any special exercising that I need to do?
How can I register for my first race and whether there are any requirements?
Thanks

Mossy 757
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 1860
Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2015 5:10 pm
Local Beach: First Landing State Park, Virginia Beach Oceanfront
Style: Kitefoil
Gear: Delta Hydrofoil and board. Cabrinha Velocity 9m, Flysurfer Sonic2 11m, Ozone R1V2 15m
Has thanked: 41 times
Been thanked: 71 times

Re: New to Racing questions

Postby Mossy 757 » Thu Apr 28, 2016 8:31 pm

Asam wrote:Hi All,

I've been kiting for few years now, consider myself intermediate rider. I want to get into racing but I don't know where to start.
Do I need to buy a racing board or practice with my twintip?
Any special exercising that I need to do?
How can I register for my first race and whether there are any requirements?
Thanks
Hi! I just got into racing last year, I started by buying a foilboard and learning how to ride it. Depending where you live, you may find a different route to getting on the race course, but on the east coast of the US there's basically zero racing going on for anyone except foilers. Course racing boards with fins are totally dead and I've never heard of a twintip race besides maybe a rare informal "fun run" type race. You don't need to buy a high-end foil, lots of guys ride entry-level foils like the Liquid Force, just something that will get you on the water in light winds because we usually run races as light as 8-9kts.

I also have 3 kites, I bought a brand new 9m inflatable race kite (Velocity VMG) and a brand new 11m foil kite (Sonic FR) and a beat to hell old 15m foil kite (Elf Joker 5) and that's all the kites I'll probably ever need to participate in races from 25kts down to 8kts.

Here's a link to the next race on the east coast

There will be a foiling regatta on Martha's Vineyard Sept 28-Oct 2, possibly a race this summer in NJ hosted by Greenhat Kiteboarding but it's not confirmed yet.

October/November there will likely be another regatta in St. Pete just like the one coming up in 2 weeks hosted by the same people.

I was really worried when I first got into racing that I wouldn't be good enough, but so long as you can safely navigate upwind/downwind on both tacks, everyone on the racing scene right now wants you out there! Once I learned how to foil all 4 directions (port tack upwind, port tack downwind, starboard tack upwind, starboard tack downwind) I was able to get out on the course and slowly make my way around. It wasn't pretty, but the next race I went to I was a lot better, and then the next one I was even better. I still have to learn the foiling tack and foiling gybe, but I have plenty of fun getting out on the course and splashing around as best I can, every regatta is a huge learning experience.

User avatar
Toby
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 50281
Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2001 1:00 am
Kiting since: 2000
Weight: 95 kg
Local Beach: Cumbuco, Brazil
Barra do Cauipe, Brazil
Favorite Beaches: same
Style: Airstyle
Gear: Rebel 2015 18
Brand Affiliation: None.
Location: World (KF Admin)
Has thanked: 826 times
Been thanked: 2354 times
Contact:

Re: New to Racing questions

Postby Toby » Fri Apr 29, 2016 8:29 am

For racing you need to learn on a directional board how to jibe very quick.

There might be twintip races in the future, since it has a wider audience...but if you know how to ride a twintip, then it is easy to race for you.

Good luck and keep us posted how your progression goes!


Return to “Kitesurfing”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot], Blackened, Google [Bot], Majestic-12 [Bot], Windalex and 133 guests