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frustration question

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Postby Guest » Mon Oct 28, 2002 1:56 pm

I kitesurf for quiet long time
on a plywood board and an old 1999
Wipika freeair 11 , 4 line setup
I manage to go upwind but after say
8-10 runs I find myself about 150-200m
downwind the point I started
Im full powered most of the time ,
while other kiters manage to hold position
on smaller kites ( 2001-2003 models and production boards )
so is it
1. me ?
2. the kite maybe ?
3. the board - plywood with realy sharp rails , 170,44 cm wide 8cm rocker
LiteWave shape ?

its frustrating cause after year and a half of kitesurfing I still waste half the time walking

tnx,
the walking kiter

quiet embarrassing thats why I prefer Anonymous

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Postby Guest » Mon Oct 28, 2002 2:43 pm

just lean back into the harness as hard as you can and you'll continue to go upwind, its as simple as that. the more upright you become the less chance you have of staying upwind.

EdDy_DiFfUsIvItY
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Postby EdDy_DiFfUsIvItY » Mon Oct 28, 2002 2:54 pm

also if you are too powered up, even though you may appear to be holding your edge, you might be too powered and lose ground to the wind. take it from another ex walker :smile:

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Postby Royce » Mon Oct 28, 2002 4:06 pm

Dude, go somewhere and try some other kites and boards. We had a guy here who would spend alot of time working and the very first time he got on a new kite he stayed upwind and came back very happy. Definitly kite performance makes a big diference. Also some of the gear thats more than a year or two old definitly makes it challenging to do well. Try as many diferent set ups as you can then choose a new one.
Aloha. Royce.

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Postby fokiten » Mon Oct 28, 2002 4:07 pm

look up wind! if you look at the kite you will not have the right stance look upwind and you will go there, try it it works.

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Postby mmunzer » Mon Oct 28, 2002 5:19 pm

I found when I was learning that I spent a lot of time with the kite low down in the window with max tension in the lines and edging like crazy. I thought the more I edge the more upwind I go.

But I found that if I held the kite higher in the window and went slower, and didn't edge as hard, I would go upwind better.

If there is too much downwind pull from the kite, it will be hard to go upwind, even though you are edging like crazy.

Hope that makes sense.

Marc

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murdoc
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Postby murdoc » Mon Oct 28, 2002 5:58 pm

here's what helped me:

to go upwind, forget about going upwind.


(don't concentrate too much on it)

best is to ride out, jibe and seek youself a point only slightly upwind of your position.
look at this point (if your head points, your body'll follow, like fokiten said).
stiffen your body, lean back, park the kite at about 45° and ride there.
it's important not to do any wipe outs :wink:


if possible, try the material of another rider
about your weight, when he's able to go upwind with it - so you can see, if something in your setup is wrong.

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Postby Guest » Tue Oct 29, 2002 7:03 am

The main problem which I think everyone else missed is that you need a different board. You may have the lightwave outline but you do no have the light wave shape. The lightwave boards have nowhere near 8cm rocker!

The more rocker you have, the slower your board will go. It might feel like you are edging hard, but with a slow board you can not go fast enough to edge upwind well. Probably what is happening is that when you try to poiint upwind the board slows down so much that you fall off of the plane and go nowhere. In order to compensate you need more power,maybe a lot more than is reasonably safe.

IMHO ply boards should have a little less rocker than production boards beause they are so much more flexible. Make a new board with 3cm or even less rocker and you will see instant improvement in your upwind ability.


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