Raceboard - How the hell do I ride this thing??

[tautologies]

hey there is a whole forum for raceboards...a thread with tacking and tons of videos there...

[davesails7]

Great post! I was out on my Mako King today in 10 to 12 knots and I definitely was not super powered Decided. I need a race board.

What do you do for a leash? looks like in the video you got rid of the IDS system. Do you not want a leash in case you get tangled with someone else's kite you can just release them both with one pull?

Are tangles common?

How do the rules compare to racing rules of sailing? Any good websites showing the rules?

(Sorry about so many questions)

[tautologies]

Great post! I was out on my Mako King today in 10 to 12 knots and I definitely was not super powered Decided. I need a race board.

What do you do for a leash? looks like in the video you got rid of the IDS system. Do you not want a leash in case you get tangled with someone else's kite you can just release them both with one pull?

Are tangles common?

How do the rules compare to racing rules of sailing? Any good websites showing the rules?

(Sorry about so many questions)

If you mean board leash you will kill yourself with a leash on a board like that. DO NOT DO IT!!!

For kite leash have a normal kite leash, however you do not release your kite in a race even if you get tangled. It is critical to hang on until both can release at the same time...or get rescued.

[davesails7]

I was asking how they attach their kite leash because it looks like they removed the IDS system from the Cabrinha bars. Just straight to the chicken loop I guess then? Flagging to single line doesn't seem like an option with all the kite looping.

[Gebi]

Boys, Patrick has hit it on the head; for control on a race board, you need the right fins and right footstrap locations for your size and ability. If you don't know if your close with these settings you need to find a top racer to help you get close.

But the "most important piece of gear for control' (when you get the board and fins figured out) is a "highly functional custom de-power system" to replace the mostly "not easy to adjust in an instant - while hiked out stock trim systems". You need a 2 to 1, or 3 to 1 system, to constantly be able to de-power and power the kite while riding.

For example, when you do the first power-stroke to start planing off of the beach, you would have the de-power system set up on full power. As soon as you get to your max VMG upwind, you would already be feeling the need to de-power the kite or suffer the consequences and loss of control from getting pulled in over the board, to sheet out the kite and lose the leverage of being fully hiked out and controlling the power of the fins.

So at this point you are pulling the de-power and adjusting it for every puff. If you decide to tack and want max power to help in the tacking maneuver, then you would again let the trim line out for max power. As soon as you complete your tack, and get moving, you would be de-powering the kite again for max leverage and control.

Basically you are riding a race board and having to adjust for "EVERY" puff and every change of direction you re riding, as it effects your control, and need to regulate the power in the kite. So if you do not ride with your front hand on the trim line and adjust for every change in wind velocity, you will be struggling to control and the speed of the race board.

I trust this will help...

[Billy B.]

I spent a bit of time on a smaller kite riding my board strapless to find the sweet spot at all points of sail, then set my straps up based on my discovery.

It is for sure all about practice and keeping your hiked out position strong and solid, if you need to reach up and let the bar out you lose position, then your strength then your fins.

I love broad reaching on my board for balls out speed it is so much fun. Plus going over the nose at that speed is a trip....

I also ride with my back foot in down wind, but I have over two decades of fast board sports under my belt, lots of my friends feel thy don't have control and go to the Third strap or back foot out on the down wind, Plus since your board is a quad it really locks in and down wind that can be a bit tough, the tri fin set up has some give and smooths out the locked in feeling. Being a snow kiter who loops up hill all the time I loop the f*** out of my kite in what ever direction makes the most power, or sence..or un crosses my front lines if I am not racing some one.

Practice is for sure the key, Having enough power to get yourself light when you tack is also super important. Haveing friends to race is also nice. Play around to find where your boards VMG is I have ridden a bunch of boards and find the Agurea 59 quad that your board is modeled from really points compared to others, even the same board in tri fin mode does not make as good on a close reach. But the bounce and tracking issues can make it hard from broad to straight run.


Good luck keep with it, it just gets better and better Plus you can ride in so little wind it is amazing...(but don't tell the twin tip guys)...

[tautologies]

I love broad reaching on my board for balls out speed it is so much fun. Plus going over the nose at that speed is a trip....

yup, as long as you try to get away from the board... just bounce off the surface.

I also ride with my back foot in down wind, but I have over two decades of fast board sports under my belt, lots of my friends feel thy don't have control and go to the Third strap or back foot out on the down wind, Plus since your board is a quad it really locks in and down wind that can be a bit tough, the tri fin set up has some give and smooths out the locked in feeling.

exactly. I have the same thing..except not too much experience..but even if people have said to put my backfoot in the center, I never feel comfortable there even going fast on a broad reach.

Haveing friends to race is also nice.

yup agreed.

Good luck keep with it, it just gets better and better Plus you can ride in so little wind it is amazing...(but don't tell the twin tip guys)...

No tell people..or they see it anyways...but point is if others are out racing, you'll constantly get in those small competitions, because you are constantly trying to improve...and so is everyone else.

All in good fun...

[ronnie]

If you mean board leash you will kill yourself with a leash on a board like that. DO NOT DO IT!!!

I have been trying to figure out a board leash for a raceboard, to only be used if the wind is so light you couldn't relaunch the kite, so the boardspeed would be less than 20 knots.

I've experimented in the past with flyreel leashes and it might be possible to get them to work with 30' or more of floating 3mm yellow polyethylene line.

I've also investigated the Flexi Maxi 8M dog leash and if a company like Oceanus built a reel leash like that with a floating yellow polyethylene strap, it would maybe wind in the board for the first few feet but after that you would be pulling in the rest by hand as the reel packed it neatly away.

However there is no 8M reel system with a stainless steel spring, so I dont plan to use a leash with the raceboard until I can check a system like that out. As I said, I only see a purpose for it if the wind is dropping so low that you couldn't relaunch the kite and want to paddle in on the board.

You dont want raceboard fins coming back at you guided by a leash, but I reckon 30' should be enough below 20 knots for it to be unlikely reach you if you keep your body near the surface.

[tautologies]

I was asking how they attach their kite leash because it looks like they removed the IDS system from the Cabrinha bars. Just straight to the chicken loop I guess then? Flagging to single line doesn't seem like an option with all the kite looping.

Well, then the oneline would be just acting as a suicide leash. You can't really release your kite in tangles anyhow, unless both do it. I use my leash on the depower strap, and I have added my own system above the regular depower system (the naish system is a below the bar system). The 2011 naish bar is ideal for it.

[ronnie]

I was asking how they attach their kite leash because it looks like they removed the IDS system from the Cabrinha bars. Just straight to the chicken loop I guess then? Flagging to single line doesn't seem like an option with all the kite looping.

The IDS system would still work as it is part of the kite bridle. You could leash under the bar to a ring to which the two front lines were attached. That ring would sit just below the steel triangle at the top of the depower/trim strap and probably be lightly velcro'd to it.

It would be difficult to make the system work when the kite is looped a lot. Both front lines being drawn through the centre of a swivel at the top of the trim strap and through the centre of the control bar might work.