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Best equipment to learn tacking ?

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Hawaiis
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Best equipment to learn tacking ?

Postby Hawaiis » Wed Sep 26, 2012 8:18 pm

What do you think would be the best equipments and sizes to learn tacking?

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Re: Best equipment to learn tacking ?

Postby Peter_Frank » Wed Sep 26, 2012 8:26 pm

Hawaiis wrote:What do you think would be the best equipments and sizes to learn tacking?
???

Tacking, on what ?

Skimboard ?
Strapless waveboard ?
Strapped waveboard ?
Freeraceboard ?
Raceboard ?

:D Peter

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Re: Best equipment to learn tacking ?

Postby Hawaiis » Wed Sep 26, 2012 8:31 pm

Which board and kite to use to tack upwind? would larger board and larger kite help?

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Re: Best equipment to learn tacking ?

Postby Peter_Frank » Wed Sep 26, 2012 8:38 pm

Hawaiis wrote:Which board and kite to use to tack upwind? would larger board and larger kite help?
A raceboard is more difficult to tack, than a board with smaller fins.

A strapless waveboard is by far the easiest to tack.

A strapped waveboard is more tricky, but not as difficult as a raceboard.

The bigger the waveboard the better - gives you more time.

On raceboards it is opposite - the smaller the better - way easier to push/pull around.


I find that bigger kites (even with the same pull/power), are easier to tack with - as you can be weightless a bit longer :thumb:

Tacking with an underpowered kite, is REALLY difficult though - no room for errors whatsoever...

:D Peter

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Re: Best equipment to learn tacking ?

Postby Hawaiis » Wed Sep 26, 2012 8:45 pm

Thanks, would a 10 foot SUP be easier than a 8 foot surfboard? or is it there a upper limit on size?

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Re: Best equipment to learn tacking ?

Postby davesails7 » Wed Sep 26, 2012 9:25 pm

Hawaiis wrote:Thanks, would a 10 foot SUP be easier than a 8 foot surfboard? or is it there a upper limit on size?
At the risk of looking silly, because I'm not sure if that's a serious question... SUP or 8 ft surfboard! for kiting?

Both of those are going to be hard to tack because you can't kick them around.

While learning to tack I rode a raceboard, a mako king strapless, and several strapless surfboards.

Mako King was easiest I thought because it's so easy to kick around. The fins are small so it's easy to break them free. Any kind of skim board or wakeskate with small fins would be similar I'd guess

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Re: Best equipment to learn tacking ?

Postby tautologies » Wed Sep 26, 2012 9:59 pm

you can use the longboard, but make it either a single fin or finless. :-)

SUP will be really hard.

I'd probably go with a smaller regular strapless kitesurfboard. Tacking is very very much about kite control.

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Re: Best equipment to learn tacking ?

Postby ChristoffM » Fri Sep 28, 2012 7:34 pm

Much of a muchness.

Definitely a bigger kite makes it easier to learn tacking. A strapless surfboard is definitely the easiest board. But for me (might just be me) raceboard taking is opposite to Peter' s experience. I found tacking a small North 2010 Race Ltd much harder than tacking a big 70cm raceboard with three huge windsurf fins. I think type of raceboard depends on the person. But definitely bigger kite, and more powered up will help.


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