Postby janaeo » Sat Dec 01, 2012 3:05 pm
im gonna assume your fairly new to kiting, i can not stress enough to increasing your kite control, i would stay body dragging for a while, up wind, down wind whatever makes it fun (being dragged out of the water with your feet skimming the water behind you when it is windy is great)
once you can lean back in your harness and control the kite with one hand in both directions you will not have a problem with getting your board on, as right now you'll be trying to concentrate on at least 4 different things,
what the kite is doing, the waves, holding on to the board and trying to get your feet up to the footpads, if you can eliminate one of these so it is natural (the kite control) getting the board on will become easier.
all that being said,
most of the strain when getting the board on goes through the abs. strengthen them as much as you can.
once you've got the board on, as like a few of the others have mentioned, you need to learn to balance everything for the waves, this is where i disagree with a couple of comments,
yes you can let go of the bar with one hand but this is a last resort,
lay back in the harness with kite at 12, and when you feel like your twisting one way you move the bar in the same direction (but keep it level, or the kite will dive) you will find that you will be able to push against the bar and kite and arrest the twist, the same in the other direction,
so when you are in the balanced position, everything square and relaxed, try moving the bar left and right slightly, you will feel yourself twisting in the water. practice that to get the feel.
this is the technique i use and its worked for me,
once your ready to get going on the board, DO NOT hold the edge, if you do all that will happen is you will get dragged a little up but no forward motion will be generated. and you'll act like a brake.
to get this you need to aim the fwd tip of the board almost at the kite while diving the kite to generate the pull.
this will mean that you are pushing the water underneath the board and you will get up on the plane.
but once you have got up this is when you MUST throw your weight in to your harness and get back on to the edge.
otherwise all that will happen is you WILL get pulled face first in to the water.
good luck dude and continue with the lessons
and yeah it is extremely worth it.