If you are riding in chop try to "loosen" your knees the way good mogul skiiers do when skiing through bumps. I found this technique really reduces how sore my knees get. Shinn Monk helps a lot too.

Ed

Try increasing the duck angle on your footstraps if possible and ALSO loosening the footstraps a little

Thanks for the suggestions.

Overweight kill your knees too .

Kite surfing is generally bad for the knees. I tore an ACL effing up a kite loop last May and had it reconstructed a month ago. The surgeon gave me all HR knee cam footage of the surgery, and during an inspection of the knee joint he encountered grade 3 wear on the inside femur cartilage (grade 4 is worn to the bone) while all other cartilage and menisci were in great condition.
To me, this is likely caused by riding with a stretched front leg with the foot turned inward. Actually I'm looking for more orthopedic insights or research on this so I can check if I'm right. Anyone?

I'm hoping to be back on the water some time during summer and start a new kite life going strapless.

Properly setting the amount of duck and the width of your stance is the best way to save your knees. To know what your natural stance is you need to have someone help you with this. Get a large piece of white paper and and stand in the center as you normally would in a comfortable position. Have someone trace the outline of your feet.

Pull your pads off your board and then center the paper with your traced feet on your board. This will show you what your natural duck and stance width will be. Adjust your pads accordingly.

It also helps to have some soft EVA pads.

You can't get much better board for knees in chop than a Mako 140, I have a 140 and a Shinn Gintronic and I have knee problems.

For me less duck in the stance helps out, but if it is the duck in your stance nothing will solve the problem like going directional (you don't have to go strapless, but it would be even better).

Which knee is causing the issue and on both tacks or only a specific side?

Your stance width and angle depends solely on your body. Too much duck will hurt your knees, just as much as a too small angle. Just try different settings and check what feels right.

Stance width usually is a bit wider than the distance between your shoulders. Angle should be set up in a natural way, just look at your feet while standing and try to fit your straps to it.

you should try to isolate what causes the knew pain.

twisting?
hold power and edging hard?
riding toe side?
crashing tricks repeatidly
etc etc.

Then once you know what causes you can go about fixing.

PS As mountain biker for 19 years I can say you can well and truely screw your knees if your bike set up is wrong. Mainly seat height and knee to crank dimensions..... so there is a possibility your cycling is aggrivating your knee pain.

I've always had bad knees... Sore the next day when I do just about anything, although it usually goes away until the next weekend.

I think my stance has worked it's self out. I don't have any pain while riding just sore the next day. I do know the more tricks I messed up the more I'll feel it the next day.

Plummet... I just switched to clipless for my single track riding. I really like it but on my ride last night I noticed if I pull hard I can feel it in the knees. I think I have a decent seat height but what do you mean by knee to crank dimension?