Can anybody recommend a good book or resource for racing strategy. I feel like most would be pertaining to sailboats but still the same ideas relavent in kiting.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Royal-Yachting- ... 723&sr=1-2

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tactics-Sail-Wi ... 0906754755

Hope these help, the top link is a decent all round book,
the bottom link is from a series of books highlighting specific areas. I hope you can get them in your country.,
Cheers

Didn't someone put out a high performance specific book a few years ago? Aimed at skiffs, cat, spritboats, sport boats and boats that make lots of apparent wind. Can't remember the name.

Bethwaite wrote a book "High Performance Sailing" back in the 90s that is a treasure trove of info. It is VERY heavy on meteorology & predicting / understanding winds and wind shifts. I haven't gone back to look at it relative to Kite racing, but all that part should be very relevant.

I am guessing there must be newer books that have some good info as well. This one was pretty dense and after diving into it multiple times, I still learn something (or relearn what I forgot) every time I pull it out.

When your sailing upwind in a boat you can see the windshifts fairly easily because you are on a constant course and your sails will luff a bit for a header, or your leeward telltale will flutter for a lift.

When kiting though I find it hard to feel when I'm getting lifted (wind shifts to let you head higher upwind) or headed (wind shifts so you have to head lower). It's more difficult when your "sail" is 100 feet away, and the heading of your "boat" is not very easy to keep in a perfectly straight line. Any tips?

Good question! I have been trying to find out a way to get best performance (although on a hydrofoil for me) upwind and its not as easy as in a boat simply trimming to get the angles right. For sure depower trim on the kite affects kite L/D which affects your boards maximum allowable angle, but changing the board angle might change the kite angle requiring readjustment, and subtle wind shifts are hard to pick up.

So far all I know how to trim is going by feel and then checking which type of feeling (kite angles and board angles) gave the best upwind. If anyone has better advice other than the obvious "you slow down if pointing too far upwind and go too fast if pointing too far downwind", please let us know.

I think I was thinking of Higher performance sailing by Frank Bethwaite not to be confused with Not high performance sailing by Frank Bethwaite. Haven't read it yet but it's on my list. May have to read it after I finish The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books.

When the winds get up into the upper teens you start seeing streaks in the water & you can see the shifts in those streaks if you look.
Also winds tend to shift pretty predictably around deep cumulus clouds - higher winds on the back end and lighter winds just upwind
... these are the 2 things that immediately come to mind that easily transition to kiteboarding