Contact   Imprint   Advertising   Guidelines

Learning Directional, straps or strapless

Forum for kitesurfers
Dr Makani
Medium Poster
Posts: 101
Joined: Sat Nov 17, 2012 7:39 pm
Local Beach: CA, HI
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: CA, HI
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: Learning Directional, straps or strapless

Postby Dr Makani » Sun Dec 09, 2012 10:20 pm

my $.02

KY, stop listening to the crowd, start hearing your inner voice. Surfing is natural! The more you think, the more you crash -

Ride with a setup YOU like and you feel comfortable with and gain some confidence. THEN put straps on/take them off, use a different board and PLAY ...

The equation is very simple: confidence = relax = good learning curve


Try to ride the waves a bit more off the beach, before they brake. Learn their dynamics, move with them and then come closer. Waves are like pretty girls: you try too hard, they'll roll you; you don't try enough, they won't play with you.

peace

User avatar
Peter_Frank
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 12734
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2002 1:00 am
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: Denmark
Has thanked: 1006 times
Been thanked: 1187 times

Re: Learning Directional, straps or strapless

Postby Peter_Frank » Sun Dec 09, 2012 10:32 pm

Dr Makani wrote:my $.02

KY, stop listening to the crowd, start hearing your inner voice. Surfing is natural! The more you think, the more you crash -

Ride with a setup YOU like and you feel comfortable with and gain some confidence. THEN put straps on/take them off, use a different board and PLAY ...

The equation is very simple: confidence = relax = good learning curve


Try to ride the waves a bit more off the beach, before they brake. Learn their dynamics, move with them and then come closer. Waves are like pretty girls: you try too hard, they'll roll you; you don't try enough, they won't play with you.

peace
Well said :thumb:

It is all about "feel", and playing around on everything, till you find what you like, or maybe you like it all !

And this might change a lot over time, it is not some "final" point you will end up at.

The journey is most of the fun actually - dont forget that :rollgrin:

Dont think too much, just do it 8)

:D Peter

User avatar
KYLakeKiter
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 673
Joined: Fri Aug 03, 2012 2:52 am
Kiting since: 2010
Local Beach: Kentucky Lake (Tennessee) Standing Rock Cove and Big Sandy
Favorite Beaches: Who needs a beach? Just give me some open water.
Style: LeeRoyyyyyy Jenkinnnnnnns!
Gear: All kites are cool !
Boards are like music. Everyone likes something different.
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: Tennessee
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Learning Directional, straps or strapless

Postby KYLakeKiter » Mon Dec 10, 2012 3:33 am

Man, listening to you guys really lets me know why I dig this sport so much. My head is on straight now for this issue. For me right now, the light surf days are strapless all the way because I like it, but next time I take on bigger waves (my definition, probably not yours), I want some straps just to help me keep control of the board. I can't wait for my next opportunity to try it.

I am still in St. Augustine til Wednesday, but winds are not looking too promising. You never know though. I can be the Loyd Christmas of winds "So your sayin there's a chance" :lol: I might get lucky and get another shot at it before I leave here.

Thanks again for all the good advice. :bye:

User avatar
KYLakeKiter
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 673
Joined: Fri Aug 03, 2012 2:52 am
Kiting since: 2010
Local Beach: Kentucky Lake (Tennessee) Standing Rock Cove and Big Sandy
Favorite Beaches: Who needs a beach? Just give me some open water.
Style: LeeRoyyyyyy Jenkinnnnnnns!
Gear: All kites are cool !
Boards are like music. Everyone likes something different.
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: Tennessee
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Learning Directional, straps or strapless

Postby KYLakeKiter » Thu Dec 13, 2012 12:06 am

Bought some straps the other day and today was my first opportunity to try them. Of course, almost no surf (some 3 maybe 4ft occasionally). I could have easily gone out strapless, but I wanted to try them out.

It was very fun getting to jump the small waves outbound. Not worrying about keeping the board at my feet was really nice.

Even though wind was light, I flew a smaller kite (14m hp). The quicker turning speed made things much easier as well. Looking forward to getting some good winds (maybe tomorrow) and trying to send the kite a little and do some jumps with the surfboard.

chilidip
Rare Poster
Posts: 40
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2008 6:21 pm
Local Beach: Kite Beach & Pier 1
Favorite Beaches: Holly Beach, Texas
Style: One handed Bucking Bronco
Gear: Slingshot REV 11m
Eclipse NaNo 6m
Brand Affiliation: None :-(
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: Learning Directional, straps or strapless

Postby chilidip » Thu Jan 17, 2013 9:16 pm

Where is the best place to go and learn strapless?

South Padre Island, TX in the spring March-May

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 99Wrwxhn0E

contact SPI KITE for more info 956-772-1098

Ecoastprock
Medium Poster
Posts: 143
Joined: Sun Aug 26, 2012 5:16 am
Local Beach: Folly Beach, Charleston, South Carolina
Favorite Beaches: Pavones, County Park, North End, 28.5 & Moletrees
Style: Surf
Gear: Slingshot Globetrotter 4 10
5 8 Libtech Waterboard
5 8 Coil Industries
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: Learning Directional, straps or strapless

Postby Ecoastprock » Sat Jan 19, 2013 1:30 am

I started kiting with a stapped surfboard simply because i hated chasing my board around in the surf and, because i was new to kiting, i loved the feel of jumping and flying around the lineup. I started out riding heelside then toeside (back to kite) which was kind of awkward and not the most efficent way to ride until i learned to jybe.

I usually use the Slingshot globetrotter. Its about 4'10" (really small) and really hard to Jybe. I have been messing around strapless and can jybe both ways but with the GT its hard to jybe while moving and transition because the board is so small.

Does anyone else have this problem with really small directionals???

Dirk
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 971
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2003 7:28 am
Local Beach: St. Peter Ording
Favorite Beaches: St. Peter Ording, Tarifa, Sylt
Style: Freeride, jumping, waves, foiling
Gear: Naish Pivot, Slash, Boxer, Global, Motion, Traverse, Hero, Naish Hover, Naish Surf Foil
Location: Hamburg
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 91 times

Re: Learning Directional, straps or strapless

Postby Dirk » Sun Jan 20, 2013 9:42 am

TIP use a balance board on no wind days,you can also learn how to gibe on balance board,it will give you muscle memory,and help your strapless kitesurfing,TONY[/quote]

A real good tool to train the gybing and surf moves when you are off the water are the Carver Skateboards (www.carverskateboards.com). They have a unique front axxis which lets the board pivot like a surfboard. Or a least it comes as close as it gets on a skateboard.

It is really good to train stance, the twisting upper body movement, getting really compressed. And it can make for a good workout.

As a regular footed I did not feel very comfortabel riding waves frontside with my right foot forward. Unfortunately at our beaches the wind usually comes from the left. And in side-on riding the wave backside is not always that much fun. Also my gybing going left was quite weak. Somehow all my windsurfing experience had vanished a bit over years.

Training with that skateboard has dramatically improved that. I can be a lot more often on that board than on the water. You can really concentrate on the move and like above it helps with the muscle memory. However, still now the first minutes riding on the skateboard goofy feel awkward and then it starts to feel comfortable.

Apart from that it is big fun when there is no water and wind around. Plus two hours on this are a real work out for your upper legs. Check their videos.

User avatar
irwe
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 683
Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2008 10:13 am
Local Beach: Keswick
Favorite Beaches: Choche
South Padre Island
Silver Rock
Bahia Salinas
Style: Allaround
Gear: Ocean Rodeo
Slingshot
Spleen
Axis
Best
Shinn
TKF
ConceptAir
Zeeko
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 78 times
Been thanked: 56 times

Re: Learning Directional, straps or strapless

Postby irwe » Sun Jan 20, 2013 12:53 pm

Another tip for riding a surfboard is to use 20 m lines. The kite is much more responsive and I find transitions alot easier.


Return to “Kitesurfing”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Aberdovy kiter, andylc, DanielorDani, decay, Dirk, Google [Bot], htsc, KVL, nixmatters, rnelias, Sers, xoen, Xtream and 396 guests