and perhaps park--though I guess everywhere is a bit like the park when you have a kite to lift you
it adds another dimension to the riding - so if you were riding the flat water the kite and your momentum would be your incline (if jumping) or decline (if carving). Once you get on even small waves you overlay the carve with the kite onto the shape of the wave or park the kite and ride the wave or both together on the same wave.
There are a hundred ways to do this - throw in downloops, catching the wave from behind, jumping etc - tons of possibilities.
The thing about waves that makes them great is that your riding environment is unfolding in front of you - you have this constant read on what's happening and you make snap decisions based on second to second changes. This wave is over/I'm going to fast to engage here/the next one is better do I need to jump over this one?/I'm too far off the face for another hit but I can still downloop into the shoulder of the last one.. - it's fully engaging.
And then when it gets good (I like short period waves) I get this sensation like the waves are trying to get me and I have to dodge and jump to get past the break, but at the same time I'm attacking them with the board - the old "it thought it was going to eat me up when I went in the pocket but I smacked it on it's lip and left my line on it" Does anyone else feel this way?
It isn't really that much harder, all the time a person spends learning about them is fun, and it might open your eyes to the limitations of some of your equipment.