I'm going to fly my first session on water since taking a lesson over 9 months ago! Friday I will be headed out to Wildcat Beach, Corpus Christi to fly my 10m Havoc and ride my new Best Spark 140! I plan to spend Friday and Saturday in Corpus. Drop me a line if you're going to be in the area and we can meet up.

Good luck, the winds pick up as the day goes on... If ur underpowered early, just wait the wind will increase till nearly dark...

If the tide is high, there is a sandbar 100 yds out 6 inches deep you dont want to wipe out on..... You'll see it...

I'd come join you, but im in Cabo san lucas surfing till next week.... (small waves sofar...)

ENJOY

Have fun!
If the winds light, spend some time practicing launches, landing, setup etc, mess with knots and trim strap settings, do some body dragging or even practice water relaunches!
If you've committed time to the beach, then I always try to find something to waste that time :D

Nice looking board and best of luck. I want to try soooo bad but 4mph isn't gona do it.

When you are ready for a Canyon Lake trip let me know. I would love to meet up with you. We are in Kerrville and can be there in an hour.

Thanks for the support, guys!
The day turned out to be a dismal failure.
I had multiple deflating issues with my Havoc.
At one point I almost got up and planing but wasn't pointed downwind enuf and went over my board. Then my kite superman'ed me and I tumbled head over heels into the shallow water scraping up my knee and jamming my middle knuckle. That may have been the same time I tore out my footstrap and lost the triangle bracket holding it in. Just as well, the way that day was going I probably would have been seriously injured if I kept riding. I must have cross-threaded the bolt when assembling my board.

I just get so excited and impatient that I sometimes throw caution to the wind.

Next time, I plan to take my time and play around with the kite more in the water before trying to get up on the board.
I still feel out of my element in the water. I don't have these kind of problems with my kite on land.

Planning a trip to the local cable park to get towed around and get the hang of board dynamics on water soon.

Saturday I did better. Went to the beach at Rockport and just did body dragging. That helped I think.

I almost forgot to mention that someone stole my little Wasp 1 trainer at Sunset Lake park. I had put it down still rolled up and went back to my car to get something. When I returned it was gone. At least my ATB wasn't stolen too!

I hope I have more luck next time I go to the coast. I'll try to be more patient too

You might be diving the kite too far into the eye of the powerzone, directly downwind ... the more wind there is, the less you have to dive - which you probably know!
Want to go to the right - start at 11 o'clock, make a shallow dive to the right. Dive deeper and deeper until it pulls you up.

Some things that helped me ...
Sit up before you stand up. Let the kite pull your upper body upright (like you're sitting up) then as it continues to pull, let it lift you onto your feet.
Point the board at the kite or just upwind of it when you start - that'll convert kite pull into board speed as soon as possible. Keep your shoulders square but push out your front foot.
Let the harness pull you. Hardest thing for me is NOT to hang on the bar like a trapeze artist ... damned foils on handles take the power of the kite through your harness (sometimes I have to concentrate on feeling it) and you'll be up and off. IMHO the best way to learn that is scudding with the kite or better yet jumping and hanging from the harness. Or you could just steer the kite by hooking your index finger over the bar ... probably safer :D

Sounds like you were nicely powered ... believe it or not, if you're supermanning, then you're (probably) powered up enough to be riding easily! Just a question of technique on the board. And you may have been pulling on the bar with your arms (see above).

Stick at it - it's all about getting the hours under your belt

Nice pointers there Kami. I may need to drop back in on this.

I think the cable park would do worlds of good. I've been riding my board behind a boat and its gave me lots of confidence. But the boat can't go below 20mph and I'm holding the handle instead of the pulling thru the harness deal. At least I know how the board rides and I think that will help.

I think once you're consistently getting up and onto the board, actually riding it is not much of a problem ... assuming you have some kind of experience eg. skateboarding, snowboarding, ATBing etc edging up is a different feeling to my previous board sports experience - maybe it's similar to surfing? I dunno ...

My biggest problem is getting up and moving. Fat ass, no wind

The bro's on here I've watched just send the kite and stand right up. It looks like the board just holds em up without hardly moving. I'm sure the weight is being lifted by the kite, and they are in just inches of water.

Behind the boat, its a crazy strain. You push a wall of water coming up, bout rips off ya arms. Sore for days.

putting it all together. the sit up tip i have completely forgotten . but after about 20 hours you will too!

stay with it, a cable ride will help with board skills and feel but rig /harness time is what you want.

keep at it

Thanks for the tips, Kami!
Its funny - these are all techniques I'm familiar with on land, but in the water its like I have to learn it all over again!

Like I said tho, its mostly a matter of my (dis)comfort in the water and maybe being a bit more powered up than I'm used to.

Gotta try some beach skudding and maybe some more body dragging.

Hey, is there a way to body drag upwind while laying on my board???

get your body stretched out

upwind arm/hand stretched out like rudder

legs /torso rigid like a board

sometimes arm stroke and scissor kick as kite edges up wind

keep kite a little lower and not so high

your body should be somewhat stretched out more on the surface

sometimes dive/ drive through swells with a little kick and swim stroke

if the kite goes high progress stops and down wind u go

keep the kite hooked up , look! where you want to go , keep your head back

maintain points of sail and stay oriented

practice rinse and repeat

Hold your board by the handle, dig the tip closest to you in the crook of your leg then lie down on the board, a little off-center so it edges a bit ...