As spring and onshore winds are approaching any advice or tips for launching and keep from running aground/shoreline? I assume wading out to chest high to launch and keep tacks hard upwind to stay off the shoreline--thanx!

I don't exactly feel comfortable giving someone with your experience advice, but I'll throw my thoughts out there for the sake of discussion. When I envision trying the water thing here, I see myself looking for a shoreline with a favorable angle. IE. I look for places that if all goes wrong I don't float for miles to get to a shore that is a 10-15 mile drive from my car. Also, I envision wanting some space to be able to drift downwind slightly when getting started but with the hopes of working upwind by the time I get back to my starting point. Playing on the ocean is different in that you probably don't have a fourth the shore angle options that a lake offers. If you can get a shore that lets you pull away from shore even if you aren't getting any upwind angle, then some upwind will keep you away from shore even when you return to base. I might've only stated the obvious here, but that is my take on it. Tridude, do you have beach angle options?

Thanx Bob,

Youre too kind-- I still suck just not as bad! The coast runs fairly straight sw to ne so its a body drag back to the shallows with a se wind. I can def body drag! Im thinking just launch a bit further out and keep tacks more upwind right after the jibe to stay a good distance from the shoreline. When its time to call it a day, do a 45 degree downwind breach back to the shallows and pack it up. Make any sense?

You're way ahead of me on this one. When you body drag, how close to perpendicular to the wind can you hold?

Usually onshore is always angled very slightly one way, even if it's just a fraction, i don't think i've ever kited when the wind was 100% onshore... so i normally start where the wind'll give me that tiny bit of extra upwinding... i mean, that's what it's all about anyway is digging your back heels deep into the water and carving the hell out of it! Do you have waves to deal with? That's the biggest problem kiting straight onshore is if there are big old waves crashing you forward.... it should be fairly easy for you though if you don't have any waves, just do about 4 BIG hard carves upwind, no tricks no nothing, just get your ground... and then play around no worries a nice distance from the shore

With waves you have to work extra hard though and you need to have more wind as well so you can keep your edge riding over / skipping over the waves!

I don't know if any of this made sense, but it should be making your legs ache if you're doing it right

If you can ride upwind, you shouldn't have too much problem, just takes abit of patience

Thanx gents--just wanted too make sure I wasnt missing something. I have no problem getting upwind, I just need to work on turns and landing a jump!