I thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon as your kite monkey.........................you have the basics, keep body dragging and relaunching off water............dragging/board retreval........................... we will get some good water time in at WBB this fall.............................

I will be ready! And if i have to i will bring the Jet Ski's LOL

Wow... glad the TD2 worked well for you. I wasnt sure it would hold air as I've had some flukey session with it. Its not a bad kite, and I used it for light-wind sessions before, so it certainly CAN do the trick, just wasnt sure it would. Awesome that she worked out for ya.

Sounds like you got a good start, now you just need to keep repeating what you've learned, get your confidence up, and then start figuring out how to ride upwind... then we can take you into the "super-secret-slicks" of "pony-land"...

so the TD is your kite........it worked well.........when he put it in the water it popped up on its tip and was waiting for relaunch.......................reminded me of my Wainmans. The first genration Delta..........impressive!!

I think I saw my old 10m Pulse out that afternoon............forum member Joedy you have my number and if you read and in the area call me...............if that was you I have to tell you dont go too the far left at the beach. Too close to breach inlet and nasty current if youre beginning. Go right off the access path towards stations 27/28........walk out to the sand bar, launch and have a blast............make sure to go out 2 hours prior to low..........

Don,

That was probably me down there. I only had one day to try to fly in Charleston, but didn't call you for two reasons.

1) I could not maintain an edge on my board at all. I took additional lessons with Sail and Ski Connection (nice Charleston native and college student at Charleston College by the name of Matt.) Trained with a 9m 2011 North EVO in Murell's Inlet south of Myrtle Beach. The winds were about 20 gusting to what felt like 30ish mph at times. Tide was running out and the water kept getting shallower and shallower. The sun was going down and my wife was tired of sitting on the beach getting sand blown in her eyes. I could get up on the board every time, but I would either ride downwind for too long and stall the kite or turn too far upwind and go for a dunk while leaving the board behind.

I returned to Murrells' Inlet two days later and practiced again by myself with the Pulse. Winds were onshore. I was able to body drag deep into the inlet and make a few tries before getting too close to the shore. This time, I was able to get planning just fine and just as I would turn to edge, the Pulse would stall and I would sink back down into the water while standing on the board. I would pull the bar all the way in for all the power I could get, but she would freeze in the air and cease to pull.

2) I changed the original FS bar out with Flysurfer’s Infinity 1.0 bar. I had John at PowerzoneKites sell me a complete bar with the leader lines. I installed the bar, but the Pulse didn’t feel right at home on the light-wind days that I tried her out. Since this is my first FS, I wrote this off to my inexperience with the brand. I didn’t feel comfortable flying the Pulse on land on the windy days while at home. (At 40, I don’t mind a challenge, but getting hurt intentionally is something that I’ve grown out of over the years.)

I had one day to fly in Charleston. Wind was great. Stopped by Air and Earth and picked up some things and then headed over to Sullivan’s Island. In retrospect, Don, you are extremely correct in suggesting taking a right instead of a left when you walk onto the beach. The tide was coming in while I was there and the wind was blowing towards the Isle Of Palms beach direction.

I kept trying to get up on my board, but continued to sink each time. Eventually, I got caught in that famous inlet current with the kite on the water. I couldn’t launch, my board got away from me and I ended up pulling the eject and putting the Pulse to the 5th line. To make matters even more embarrassing, I got caught up in three fishing lines while still being carried in the current. Luckily, one of the young boys fishing (one of the three whose line I was caught in) grabbed my board while I was able to swim to shore. Luckily, I managed to get back on the beach and dragged the FS back to shore. I carefully extracted myself from the fishing lines and thanked the young fella for saving my board. I was amazed that the kite was OK and that I wasn’t hurt and that the new board that I had just bought could be saved.

In retrospect, I feel like I was oversheeting the kite. The Pulse had plenty of power to get me out of the water and up planning, but it was profoundly frustrating to repeatedly sink vertically in the water time and time again while standing on the board.

I did meet a really nice kiter down there named Drew. He a full-time reservist with the Airforce. He was riding a Mako 140 like me and came down to help me out. If you know how I can contact him to thank him, I would be very appreciative to send him my thanks. I thanked him at the beach, but I still fell indebted to his help. In retrospect, I should have asked him to fly the Flysurfer and see if the issues are related to me or related to the FS Infinity bar setup. (I checked out the membership to the Charleston kiteboarding website, but I don’t know Drew’s last name. I think that he might have been flying a North kite.)

In the past, I’ve skateboarded, in-line skated, snow skied, water skied, and surfed. In addition, I’ve flown stunt kites since Top Of The Line was in business back in the 80s. I’ve been extremely frustrated in my quest to get up and ride an edge.

That day at Sullivan’s there were 17 kites in the air at one point. I saw guys old enough to be my Dad and girls young enough to be my daughter ripping up and down the beach effortlessly. Needless to say, that was a bad day and (hopefully) one of these days will become a memory to chuckle at. After that experience, I was too frustrated to try again and too intimidated by the current to risk another tangle with the fishermen on the shore. With all of the other kiters riding, I did not want to put myself or them into danger.

I am bound and determined that I will master kiteboarding. I may not aspire to pull massive jumps and XYZ stunts over fishing piers, but if I can start at point A and return to point A, I will be very pleased with this level of skill attainment. If I can even take a dry kite out and return with a dry kite, I will be even more ecstatic!

I’m not giving up on Flysurfers, but I did purchase a used Best LEI bow to help me in the process of learning. At this point, until I feel more confident in my abilities to relaunch the FS in deeper waters, a LEI will make getting back into the air a less strenuous affair. Relaunching FSers in shallow water is a piece of cake; in deep water with strong currents, it is much more challenging at this stage in my progression.

I have plans to ship the Flysurfer to John so he can verify the setup and adjust it accordingly.

Don, I sincerely hope that when I meet you in person that I will be able to send your old Pulse up, go for a ride and bring her back in for you to try. I’ll definitely be back next year, but plan to continue practicing as much as I can until then. Living in the mountains, I’ve only got access to lakes and to winds that tend to be fickle and gusty.

I would be VERY interested to hear of everyone else’s opinion as to what I was doing wrong. I will also state, that I had to trim in the strap almost all the way in order to keep the kite from backstalling when I pulled down the bar towards the chicken loop.

-joedy

figured it was you..........I was into a lesson with forum member Chad...............I mentioned to him that the person on the Pulse was very close to the breach. Next time as you now know, set up at the access entrance or to the right. If you send the Pulse to John have him mod your mixer to stopper balls frm figure 8 knots. This will make adjusting B and C mixers much easier............look forward to your next visit and sure we'll get you up and edging in no time. That kite does very well in the waves and will boost to the moon once you get your timing down.....................

I'm restarting the thread since I'll be in Myrtle Beach 8/5- 8 and am going try to get to Sullivan's island for a day trip.

Is the sand packed enough for Coyotes at Sullivans?

Any idea where in Murrells' Inlet you can find shallow water to practice kitesurfing/body draging? I've looked and couldn't find it.

Quote:

Originally posted by doneski Any idea where in Murrells' Inlet you can find shallow water to practice kitesurfing/body draging? I've looked and couldn't find it.

Doneski,

Copy and paste these coordinates into Googlemaps.com: 33.541653,-79.023858

This is the public parking area that you will have to use in order to kiteboard in the shallow, protected water inlet area

These coordinates in GoogleMaps.com: 33.538845,-79.025038
show just one of several public beach ramps that you can use to enter into the "private community" beaches. The beaches are public property, but you can't drive down there. It's about a 15 minute walk to the inlet area here: 33.532452,-79.030528

Be sure to bring you water and necessary beach gear. There's nothing down here and you will hardly ever encounter any swimmers. Sail and Ski connection also does lessons here. Be mindful of the low tide times; the water gets pretty shallow up near the beach. If you're body dragging, be prepared for some nasty beach rash and cuts from the many shells. My wife is a big shell hunter and she said that this is one of the best places to hunt for shells without a boat.

Depending on your skills, you can pretty much go anywhere down there. The water does get deep, so keep that in mind if you're body dragging on side-off winds.

There are hardly any waves inside of the breaks, so it's a great place to practice and learn.

-joedy

By the way, my avatar photo was taken in Murrell's Inlet in about an 18 knot gust on a 9m North EVO, sans board.

The moral of the story? You've got to go DOWNWIND before you attempt to turn UPWIND or you're going for a dunk and drag!

-joedy