Unexpected session on the water tonight ...

Went landboarding last night but was feeling a bit hammered today cos I was working hard last night, playing silly buggers sliding and riding toe-side etc so although the wind was the same strength according to the interweb, thought I'd head to the lake and have a gentle play on the water with the Speed 1.5 17 and get the hang of it ...

Quick summary ...
Cross-onshore 10-12 knots forecast but it felt like more at the lake shore.
Rode the Synergy 19 and the Square One.
Nicely powered, I felt comfortable with the kite and it's power; could have done with a tad more.

Walk of Shame got smaller as the evening progressed; last few runs were right back to my starting point! Upwind at last! Maybe
Did some jumps!!! By sending the kite up as I hit the crests of waves :D didn't fill my pants cos I knew what the kite was going to do, and managed to ride most of them out! Jumping on the beach helps the reactions, fear etc
Classy dismount - coming in to the shore, I sent the kite up and sheeted in then popped out of my footstraps for a sweet touchdown on the beach. I was psyched by my first run but didn't do it again ... was bit silly, upon reflection!
Worked hard on edging, controlling speed ... sore legs now!
Was working the kite hard, couldn't seem to parS-P-A-M-L-I-N-K-n'ride but got a great feel for making power and building board speed.

WANT MORE!!!

Do NOT want - another colonoscopy by the seat harness ... I would never have believed that that much material from shorts, webbing straps and nylon buckles could be jammed so far up in my out hole :shocked2: it was riding up so far I couldn't reach the trim strap at times!

Phree & Rip both told me the Synergy jumps like a mad thing ... I should have believed them POP you're up and floating ... had some real fun on the shore too, much easier than the Phantoms!

Ah ... whee!
:wee:

... I thought that would be a shorter post sorry!

very nice !

ARCS need SINE speed in marginal wind . park and ride in 15knts+

stay on the big one til you can make it back everytime to launch spot . on a lake should be SOON wind permitiing

stay up wind in light air requires BOTH kite work and board work .

head back ,good posture , edge hard up wind on the down stroke and relax up abit to let the up stroke to carry you over, maintain point of sail with head rotation and LOOK where you want to , smooth out sine and board work, find sweet spot about 45-60 degrees up , as glide improves , allow the bar out so kite flies closer to edge of the window with reasonable good power.

remember front and back feet and board speed .

front foot pressure allows the board to speed up

back foot pressure will slow the board

the front to back foot pressure balance is where board speed and kite speed come together , and we all know how great that is, this is the fine tune on the board control. once this is has arrived the big kite will be clumsy and you're ready for a quicker kite, next size down then it starts over but only a session or 2 and the results are you going faster and better upwind rides .

in heavier wind the big kite will power you but may limit up wind runs due to just being over powered.

sounds like you're really coming along

Was trying to do a hundred things at once and keep them all in my head - was a bit difficult

The waves on the lake are impressive ... yesterday, they were probably knee to mid-thigh high but weren't white-capping. When they white-cap, the wind is over 15 knots and you can body surf the waves and they break in my face at the shore :eek: the great thing is, I got probably 200m offshore - but could still touch the bottom :D

Started playing with sheeting in on the down stroke, sheeting out on the up and going a touch downwind ... meant I could go a bit slower but keep moving. Sheeting in on the upstroke either kills the kite speed or picks me up out of the water :D

Speed is no problem if I let it go, soon I'm going so fast that the board is just skipping over the water, totally out of control! Fun, but not really productive

I started to think about foot pressure, front and back but it's still a mystery to me. When I remembered, I tried to make a nice pose like in the Best DVD and that helped. But then I was going upwind so far I lost speed and had to work the kite again ...

... kind of reminds me of messing with V-hold control on old TVs - swinging wildly from one extreme to the other, slowly getting it dialed in to the balanced sweet spot ...

So sheeting in is ok when you're trying to make power? It won't stall the kite? Or is it also a matter of finding the balance between sheeted in & out ...? I know, I tend to over-analyze things :D

OMG, when the Proof comes in today I'm gona have to rig up a long line tied to a tree,, just to the side of a slip n slide so I can practice.

sheeted out the kite will accelerate to the top of the window (the up stroke )

sheet in on the down stroke

somewhere in all this action you have to find the sweet spot ,

stalling ...trim it so that won't happen.

white caps..should have plenty to work with there

you'll get it sorted just keep at it.

It's so much easier when the board isn't submarining too I'll have to get a pic of me and the board ... it's a bloody monster!

So one more time cos I'm retarded, trim strap is actually for trimming the kite, NOT for depowering it? How do you know when it's trimmed right? Max power when sheeted fully in and the bar just hits the hat?