Hey Guys great news! I actually made it to the WATER today! Had a total blast too. Only a few runs, a couple of great jumps with successful landings, one direction transition with enough speed to stay out of the water even.

However despite my BEST and I mean BEEEESSSSTT efforts to stay upwind, I couldn't at all.....

Any advice? I mean i tried everything, low windowed kite, less power, more power, less heel pressure, more, more weight on the back of the board to push the fins out at "bite" everything i could think of. I was losing a lot of ground :puzzled:

What gives? I tried everything i usually do on land and all my secret weapons, but it just didn't do it. Different water technique maybe?

Took me a year to break my landboarding technique while on the water. Great kite skills but kept going really slow or downwind fast.

The way I think of it you steer a landboard from your hips as the sand provides so little resistance- making those long slides easy.
On the water you have to lock your front leg nearly straight then steer around your front leg with a mix of back foot pressure and heel/toe angles.

Some landboarders are fairly upright but if you can slide- it's like that laid back position most of the time kiteboarding.

Much more then landboarding you have to give in to the kite to keep from loosing power (like tug-o-war) and relax your back foot and/or roll onto your toes to go downwind and powerup.

The opposite along with squaring your hips and taking off your upwind hand to square your shoulders also. You could also just get an Ocean Rodeo Mako which rides much like a landboard

Make sense?

depower the kite a little ,

forward speed! heel side edge, weight through rear bent leg , ON the HEEL most of your weight , lean back, put your whole body into it, keep the kite forward and about 60 degrees up , really lean back make the board act as a big rudder against the kite but keep it moving , TOO much and all chokes out, if you can put the brakes on your gonna stall alot.

if all seems really fast, your on top of the board too much get back on the edge , let out the bar and carve upwind, as you do this kite should move to the edge to the sweet spot,

once up to speed LOOK upwind at a point , turn your hips in that direction, edge and lean against the kite . find balance point of forward speed and upwind point of sail progress. gotta maintain speed

if current is present even more wind is needed and maybe slightly more kite.

rinse and repeat til you end up where you started. 3 hours for some 30 hours for others, but more time in general will eventually help everything. relax and enjoy the ride don't think about it

Thanks guys, alot of good advice!

Final note,

Lower winds, today was only about 17 mph in the middle.... I feel that hampered upwinding?

I also wasted that first year in the water with too little wind. That's what phree means by forward speed- you need to let your kite get some momentum before you can push upwind often slowing down and having to cycle again.

You can "point" your board downwind bu you'll loose your ground.
You can sine your kite and better yet flatten your board on your toes on the upward sine and on your heels and push upwind on the down stroke.
Better yet you can leave your kite parked and just pump your back foot like a windsurfer. It's like a turbo boost and gets you back to planing speed with a few seconds unless your way underpowered. Think bass drum on a 1/6th beat even though I've never played perc.

My humble opinion is, when you're learning you need a lot more power so you gotta go out in bigger wind - but be safe ... see my left wrist I see guys learning to ride down the lake (and I was the same too) slogging downwind while everyone else is riding upwind. Bloody frustrating! But keep at it ... it's all about the hours you put in.

You gotta lean back against the kite and balance the board speed with your upwind angle. Don't worry about messing with the kite too much, that'll come when you've got the free space in your mind to think about it IMO

Posture is important too ... hips forward, shoulder back, eyes up on the horizon. Think about trying to make a straight line from your front foot through your leg and body to the top of your head (but don't lock the front knee!) and then rest your weight on your heels. Try clenching your butt-cheeks to keep a tight midsection too.

At the moment, you should be water-starting then getting a bit of board speed as you edge up a little (lean back on your heels) and as you feel the speed increase, lean back against the kite, weight on your rear leg and think about pushing down with your heels. Bending the rear knee should rotate your hips upwind ... and it'll help to look upwind too.

Time on the water in good wind ... it'll come!

the easiest solution to your problem?? get a spleene door or a flydoor to immediaitely solve this problem...

the best advice i ever got about it was to locate the source of strength in your hips... open your hips to the line you want to travel... turn your upper body towards your target, look at a point upwind, try to bring your hips in line with it, too... your feet will follow the track.... it almost feels like an oblique crunch in reverse

youll know it when you lock in on it... also... if youre going fast, youre going downwind.... build a little speed and then cut into the water

Thanks for the advice all of you. Went out again today, total upwind success. It still needs a bit of perfection but I was definitely gaining ground. Insane amounts of fun, holy crap was that fun.

Thanks to you all again, I've entered a new season of kiting.

Image looks good but your harness looks to have ridden up- that's always hinders good stance. If you can keep the harness down you can move your hips up toward the kite and have a straight line from your front foot to your shoulders. I got to ride with Aaron Hadlow at TripleS and he was riding in lighter winds like he was doing limbo.
Congrats though.

Pooh stance ... push your hips out, you'll be able to get more leverage on the edge and it should plane better in lighter winds. Although, IMHO you gotta be flexible on your stance to keep balance ...

I was going to say too, get a Flysurfer FFS ... having to ride my Xbow I realize what a dog the LEIs are - my FS goes upwind like you wouldn't believe, the 'bow doesn't even get close to the same angle

Hey thanks for the extra advice! I agree the hip pitch deal might help. I think I'm actually about to boost in that photo if I remember (if only I had a post-landing picture :wee

Thanks to my lack of a wet suit I think our kiteboarding season is over here. The water was in the 40's last time we went, and its only getting colder... Glad I got to do it before the year ended, goal reached!

Matt

Sissy I guess my fatsuit works quite well for insulation ... I'm still riding although wind chill is starting to be noticeable - when I notice it :o according toe Hiro-chan, December is the outer limit ... but they're all in wetsuits already and have been for a month

very nice , keep at it. it 'll be a reflex position before you know it.