Has anyone here ever attempted to pull a kneeboard with thier kite?

I am new to the sport but I have a HQ 4.1M kite that I have become pretty good at flying. My next goal is to pull a kneeboard with it out on a lake by my house. I live in a place called Hurricane and the wind blows more often than not here (10-35mph).

Any tips, suggestions, advice, links to instructional sites, or the like would be greatly appricated.

Thanks

I think some guys from the Flexifoil forum have tried it (search the forum for "kneeboard").

Sounds fun - let us know how it goes!

Joe

I'm guessing it would be very difficult to come upwind (or even maintain a sailing line) for any amount of time. May be hard to remain on the board edge hard enough or long enough. Lots of drag in the water too. Sounds like a downwinder at best.

OK well I went out to the lake yesterday in about 10-15MPH wind to give the kneeboard a shot. The wind was strong enough to pull a few scudds in the sand but when it came to getting in the water I had a very hard time getting the board up out of the water. Something I realized (aside from maybe needing a little stronger wind) is that I couldn't seem to get consistant power. I would get a strong pull coming through the window but all I managed to do is "scoot" myself out further into the lake a few feet at a time. Does anyone have any methods I might try to maintain the strong pull that I get when crossing the wind window? From what I have read about kiteboarding the trick is to edge the board so that your moving accross the wind and keeping your kite in the power zone (simmilar to running when doing a jump) But how do you get started moving to make that happen?

Any help would be greatly appriciated.

Thanks

P.S. I will be going out again this weekend assuming the wind holds up. I will report back.

More power, I have the same problem on a surfboard when underpowered. Although on a knee board you'll probably still have some issues holding an edge once you do get going.

Holding the edge is crucial and I doubt can be done long enough on a kneeboard to be effective. The idea is to sail across the wind not shoot downwind. On a downwind line, you will need to repeatedly fly the kite through the center of the window causing bursts of power that ends as the kite reaches the edge of the window. Riding across the wind, you can position the kite at a point of the window that supplies constant power in the direction you are headed. I am greatly simplifying here, but the point is to sail across the wind, you need to ride the edge of the board - consistantly and hard. You may save yourself some frustration by trying a wakeboard.

Good wind this weekend......
I was back out on the lake 25-30MPH winds. I actally managed to get up on the surface of the water and ride for short amounts of time. Try as I Might I could not edge the board as I have been told. However the wind was strong enough I could turn the kite back and forth across the window and keep going in spruts. HOWEVER..... as I was doing so I found that if I did a kite spin I got mass power. I did this a couple of times and got alittle ahead of myself. The lines got twisted and put the kite into a permanent spin. With each spin I flew faster and faster across the water. I was no longer riding but now skipping along the lake like a flat stone. All of the sudden my kite hits the surface of the water (leading edge down of course) and I realize I am in the middle of the lake. It took me about an hour to swim back with my kite resisting me the whole way. When I finally got back to shore my lines were a twisted tangled mess of string and aquatic plants. Thus ended my day of kiting.

Lessons learned:

- Stay by the shore
- A kneeboard will not edge enough to provide consistant power
- Parafoil type kites are great until they hit the water and convert from a lightweight flying powerhouse to a boat anchor

But I have not given up.......Need to figure an alteration I can make to the kneeboard to make it edge....

I write these words in hoopes that they help someone else who may be attempting this. As always any comments, questions, advise, or the like are always appriciated.

Got to admire his determination, don't ya?