Hi all, I've done quite a few lessons on water with LEI kites. Waterstarting fine.

Now I'm getting going on land. I have a Kheo Flyer (I wanted something long, low and stable for my first board). It's heavy but not too bad.

I've been playing around with a 3m Twister on handles and have been OK cruising at about 45 degrees downwind. I have a couple of arcs but they feel too big to get starting on a board. And I have a broken thumb from trying to get used to the Synergy static. Scared to get it out in 15mph so I had it out in slower winds, probably not enough, and it kept dropping, then into the power and powering up and dragging me hard. 

I now have a Flysurfer Peak 6m, and I am much more comfortable with it in my 10mph winds.

The first thing I struggled with was getting used to being pulled by the harness rather than from my arms with handles. I guess I'll get used to that.

But my real struggle and what I wanted to ask you guys about was getting moving. I've watched Carl's vids and I know the theory...kite up to zenith, take slightly the opposite way to the direction of travel, then dive it in the direction of travel. Board at about 45 degrees. However, with my kite at zenith I really feel like it's almost behind me, and it puts me off balance on the board even before I start.

Once moving I found I was able to lean back and turn upwind a little. I even found myself holding ground and even went a good way upwind on a couple of runs.

Here's the tracks, up and down the same bit of ground!



So I'm stoked about my progress since I got a depower kite and a harness, but really really shaky at the start.

Any tips from the experts!?

Thanks @Propylene! Great drawing by the way! I'm fine once moving, it's just that initial step of getting going. I notice your suggestion is to start with the kite from the edge of the window rather than zenith. Do many people do this as most stuff I have read says to start with the kite at zenith? Or is starting from the edge better for newbs?