Challenges were:
Water starting to the right
Stance--couldn't get any heel pressure or lean back. (See picture below--I'm hunching over)
Edging
Successes were:
Water starting to the left
Riding to the left
Recalling the ground school content from the year before
I suppose the best part of the lesson was that the instructor took a picture. I'm calling it the $200 picture.
The guy teaching the lesson wasn't helpful for me. I actually feel misled by the owner of VKS as I described the guy I wanted a lesson with, and the owner assigned me a person who did NOT in any way match Jason. It turned out Jason had started his own kiteboarding school, which the VKS owner didn't tell me. Anyway, I've since tracked down Jason at Sea to Sky Kiteboarding and am excited about doing a session with him.
Jon and I took a lesson at the spit today. Good wind conditions (probably 15 knots). We flew a 10m naish four line kite, and a 143cm board. I immediately was able to ride upwind to the left, and surprisingly started riding to the right as well. Jon estimated that I was able to ride over half a kilometre before exploding/stopping, which is a big difference from last day!
Some thoughts on the water start:
- Boards are 10x easier to put on without booties--if you can “bare” it! Just scrunch your toes and grip/wiggle your way up the straps.
- You're allowed to put the board on when the kite's on the water at the edge of the wind window. If the kite’s already in the sky, keep it flying at 12:30 or 11:30 instead while putting the board on.
- While putting on the board, steer the kite with your hand positioned at the centre of the bar, with the lines between middle and ring finger.
- Keep the board rising out of the water rather than dragging down. Press down on the edge nearest to you so that the board rises, and while doing so, put both feet against the plates. Make this one quick motion. It's all about practice.
When it came to riding, everything Jason from VKS said the previous day about keeping the pelvis extended, shoulders back and looking upwind really worked well, particularly on my left tack. On my right tack I was mostly in survival mode still, but hey, better survival mode in motion than serene mode bobbing around in the water! My brain automatically worked out how to ride to the right today – there was nothing I consciously did other than thinking about bringing the rear foot toward my butt, and the keeping the lead foot extended.
It seemed like sometimes the kite would ride into the power zone when I wanted it at the edge of the window, and I’d be flying way faster than I wanted. Other times I could barely get any pull at all regardless of where I put the kite. When I had too much power, I was like a stone skipping across skipping across the water… in order to slow down, in theory, one needs to drive hard onto the edge - which is easier said than done. These guys have given some good feedback on how to develop good slowdown technique. Dan from VKS kept telling me to edge hard; the problem is I wasn't confident I'd stay on the board in doing so, probably because my kite was fairly high in the sky. Next time out I'll try bringing the kite low and simultaneously try leaning back.
Goals for next day out:
- Start turning. Think about pivoting the board. Perhaps use snowboard pivot technique (twist the discs)
- Sail the kite lower and have faith in leaning farther back.
- Cinch the waist harness tigheter so it stops riding up! (It shouldn't be a girdle!)
- Practice another self-rescue.
- Try a shorter board (it may be easier to edge?)
It was definitely a great day for us! Jon's also now able to water start (taking it easier with his back issues), so we're well on our way to becoming competent riders.
- Current Mood:
ecstatic
Today I had a breakthrough within the first minute on the water! It was thanks to both the excellent coaching from Jason at Vancouver Kiteboarding School (and the earlier coaching from Pete/Marie at Elevation Kiteboarding), and a few good nights to “sleep on” water starts. I told Jason that I wasn’t quite sure how the theory worked, so he gave me a quick ground lesson using a tethered bar to get a feel for the water start.
After a crazy launch (the spit is nuts on the weekend –two other kiters had tangled their lines in with ours, so Jason launched them to get them out of the way) we headed upwind where the river was basically empty. I put the board on and immediately managed a water start! I’d say my ratio of successful water starts heading left is about 85% now. In the span of two hours, I managed nearly six rides of more than 30 seconds, and a ton of shorter water starts that fizzled out. While that may sound unimpressive and a little sad, keep in mind that at least half of the lesson time was spent in a boat riding to/from the site and upwind.
The balance of the time was spent with Jason coaching me on how to improve my ride when heading left, and trying to water start (unsuccessfully) heading right. So here are the learnings:
- Drive the hips forward. (same as inline skating, skiing, snowboarding…)
- Extend more through the joints.
- You can’t just ride downwind or your kite will lose its apparent wind and stop pulling—then you sink! You need to edge the board to maintain some resistance.
- When it gets bumpy and hard to balance, you’re on the flat of the board. Think snowboarding/skiing. Engage the edge.
- If you're exhausted, that means you have lots of opportunities to become more efficient in your kiting ;)
I’m now thoroughly exhausted and expect to sleep tonight like a bear in hibernation. Jon and I have a lesson tomorrow, and I can hardly wait to get back out!
By the way - I find it a real PITA sometimes to line up the kite in the sky and put the board on for a few reasons:
- the board submerges while I'm wrestling with it
- the kite starts moving through the wind window and I have to stop fiddling with the board (I should be able to steer the kite with one hand but sometimes it just doesn't respond)
- my lower body gets spun around so my feet are behind me and I have to restart (this one particularly sucks - it often happens when I'm not quick enough putting the second foot into the strap)
Hopefully these issues just sort themselves out over time.
For the second part of the lesson, Pete had us trying water starts. I could power stroke the kite fine, but wasn't able to find the right balance point on the board. For whatever reason, I can't seem to translate snowboarding skills over to the water start... in fact, my only semi-successful water start was gaffed because I led with the "wrong" foot! (you're always riding switch in one direction on a kiteboard, and normal in the other direction. I rode normal when I should have been switch, so I then panicked, dropped into the water and put the kite into the sky again.) My kite also went a bit crazy again - somehow it inverted on itself and flew up into the air out of control--I released the safety, it just kept floating in the air on its own for a good 10 minutes! (That's not supposed to happen on a 5-line kite!) Eventually I was able to tug on the leash a few times in a few different directions and it came down.
After the lesson I read some postings online at the Kiteboarding Evolution site, so I hope to be more proficient at getting out of the water next time.
Here were the things I learned today:
Keep a sandbag near the kite before you inflate. You can inflate anywhere then move the kite to your lines.
To body drag upwind, use your arm. Point a few degrees upwind. Use your whole body if possible, and stay "flat", tipped sideways. Keep kite reasonably powered about 45 degrees. You won’t move if you point your body too high upwind.
Need to only semi-power the kite at edge of wind window. If it’s fully powered, it’ll crumple and fall.
Learned that for riding on board, put on the board with kite at edge of wind window, knees tucked to chest, both feet on board at same time if possible. Wiggle feet into board straps.
Jon and I are both IKO-2 now (in theory level H).
Yesterday my palm was mildly injured in a non-kiteboarding incident, so we're going to pack it in for now until next week. But I hope to get back to Squamish with Jon on the weekend. Kiteboarding rocks!
BTW, Jon's comment on Kiteboarding: he'd like to just keep body dragging around without bothering with the board. He was able to get up on the board but couldn't see the point (ha..) Any ideas on what he should be striving for?
- Current Mood: rejuvenated
The lesson was great! In the morning, we reviewed all basics with Pete, our instructor. We flew a trainer kite for about 20 minutes. I discovered that to launch, you need to take kite from 12:00, then to 1 briefly, then dive to 10. We also had an opportunity to rig a kite and move it onto the water--until the wind died, and we paused for lunch.
The wind picked up again around 3:30PM, so we resumed our lesson. I found out the following:
When rigging kite, you need to keep lines clear – keep the outside line outside of the kite so you don’t cross them. Also need to watch to not cross with other people’s lines (oops!)
The wind died again by about 4:30PM, so we stopped until tomorrow!
The morning lesson consisted of:
General safety and kite info
Learning about the wind window and power zone
Overview of inflating a kite – pressure (really hard – shouldn’t have any give in the leading edge)
Some tips I picked up:
Ensure the “deflate” valve is closed and sealed
Hook pump into kite loop on leading edge, then pump in the “inflate” valve
Red bar always stays on left side – except when rigging a kite downwind/from side instead of upwind, where we reversed (why??)
Remember “outback” and “front and centre”: outside lines go to the back of the kite, and centre lines go to the front of the kite.
For the second half of the day, we broke into smaller groups (four). The intent was for each of us to get a chance to steer the kite, hopefully get in the water and try to ride. However, we actually just spent the time watching the second instructor walk the kite downwind, get into boat, and bob around on water for 1.5h.
So overall it was underwhelming, but I'm going to do some sessions on Nitinat Lake on Vancouver Island this weekend--it should be great!
Accomplishments
I accomplished a few things:
Launching is a piece of cake now.
Land starting (is that a term?) is easy too. That's where you go from a seated position to standing up by powering the kite.
Landing is easy now too. Just bring the kite to the edge of the wind window and let it sit itself down. I like flipping the inside line over top so that it's not able to come up again. (e.g. if landing to the left of the wind window, I land it on its red string edge, then flip the kite over with the blue string. Then it can't take off since it's pointing into the ground.)
Lastly, my dad's girlfriend had fun playing with the kite too! I think I might have a new kiteboard partner now ;)
ToDo List
I still can't really take my eyes off the kite unless it's parked. For example, I wouldn't be able to sine or figure-eight the kite and look around. Hopefully by the end of the week I'll be capable of looking away from the kite for long periods of time! Thereafter, I'll schedule a water lesson.
Best regards,
David
Just a quick update today. I got 30 minutes in at Ashbridges Bay. It turns out that last time I flew quite close to the pool, which is the concrete structure on the beach that doesn't look anything like a pool. This screwed up the wind patterns last time I was out--it was blowing southish, and the pool was to my north.
Today the wind was coming from the West and even a bit from the South. The kite flew wonderfully--few gusts, and the ones I did catch were easy to deal with. It probably helped that the wind was low. However, fairly dark clouds were approaching, so I packed it in for the night. There's always tomorrow...
One thing I noticed is that the wind downtown is very different from the wind on the beach. The wind was pretty much dead downtown, but moving at a decent clip on the beach -- probably around 8 knots or so. Not enough for real kiteboarding, but enough to get the trainer in the air and pulling.
Tomorrow I'm going to meet up with my dad and his girlfriend at Whitby harbour; I'll scout out a nice place for some kiting practice there and hopefully get him flying too! We used to fly kites when we were younger; he built several different types including some odd cube boxy things that looked completely un-aerodynamic but still managed to fly. Maybe he'll even want to learn real kiteboarding too... who knows!
Best regards,
David
In an effort to salvage a smidge of goodness out of the day, I went to the driver's licensing bureau. I was determined to get my license.
I passed. Yes, at 26, I've finally gotten my learner's permit. For the second time. (It lapsed; long story that nobody's interested in.) Even better--because it had only been two years since my previous learner's permit expired, they waived the G1-G2 practice window; I can take the G2 test immediately if I so choose! Hello driving to ski hills--maybe even to Sauble beach for kiteboard lessons instead of Toronto!
Funny thing though about the fellow in front of me at the DMV. He was having a hard time with the most basic of tasks during the eye test and when filling out the registration form. Here's the skinny on the conversation:
Man standing at the counter across from the officer, somewhat of a blank look on his face. | |
Officer: | Put your head in the eye scope, and read the letters to me. |
Man: | Yeah. |
Officer: | No, come over here points at scope and look in, then read the letters to me. |
Man: | Ok. puts head in scope |
Officer: | Read me the letters. |
Man: | Oh. |
Officer: | ... Can you see the letters? |
Man: | Oh. No. |
Officer: | fiddles with settings on machine Can you see them now? |
Man: | Ah. Yes. |
Officer: | ... ... Can you read them to me? |
Man: | Oh. ... I cannot see them. |
This farce continued for about twenty minutes...
I also learned today that the DMV translates questions into Chinese for test takers. Yes, you can get a license to drive in an English country, yet not understand English. Is that really safe?
Either way I'm licensed. As one of my friends said, avoid the sidewalks. ;)
--David
At 7:00PM, I left work with my 3m foil trainer kite. It took around 20 minutes to get from Yonge and Bloor out to Ashbridges Bay. I was lucky because the bus was waiting at Woodbine; next time, I can imagine it taking up to 35 minutes, depending on the bus. Not bad!
I had my kite unpacked and on the ground by 7:35PM. The wind was a bit gusty, and I'm guessing it was averaging 10 knots. Winds were to the southeast, which is somewhat over the water and downwind. I lined the base with sand as per the instructions in my kiteboarding DVDs, walked the lines out until they were tight, made sure the red was on the left (weird--I would have expected the red side to be right, but that's life...) then gave the bar a sharp tug and ran backwards.
The kite flew up into the air with the speed of a jetcraft, spun around a couple of times, and came crashing to the ground with the same ferocity. Oops.
After fiddling around for a good 20 minutes trying to relaunch the kite, I finally figured out the wind window and launching technique. From that moment on, I could relaunch reasonably well in under five minutes.
I continued until about 8:45, by which point it had become difficult to see. Knowing my limits, I lowered my kite into the ground, not quite crashing it, and packed it in for the day. Fun, but scary...
Now, here are some concerns I did have:
issue 1: People. Wow, there were more people than I was comfortable with. For true blue beginners, you'll probably want a deserted stretch because the kite doesn't react nicely. I had issues with people chasing the kite--yes, a woman let her child try to chase a traction kite which seemed more than capable of knocking a person out. I had to steer the kite way to the side of the wind window, land it, and let the lady know it wasn't safe to stand around/downwind of. She was nice, and thankful for the warning... I'm going to continue to try keeping a big window around myself when practicing on the trainer, especially downwind.
issue 2: Gusts. You'll really find yourself getting flung around on a kite at first when the wind suddenly gusts. When I posted at Kiteforum.com, the nice folks there let me know that you can control gusts better once you're on a four-string kite since then you have your loop that you can let out. My advice is to keep a really strong hold on the bars.
issue 3: Landing. If your kite has something called a depower strap, you simply make sure the strap's attached and let go of the control bar. The kite gets pulled out of shape and drops from the sky. My kite has no depower strap, so I'm forever terrified that the kite will just pick up again on its own once it lands. We'll see if I can stop this from happening soon.
Overall, the experience left me a bit nervous about all the bad things that could happen, most likely due to a lack of strong control. I can control the kite when the wind's consistent--now I need the control when the wind is being wonky. Safety first! To contrast kiteboarding with skiing, I was equally nervous at first about running into someone; that phase lasted around two ski days. No longer do I worry on skis; I imagine control will come with practice, so I'll still keep a huge safety zone around my kite.
Best wishes to all,
David
- Current Location:Ashbridges Bay
Comments
Thanks for the suggestions--they worked! I forgot to try the thumb-on-bar technique --will do next time!
those issues probably will sort themselves out over time, especially with the help of a good instructor! i still have trouble steering with one hand…