Location to practice kite control in water

This forum is for new kiters/beginners to share info and experiences and to get answers to kiting questions. All questions are valid.
Forum rules
This forum is for new kiters/beginners to share info and experiences and to get answers to kiting questions. All questions are valid. Please provide proper answers (no sarcasm/joke replies, etc.) as we'd like to avoid any confusion or misinformation.
User avatar
turbinedude
Valued Contributor
Valued Contributor
Posts:94
Joined:Mon Nov 14, 2011 8:44 pm
Contact:
Re: Location to practice kite control in water

Post by turbinedude » Mon Oct 05, 2015 10:12 pm

Ocean Beach has a wide open beach with lots of sand to practice on.
The problem is once you decide to take it in the water, even on a day with small waves, the waves are really going to mess you up.
You need to go somewhere at lease thigh deep so you can sit down floating, slip into the board, and then power your kite up.

Even small waves add in more that you have to deal with. For example I crashed my kite when I was learning at Pismo Beach because I did what you want to do... went out into waves to learn then had my board fin grab my bar as a wave rolled into me sending my kite into a $90 nosedive.

Getting over waves is a technique in of itself, and if you don't have enough skills to even get up, how are you going to handle getting over a wave every 10 seconds?

Also waves can throw your board into your head, so if you're learning and are preoccupied with your kite, you might not see a fin coming at your face.

It is possible to learn from scratch in the ocean, i've seen people do it at Pismo, but you are better off going to Alameda.

If you don't want to drive, then go for it because that probably is the best spot around you, but make sure you cut out if your kite downs in the water and a wave is about to hit it. Just saved you $$$!

Or borrow a mountain board from some1 and practice on that.
I got one btw if you want to come down here to San Diego.

Also never go further out than you can swim back... the waves and currents at OB can get really strong so be careful!

You are definitely taking a significantly riskier road into the sport if you try to complete your learning by yourself at OB.

O one final thing, the wind at OB can get extreme pretty quick so I'd just cutaway if you are getting dragged head first through the sand and about to say hi to everybody on Coast Highway. Or if you are by yourself (or have Reese Witherspoon) trying to launch/land your kite and it rolls over or it trys to launch hot.

BAK you can thank me for saving all spinal columns and kites I saved with this post by magically giving me a 7m.

TurbineDude OUT!

User avatar
JimmyJack
Contributor
Contributor
Posts:61
Joined:Tue Sep 02, 2014 8:33 am
Contact:

Re: Location to practice kite control in water

Post by JimmyJack » Tue Oct 06, 2015 9:34 am

I started last summer and spent several days at Toll Plaza over winter on non storm days in 10-14knts standing thigh deep in the water flying the kite for an hour or so. If it picked up enough to get up, I did but most of the time I just flew the kite back and forth. Landed it softly on the wing in the water, relaunched it, sheeted it out while at 10 and 2 to see how it would move forward or back in the window, figured out that you can't fly it at 9:30 and 2:30 in light wind need to keep it up...stuff like that. I still believe these 3-4 days I did this were crucial to my progression. Just sitting in the calm light air thinking about how the kite reacts when oversheeted, too low etc...

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 5 guests