Beg. ?- Depowering a bridled kite, water relaunch, low wind

[nick_80044]

Alameda can be deceiving. Every time I go out there I see these guys riding on 12 meters staying upwind of the shack with relative ease in light wind. I go out and cant even get up on my board and immediately end of down wind near Kooks beach in 5 minutes. Funny thing is I have no problem staying upwind at 3rd.

Same thing used to happen to me--I would see one or two people riding and say "hey, if they can be out there riding, why can't I?" I finally clued into the reality that they might have a bigger/floatier board while I'm on a twin tip, or there might be some other other small but important equipment detail (e.g., kite tuning) that makes conditions just workable for them, but not for me. Of course, skill can also be a factor, but I tend to think not a huge one once you reach a certain level. My rule these days is if it's light and I see one or two people out, I hesitate. If it's more like eight or ten people, I start to feel a little more confident.

[reyrivera]

earthbound,

You can use the experience as an opportunity to practice your self rescue techniques. Back in the days when I was learning and kiting in Alameda a lot, I used the light wind days to flag my kite and practice self-rescue. It becomes a reflex (muscle memory) and helpful when you are ready to go to more technical spots.

[Aloha]

Alameda locals who can make it consistently work usually have a trick or two up their sleeve. If the wind is super light and you see guys out riding upwind of the shack it's probably the local crew who is super dialed on the light wind there.

Check the kite sizes they make look like 12's but they're prob more like 13.5's or 14's. Also check the boards--door twin tips, race or free-race boards. Big kites. Like I said dudes on small kites with floaty surfboards making it work are prob the light-weight 160-180 lbs. guys. If you see a big purple dinosaur monster Naish it's actually a 19M!

The riding style for big kites / LW boards is also different. The classic lightwind move is to overpoint upwind and stall the kite.. then start working it to try and get going again and get torn downwind by the grunt of such a big kite. Big kites tend to lose you more ground when you power stroke than a small kite (b/c on the little kites you can finesse the overpower off with the bar more effectively).

The name of the game is taking tinier subtle strokes to ease up... and then get your planing speed up and keeping it up so the kite can just park. If you hit a lull--foot off the wind and the kite will slowly start gaining power again to pick your speed back up but don't pump it. Conversely if you start to get overpowered as you have too much speed... depower via bar so you can take back edge control and point higher upwind until you can balance the power back on, but don't go so far you start to stall.

Control your speed and hte kite pull completely with your edging and pointing... not by sining the kite. The "power stroke through the lull" approach doesn't work as well on a big kite... they really like to just park. Power stroking will just start ripping you downwind.

[sc-surfer]

Fwiw if you haven't read the 'going upwind' post in the resources se section, check it out. Lots of good info.

Not sure where you are skill wise but I ride a LOT of light wind. Creating apparent wind is critical. You can find info on what that is with a search if you haven't found it already. I am riding my 11m in sub 15 kts regularly. The trick is to get up and riding and point upwind hard against the kite to get it flying fast. You'll see the kite accelerate. Back off the edge before it gets all the way to the edge of the window. You have to ride that balance. It's a constant balance of edge control, sheeting, and kite position.

Not sure I explained that very well, but you will kind of know it when you do if. If i can do it anyone can! :-)

[earthbound]

Firstly, I have to say, WOW. you guys are awesome. Thanks so much for all the great comments and helpful advice. I live a lot closer to 3rd than I do to alameda, and I am much better at right foot forward than I am at left, so 3rd seems like a better bet to learn. My board is a 140, so it also sounds on the small side for a newby like me in light wind, so I will look for something larger to help me learn.
Marinkiter, you and I are exactly the same size, so your comments really made me realize what I was up against.
It was also really helpful and comforting to know that the problems I am having on not, solely because of my incompetence. Everybody made it look so easy, and yet I still couldn't get up and stay up. It was really frustrating, but now I have new found enthusiasm to get our there and try it again. As soon as the wind gets faster than 10knots. Today looked horrible on ikitesurf.com.
thanks a lot guys. If any of you see me out at 3rd or Alameda, I am the guy with the Toyota Prius decked out in Earth Bound Homes(Residential Green Building General Contractor) stickers. Introduce yourselves to me, as I would love to shake your hand and thank you personally for your help.
dave edwards

[ino]

Earthbound my friend this is ino, I came up to you trying to help once when you had the C kites and once with your new LF kite. You are on right track however the gear you have is not. The C kites as you remember was a no no. And the LF kite(new) you have is good it`s brand new however when I was flying it the lines(used) were not tuned. actually i think they have streched quite a bit also the shape of your kite is very C like meaning, to make it easy to understand your kite does not hold as much wind inside as a typical more flat shaped 12m it`s more like a 10 m. They are all good kites but that kite is more of a wake style kite and the low end is not the best.Your 140 board looked ok.
I saw you crash the kite a few times to the beach it`s also beacuse it`s a bit too fast for you and you move it like a trainer kite. You will get the hang of it in no time. In my humble opinion you should wait untill you go to 3rd because the rocks there are not so forgiving. soon it will all make sense more keep trying it`ll all make more sense soon.
Also my offer is still there for the brand new12m 2010 obsession. It`s is a much stronger kite i would say specially in low end. pm me if you are interested we can figure something out.

[earthbound]

Hi Ino,
yeah, the kite was definately not trimmed correctly when you took it out. I took it in another knot on the lines and placed it on the "light wind" knot at the kite. I didn't need to sheet it all the way in to get the power for the take off, but I couldn't get it back up and then down again in the sin move to keep myself powered up last week. I only tried for 30 min. before my buddy got blown down wind. He says that the kite looks like a C-shaped kite in the air when I was riding it, but i cannot find anything out there that references the Envy as a C-kite. It is described as a hybrid. Any clue?

[Aloha]

Hybrid is kind of loosely thrown around. I think they refer to it as a hybrid because it is bridled and has some level of pivot on the bridles to allow the back of the kite to luff and depower... whereas old school classic C-Kites really don't.

If you look at your kite while it's flying--it has more surface area devoted to turning than a more "flat kite". Meaning a lot of the canopy that's in the wing tips isn't "grabbing the wind" on a power stroke or while it's parked.. it's just running through the air as you move waiting for input from the steering lines to act as rudders/wings to steer the kite. The material in the center is what's actually pulling you. C-kites tend to have more material in the wing tips which is why we described your kite as more "C-Like"

[earthbound]

Oh, well now that all makes sense. In all my reading, nobody has explained it like that. Thanks Aloha. So is Ino kite something I should be learning on or should I get a larger bow kite to handle the lighter winds and get for more power. It seems kind of nonsensical to me to get another 12 m kite and I don't really know how I am going to explain to my wife that I bought another kite. With a 144 board, but a bigger kit, do I really need to buy a bigger board as well. I am not dying to spend more money before I really learn how to ride. Thanks again everybody.

[elli]

That problem you have is what I had when I started. You don't want to start collecting light wind gear for alameda and then never use it again once you are out of there.

Having said that, a light wind board is never a bad idea, it increases the number of kiteable days in a season. For light wind the logic is board upgrade first, kite upgrade second. Normally not a problem in the bay area, but this year, it kind of is. For the record I don't have anything light wind anymore, I just don't kite when its light.

The kite you need to have is the money kite for your weight at about 20MPH. That kite should be a good quality, all rounder kite from a company that has a track record of hit after hit. For me at 155 pounds it was Switchblade 10m, crossbow 10m, Rise 10m. There are many others that fall into that category. Works for most places in the bay area except for the coast. Those are all "all-rounder" kites, that do everything well as opposed to being specialized for one thing, and they all have big wind range. If your budget allows one kite, then wind range is key, as well as all-round capabilities.
Sounds like the kite you have is a “specialized” kite that lacks low wind range.

If I was in your place, I would try to fish a good deal on a light wind board now, and on a background process look for a good deal on a kite upgrade. The season is in its later half, so you better act quickly.
If you are on a budget you can build a board from a plank of wood for about $30. Its not going to be great, but its going to make it much easier to sail light wind in Alameda, and much easier to explain to your spouse then a new kite :) Another tip for beginners, is that you want to stay away from your spouse saying "its me or the kite", at least postpone it as much as possible :)