Newbie ?'s from windsurfer

[maxsteamer]

I rest my case Ollie, I will have to take the 5th on the 4th..JK

I will take your words of wisdom and pass them down to the next generation of kiters as they are always appreciated and I thank you personally for bring me up to date on the 5th as you most likely know alot of the new kiters end up down here at the shellgate launch one way or the other meaning either by land or water.
I see alot of self-rescues from the shack mostly students with there instructors and alot of them with 4 line Naish kites out of control ? this is why I thought the 5th line systems were a better system for new kiters. I do understand that you are not saying one is better then the other and that your post read that alot of kite companys have moved away from the 5th line.

Max be without you unless you opt-in with restrictions

[Willy T]

In reality YOU are in control- Learn muscle memory and basic flying FIRST and you'll progress VERY quikly through school-

L.M.G.

this is the best advice i got when i was learning last year... for what it's worth.

good luck :)

[nbon]

Thanks for all the great advice and input.....really appreciate it.

I certainly made a lot of mistakes learning to windsurf but the worst thing that happened to me was getting catapulted or having the sail ripped out of my hands.

Just by being jerked around with the trainer on a gusty day I can tell that kiteboarding won't be quite so forgiving.

I'm sure I'll end up following much of what was said above.

Norman

[maxsteamer]

Your welcome norman...and I hope to see you out there soon bro... and thanks for playing it safe as this is what this fourm is all about, and most of the guys and gals here will answer your questions as best they can but remember it is up to you to do the right thing and for this I 'm so proud to have met you here and if you want?.. bring your biggest windsurf board after your lessons I'll show you a little trick I came up with for getting an old sailor like yourself kiting better quicker.

Max

[friggin old guy]

Two cents from somebody that windsurfed for 20+ years before starting to kite:

You have a learning advantage in terms of knowing how to orient yourself in relation to the wind, watching for gusts, knowing the effect of tides and general water knowledge. You'll have a disadvantage in some ways based on arm muscle memory......sheeting in/steering while kiting is a very different feel from what you do with the boom in windsurfing. The tip on getting it dialed with a trainer kite first is really in some ways more important for you than for other folks.

Similar to learning snowboarding vs skiing, I think you might find that while the initial learning curve is steeper, you will progress more quickly in kiting compared to how long it took for you to get to a competent level in windsurfing. The power in the kite puts the power in the sail to shame, so hell yeah at first it should scare the crap out of you if you have a lick of sense.

But once you learn to harness the power on demand, it's like having a throttle that is unavailable in windsurfing. By comparison, after a short time you might find your windsurfing equipment feels clunky and heavy......and will sit in your garage sad and unused.

Welcome to the dark side......heh heh heh

[maxsteamer]

That is SOO FUNNY!!!... I was in the garage today and looked up in the rafters and there it was my 9 ft. wave board with the 2 piece mast and Windwing sail ? I thought to myself .. I wonder if I could still have fun on that rig??.. so I took out the latter and took down the sail and rolled it out and started to put the mast in the sleeve and forgot to back out the battens. I think you know the rest of the story..it is just to much work for the ride and for some reason I think that will change some day.. notgonnahappin.com

[tgautier]

Agree with everything that's been said so far.

Personally I would expect you'll be on the board in no time. That's the good and bad thing about kiting. The initial learning curve is easy and fun and you could end up with unrealistic expectations of mastering it in no time at all especially with prior water experience.

Then the hard part comes - going and staying upwind.

For this part you must be committed - and expect to fail.

At this crucial stage I cannot stress enough how important it is to be efficient at upwind body dragging and getting back to your board quickly.

Having confidence that you will not lose your board and getting back to it quickly are essential skills.

When you are done learning kite movement - and I suspect that will finish quickly - spend a lot of time on practicing upwind body dragging and retrieving your board. It will pay heavy dividends I promise.

And as has already been pointed out kite with buddies - or in popular spots - so someone can help you out with your board if needed. At 3rd everyone is always on the lookout for a distressed kiter and are always willing to help out - at least in my experience.

As for board leash and/or Go Joe I am not going to start that war here read other threads for everyone's opinion there's a huge thread on this board about it I suggest you read it through and make your own opinion. (Hint - don't do it ;-))

[WindMuch]

John (Friggin' Old Guy)'s and the rest of the comments and suggestions in this thread are spot on.

I too windsurfed for 20+ years and switched to kiting 2 seasons ago.

My recommendation is to NOT start kiting. If you do, you'll be like the rest of us here on this forum, hankerin' for wind, day-dreaming at work, salivating when the forecast has things looking like there will be wind. You'll be SO addicted, you'll wonder how you're going to survive the time from September through March without being able to kite regularly. The withdrawal is almost physically painful. Just say 'No'!


It's so true...

One thing I haven't seen mentioned - coming from windsurfing, we're used to keeping the board flat on the water. Kiting is all about using the edge of the board. Just forget the board has fins at all and pretend the edge of the board is all you have. That took me a bit of time to figure out and it makes staying upwind much, much easier.

Welcome. But don't say you weren't warned!

Kirk out

[maxsteamer]

Now that is tellin' it like it is for sure...I remember when I started kiting and just because I windsurfed for 25+ yrs, I thought the crossover would be a breeze.. and as you know that just wasn't the case at all.. and I found this out the hard way I lived in SC at the time and 2 line kites were the only kites around and the only wind was at waddell creek, so I took my trainer there a few times and one brave day pumped up the power kite and was able to make it out
but after redirecting the board kept going and I got yarded all the way to greyhound rock where the bar was stopped by a bush killing the kite.

windmuch,

Your online name says it all !!.. as long as there is wind life is much better.. if there ain't no wind we are useless and everything else falls on deaf ears.

Max be without you " " unless the wind blows

[nbon]

Thanks so much for all the thoughtful replies.

I've come up with a lot of new questions since I got such great information last time. :) I have really appreciated all the feedback.

I know that self launching and landing are things to be avoided if possible. How big of a pain is it? Is self landing hard on the kite?

I've read great things about the wind range of modern kites. I'm looking forward to that because I hate re-rigging as a windsurfer. How often does re-rigging happen when you're kiting? How accurate would you say this wind chart for kiteboarding is?

http://tinyurl.com/5uata6m

How many kites/boards would you consider a complete quiver if you're just on the bay and not doing waves? Does it make a difference?

I was always a little concerned about getting my foot caught in a footstrap when windsurfing if I had to bail out. Is that ever a factor in kiteboarding?

If you had a choice of being over powered or under powered on a kite what's preferable? Is sine-ing or running the kite in figure 8's a pain if you're underpowered or something you do routinely?

I hate slogging on a windsurfer waiting for enough wind or a gust so I could get up on a plane. Is there such a thing as slogging on a kiteboard or are you just sitting with your butt in the water trying to waterstart?

I windsurf mainly at Berkeley marina and noticed that on days that I thought would be good for kiting I'd see no one out. Then when I thought it was marginal I'd see several. What are the factors there that would affect that? Tide? Steady/gusty?

See what happens when I have too much time at work? I start daydreaming about being out on the water..... Not that different from windsurfing so far!

Newbie Norman