Well today was almost the day. That is, the first session of 2008 on the water for me. I say that because the weather forecast looked promising for today. Plus 5 deg C and a SE wind about 17 knots.

Well it didn’t happen for a few reasons. First of all other things in life got in the way of kiting. I had to edit a video project together today to have ready for the next day. I needed the rest of the time after church to do the editing. Also the weather did not work out. The wind was there although it was a little bit more northerly than forecasted. What really killed it was the air temperature - too cold. It only made it up to 3 deg C. Most folks around here are going to wait until Tuesday for +10 deg C and 23 knots or so. Stay tuned!

This is mission control. We have lift off of the kiteboarder known as Mobettah last seen at Sauble beach doing jumps for the first time

Friday September 8th - We have lift off!

What better way to spend a Friday than to take a day off work and get 7 hours of kiteboarding in!

Last Friday looked like it was going to be a great day at Sauble beach with a SW wind blowing up to 20 mph. I decided to take the day off work if the forecast was accurate. Woke up at 0500 hrs and looked at the current wind speed. Bingo! It was already blowing 13-17 mph. Decided to get going so I could get there earlier in the morning. A cold front was coming and in Ontario that means thunderstorms and squalls. It was forecasted to be okay until mid afternoon.

Sauble beach is 2 hrs 45 minutes from my house. When I got to the location (Flags for you in the know), at about 0900 hrs, there was no one else there! Wind was blowing a consistant 14 mph so I rigged my 12m kite as the wind was going to pick up later in the day. I self launched and had my first session. For the first hour and bit I was the only one on the water! The beach at this location is very sandy and shallow. During the first session, I worked on transitions and rode for the first time toeside. It was weird feeling going toeside. I was surprised because I’ve waterskied a lot and thought I would be used to the feeling. It was great session and I built up my confidence doing slide and carving transitions. For most of the remainder of the session, I tried edging really hard and hopping off of the small waves there were. It was really the first time the board had left the water intentionally! It ended up that later in the session there were only 2 other kiters out on the water.

I came in after 2.5 hours on the water and had some lunch and then headed back out. Initially there were about 6 kiters on the water but then most folks headed in except for another guy and me. I thought this is it. I’m going to try a jump! Everything was just right. I was on my favourite size kite, I wasn’t overpowered, waves weren’t too big and there was lots of room to try a jump. I was suprised that I was just a little hesitant to try it. It was a bit of the fear of the unknown. I went over in my mind what to do. Edge hard, send the kite from 10 to 1 until lift off, then kite back to 12, and as you come down, pull on the front hand. The night before I had watched an instructional video over and over on jumping to get ready. So right in the middle of the run across the bay, I sent the kite as I was edging as hard as I could and it happened! Big air! I went up, up and up! It felt like 50 ft! I forgot to steer the kite forward as I was coming down so I splashed down stopped. The kite almost crashed but I had done it! My first jump! Fifty feet you say? Well it felt like 50 ft. In reality it was maybe 7-8 feet max. It seemed like forever I was up there! Well now that I tried one, I then next spent the next hour and half trying jumps both ways. No fear now! I managed to land 3-4 of about 20 jumps. It was really special when I went up and then came down and landed on the board and kept going the same way.

The whole day was a stupendous day. Sunny not too cold, I got to wear my shorty wetsuit. The showers and thunderstorms held off till 1830 hrs. By that time I was on my way home. Boy was I tired! But very happy. Robby, Aaron and Toby shouldn’t start worrying yet, but Mobettah has entered the airforce today!

Here are the things that I have learned as I’ve started kiteboarding. I’ve found that at several instances where something has gone click! and I’ve made a progression kiteboarding.

Early on

1. Taking a lesson is great! You learn alot about all the different stuff in kiteboarding including safety, how to set up and down, and flying hooked in and unhooked. That is just a starting point. What is even better is practising the things you learned in your lesson.

2. Sand is much harder than water! I found this out the hard way when I flew my 9m kite for the first and last time on a big sandy beach in gusty conditions. The kite hindenburged on me (lines went slack) and fell forward across the power zone and powered up and yanked me right off my feet. I did a face plant in the sand. Ouch! Fortunately, only my pride was hurt.

3. Do not fly your kite on the beach! Launch with your kite out towards the water and get it out over the water ASAP. This is not just a safety thing for you. It also protection for any beach goers nearby.

4. Pilots develop a checklist to go through before they take an airplane up. I know this because I am a private pilot. I found that I have developed something similar for kiteboarding. I have a sequence that I go through during setup, preparing to launch and just after launch.

5. If you want the kite to stay in a particular position when you are not riding, ensure that your back steering lines are tensioned. If you depower the kite too much, the kite will fly more to the edge of the wind window. What you are trying to do is balance depowering the kite, not getting dragged and absorbing gusts.

6. Absorb gusts or lulls by sheeting out or in. Sheeting out or in is moving the control bar away from your body or closer to your body. What it is doing is changing the angle the wind hits the kite.

Getting Up in the board

7. Relax your grip on the bar! It is not about brute strength flying a kite but a nice light touch. If you golf think of the same grip for a golf club - firm enough that your hands don’t slide around.

8. When you sine the kite for the initial power stroke, keep your arms at the same place. I found this to be one of the problems that prevented me from getting up on the board. I would sine the kite and reef in on the bar, get unhooked and crash the kite. It is easier to control the kite with your arms at the same place initially.

9. Keep your hands in the centre of the bar close to the chicken loop line not out on the ends. This gives you smoother control inputs. it also aids in hooking in quickly if necessary.

10. Anticipate the need to bring the kite back up after the first initial power stroke. What I mean is think of a letter S on its side and send the kite back up right away. The benefit of this is if your initial power stroke was not strong enough, the upward movement of the kite keeps you out of the water!

11. Head downwind at the beginning! Then as you start to go faster ie the board starts planing, you can turn upwind.

12. Be persistant. you will get it!

Flying the Kite

What can I say. This is so important. I think that 80% of kiteboarding is about how well you fly the kite. I noticed that when I went on the beach that I saw people that it seemed like the kite was at their spoken command. Rock solid where ever they parked it, almost no movement in gusts and no crashes. I remember one day there was a guy at our local spot and the wind was just not quite enough to go out on a 16m even on a surfboard. The guy was flying his kite close to the beach and he was totally in control of that kite. He kept in moving in the wind window and was doing some kite loops.

So what did I do? If I was taking a break between sessions, I would watch what people that were riding did with the bar and depower and at the same time see what the effect on the kite was. You can also ask people questions. Many kiters are more than happy to help.

That’s it for now. I will also do a part 2 on some other stuff.