Kitesurf Academy | Tantrum Kitesurf

Posted on April 5, 2013March 13, 2016 by Tantrum — Leave a comment

Stretches To Improve Your Kitesurfing

As we kitesurf all of the pull of the kite is being taken through the harness, which means you are essentially being pulled along by your core (abs and lower back). This can cause problems for a lot of people as typically for us in the Western world (due to a combination of sofa’s and haribo) this is the softest part of our bodies. If you’re going to get seriously into kitesurfing its good to focus a bit more time on these areas so as your kitesurfing improves so does your core strength.

The mistake most people make when they hear the term core strength is they instantly go out and do 10, 000 sit ups. This can actually make any potential problems a hell of a lot worse, as by focussing only the bits we see in the mirror, our abs (and who doesn’t want great abs) we ignore the part that is probably even more important, (and the part that almost everyone has problems with at some time or another) the lower back. Having great abs is awesome, but if we don’t strengthen our lower back we get an imbalance of muscle which actually deforms our spine and makes any lower back problems worse.

So how do we strengthen our lower back?

I would suggest a combination of working on lower back flexibility and strengthening. Due to the fact that most of us spend a long time sitting down each day we often have a deformation of the spine which really needs to be addressed before adding too much muscle which can lead to greater deformation as all that extra muscle clamps around the already over loaded spine. For this reason, I would suggest starting with a regime of loosening up the lower back, adding flexibility before adding strength.

Below are some great exercises to get you started down this path.

1. Standing Hip Flexor Stretch

Standing Hip Flexor Stretch

In order to make this one work better, you should use the law of reciprocal inhibition — which says that when one muscle contracts the opposite and opposing muscle relaxes — so to get a deeper stretch of the front hip flexors, you’ll want to contract your glutes hard.

You should do this one MANY times throughout the day. Instead of sitting on your butt all day long, you should get up every 5 or 15 minutes and do this stretch throughout the day. Hold for counts of 3-5 seconds and repeat 2-3 times.

2. Lunging Hip Flexor Stretch …

Lunging hip flexor stretch

This is a more intense way to stretch your front hip flexors. I do this one whenever I’m done working out and occasionally before strength training. You’ll probably notice one side of your body is in more pain, quicker, when doing this exercise because that side of your body is tighter. Good. Now you know what you need to work on. Again, Hold for counts of 3-5 seconds and repeat 2-3 times.

3. Seated Butt Stretch

This is one of those stretches you can do while you’re at work throughout the day to keep yourself in check.

Seated Piriformis stretch

4. Laying Down Butt Stretch

This is a more intense (or can be) version of the seated butt stretch. Notice it’s basically the same position with your hips and legs …

Lying Piriformis stretch

5. Seated Lower Back Stretch

Seated Lower Back Stretch

Again, this is a great one to do while you’re at work or virtually any time of day. Don’t go overboard with this one right after strength training though because you don’t want your body to “assume” a stretched out position for your lower back because some “tightness” is necessary there to stabilize your spine.

Instead, use this stretch along with the others to relieve your pain and to get these tight muscles looser so that you can strengthen the opposite and opposing muscles.

Posted on March 4, 2013March 13, 2016 by Tantrum — Leave a comment

Water starting

[vimeo height=”315″ width=”560″]http://vimeo.com/61011595[/vimeo]

Onto the water start. Now we’ve taking care of the kite (hopefully), it’s time to look at the board. As you rise out of the water you want to point to the board in the direction of the kite. What this effectively means is that the board is now offering no resistance to the kite, and your direction of travel should be exactly the same as the direction that the pull is coming from in the kite. This means you can start to ride albeit downwind, without needing tons of power in the kite. Normally speaking this will mean that the board is pointing roughly 45 degrees downwind as you rise up from the water but it could be as far round as 90 degrees.

It is a commonly held belief (erroneous in this case) that good kite surfers start to ride with their pointing across or even up wind. All kite surfers, irrespective of level, start to ride with the board pointing downwind. There is simply no other way to do it. What happens is that very quickly the better kite surfers transfer their weight turning the board as they do thus giving the appearance that they are coming out of the water already riding across or up wind.

There are several ways to achieve this pointing of the board downwind. The best way that I have found is to think of pulling your back leg further in towards your bum as you rise out of the water. This naturally angles the board to 45° and keeps your knees bent. Many people talk about straightening the front leg as you come out of the water and, while this works, we have found it tends to lead to people coming up with straight legs which leaves them with very little counterbalance and most people end up plopping straight over the front of the board.

During this stage you may often think you are pushing the border around to 45° whereas in reality the board is staying perpendicular to the wind. If you experience the sensation of the boards skidding sideways across the surface of the water with no grip it is most certainly the case. A good method to attempt to eradicate this habit is to pick spots that are at least 45° downwind of you before you start and ensure the board is aiming at them as you come out of the water, or look at angle of any chop and ensure your hitting it at the correct angle as you ride.

What often happens next is the student rises out of the water with the board pointed at 45° rides for a couple of metres and then loses all power and sinks back into the water. This is generally caused by pulling the bar in as you rise out of the water. As the kite reaches the bottom of the power stroke the bar is pulled all the way in (as as humans like to haul ourselves up on something, in this case the bar) and the kite simply stalls at this point, dumping you unceremoniously back into the water. There are several remedies for this. Fly the kite harder on the down stroke so there is no temptation to pull the bar in whatsoever…in fact you’ll be trying to ditch power by getting the bar out. If you combine this with a quick upstroke to take the kite back up to the top of the window you should have more success.

When bringing the kite back up to the top of the window ensure you keep the kite on the side of the wind window into which you are riding. Many people at this stage bring the kite up to 12 o’clock or beyond which simply pulls you up onto your toes or back in the opposite direction. Once riding the kite must remain on the side of the window into which your board is pointing.

Common Errors

Posted on March 4, 2013March 14, 2016 by Tantrum — Leave a comment

Steady Pull – The Precursor to the Water Start

[vimeo height=”315″ width=”560″]http://vimeo.com/61009085[/vimeo]

Once you are happy getting the board on your feet and keeping yourself in the water start position for a good 10-15 m each time, you’re ready to move onto the next stage: Steady Pull.

We’re now going to start using the power of the kite to pull you gently out of the water. The idea is still you should be underpowered enough that you cannot overfly the kite and take a flying trip over the front of the board. Rather you should have just enough energy when the kite is worked fully to lift yourself out of the water and ride for maybe a few metres (though this isn’t necessary at this stage, we are practicing the mechanics of the water start and are still not worried about riding).

From the water start position position, that is legs tucked well in and stomach crunched, start to move the kite in figure 8’s in front of you. Gradually increase the power until you are being lifted out of the water in what to an onlooker would appear like bum dragging, where your bum is lifting out and then splashing back down into the water. If you are in danger of going over the front of the board reduce the power in the kite. You’ll probably notice that by working the kite in this manner it is much more difficult to stay with your back to the wind, (as the kite tends to pull you left and right and all over the place) however it is essential that you do. Whenever you feel yourself being pulled off this back to wind position, stop, reposition yourself and start flying the kite once more.

Once you are happy with this exercise its time to modify the power stroke slightly. Let’s imagine you want to start riding to your right (simply do the inverse for riding to your left!). Drift the kite gently back to the 11 o’clock position. It is important that this is done slowly as rapid movements here will start to twist your body out of that all important back to wind position, which will mess up your start before its even begun. Once you’ve drifted your kite to 11 o’clock the idea now is to steer the kite hard in front of you. So that the kite should be aiming straight down towards the sea, directly downwind of you (remember to steer the kite out before it actually impacts!).

The common error here is that people don’t steer aggressively enough. So instead of diving the kite at the water in front of them they sweep the kite over to around 2 o’clock. This means all the force from the kite is being generated in this right-hand side of the window. This inevitably leads you to twist around over the front of the board. By diving the kite in front of you, you are ensuring that the pull from the kite is also directly in front of you. This ensures you are being pulled straight forward (and up) rather than twisted sideways, which is much easier to cope with. This takes a little bit of getting used to as it doesn’t feel quite natural to start with but is an absolutely crucial aspect of mastering the water start. My advise, start small and build up with sharper and deeper turns.

Once you are confident you’re diving the kite in front of you, you are able to keep your back to the wind whilst doing so, and you are rising out of the water in a (semi) controlled manner you are ready to move onto the next stage.

Posted on March 3, 2013March 13, 2016 by Tantrum — 2 Comments

Putting The Board On Your Feet

[vimeo height=”315″ width=”560″]http://vimeo.com/60950423[/vimeo]

We now going to talk about one of the most important and under emphasized skills in kite surfing. Getting the damn board on your feet!

Most people simply assume that this skill will be almost automatic, unfortunately it is anything but. Yet it truly defines the difference between someone who will learn to kite and someone who’s just splashing around in the waves.

Once you can get the board on your feet and keep yourself steady, even when being battered by waves and strong currents. You will be able to practice the water start time and again, without worrying about the board staying on your feet or you spinning out under the kite.

First things first, before even worrying about the water I would start by practicing this on land, in light, non gusty wind. Fly your kite, sit down on the beach and simply practice getting the board on your feet.

Use The Force, Luke

Even at this early stage, 3 main principles apply:

You must keep your back to the wind at all times.
You must keep your eyes on your kite, you need to use the force to get the board on your feet.
To have any chance of getting the board on your feet at all you must make yourself as small as possible when bending your legs from the knees and crunching from the waist.

After you’ve mastered this, ditch the kite and head out into the water with the aim of simply practicing putting the board on your feet. If you do this pretending you do have a kite i.e. only using one arm, you can make it a little bit more realistic. The same principles we mentioned above still apply.

This may seem like a fairly pointless exercise but it is great for building up those neural connections you then need when you do this with a kite.

So now you’ve done that I will explain the reasoning behind it.

At this stage the key issue in getting the board on your feet is to crunch from the waist.

It is very easy especially when supported by the water to lie back. This not only increases the distance from your arms to your feet making it physically more difficult to get the board on, but also leads to you power the kite up involuntarily, which is the last thing you want at this moment.

Don’t Believe Me?

Perform a simple experiment.

Lie down on the beach with your knees bent, as if you were trying to get the board on your feet. Lay with your back flat against the sand. Now imagine the distance between your harness and your bar, if you were attached to the kite.

Now perform a simple crunch and look again what happens to the distance between your (imaginary) bar and your harness hook. If I’ve explained this at all well, so you actually have any idea what I’m talking about, you will see that when you crunch, the bar is naturally a lot further out than when you are lying on your back.

This is CRUCIAL

By letting the bar out you are de powering the kite, this means the kite isn’t trying to pull you left, right and all over the place while you’re performing the delicate task of placing the board on your feet.

Conversely when you’re laying back with the bar fully in (and the steering lines tight) every little movement of your hand is transferred to the kite which will be bucking around with power, attempting to thwart your best efforts to get the board on your feet.

Most modern kites will actually sit at the apex (the 12 o’clock position) for about 5 to 10 seconds when fully de powered. This is more than enough time for you to get the board on your feet without worrying about the kite. If it’s not, you simply trim in, steer slightly and you’re good to go again.

Armed With This Knowledge

Now you know this, take the kite back into the water and try get the board onto your feet while attached to the kite, remembering at all times to keep your back to the wind. If at any time you become unsure which way the wind is blowing, as can often happen, simply look at the kite. With the kite at 12 o’clock the central strut will be pointing directly towards the wind, use this to align yourself.

If you do feel yourself spinning out under the kite, simply use your free arm to paddle yourself around, if possible. Another way to achieve this is to use the kite. Once you feel yourself spinning under the kite move the kite across to the direction of spin (the same side your feet are spinning towards). You can then push against the pull of the kite to get yourself back to wind again.

If you find yourself too far spun to recover (I normally reckon anything past 90 degrees) simply kick the board off and start again. If you find yourself in the un enviable position of being totally back to front, simply let go of the kite and kick your legs to re right yourself…knowing which way is right and left when your upside down under the kite is not something I’ve seen too many people master at this stage

Once you have the board on your feet simply drift downwind with it for 10 to 20 m, keeping your back to the wind, kick it off and start again.

Posted on March 3, 2013February 1, 2023 by Tantrum — Leave a comment

Body Dragging With The Board

Being able to body drag with the board is essential for 2 key reasons.

One, it leaves you truly independent as you can leave the beach and return to the same point with the board.
Two, often at the shoreline there will be quite a lot of shore break which as a beginner can make water starting difficult. By being able to body drag out with the board through the surf into the green water that lies just beyond the breaking waves, you’ll be able to perform and practice your water start that much easier.

People have many different techniques for achieving this and as you can see from the pìcture above, whatever works for you is fine. We have found however that most people prefer to lock the board against their body as shown in the video. By placing your free hand through the foot strap and pulling the board in tight against your chest it not only stops it from being knocked around in the waves (too much) but also adds to your resistance against the kite enabling you to upwind body drag much easier.

For a discussion of why we don’t simply use a leash to achieve this, click here.