Tag: learn to kitesurf

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Waterstarting on your weaker side

Everybody has a stronger and a weaker side in kitesurfing.

Whether you are regular or goofy, waterstarting the “other” way often feels awkward and is much more difficult to master. This is especially true if you come from a boarding background where you don’t have to ride on both tacks…ie snowboarding, surfing etc.

In todays episode we look at how to waterstart effectively on your weaker side.

We look at the common mistakes we see people making and how to easily fix them.

If you haven’t already check out:

The Definitive Guide To Waterstarting

which explains in detail a lot of the concepts mentioned in this episode.

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The Greatest Lie Ever Told About Kitesurfing

Women Kitesurfing

Women Kitesurfing

There is a general misconception amongst women that you need to be very strong to practice or to learn to kitesurf. This is an oft cited reason (or excuse) for not ever learning to kitesurf and in my opinion is one of the main reasons that the number of women partaking in the sport is so low (but currently increasing at a steady rate). The simple truth is this is a lie and its a whopper, so here I’m going to set the record straight.

Many see the fact that you are controlling the kite with the bar and assume that you need the upper body strength to hold down the full power of the kite with just your arms. If that were true I’d now have arms like Schwarzenegger, unfortunately for me (and my girlfriend) I don’t. Because you are attached to the kite by way of a harness most of the pull of the kite is delivered through your core…great for toning up those abs (but again not requiring a 6 pack to handle)!. This means that the whole weight of your body is counterbalancing the pull of the kite and it is simply by leaning back that you control this power. This reduces the pressure on the bar and thus your arms and upper body to practically zero..in fact you can fly the kite with one finger of each hand..easily.

Kitesurfing requires very little in the way of upper body strength!

I have seen people from the age of 5 up to 85 learn to kitesurf and have a great time riding afterwards, not one of them built like Schwarzenegger (again to the distress of my girl!) and most of them aren’t particularly fit or strong before they start.

Compared to a sport like windsurfing or even snowboarding or skiing the level of fitness and body strength required to learn to kitesurf and then actually get out on the water and do it, is a lot less. Of course once your up and riding you can control exactly how much effort you put and it can become an extremely physical sport…if you want it to be. On the flip side I have seen 85 year olds cruising up and down all day with no problems.

So if you’ve always fancied getting in to extreme sports or more specifically kitesurfing but always thought it looked a little too physical then maybe learning to kitesurf is the way forward for you. The sport needs a great many more female ambassadors and there are some great opportunities for women inside the kitesurfing world at the moment because of the relative infancy of the sport. So go on give it a go, you’ll be surprised how easy it is to learn to kitesurf!

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Mastering the Waterstart

The Water Start

The Tantrum Kitesurf Show

Kitesurf insider secrets, tutorials, video feedback, and equipment advice all aimed at getting you riding better…faster

Tantrum Kitesurf

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Water starting is one of those make or break moments in learning to kitesurf. It can be incredibly frustrating as you try time and time again, avoiding the waves, getting the damn board on your feet, waiting for the perfect moment…and flying straight over the front of the board for the thousandth time! Luckily there are a few common errors most people make when trying to water start which prevent them from riding up, up and away. The first is not pushing the front foot far enough around to release the board onto the plane and the second, of course, is pulling the bar in as you rise out of the water.

By not pushing the front foot far enough away from you as you rise out of the water, you will find yourself coming up up with the board too horizontal to the wind. Incredible amounts of power are then required from the kite to keep you going, as the board is creating a huge amount of resistance directly against the pull of the kite. By simply pushing forward with the front leg and coming up at an angle of 45 degrees or more away from the direction of the wind (ie. with the board pointing further downwind) you’ll release the board onto the plane. With the board pointing downwind your direction of travel is the same as that of the kite and thus much less power is required as you are working with the pull from the kite rather than fighting against it. A good trick here is rather than thinking of pushing your front foot away from you instead, pull your back leg in towards your bum, this will have the same effect but will mean that its much easier for you to keep your legs bent and control the power as you rise up from the water.

The second mistake people make is to pull on the bar whilst rising out of the water. As human beings is our instinct to pull ourselves up using something close to hand while attempting to stand up, also we naturally want more power if we are not quite out of the water and so pulling the bar seems like the right thing to do to give us that last little burst and pull us onto the plane…nothing could be further from the truth and this instinct must be resisted as we learn to water start

By putting the bar in we momentarily power up the kite, however when the kite reaches the bottom of the window (and we want to send it back up to initiate our second power stroke) if the bar is fully pulled in it will simply stall the kite backwards leaving us bobbing back into the water teabag style. What you need to aim to do is put enough power through the kite so that you have no desire to pull the bar in further as you have plenty of power already. This done, once the kite reaches the bottom of the window a simple tweak in the right direction will return the kite back towards the top of the window and put it in a position to start our second power stroke.

Hope that you found this post useful and that it helps your progression down the road to learning to kitesurf smoother and less frustrating, if you want more like this then subscribe to our YouTube Channel where every week I release a new video giving you all the kitesurf insider secrets, tutorials, video feedback, and equipment advice all aimed at getting you riding better…faster.

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