There are two common errors most people make when trying to water start during their kitesurfing lessons 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.
The first of these, not pushing the front foot far enough away as you rise out of the water, results in you coming 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 offering a load 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 you’ll release the board into the plane, accept the pull from the kite and require an awful lot less power to keep you riding.
The second mistake people make is to pull the bar in 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, 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 with the bar fully pulled in it will simply stall backwards leaving us bobbing back into the water teabag style. What we need to aim to do is put enough power through the kite so that the bar stays away from us, and we have no desire to pull it in further. 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.
