I woke up this morning hopeful for the 25 km/h wind in the forecast but was dissappointed to tree tops standing still and water calm. Slowly the wind picked up and by early afternoon it was looking really good for a kite session on Bruce Beach. I met up with a couple other kiters and quickly pumped up my kite. The wind was blowing about 15 knots from the Northwest and I had lots of power on my 16m Ocean Rodeo Rise.
I launched the kite and got out to the sand bar to do some water starts. The surf was pretty big and it tossed me around quite a bit trying to get positioned properly. I did a couple big power strokes and pulled myself out of the water but had a hard time building enough momentum to really get going. A power stroke is basically starting the kite from high in the air and diving it low in the direction you want to travel. This movement exposes the full surface area of the kite to the wind which then generates power to pull you out of the water.
I had a blast getting pulled out of the water and riding the board but had lots of spills. This can present a problem for a couple of reasons. The first is you need to be thinking about where the kite is and what it is about to do as soon as you recover from the fall. A kite can pull you fast, hard and unexpectedly. The important thing is to make sure you stay facing the kite and are able to de power when necessary. Now remember while your worrying about the kite and what it is about to do your board is probably upwind of you and very hard to spot in choppy water. The next task is tack upwind using your body as a rudder to retrieve your board. Now you can try for another water start.
Starting a kiteboard is similar to getting up on waterskis, The difference is the bar now drives the boat and there is no letting go of the rope and coming to a stop. It is very easy to focus on your riding, forget about the kite and become underpowered and sink back in the water or get overpowered and fly over the board. The fun part is once you find the right balance of power the harness around your core takes the pressure off your arms and allows for long periods of riding without becoming tired or sore. The other cool aspect is the kite takes quite a bit of weight off the board so you feel a lot lighter than you would being towed by a boat.
I had about a five hour session and there is only one part that I would not consider fun. I was walking the kite out from the beach after a break and without warning my harness became unhooked . Now the kite is uncontrollable and quickly loops and crashes on the beach. The only option is to try and chase after it but it is hard to catch and the lines will become tangled. Eventually I caught up to it and spent a good half hour untangling the lines. Learning to kiteboard has been a lot of fun and a great challenge. I would recommend it to anyone that loves to board and is not afraid of a little excitement and a lot of power.
