Surface sessions

Friday was another superb day at my local – Shui Hau.  This time well powered to just powered on a 10m Switchblade and using my trusty Spectrum 140 prototype with 25mm fins.  You may think that this equipment is a strange choice for a 70kg (yes – Christmas in SA and 9 months off the water have not been that flattering) women who is a competent freestyler, confident with unhooking and kitelooping.  You may be right, but every person is subtly different – my big difference is that I am recovering from knee surgery and probably should not be out there yet at all.

Equipment choice is such an individual thing and depends not only on your size, sex and riding style, but also on your location and what you are trying to achieve right now with your riding.  The equipment you choose is also not only restricted to what kite and board you are using, but also what harness, wetsuit (or not), booties, pads and straps, handle and if you are going to be wearing that safety gear too.

So back to Friday – 10m Kite, 140 board and my kite shorts harness.  Nice low pull, no restriction of movement in my waist and just very little restriction in my hips. Helmet on – I always wear my helmet, just in case… not necessarily me being stupid (that’s always a possibility), but also because there are heaps of inconsiderate / uneducated individuals in our sport.  It was nice and windy – five kiters out in the morning thanks to Chinese New Year (CNY) and flat water – super fun session!

So what did I do?  Off course there was the list from my last blog, plus the surface 360’s mentioned by Megan and Blaise both toeside and blindside and the long blind runs – thanks to it being so quiet.  I also added in a couple of new ‘tricks’ I have never consistently done before.   The surface 360 with an Ole – that is holding the bar above your head instead of passing it.  The other is the surface one foot, taking the back foot out of the binding while riding along and kicking it up and grabbing it with the front hand.  What fun you can have inventing stuff – now I know what Toby (kiteforum.com) has been up to for over a year and why we waited so long for  those ’Airstyle” DVDs.

Other ‘tricks’ you could consider to improve your kite and board control skills are:
Carving transitions from heelside to toeside,
Carve transition with an underloop,
Riding blind,
Riding along unhooked,
Surface 360 both ways and do one after the other without hooking back in in between,
Rotating to wrapped hooked and unhooked and riding along,
Butterslide or board wheelie,
Backroll transition, but without the board leaving the water.

The last of these is actually a great one to learn, because if you go into it too fast or edge too hard before you roll, or if you move the kite too quickly over 12 o’clock you will leave the water.  This is especially important for somebody who is keen to learn roll tacks for kite-racing to master, as this basic kite and board control teaches you the timing subtleties required.

I am sure there were many more things I got up to and tried, but towards the end of my session I started being silly and had my first kiteloop lifted off the water crashes since my op and even those were fun – I so love kiting!

Now I am in Taiwan – having a ball in the waves – will let you know how my not leaving the water challenge goes before I head back to HK at the end of the week.

Good winds and happy kiting!

:)