From Land To Water
For as long as I can remember (which isn't that long) I have always wanted to kitesurf. Having seen videos of Flash Austin, Robby Naish and Co ripping it up in nice blue waters somewhere warm its always looked like the perfect sport. What other sport would let you stay on the water when you want to and when you don't you can boost to well over 40ft? (don't mention windsurfing, its too hard to get 40ft on a windsurf board).
But alas 5 years ago you would have needed to re-mortgage your house or sell your parents to be able to afford the kit. At well over £1000 for a kite and £700 for a board it was a really heavy commitment especially when you live in London and your probably not going to be able to get down to the coast every weekend. So that kind of put a halt on things.
Things have changed loads of the past couple of years, kit has become cheaper, kit has become better made and the big change is, that kit has become SAFER! Look back a couple of years and have a look see at the way people are riding, no leashes, no de-power and no quick releases. I have photos of people riding actually having tied the middle line to their harnesses!!! So it can only be a good thing the way things have gone, safer kites, leashes and quick releases.
Right back to the main point, getting from land to water.
I have been flying kites of a powerful variety for over 10 years, had a stack of three 10ft flexifoils when I was 13 and was getting what I thought was big air. Then an unfortunate collision with a rock and my knee resulted in me not kiting for a little while. Fast forward to October 2002 - a friend of mine got himself a blade 2 6.4m2 and we went flying it a few times and I was straight back where I was when I was 13, absolutely amazed! Unfortunately for my mate, he lost interest and sold the kite. Fortunately it was me who bought it.
May 2003 – by this time I was now jumping loads with the kite and had scared the living daylights out of myself a fair few times but getting used to the jumping and power had got me thinking about kitesurfing again. I had the power but no where to really use it, saw the flexifoil message board and heard of people using mountain boards with kites, I had always thought mountain boards were really pricy but after seeing how much the Airdeck was selling for I decide to get myself to my local kiteshop and buy one, the first one in the shop that had only been there 5 mins before I got there.
So..
I got myself down to my local playing fields got the kite up in 10mph and was getting some nice scuds down the field getting myself warmed up for the board. Got myself on the board and to cut a long story short I fell off a lot, and didn't get too far. Two weeks later I was up and running on the board.
By the beginning of June I had ordered myself a 12m Frenzy and with the addition of a new kite I was really starting to get to grips with the land board, I was working on higher jumps and starting to get my toeside riding going. I started to understand more about the kite and how to get the most out of it when flying in light winds and how to get the least out of it when riding over powered. Things were looking good. I was a kiteATB'er.
Learning with a de-powerable kite really did fast forward my learning, I had so much to adjust to keep myself on the board, if I was going to fall off backwards I could pull the bar in and if I was going to get yanked over the front then I could just push the bar out and when the wind picked up or dropped off I could change the setting on the cleat, meaning that I could have even more choice on how much power I wanted. I was happy, REAL happy. By the end of June I was working on my front rolls and grabs.
Then at the end of June my girlfriend made a deal with me, if I could stop talking about kitesurfing so much and sell the Frenzy then she would help me get a water re-launchable kite. Luckily I managed to sell my frenzy within about 2 days of it being on the net and ordered my new kite straight away.
Now this is always a tricky one. You want to get on the water, you want your kite to be able to take off from the water when you ditch it, but you also want to have a kite that you can use in a wide wind range on land. Because at the end of the day I live in London and at best I will only make it down the coast every weekend and more realistically I will only be able to get to the coast twice a month. It was looking like the kite I wanted to get was going to be a foil and after seeing the videos of how well they water re-launch it just HAD to be a Flysurfer kite. The Titan 15.5m to be exact. Also with this kite I bought a Loose tx 156 board.
I'm not going to start pimping the Flysurfer kites, I do enough of that everywhere else.
Right, to summarise, on my land board, I could ride both ways in winds from 15-25 on the 6.4m Blade and from 5-15 on the 12m Frenzy, I could jump quite happily, ride toeside both ways and was working on my rotations.
Right, now I think the next thing that I done was one of the most important things I did. I got myself down to princes cable tow centre. And spent an afternoon getting pulled around the lake by the cable. I did this on my own board and I think this gave me loads of confidence on my board and more importantly gave me some board skills. Because in case you haven't worked out, water is a hell of a lot more slippy than land.
3 days later I got a chance to get out on the water, myself and Tim went down to Camber sands for the day, at camber there was no wind at all, so we went round the coast to Greatstone and there was JUST enough wind to get going. A few guys were on 20m LEIs and planning fairly happily. Got my kite up and walked out into the water with my board attached to my harness via a leash. I spent 20 or so mins getting the board onto my feet and wallowing about. I managed to walk out far enough to get the board on my feet and still be in deep enough water. I did a really big powerstroke of the kite, got pulled up onto my feet and was planning! Went for about 100m TURNED ROUND!! And came back the other way!!
Possibly the best feeling ever!! Well probably!
Getting from land is a fairly easy step as long as you get the right skills sorted first. You need to be able to fly the kite really well, you need to be confident on the mountain board and most of all feel comfortable with the amount of power that is needed when kitesurfing. And one more thing that should never be underestimated is your quick release. YOU HAVE TO HAVE A QUICK RELEASE!! One that works well and under load. You need to know where it is, and be able to pull it at all times. Flying big kites in strong winds leaves you open to a lot of problems that can be overcome with good preparation and good knowledge of your kit and the weather.
A lot of people still don't have lessons, I didn't and it worked out ok. But looking back on it I should have taken lessons. It wouldn't have got me up on the board any quicker but it would have left me totally prepared for flying on water. And I wouldn't have got the whipping that I got at Westward Ho! 2 months later because I was flying overpowered.
In short, the swap for land to water is an easy one, as long as you have some nice skills on the land board first. If you go and buy yourself a 20m LEI and a 120cm board and expect to learn in a weekend without ever getting on a land board or the like then you are going to be an accident waiting to happen.
Take your time to build skills and become aware of your surroundings. The last thing anyone needs is an out of control land boarder or water boarder who doesn't know how to stop or avoid people. And don't get taken in by the ego, there are too many people out there that think that you have to have the biggest kite possible to have fun, this is nonsense. I was flying yesterday with people on kites from 4m right up to 15.5m all of them were cruising round the fields happily on their mountain boards, all of them were having fun.
Well I could go on for days about stuff…but in this last bit I'm going to say what I think you should know before you get into the sport.
- Wear proper safety equipment
- Knee pads
- Crash helmet *doesn't matter how stupid you think you look*
- Elbow pads
- Don't put too big a kite up for your weight, skill or conditions
- Be aware of who is around you, whether it be a member of the public or another kiter
- Go kiting with others, its not fun to need an ambulance when there is no one there to call one
- Remember to check the weather, you are attached to a VERY powerful power source and it doesn't tale much to really hurt you
- Finally remember, there is NO rush, it is better to take months to get on the water than to end it all by being in a hurry. Kite surfing is a risky sport and the more time you spend getting accustomed to the power and speed the more likely you are to keep safe.
Have fun! 
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