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Jumping can be dangerous, only experienced boarders should attempt this.

Once you’ve got up a bit of speed, start with the kite in a comfortable position, about halfway down the wind window in the direction you are traveling, crouch down, start to drift downwind slightly to gain more speed then push down with your trailing foot and edge hard upwind, at this point you should have the kite swinging up fast at the edge of the wind window, push off with your legs when the kite is at its zenith or just past it – you should now be in the air, it may not last long depending on kite size so quickly turn the kite in the direction of travel again but try and keep it roughly above your head don’t forget to bend your knees on landing and happy jumping!

(Showing Kite Movements While In The Air)

Remember to keep a large distance downwind of you incase anything goes wrong and be safe.

(KiteATB.co.uk bare no responsibility for injury’s sustained while following this guide)

Found yourself going too fast thinking about slowing down? Well you can either turn upwind and slow down gradually by simply putting a bit more pressure on the heelside edge and raise the kite to the zenith until your slowing down, or you can stop suddenly by turning sharply upwind, leaning back hard and pushing your legs out in front of you while raising the kite to the zenith, this will often kick up a lot of sand (if your on the beach). If you keep the kite down low in the window the you will probably keep sliding for a while and you can practice recovering and keeping moving.

(How To Stop)

You may end up falling off a few times while trying to stop suddenly, if this happens you might have the kite too low, not be leaning back enough and putting enough pressure on the heelside edge.

(KiteATB.co.uk bare no responsibility for injury’s sustained while following this guide)

Beginners and Professionals alike experience the madness of speed wobble, on standard skate trucks this generally kicks in at about 20-25mph, on channel truck boards with elastomers in it is usually ok until about 30mph, plain and simply, Speed Wobble is when the board “goes mad” and begins to steer up and downwind uncontrollably, this passage should hopefully help you combat it and prevent it from happening.

There are a few main ways to slow down or stop speed wobble:

• By Making trucks tighter (as described in setup tips) or buying better, stiffer trucks helps increase the speed at which you can travel without experiencing speed wobble.
• By leaning back, this helps by reducing the weight on the board while traveling, this only works properly when powered up and leaning back the board should have a slightly floaty feel to it when doing this, the less weight over the board, the less speed wobble.
• By Relaxing while riding also helps, don’t ask me why, I don’t really know, its just what I’ve personally found, if I’m more relaxed, my centre of gravity is lower.

Speed Wobble can never be totally eliminated but the steps outlined above definitely help to increase the speed at which it kicks in, look out in the future though as there are a number of new truck designs which are said to completely reduce speed wobble.

More Specific Instructions:
Channel Trucks
Skate Trucks

It is always better to meet up with an experienced kite boarder and for them to explain how to board with a kite, but if this is not possible, we suggest you follow this guide.

(Directions Of Travel)

Start with the kite up high at one side of the wind window with the board pointing about 35-40 degrees off downwind (Broad Reach) in the same direction as the kite, now step into the bindings and lower the kite down into the edge of the wind window in the direction you want to move and as you start moving turn the board back into the wind a bit until you are going across wind (Beam Reach), slowly raise and lower the kite at the same side to increase your speed and remember to brace against the pull of the kite or else you may do a front flip off the board!

(Working The Kite – Useful In Lighter Winds)Now that you know how to move, you’ll probably want to know how to gain distance upwind, to do this you should get a bit of speed up then increase pressure on the heelside edge, this will point the board slightly more upwind, dont turn too far in this direction as you will slow down to a stop, if this happens turn or hop the board back round so your downwind slightly and start again. You may find crouching will help you keep a good close reach.

Often done accidentally by incorrect technique of being well over powered but getting downwind is a very useful skill to know. It enables you to get back to your kit easily, get out of the way of other fliers/members of public etc and can make for interesting flying. I find it is often easier to get to your broad reach (downwind run) from a beam reach (cross wind) run. The best way to get into a downwind run is to dive the kite down into the centre of the window and as you feel it power up lean hard on the toeside edge of your board and go with the power. Now that you are in the run you need to keep in it. This is often hard as you are effectively taking lowering the wind speed as you are catching up with the kite. This means that you need to work the kite from one side of the window to the other. Keeping it in the power zone as much as possible. If the kite starts to fall or lose air then you should go back in to a cross wind (beam reach) run and do the same thing again. This is best done using a small kite as they are quicker and can be worked harder to keep their air.

Now your speeding down the beach and suddenly – your board starts shaking/wobbling from side to side and you can’t seem to control it! This is called speed wobble and is something that most boarders hate to start with until they can overcome it and get faster speeds. To stop speed wobble it maybe be you need to tighten your trucks (if skate style) or insert new eggshocks (if channel trucks) though a much simpler method is to lean further back and relax more.

If you’ve mastered all this you may want to start to ride Toeside! To do this you should start with your board positioned so you are looking upwind when standing on it, you should keep the kite high to start with, twist your body round so that you can see the kite and direction you want to go in, slowly lower the kite in this direction. Remember to lean forward, this may seem a bit strange, but it will stop you from getting yanked off the board a lot better. If you have a harness, once you’ve got a nice bit of speed, you may prefer to hook in and cruise with one hand dragging along the ground upwind of you, this often looks stylish. To turn round you can either hop the board around by jumping up and twisting the board 180degrees around to ride heelside again, you could slide it round (take great care) or you can slowly drift round in a graceful arc by slowing yourself down, keeping the kite high then putting pressure on the heelside edge to turn downwind and ride off in the opposite direction heelside.

(KiteATB.co.uk bare no responsibility for injurys sustained while following this guide)

It is always better to meet up with an experienced flyer and for them to explain how to fly, but if this is not possible, we suggest you follow this guide.

(The Wind Window)

Most kites come with instructions to show you how to set it up and put on lines so its best to follow these. Hold the handles and point the bottom of them in the direction of the kite so the brake lines go slack. Give a small tug on the handles – the kite should now launch. Steer by pulling left and right to guide it up. Try steering the kite right and left. As the kite approaches the side of the wind window it will slow down and begin to sink, at this point turn it around to fly it in the opposite direction. You should notice by this point that when the kite is moving, it produces more power than when it is still at the top or edge of the window.

Up to now we have been flying the kite with fairly slack brake lines and the lower end of the handles pointed forwards. Guide the kite directly overhead and now gently pull the bottom of one handle further backwards towards you. The kite will immediately turn in that direction and much faster than before. As it gets into the turn gently point the bottom of the handles forwards again and repeat this with the other handle.

(KiteATB.co.uk bare no responsibility for injury’s sustained while following this guide)