It looked easy in the vids

ECmike · Since 29 Mar 2005 23 Posts Beaverton, OR

How many of ya watch a kiteboard vid or two before heading out to kite? I like to, kinda gets me amped up for riding.

Were out at Lyle the other day, wind is good, having a good time. I'm treking along and heading for this little sandbar, probable 6 feet wide or so. I've seen all these guys just ride accross the sandbars in vids, hooked in, no problem. Thought I'd give it a try. Man they make it look easy in the vids.

So, here I am comeing up on this sandbar, board touches the sand and instantly stops. I don't though! Kite pulls me right out of my bindings and I start body dragging accross the sandbar and through some ankle deep water. Probably funny as hell to the onlookers (you know who you are)!

I came out unharmed, except for my pride. This is my second season so I still got lots of that to spread around and loose! Wish I could have been an onlooker though! Laughing

NateDogg · Sat Apr 16, 05 2:21 pm

Yeah man, i do the exact same thing! On good days I'll actually take my laptop and a few vids with me and between sessions I'll review certain moves i wanna work on. Kiteboarding 101 and 201 are pretty good for that. Its all about the progression...

I cant wait until i get amped up enough to commit to a serious laid out kiteloop. It'll probably take some serious vid review, loud music beforehand and a sizeable crowd, but when i get the cahones to pull one off i want it to be extreme...I've done a few pretty tame ones on the coast before, but never anything where there's enough momentum to flip me above the level of the kite. I dunno, there's just something about that power that makes me wanna try it...it seems like one of the only moves out there where you realize the FULL power of the kite. And if i crash...oh well. At least I'll know how bad it can really get. Just gotta commit...

pkh · Since 27 Feb 2005 6549 Posts Couve / Hood Honored Founder

Hey Mike - I am no expert on the riding across sand thing, but it works for me to have my board edged as close to a 90 degree angle as you can in the water before you get to the sand. Then concentrate on keeping your weight back, once you hit the sand everything will want to throw you forward and over, you just want to counter that as much as you can.

The real trick is to not let your fins catch, once that happens, game over. Confused

Karl and I had some good practice at shallow water riding at Lyle today.. Very Happy

ECmike · Since 29 Mar 2005 23 Posts Beaverton, OR

How was it out at Lyle yeasterday? What size kites were you guys riding?Wish that I could have made it out with ya's!

Thanks for the advice on riding accross land. Guess that I sould get better at just riding rather than doing stupid things like riding across sandbars! Seemed like a good idea at the time though.

Natedogg,
Good luck with the kiteloop! It would be cool to see some people killing those in person!

pkh · Since 27 Feb 2005 6549 Posts Couve / Hood Honored Founder

Lyle wasn't too bad, we were out on the water but underpowered for the most part. It was good to be out there though! Sandbar today was a little more interesting...