Upwind and epic last day @ Rosebud

Finally cracked the upwind puzzle at Rosebud in 20-30knots of wind, 3 hours in the water with Joseph .11m Rebel flew beautifully with 133cm TT. and a kitecrashed as we were trying to get selfie and tear the canopy..poor girl
.now this is done what's next..

• transitions
• boosting
• kite loops

Learning Steps

1.overhead stability - 70%
3.Up wind body drag - 50%
5. ride outside rail -60%
6. sign with 10 to 11 (narrow range) - 70%
6.2 Stop flying the kite in other direction - 95%
7. overhead at 12 without looking at the kite - 75%
8. Ride without looking at the kite 80%
9. twist your body towards the direction of ride -70%
10. looping medium winds 8m
11. looping light winds 12m/11m both directions 50%
12. looping wide arc 8m
13. looping light wind water start
14. Self land 4 line kite - pull front lines and then pull top front line - 30%
15. Launching kite from left - both hands - 50%
16. balance on board with even foot pressure - 60%
17. Water start with double sine - 80%
18. Chop handling - 50%


Learning Priorities
1.Upwind body drag -50%
2.Self launch on left side - 50%
3.Surf board with back leg in front of foot straps - 50%

Deep water board recovery

• grab board with one whilst keeping the kite at 12
• if you loose the board first control your kite and keep it at 12 with minimum pull
• if the board doesn't float back upwind body drag to board
• On a twin tip or surf board keep feet in the straps when you fall off

Self Launching Gone Wrong

There is a really stupid way to self launch
Without line tension and both hand on the bar there is no control

1. Medium depower setting
2. Pull back lines enough to get line tension
3. pull bar to feel the tension
4. move upwind
5. pull more backline to stand the kite
6. feel the tension on all lines and check lines
7. both hands on the bar
8. slowly move up
9. pull back hand or lower line to get kite back on the the ground

Practice pulling lower line 

5 strut performance kites

Interesting Friday afternoon session in St Kilda pond, gusty as hell, raining and the forecast was shit.
11m Rebel and 133 TT - liquid force recoil.

Never thought there is so much difference in performance when a kite is as powerful and rock solid as a North rebel. Once you learn to harness the power then it's a beauty. Compared to 3 struct Reo and 1 strut Mono this one pull like a 2$ hooker. Main problem with this type of kite is when the wind is gusty you have to actively fly the kite overhead rather than just park it. Kite doesn't fall back in low winds like a 3 strut so you should always maintain line tension and make sure kite is not dropped causing an inversion. That said this only a beginners problem.

Key takes from the session in St Kilda

• Do not launch with full depower as you cannot steer the kite
• Keep both hands and line tension when self launching
• Try to park the kite once get going.  Sining creates power but also pulls downwind. Strike a balance between power and upwind performance.  More sining means more edging to avoid going downwind.  keep the board flat when starting, once planning slow down kite movement and edge upwind

On the subject of board, new 133cm TT worked well with the 11m Rebel.  Interesting to see how it will perform with 12m Mono.  Now I question board size vs kite type.  Is it better to have a bigger board or kite that has more pull and upwind? In some ways this session takes be back to basics in terms of rethinking kite type, size and board size.

Kite looping with high aspect 11m

Compared to 8m Reo this kite takes wide arch and generate so much more power. Reo 8m turns on a very tight circle and in fact you need to widen  the circle to generate power. With the 11m Rebel you really need to crank the bar to get it loop but once looping it generate so much more power

Key takes for the next session

• Self launch with 1/3 depower
• Even pressure on both feet once planing
• Park kite at 45 - more lift 
• Slow smooth sining once get going
• Twist your body and look where you are going
• Move the kite overhead with one hand

two days in a row in Rosebud

finally had enough of kitesurfing ...Two days in Rosebud

Key lessons

• Don't stay close to the beach when water starting or low wind sining
• Keep lines tight when walking up the beach
• don't go downwind when the kite is at 12 clock or kite will hindenburg
• When inverted QR and recover - don't try to launch in water
• check QR and make sure its tight
• Bend your knees when overpowered , have weight on both feet

5 hour winter session

this is by far the longest non stop session I've ever had kite-surfing or windsurfing and it's winter. what made session possible:

1. 5mm wetsuit 
2. loads of food before ...rice oats, saising, energy drink,coffee
3. fitness

Need to work on 

1. leg endurance
2. shoulder endurance
3. abs

kiting wise pretty good session want to work on the following

1. board positioning on water start - get both legs on the board before digging into foot straps

2. keep one hand on the footstrap and bend knees 

3. look at the kite not board

Technique

1. did more of the front foot pressure in light winds
2. signing kite didn't work , must have a short sin from 9-11 rather than 12

Next session

1. work on getting the board positioned
2. short sin on one side of the window
3. Don't look at the kite
4. Twist your body and look where you are going

During the week

1. focus on leg endurance - Tuesday and Thursday
2. shoulders - more dips
3. meditate