As the name suggests, the Death Loop is a very dangerous situation that can happen to virtually anyone due to gear failure or a line getting wrapped around your bar or hooked through your harness in some way. Year after year many kiteboarders around the world get hurt or even die because of the so called “Death Loop”, and in many cases, releasing your safety system has no effect. It can even happen to highly experienced kitesurfers if caught off guard.

For this reason, Anton Chernyshov from Advakite.com put together a great video tutorial demonstrating a number of techniques to quickly and safely get your kite back under control without ever having to release your safety system.

We highly recommend you watch the entire video tutorial below, however we’ve also summarized the various techniques in case you can’t watch the video for some reason.

Surviving the Death Loop Video Tutorial

If you are reading this tutorial in an email or RSS feed, please click here to watch the video tutorial.

Examples of Situations that can cause the Death Loop

• Centre depower line (front lines) wrap around the bar
• One of the steering lines gets hook around the bar end or clip
• Steering line wraps around your harness hook

Activating your safety system may not help, as the depower system is locked around the bar or the steering line is hooked on your harness. It also makes the situation worse, because now the bar is out of your reach, making it impossible to rectify the situation. Your only option left is to cut away from the kite entirely.

How to Stop the Loop of Death

To stop the kite, simply grab the farthest steering line and pull it hard. That’s it… the kite will stall and fall out of the sky. If you are battling to pull this line, wait for the kite to hit the surface of the water, as it will be much easier to stall the kite while it has briefly stopped moving.

Securing the Kite Afterwards

Once you’ve stopped the kite, pull the steering line in even more to ensure your kite remains depowered. Then you have several options:

1. Untangle your lines and carefully relaunch your kite. Make sure the lines are completely free before attempting to relaunch the kite. You can untwist the lines once your kite is in the air.
2. If you are worried about your lines being tangled or there is a dangerous obstacle ahead of you, you can proceed straight to the self rescue. First wrap the steering line you already pulled in around the bar about 10 times to secure the kite in a depowered state. Then proceed with the self rescue as normal.
3. If you are in shallow water, you can just walk up the steering line towards the kite. Be sure not to get yourself entangled in any loose lines and don’t wrap the lines around your hands or fingers in case the kite does power up and relaunch accidently.

Practice

We don’t recommend practicing death loops on the beach or even in the water, as you could potentially hurt yourself or someone else. But you can practice preparing for the various scenarios using your bar and lines at home as demonstrated in the video. Repeat a few times with your eyes closed in case your bar is under the water when you’re in a tricky situation.

If you have questions or you’d like to share your own experiences, please post them in the comments below. And please share this information with others, as you might save someone from serious injury or death.

PS: A big thank you to Anton Chernyshov for taking the time to make this great video and for sharing his knowledge and experience with everyone.

Surviving the Death Loop was published by inMotion Kitesurfing.

What You’ll Learn in this Wave Kite Series

This 5 part series of professionally produced wave riding tutorial videos will help you quickly master the art of Kitesurfing waves. The great news is that as an intermediate freeride kitesurfer, you’re only ten days of practice away from becoming a legit wave kitesurfer!

Over the next few weeks you will learn:

1. How to Start Wave Kitesurfing: Timing your Turns
2. Your first turns with timing and usage of the entire wind window
3. Riding your first waves backside
4. Top-turns and bottom-turns, performed both frontside and backside
5. How to gybe

How to Start Wave Kitesurfing: Timing your Turns

Watch the video tutorial above to learn how to perform carving transitions with the right timing, and then get out and practice, practice, practice… If you are reading this article in an email or RSS feed, watch the video here.

Getting Started

If you can ride upwind and toe-side, then you are ready to learn to ride waves with a kite.

If you don’t live near a kite spot with waves, you can start preparing to learn wave kitesurfing on flat or choppy water using your twin-tip board. This will allow you to get used to the fundamental moves before you take a trip to a good wave riding location.

Carving Transitions

Carving transitions are turns where you keep the same foot in front during your entire transition. Smoothly turning from and to toe-side and heel-side in both directions is essential for riding a wave board or directional board. This means you have four different turns to practice.

Timing the turn of your kite and board is crucial for a successful transition. Before pointing your board downwind, steer the kite sharply through the power zone in the opposite direction. Then shortly afterwards, follow your kite around by steering your board’s nose downwind and then into the opposite direction. If you get pulled over your board, steer your board downwind harder or faster. If you sink into the water you most likely moved the kite to 12 o’clock and didn’t steer the kite quickly enough through the power zone.

Important:  first turn the kite, and then turn the board. One strong pull on the bar with your back hand should do the trick. Watch the video above to learn the correct technique.

Don’t forget, if you want to wave kite in various conditions such as with the wind from the left and from the right, you need to be able to do your turns on your weak side as well. So practice both ways from the start.

Get on a Wave Board

After you’ve mastered all four turns while powered on your twin-tip board, start practicing the exercises on a directional wave board.

Switching to a wave board might take some getting used to, and you need to adjust your riding technique slightly. Make greater use of the fins to help you to ride upwind instead of riding the board on the edge like you would when riding a twin-tip board.

You’ll find that your wave board has less drag in the water. It will also speed up quicker so you should find it easier to move the kite through the power zone. Try this while carving downwind in a smooth slalom line and enjoy getting into the flow of things.

Important: Keep in mind that your wave board has large fins which are fragile, so avoid riding in shallow water where they might get caught in the sand and break off.

For now, don’t worry about switching your feet (gybing). You will learn to gyb later, as it’s a bit more difficult to learn than just riding the waves. In the meantime, if you do want to change your feet, simply slow down and drop yourself in the water, turn your board around manually and head back in the other direction.

Downwinders for Kitesurfing Waves

While cruising in slalom lines you will be heading downwind and losing a lot of ground. Kiting back upwind will take time, effort and energy. The same applies when you’re riding down the line on a wave. For this reason, most wave riders like to do downwind trips from one point to another. All you need to do is organise transport at the end of your downwinder to get you and your gear back to your starting point.

The advantage of doing a downwinder instead of kiting in one spot is that it will maximize your net practicing time on the water. It will help you reach your learning goal at this stage faster, which is steering the kite in a controlled manor through the power zone while turning the board in the other direction. It’s also just the most enjoyable way to wave kitesurf!

Lesson Summary

• Practice the four different types of carving transitions: from heel-side to toeside, from toeside to heel-side (goofy and regular stance)
• Timing: First turn the kite, then steer the board to follow the kite
• Steer the kite through the power zone while turning the board downwind
• Practice alternating between all 4 types of carving transitions in a slalom line downwind

If you enjoyed this tutorial, then keep an eye out for our next lesson in this wave riding series: “Your first turns with timing and usage of the entire wind window” by subscribing to our updates. If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to post them in the comments below.

This wave kitesurfing video tutorial was brought to you by KITEKAHUNAS Kitesurfing School and KITEKAHUNAS Wave Camps.

KITEKAHUNAS is an advanced Kitesurfing School in Cape Town, South Africa. In addition to their regular kiteboarding lessons, they also offer Wave Camps designed for wave kitesurfing beginners and experts. The camps include 2 weeks of pure wave riding pleasure, guidance, accommodation and transport from downwinders – all in all, an unforgettable experience.

Wave Kitesurfing Video Tutorial: Timing Your Turns (Lesson 1) was published by inMotion Kitesurfing.

Before We Start

Unhooking for the first time should be done in the right conditions, meaning you slightly struggle to pull the bar in fully and ride without getting dragged downwind, or any lighter than this to the point where you can still generate good pop hooked in (without sending the kite). You’re best off learning on a 9-14m kite. Make sure you pull in some trim line on your kite to stop it backstalling and to reduce the power slightly, then attach your leash to suicide so the safety doesn’t pull each time you crash. Every bar has a different setup so check the manual that came with your kite. It’ll either be a loop you can hook onto, or hook straight onto the chicken loop.

Choose Your Trick

Choose either a back roll or a raley to land first. I think back rolls are probably easier but they don’t teach you the best technique. You could also learn flat 360s or unhooked kiteloops first but they don’t teach you powered trick technique.

Now Let’s Get Started

1. Prepare

Gain a comfortable speed and keep the kite quite high to start with (60-75 degrees). Keep your body compact and elbows tucked in, most importantly move your hands to the centre of the bar so the kite is less responsive to steering.

2. Unhook

Point your board downwind and keep pointing more downwind until you can unhook comfortably. The video below shows me pointing downwind. Because the water is so flat, unhooking is effortless. A beginner will want to point much further downwind for their first attempts.

Video: Bare Off Downwind

If you are viewing this tutorial in an email or RSS reader, click here to watch the videos.

3. POP

Raley

Edge hard against the kite and then slide the board out the water just as the kite gives you a big yank. Have more weight on the back foot but keep the distribution quite equal. If you pop hard enough it should almost be second nature to fly the board up behind your head.

This is a little hard to describe in words, so check out the video below. You’ll see that you need to slide the board out the water in the direction you’re travelling while pushing off with your feet and sweeping your heels back towards your bum with the board behind you. In other words, the board gets released in two directions as illustrated in the image above.

Video: Pop Into a Raley

Back Roll

This is a very different pop. You want to edge hard against the kite with more weight on the back foot, not releasing your edge until you’ve almost done half a back roll. Time this edge release with the maximum pull from the kite and you’ll get a nice rip off the water. With the back roll you only really slide the board out of the water where your feet are pointing and then push off with your back foot to help the rotation. Keep looking over your front shoulder and tuck your knees in until you want to stop the rotation.

Video: This is a back roll to toeside to emphasize the back roll edge release

4. Stabilise

You’ll want to pull the bar into your front hip as you come in to land. This usually comes naturally, and will keep you stable and ready to land.

5. Landing

Land with your board pointing downwind. This will take the power out of the kite, letting you focus on your balance to land the trick.

6. Hook Back In

Keep pointing downwind while you hook back in. If possible keep both hands on the bar or take one hand off to guide the chicken loop in. As a last resort grab the chicken loop with both hands to hook back in quickly.

That’s the theory complete. It’s the easiest part to understand; now all you need to do is keep putting this into practice and eliminate any common problems you’re having. You’ll feel uneasy unhooking with no depower to start with, but it’s a case of unhook more and you’ll get used to it.

Common Problems

Overpowered

Don’t unhook while overpowered in the beginning. Make sure you can land a raley or back roll before trying in more wind. Make sure you pull a bit more trim line in first. When overpowered bare off downwind more and make sure you are fully committed. Don’t go into the trick half hearted as you’re likely going to mess it up and progress slower. Here are more tips for Overpowered Unhooking.

Choppy Conditions

In choppy conditions, ride slower and pick your takeoff more carefully. Try to launch your trick off a piece of chop for a cleaner release.

Kite Drifts to 12 or to the Water

This is your hand balance. Make sure you counteract whichever side of the bar you naturally pull when unhooking. Eventually it’ll become second nature. If you’re sending the kite to 12 then try to get the kite flying slightly downward just before you unhook.

Over Rotation or Getting Twisted

Tense your core and pull the bar towards your front hip.

Being a Wuss!

You have to commit 100% to unhooking for it to work. My first raley I committed 100%, lost the kiteboard mid air and did a superman with perfect technique (minus the board). It didn’t take long to learn. When I learnt to land blind I spent months crashing kites and half committing, so it took me much longer than it should have to land.

You know you’re under committing in decent winds if you get a soft pop or let go of the bar each time you take off.

Board Comes Off

Release the board more to the side (the direction you’re travelling) rather than backwards, lock your feet and tighten your straps. Or just chuck on a pair of boots, they make unhooking feel great.

Don’t Practice This

In my opinion, don’t practice raleys hooked in, or doing small pops unhooked or just riding around unhooked. They don’t replicate much technique needed for a powered raley or backroll. You’ll learn much more by not putting it off and practicing unhooked raleys or backrolls straight away, I find raleys more comfortable than unhooked pops or riding around unhooked.

That’s all you need to know, now think less, practice more and start pushing your riding!!!

Let me know if this post helped you or if you have any questions in the comments below.

Charlie

Charlie is an aspiring professional kitesurfer, dedicated to progression and pushing himself on the water in every session. You can follow his progression at: blog-charlieprice.com, or on instagram/snapchat/twitter: charlieprices or facebook.com/charlieprices.

Learn To Unhook Effortlessly was published by inMotion Kitesurfing.

To continue the growth of kitesurfing as a sport, we need to recognize and overcome the barriers to entry these newcomers are faced with, and amplify the existing kiting community’s voice at the same time. We asked a number of pros who didn’t let anything get in their way what barriers you might run into when learning to kitesurf professionally, how to overcome them and why it is all worth it in the end.

Helena Brochoka

“At a beginner level, I think a lot of it comes down to fear. People are scared of a big powerful kite that can pull them out of control. Understanding the wind and kite’s “power zone” is really important in order to feel comfortable with a kite. It may seem hard at first, but it just needs a bit of practice. In the end, it’s a relatively safe sport, as long as you don’t engage in risky actions (such as launching close to trees, buildings, or rocks etc). I think it is most important to be familiar with how the wind works, and how to control a trainer kite fully before you switch to the actual big kite.

At a more advanced level, kitesurfing is very dependent on the conditions. In many other sports once you learn a trick, you usually know how you do it, and you will probably land it nearly every time. In kitesurfing you often think you’ve nailed it, but it might not work the next day or at a different spot due to varying wind and water conditions. Learning a trick is a much longer process, and it takes years to gain consistency. As frustrating as this might be, the key to success is to not give up, and just to keep trying again and again.”

Alex Arseneault

“I would say that the biggest barrier when learning to kitesurf is probably our ability to make decisions. When starting the sport, we are not always aware of the danger or risks of a spot or wind conditions.

To overcome that barrier, surround yourself with experienced people. Don’t be afraid to ask questions at a kite spot. Many kiters are present anywhere there’s wind and water. Take your place in a community; even if you are a beginner, we’ve all been there before!”

“Kite schools and shops are also there for you. Find the best Kite School you can trust and continue to ask questions. Kiteboarding can be complex (kites, boards, bars, lines etc). We learn every day, that’s what makes this sport so special.”

Jessica Perigny

“I would say that for someone who has never participated in any wind sports, understanding how the wind works is really difficult. I remember when I was teaching at Real Watersports, I would spend so much time explaining the wind. The best way to overcome this, in my opinion, is to watch videos and spend LOTS of time flying a trainer kite. It’s so much easier for a coach when students arrive having watched videos because they at least have a basic idea of what to expect.”

Dom Granger and Annie Carrier

“I would say, and I think it’s different for men, but for women, aside from money and/or time, I would say fear is the biggest barrier. Fear of not to being able, fear of the water, fear of not being strong enough, and fear of not being able to afford it. The best way to overcome this fear? Just do it! It’s definitely possible if you want it to be.”

Jana Schader

“The biggest barrier in learning how to kiteboard for me was getting back on the board after your first huge crash. To overcome your fear, you have to start slowly and think back to something great that happened before the crash. Watching others crash and get back up helps too.”

Brandon Bowe and Brandon Cordina

“Time and dedication. Kiteboarding takes anywhere from 5-8 hours to learn the basics, and the first stages of learning to kitesurf are very difficult. Just stick with it and learn to stay up wind, which is the key to success. Oh and make sure to get proper instruction! It’ll save you a lot of frustration!”

Jake Kelsick

“Mastering the kite. I always tell people kiteboarding is 80% kite control and 20% being on the board. Once you master the kite, your kite life will be much easier. Aside from that, if you are persistent and motivated, you will be ripping it up in no time!”

These kitesurfers and so many others are passionate about working with new and experienced kiters to help keep this sport growing to the level that it deserves. You can check out our kiting community, what they can do and what they can teach you on MentorMob by clicking to their profiles above.

What barriers and challenges have you faced to get to the level you are at now, and how did you overcome them? What tips can you offer potential newcomers to our sport to keep them motivated? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

This article was contributed by MentorMob, a community for kiteboarders and various other interest groups, and a great place to get free online learning guides.

Overcoming Barriers to Become the Next Pro Kitesurfer was published by inMotion Kitesurfing.

This is a guest post by one of our community members. The author’s views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of inMotion Kitesurfing.

With the increase in water pollution around the world it’s hard not to think about where you next want to kiteboard…

Everyday countless articles are posted about the Fukushima disaster, plastic killing marine life and the devastation of coral reefs which are easy to read, feel angry about and then to move on from. If you don’t play and/or work in the ocean it’s easy to forget, but for some of us it hits deep. What can we do? The problems are too big to solve, but yet our livelihoods are slowly being destroyed.  

My own experience with water pollution might come as a surprise, but I guarantee I’m not the only person who has had to deal with these situations. All over the world it is happening daily and by the time you are finished reading this article you might think twice about your next kiteboarding holiday destination.

Let’s start back in 2009 when I moved to Nicaragua. I went to set up a kite school based out of San Juan Del Sur with the Surf Ranch boys. They had this big idea to set up an action sports resort where you could rock climb, skateboard, paintball, kitesurf & surf. I loved the concept right from the start and was excited to be part of the team. When I arrived in Nicaragua and met the boys I was shocked to find out the ranch was not built yet and there was nothing more than paint-balling set up!

I’m not sure what felt worse…. my foolishness for jumping on a plane so quick or the fact I was now stuck somewhere new and dangerous with no job, very little money and only survival in mind. I was stressed to say the least!

After some time and a lot of socializing I found a guy named David who owned a surf shop in town. He said he had some old kite gear in storage that he wasn’t using and I was welcome to work with him in the shop. Dave literally saved my ass because by this point I was completely out of money. Within about a month I had a couple of lessons booked and ended up finding the perfect location on Lake Nicaragua to teach from. The Barrios family owned a large piece of land right next to the Costa Rica border where they also had a wind farm. Their private beach on the lake was large and clear, making for a beautiful spot to kite from. I developed a wonderful relationship with the family and to this day we stay in touch. Everything was coming along nicely with my kite school until I started getting eye infections every time I went in the water. I’ve never been prone to this sort of thing, so I began to look into why it was happening.

What I discovered is not as shocking as it is disturbing. None of the cities or villages in Nicaragua have sewage treatment plants. They pump the sewage directly into the lake, and for a population of nearly 6 million people, this is just downright gross! Upon finding this out, I sent emails to different government officials addressing this issue. The only reply I received was from one of the officials who wanted to learn to kiteboard and he was asking about lessons. We got talking via LinkedIn about the lake pollution and he told me there were no plans in place to treat sewage in the near future. After hearing this I decided it was not worth risking my health, so I packed up and looked for a new place to set up.

2010, and the Yucatan, Mexico, was my new home. Miles and miles of untouched beaches and year round wind… a kiteboarding paradise. I had never heard of Merida before I moved there and when my cousin offered me a place to stay I was excited about the new adventure. Shortly after I got there I researched the local kitesurfing community and discovered there was a competition being held the following week. I messaged each one of the people attending the event explaining I was a kiteboarder new to the area. I was welcomed to the competition and I ended up making really good friends with some of the local riders who supported me in setting up the first official kite school in the area. It was a bit of a slow start but soon I was so busy teaching locals from Merida I could hardly keep up. Eventually I began receiving more and more clients from abroad and realized there was a distinct lack of places for them to stay and be comfortable in while traveling. My next step… rent a luxury villa on the beach from which to run my school and accommodation for traveling kiters. Between the local clients and my all-inclusive packages my school was doing well. Then people started getting sick.

At first I thought it was just a serious flu going around but in time I began to see the correlation between the amount of time people spent in the water and when they got sick. Clients who booked rooms in my villa were leaving early, my students were too sick to finish their lessons and I was losing too much money to continue. Finally after seeing an Angelfish dead on the beach with bulging eyes, my partner Nick began researching the water quality in the area and stumbled upon some unbelievable reports right on our kite spot via Google Earth.

The report was longer than many others we found describing the hypoxic and eutrophic conditions. Eventually we found multiple articles talking about two things, one the sewage being dumped directly in the sea from many local businesses and two, the oil leak Pemex had not fixed on the pier. Apparently the local gas company had a small leak on a pipe leading out along the four mile long pier in the centre of Progreso. The amount of money they were losing from the leaking oil was not as much as the cost to repair the leak properly, so after a couple of years the water became toxic. In fact Pemex’s checkered history with oil spills started as far back as 1979 with the Ixtoc I oil spill. An area which used to be rich in sea grass feeding populations of manatees was dead. The pods of dolphins no longer passed by in the mornings and tropical fish were washing up with eyeballs popping out of their heads. Time to leave…. Again!

Closing down two schools I put my heart and soul into setting up was difficult to swallow. The thing that makes me upset more than anything is the reason it happened. I am still constantly being asked by people about traveling to Nicaragua or the Yucatan for kiteboarding and although both places are great for their own reasons I would use caution when riding there, especially in Nicaragua. My reasons for closing down my schools may come as a surprise to you, but with the clean water situation becoming such a big problem, I feel it’s my duty to tell the truth.

The reality is, picking up garbage here and there is great, but the bigger problems seem beyond our control. It’s sad…

When looking for the best spot to learn or improve your kiting, I recommend taking a look at the area on Google Earth. Zoom in and you will see if they have any toxic reports wherever you see a fish bones on the map.

Currently Nick and I are based on Barbados, available privately. It’s where we believe the water will stay clean and blue for the longest.

If you’ve had any similar experiences with water pollution at the spots you kiteboard at, please let us know in the comments below. We need to expose these issues and create awareness. We’d also love to hear your ideas on what we as kiteboarders can do to make a difference.

Written by

Jessica Winkler

PS: If you are as worried about our kite spots as we are, please help us spread the word by liking and sharing this article.

How Water Pollution Killed Two Kiteboarding Schools was published by inMotion Kitesurfing.

Back Roll (Backloop)

The back roll, or backloop as it is also known, is another relatively easy trick to master. As with the jump, you want to have enough power and be riding upwind. Start to build up some decent speed and keep edging with your kite at 1 o’clock if you are riding right foot forward (11 o’clock if you have your left foot forward). Move your hands to the centre of the bar so that you don’t turn the kite while rotating. Stand up off your edge for a meter or two, then edge hard upwind to start the backward rotation and release the edge, throwing the nose of your board upwind and turning your head to look over your front shoulder (in this example your right shoulder).

Lift your knees towards your chest a little to help you stay balanced in the air and to make the rotation easier. Remember that your body will rotate around your head and shoulders so stay committed and keep looking over that shoulder until you come around and spot your landing. Spot your landing and straighten your legs for impact. Bend your knees slightly as you hit the water to absorb the impact and ride away. Your kite should have stayed pretty much in the same place throughout the move.

Back Roll Video Demonstration

Common Mistakes

• Once you’ve started the rotation backward you don’t throw your head around over your shoulder – this causes you to only turn half-way around and land backwards
  You must commit to the back roll and throw your head and shoulders around, and then your body will follow.
• You don’t pop off the water enough and turn too flat
  Try to pop a bit harder so you rotate with your body more vertical, not horizontal. You can also bring your kite back toward 12 to do a small jump as you go for the back roll – just remember to redirect your kite back down again so you don’t land with the kite behind you.
• You land with your kite going back toward or past 12 o’clock
  Keep your hands close to the centre of the bar, and when coming in to land, consciously pull a bit more on your front hand to bring kite down into the window again.

Back Roll | Image: kitesports.co.za

We love hearing from you, so if you have any questions, or back roll tips of your own, please share them in the comments below.

Written by

Calvin Da Silva (Kitesports)

PS: If you enjoyed this article, help spread the word by clicking the “Like”, “Tweet”, “+1” buttons, or sharing it using the share icons below. Want to read more articles like this? Then Subscribe to iMK, and get our articles directly to your inbox or RSS reader.

Kitesurfing Progression: Back Roll was published by inMotion Kitesurfing.

Since many kiters are aspiring to be pro kitesurfers, and based on the response to an article I wrote last year “How to Get Sponsored”, I thought I would do a follow up article on becoming a sponsored rider. I feel it’s important to show the progress I’ve made since creating my profile on Hookit.com. Their platform for sponsorship was instrumental in me gaining confidence in pursuing kiteboarding as a career.

When I first started I had no idea how the business of sport worked, besides competing of course. I first heard about Hookit.com when a representative from Monster Energy drink told me to register on the site, and when a sponsorship opportunity opened up I could apply. Upon creating my profile I discovered many great opportunities for sponsorship with companies like GoPro, Fuel Clothing, Skull Candy, Dakine and more. I began to learn what companies were looking for in athletes and what I needed to work on. I ended up getting 8 different sponsorships in my first year. I began to promote myself within the industry using my sponsor’s brands to gain recognition.

Jessica Winkler (Epic Kites) | PKRA Mexico

The first media connection I made was with inMotion kitesurfing. Brendon provided a platform for me to gain the exposure and credibility required to attract bigger sponsorships and interest from the industry. He published articles I wrote, and promoted them tirelessly. Fortunately these articles were well received by the public and lead us to create the Most Influential Girl Kitesurfer competition (MIGK). The MIGK is an online competition intended to showcase female kiteboarder’s talents in our sport, as well as their commitment to the industry. The success from our first year was outstanding, so we intend running this competition on a yearly basis.

I realized people started believing in me when I began to believe in myself. This in turn made me spend more time on the water, really pushing myself to do more complicated tricks. Eventually when I could afford it, I hired a photographer to take good quality photos so I had something to present when applying for better sponsorship deals. In addition I set up fan pages on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and my own website www.jessicawinkler.com. At first it feels egotistical to do all this, but it’s important in order to establish your professionalism as an athlete. Once you see yourself as a professional, others will start to see you as one as well.

Jessica Winkler (Epic Kites)

Here is a list of steps you can take to become a pro kitesurfer, or to increase the value of your sponsorships.

5 Steps to Becoming a Sponsored Kitesurfer

#1 Register on Hookit

Register on Hookit and keep your profile up to date. Post all your sessions, photos and competition results (if you compete)

#2 Promote Yourself

Set up fan pages on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, My Space and any other sites you frequent.

#3 Post, post, post….

Content is very important, and helps get you the exposure required to attract quality sponsorships. Let people see what you are doing to pursue your career. Write interesting, unique articles and try and get them published on kitesurfing websites like inMotion Kitesurfing, or start your own blog.

#4 Train

Get in the water and push your boundaries as much as possible. Don’t be afraid to take a course or hire a private instructor to help you get to the next level.

#5 Fun

Always have fun and enjoy the ride!!

One year after embarking on this journey, I received the biggest sponsorship offer of my life, Epic Kites. Getting the opportunity to ride professionally for a big name kite company actually brought a tear to my eye. I felt completely overwhelmed with joy and a sense of accomplishment.

Jessica Winkler (Epic Kites) | PKRA Playa del Carmen

After the announcement of me joining the team, amazing opportunities keep presenting themselves. A local Mexican airline magazine contacted me for an interview, as they are writing an article about kitesurfing for their in flight magazine. In the July/August edition I will be featured representing the sport within the Yucatan. It’s a pretty big honor for me, and I’m very thankful. The second big thing is I was head hunted by an extreme sports agency, Viral Technologies, who wanted to represent me. They will now take care of all my future sponsorship and media deals giving me more time to concentrate on running my kite school and training for competitions.

Since the Epic sponsorship, I’ve been going through a lot of different emotions. The world changes a bit when you are looked at as a Pro all of a sudden. You realize you need to walk the walk. You’ve spent so much time and effort marketing yourself to get to this point and now it’s time to live it. It’s an interesting shift. The biggest thing I’ve learned on this journey is you have to believe in yourself. You can do it, but it takes hard work and patience.

Written by

Jessica Winkler

Jessica will be participating in the PKRA women’s freestyle and downwind competition on May 18th in Bucerias, Mexico. She also recently competed in the PKRA freestyle exhibition and big air comp in Playa del Carmen in the men’s category, as there wasn’t one for woman yet.

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How to Increase your Sponsorship Deals was published by inMotion Kitesurfing.

Some of these principles do apply to kitesurfing disciplines outside of wave riding, so be mindful of them, and you may well find ways of improving your current techniques and performance.

A Bucket Full of Air

The Physics

According to our high school science teachers, the physics shows that momentum is equal to mass multiplied by velocity. So the faster you go or the greater your mass then the more momentum you will have. Considering that none of us are going to shed or add any mass of concern to our bodies or board during a session these become a constant leaving the formula having momentum equaling velocity which is quite simple but somewhat useless to our cause of becoming better riders of the waves.

While theoretically correct there is a vital element left out of this equation. This being the inherent momentum to be found stored within the kite. (Hang in there the good stuff is coming.) Let’s leave the formulas behind and take a practical look at what’s to be found in the kite. Think of it like this: Take a big empty bucket and run with it. Now come to a sudden stop. Not too difficult hey? Fill the very same bucket with water and run. Try come to the same sudden stop. Not so easy and it gets messy. The water wants to continue in the direction you were running and you needed to put in a whole lot more effort to come to a dry halt.

Using Kite Momentum for Wave Riding

Bringing it Home to Wave Kiting

So how does this relate to wave kiting? If we consider our kites being giant buckets filled with not water but moving air and that the air is not feather light as we may be tempted to assume, but has a real mass, as we all know and experience when we head off downwind after losing an edge. It’s not so easy to stop, just like running with that bucket of water. We can then agree that the kite has its own independent momentum, which means it has a life of its own and this is something we can work with.

More and more riders in spite of their preference of being hooked-in or unhooked are seeing the advantages in parking the kite, allowing it to drift downwind, then focusing their attention on riding technically in the critical part of the wave as opposed to being distracted by the constant steering of the kite, and the consequences that come along with that. The idea in the park and ride style of riding is to have the kite almost achieve an auto pilot status where it drifts downwind under its own momentum, with the rider trailing loosely behind it attached only by the now un-tensioned lines. If you can attain to this, then you are coming close to wave kiting nirvana, where just about anything is possible.

Bringing it Home to Wave Kiting

The Love Triangle – the Basic Setup Rules

To get the kite to auto pilot more consistently some basic ideas need to be adhered to. The setup of the correct kite for the conditions of the day is important. Being underpowered tends to have the rider out-running/surfing the kite and being grossly over-powered is never healthy. If in doubt a bigger kite for the day especially if the swell is on the larger side is the better choice. With the correct kite in the air, the next step is to fill it with enough wind to first of all give the rider enough general or overall speed to ride the wave successfully and then enough momentum in the kite to keep it happy and flying.

It is kind of like a crazy love triangle, the rider, the kite and the wave. Setting up the cleat or strap adjustment for the present wind condition is also a good start whether you are unhooking or not. In lighter winds this gets more critical. Most important of all though the kite needs to be parked correctly with the right amount of air in it. This is where experience and feel come into play, getting out there and riding will help more than all this theory.

The Rider, the Kite and the Wave | Photo by John Bilderback

Wind Angle and the Full Bucket

Think of this final step of parking the kite full of air as taking a scoop of water out of a pond with the original bucket idea. By putting the kite into the power zone more, or less, with a kiteloop being the greediest of scoops, the kite will be set up to have the correct amount of momentum needed to stay flying without much input, on auto pilot if you like.

Fast breaking waves will need more generous scoops and slow breaking waves less of a scoop as a basic guideline. Wind angle is however a complicating factor. After scooping your bucket with the correct amount of air it is not good enough just to leave the kite parked haphazardly on the side of the window. This may work at times depending on the wind angle relative to the wave, which will vary from cross-off the wave to cross-on to the wave. Cross-off wind allows for an easier park and ride experience with cross-on being the most challenging of the park and ride winds. It is being found that parking the kite more aggressively, using even the much dreaded kite loop, which is not to be that feared when bearing off downwind down the line, is making the cross onshore wave riding experience a lot more enjoyable and radical.

Wind Angle and the Full Bucket | Dean Bottcher

Parking the kite correctly is critical to this whole process lest you find yourself riding past the kite. Some kite designs do perform better than others, but for the most part any hybrid style kite or c-kite can be tweaked to perform admirably, never forgetting that the chicken loop is always there whether you are hooked into it or not, to be used if you find the kite stalling out totally.

Although it should be fairly obvious to most readers, these principles apply mainly to downwind wave riding, down the line and not to the toeside upwind, onshore-wind style of riding waves.

Happy Days, hope the tech talk helps a bit. If you have any questions or would like to add your own wave riding theories and formulas, please add them in the comments below.

Written by

Dean Bottcher

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Using Kite Momentum for Wave Riding was published by inMotion Kitesurfing.

Kite Design: Is it really what they say it is?

Kite design is a hugely complicated field and one I’m not going to attempt to dissect. It is further complicated by marketers who bandy the terms around with little concern for the actual design specifications of each type of kite. Thus they might call a kite a delta kite even though, in the strictest sense of the word, it isn’t, but only something similar to a delta kite or with delta like qualities. This is generally done because the boundaries between the different types of kites are so undefined that it’s easier to put kites with matching flight characteristics in the same bracket even if technically they don’t belong there.

The easiest way to understand the difference is to break things down into basics and then use your own common sense to decide which family a kite belongs to.

Types of Kites

C Kites

C kites are recognizable by their square wing tips and lack of a bridle. If you laid a C kite down un-inflated and looked at it from above it would look like a rectangle. The lines attach at the 4 corners of the rectangle. Their profile when viewed from the front also looks more like the shape of the letter C, when compared to the flatter profiles of most other kite designs.

C Kite

As a beginner coming into kitesurfing if I could give one word of advice when buying a kite, it would be stay away from C kites. Don’t get me wrong I have nothing against C kites, and they are great fun when you know what you’re doing. I just think that for the beginner they offer a difficult learning curve and are unnecessarily dangerous when compared to other types of kites. They have little in the way of de-power, so if the wind picks up or you’ve put the wrong kite up (a common mistake for beginners) you’re in trouble. To my mind this makes their safety questionable for a beginner or someone unfamiliar with how to use one, which is my chief reason for advising you against them. While again the lines are blurring between C and Bow kites and many C kites do now offer a degree of depower, to make things simple for yourself stay away.

Bow Kites

Bow kites we will classify simply as any kite with a bridle (a lot of interlinking lines running across the leading edge). Again if you laid a bow kite out un-inflated and looked at it from above it would be more triangular in shape, due to the swept back nature of the wings. The lines do not attach directly to the leading edge but to the bridle which is itself attached to the leading edge.

Bow Kite Laid Flat

Bow Kite

Bow kites, as a family, offer much more de-power than C kites (principally due to the bridle, and the flatter, more “wing like” profile) so when you let go of the bar the kite loses all, or most of its power and slowly drifts back to earth in a controlled manner. For this reason they are generally considered to be a lot safer than C kites and this is why nearly all schools will now teach on some type of bow kite. Bow kites come in several flavours: pure Bow, Hybrid and Delta style kites. All have the same general characteristics (ie lots of de-power) with a few subtle differences.

Hybrid Kites

Hybrid Kite

Hybrid kites are somewhere in between bow kites and C kites and generally aim to give the feel of a C kite combined with the safety of a bow kite.

Many old school riders complained when bow kites were first released that they did not turn with enough power. Bow kites tend to turn very fast but they sacrifice power in the turn for agility. C kites tend to turn in massive arcs, which gives you a huge pull, which is great if that what you’re after…for kite loops etc, but not so good if you’re taking your first tentative steps towards riding. Hybrid kites were designed to bridge this gap offering kites with de-power (like bows) but that also turn with power (like C kites).

Some hybrid kites will be nearer the C end of the spectrum and others nearer the bow end. Again if you’re going for one of these kites as your first kite my advice would be to aim for something at the bow end. The easiest way to tell which end of the spectrum the kite is…look at the shape.

Delta Kites

Delta Kite

Delta kites are bow kites with a much more swept back wing profile…think of an F14 with its wings drawn back in Top Gun! The precise angle of sweep is what defines a Delta kite, but most manufacturers now classify any kite with this type of profile as a Delta kite. They will tend to be short and fat in shape. If I had to recommend you to buy any type of kite as a beginner it would be one of these. They are easy to re-launch, offer forgiving piloting and the power tends to ‘turn on’ slowly (meaning you can feel the power rising gradually rather than just appearing out of nowhere and hoisting you over the front of the board!), giving you much more time to react to what the kite’s doing. Please don’t think these are just beginner kites I still enjoy riding them and they are great for improving your skills on and unless you’re heading for the pro circuits I doubt you’d ever outgrow their capabilities. What they will do is cut a lot of the frustration out of learning and the re-launch ability will keep you smiling for years!

(I’m not in any way affiliated with any Delta kite sales…we just use them in our school and I think they’re great!)

Note from editor: If you are still thinking about getting into kitesurfing, we highly recommend reading our Beginners Guide to Kitesurfing: Getting Started, which will introduce you to the sport, and highlight your most important first steps. And if you’d like to know where these modern day kitesurfing kite designs came from, who invented the first inflatable kite, and where the sport is headed in the future, check out at our history of kitesurfing article.

Delta Hybrid Kite

Test, Test, Test…

This is a massive over simplification of kite design and I imagine over the years you’ll learn that a lot of these things are only half truths. By breaking things down like this I hope to help you to start getting a feel for the different types of kites you’ll see down on the beach and the differences in how they perform. As you progress as a kitesurfer the best way to get a feel for these different kites is to try them, so any time your mate buys a new kite ask them if you can have a go. We all have different styles and each will find kites that they like and hate…get out there and experiment.

Written by

Sam Guest

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Kite Designs: Types of Kitesurfing Kites Simplified was published by inMotion Kitesurfing.

This tutorial continues from the first and second in our series of kitesurfing tutorials, Riding Upwind and learning How to Jump. If you missed these lessons, and you are learning to kitesurf, you might want to read them as well.

Board Grab

Now that you’ve mastered your jumps, start to throw a bit more style into it by getting a grab in. The easiest grabs to start with are the Tail Grab or Indy Grab.

Tail Grab

Keep your hands closer to the centre of the bar so that you don’t turn the kite once you take your one hand off. As soon as you are in the air and you have your kite in position above your head, take your back hand off the bar, bend your knees and grab the tail of your board. To start with just grab the part of the board that feels most comfortable to you.

Board Grab Sequence | Rider: Sinisa

Hold the grab for as long as you can and preferably through the highest point of your jump. Once you start coming down put both hands back on the bar, spot your landing and once you are close to the water, redirect your kite in the direction you want to ride away in.

Indy Grab

With the Indy Grab, you grab the board on the toeside edge (the side of your board your toes point to) directly between your feet.

Indy Grab | Rider: Stevo

Indy Grab Instructional Video

Once you master the Tail Grab and Indy Grab, start thinking about grabbing the board in other areas of your board (see diagram below), or extending one of your legs once you’ve grabbed the board to tweak it out and add more style.

Board Grab Positions

These grabs can be combined with any other aerial trick, taking your kitesurfing progression to new heights.

As always, we love hearing from you, so feel free to ask questions in the comments below and we will happily help you.

Written by

Calvin Da Silva (Kitesports)

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Kitesurfing Progression: Board Grab was published by inMotion Kitesurfing.

While the Envirosurfer infographic targets the surf industry specifically, many of these effects and dangers are directly applicable to the kitesurfing industry as well. We use similar materials and techniques in the construction of our boards, the fast growing trend towards kitesurfing strapless (see the level of wave riding on the KSP Pro Tour) means we are using more board wax, and we use the same wetsuits and sunscreen that surfers do.

Click the image for the full sized infographic.

Created by Envirosurfer. The eco-friendly surf shop.

While you may argue the exact numbers in the report, there is little doubt that we are producing and consuming a large amount of potentially harmful products in our industry, so it is important that we create awareness and asses the way we use and dispose of the products we use as kitesurfers and surfers.

Let us know what you think of this and share your own ideas on how we can protect the environment, in the comments below. Please help us create awareness by spreading the word, or sharing this article.

Thanks.

The inMotion Kitesurfing Team

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The Toxicity of Surfing Infographic By Envirosurfer was published by inMotion Kitesurfing.

This tutorial continues from the first in our series of kitesurfing progression tutorials, Riding Upwind. If you missed that lesson, and you are learning to kitesurf, you might want to read it as well.

The Take Off

Firstly, you want to be powered and staying upwind. Keep the kite between 1 and 2 o’clock if you’re riding right foot forward, build up some decent speed and power, and keep edging hard.

Take Off | Edge Hard

Release Your Edge | Bend Your Knees

Throw the kite back quickly from 1 o’ clock to around 11 o’clock, pull in the bar and KEEP EDGING. You will get to the point where enough tension has been built up that you won’t be able to edge any more and the kite will launch you off the water. Bring your knees up toward your chest to help keep you stable and prevent you from swinging around under the kite.

Edging

Bring your Knees to your Chest

This is the key to getting your jumps sorted. If you release your edge too early you will get no height and land with speed downwind. Your goal is to go straight up and straight back down.

Landing your Jump

Once you are in the air, get the kite straight up above you (12 o’clock) and keep holding the bar in to get some good lift and hang time. Once you are on the way down, spot your landing and straighten your legs to absorb the impact on landing. It is important that you don’t lock your knees when landing, as you might hurt them on impact. Keep your knees slightly bent to help absorb the impact. About a meter above the water dive the kite back down toward 1 or 2 o’clock where it was before you initiated the jump. This will give you forward momentum to make your landing softer and get you riding away smoothly after the landing. Remember to point your front leg downwind toward your kite so you ride away in the direction your kite is pulling you.

Key Tip

Don’t release that edge too early at the start of your jump. Wait for the kite to pull you off your edge and up into the air.

Common Mistakes:

• Not getting much height or lift
  You need to be going faster and EDGE hard to build up tension in the lines between you and your kite to pull you off the water.
• Not getting much height or lift
  You aren’t bringing the kite back quickly enough past 12 o’ clock and you might also not be pulling the bar in to generate more power and lift as the kite is sweeping back past 12.
• Losing balance in the air or swinging around under the kite
  Lift up your knees toward your chest so your legs are bent. Also, don’t push off the water too hard with your back leg because that can initiate a spin (like a back roll).
• Landing hard or falling out of the sky with kite going behind you
  You need to bring the kite back from 11 to 12 so it is above you while floating through the air. Then just before landing redirect it toward 1 or 2 o’ clock to pull you sideways and downwind a bit.
• Your legs skid out underneath you on landing
  Point your front leg toward the kite so you land riding downwind, otherwise you land with both feet square to the kite and the board slides out from under you.

Click on the thumbnails below to see a full jump sequence demonstrating the main steps, or watch the slideshow.

Here’s a great instructional video on jumping from our friends at Progression:

As always, we would love to hear from you… if you are battling with your jumping, feel free to ask questions in the comments below and we will be happy to help you.

Written by

Calvin Da Silva (Kitesports)

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Kitesurfing Progression: How to Jump was published by inMotion Kitesurfing.

The swell was SW 3.4 m at 11 seconds and was pushing a solid 4-5ft mid-break that had power, was hollow and grinding. The wind was NE 12-14 knots, but with a counter current on the inside, we had the power we needed.

Toeside Wave Riding Advantages

Kite beach in Durban has a more onshore wind and lends itself to toeside wave riding. For those who are new to the wave riding side of kitesurfing, toeside wave riding is where you edge against the kite and once mastered allows the rider the benefit of having a brake (your board or hand) and an accelerator (the kite) as well as a balancing bar (the kite bar) – all these combine to make it a very effective way of riding barrels. On this particular day, the shore break was unforgiving and was not for the faint-hearted. If you crashed your kite, chances are you would not get it back into the air as the counter current was preventing it from re-launching. Scott Hunter had a bad day in the water and tore 2 of his kites in an hour. The boys were pushing the limit, but were paying the price. They had to commit to the barrel as there weren’t many doors being left open.

What this session emphasised was how each form of wave riding has its place and how if you use the kite in right way you can take full advantage of the conditions. There were a few kiters out there that were dominating the session, whereas for most it was a matter of survival. The difference was in the way that they used their equipment to put them in the right position. Wave riding is an art and each form of wave riding is very technical and different – here are a few tips and shots from the day that will help you with this style of riding.

Toeside Wave Riding Tips & Tricks

Craig Chrystal | Photography by Ryan Joffe

Craig Chrystal was one of the standouts – here he is seen loving the intensity! The best tip for toeside riding is to get your speed up. A lot of riders ride on their back foot too much but the trick is to get your weight forward to get your drive – notice how Craig is leaning forward here. Once you have the speed you can direct it and change the angle of the wind. The trick is being able to get the speed so that you don’t need to fly your kite too much. It is also about your kite position – too high and it pulls you off the wave and doesn’t give you drive – get the kite and the board to work together.

Getting Barreled with a Kite

Rob Chrystal Getting Barreled | Photography by Ryan Joffe

Rob Chrystal using his trailing arm to bleed the speed and find the green room. You can use your arm in the wall of the wave to stall or slow yourself down – as he does this he depowers the kite a little as well. Always be aware of your lines in the barrel and carry a hook knife just in case!

Cut Back Tips

Peter Bolton | Photography by Ryan Joffe

Peter Bolton shows off a very effective cut back. The trick is not to lose too much speed; you do not want to come out of this manoeuvre with no speed as it will bring you back into the pit. So try bring your kite a little higher when you do this just in case you need to dive it to get you out of the pocket. Rail to rail surfing – it is all about transferring your weight from the one rail to the next at the right time – a good kite will also not stall and delay before re-engaging – allowing you power throughout this move.

Floater Tips

Rob Chrystal | F-One | Photography by Ryan Joffe

Rob Chrystal Floats a thick section! The floater is a great move that allows you to get around sections but if you drive off the top you can use this to generate speed and it also helps you stay on the face of the wave. Again – make sure you don’t pull the kite back as you want to keep the motion going forward in the same direction as the kite.

So next time you have some onshore winds, even if you have small surf, get on it and start honing your toeside skills so the next time you are faced with decent swell you can make the most of it. The more you practice the easier it will get until it all gels together.

Written by

Rob Chrystal

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Toeside Wave Riding Tips was published by inMotion Kitesurfing.

While my own road to sponsorship centres around kitesurfing, these tips are not just for kitesurfers, and can be applied to virtually any sport.

I should also mention that I am not claiming to be an expert in the field of getting sponsored. Instead, this is an account of my own experience in finding sponsorships, and of what worked and didn’t work for me.

My first encounter with sports sponsorship was when I was in high school. My best friend and I were one of the first girl snowboarders on the mountain (yes I’m that old) and she wanted to be in the Olympics when they decided to recognize snowboarding as a sport. She went down to the only snowboard shop in town and they worked on hooking her up. The sponsors got her the exposure she needed to start competing on a global scale and although she didn’t get into

Jessica Winkler for Oneill Eyewear

the Olympics she did capture 2nd in the world for women’s boardercross.

Getting Sponsored

Sponsorship is an important part of gaining exposure and progressing your career in a sport. When I first decided I wanted to start entering competitions and making a name for myself as a kitesurfer I started emailing companies like Red Bull, Monster and Roxy. Red Bull told me I needed to compete and place in order to be considered but Monster told me to register for a site called Hookit. They would only sponsor athletes who have profiles set up on this site.

Sponsorship Services

Hookit is a free service focused mainly on individual lifestyle sports, although anyone from any sport can sign up. The site is user friendly and full of potential sponsors. Athletes have the opportunity to showcase their talents via photo, video and competition results. It also allows you to register your riding spots and sessions. Once I had set up a full profile I began applying for sponsorships. The application process is simple and there are so many companies to choose from. I ended up getting 7 out of the 8 sponsorships I applied for which honestly really surprised me. The one company who denied my application allowed me to try again 6 months later to which I’m currently waiting a reply on my reapplication.

You can also set up a profile on SME. They recently redesigned their website to make it easier to use. They don’t have a section for kitesurfing yet but neither did Hookit 4 months ago. On SME you upload your best riding videos and you can win a sponsorship and $25K. Another website you can try is SponsorSpace. There are free basic level profiles you can set up to apply for sponsors. I like the site but out of 100 or so people, I’ve only seen 1 person who received a sponsorship so I’m not sure how effective it is. The other sure fire method is to ride hard and compete, sponsors will then approach you!

My Fuel Clothing Sponsorship

Having sponsors really gave me the confidence to write articles, find photographers to film me and to promote myself as an influential kiteboarder. One of the hardest things when you go from casual riding to starting a career in sports is confidence in yourself. I’ve struggled with feeling like I’m not good enough to be sponsored and not wanting to embarrass myself when people expect too much from me. These feeling are normal, but what I’ve learned is that for me it is not about being the best rider or competing, but rather being able to encourage and influence others to achieve their goals with hard work and dedication. Competing in kitesurfing to be well known is no longer my goal. Instead I want to use my support from my sponsors to encourage other athletes to give it a try, and to show other girls that you don’t have to be the best to be admired.

Get Started Today

Taking the first step and creating my profile changed my life because it gave me the confidence to pursue my passion and believe in myself. If you are looking to pursue a similar path, try setting up your own profile on one or all of the above mentioned websites, or nominate yourself on inMotion Kitesurfing’s upcoming “Most Influential Girl Kitesurfer” competition. The top ten girls will be profiled on inMotion Kitesurfing and the winner will receive great sponsorship’s (see competition page for details).

Jessica Winkler

It’s not easy to get recognition for all your hard work in the sports world, so take advantage of the opportunity to be profiled as a real athlete, not a bikini model. Leave a comment below if you want to be notified when the contest begins. Good luck ladies!

Feel free to share your own experiences finding sponsors in the comments, and if you have any questions please ask!

Written by

Jessica Winkler

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How to Get Sponsored was published by inMotion Kitesurfing.

‘Riding Upwind’ is the first in our new series of progression tutorials brought to you by Calvin Da Silva from Kitesports, a reputable kiteboarding shop based near Durban, South Africa.

Calvin is a qualified IKO Instructor at Kitesports and one of their most accomplished team riders.

BTW: If you haven’t started kitesurfing yet, but you are thinking about learning, may we suggest our Beginners Guide to Kitesurfing: Getting Started.

How to Ride Upwind

So you’re up and riding and addicted to kiteboarding! All that’s left is to ride upwind so you can forget about that walk of shame back up the beach to have another go. The key to staying upwind is to have enough power in the kite so that you can keep it in one position and ride. Keep the kite at 11 o’clock if you’re riding left foot forward and open your head, hips and shoulders to face the direction you want to ride in. Lean your shoulders back away from the bar, which automatically puts weight on your heels and sinks your board edge into the water.

Dean Bottcher

Correct Riding Stance

Your stance is also a key element here. Keep your hips more forward, not back as if you are sitting on the toilet. There’s a well known saying for this, but I will spare you the details for the sake of our younger more innocent readers… Also, keep your front leg pretty straight and bend your back leg – this will shift your weight back and help you to apply more pressure on the back edge of the board which will shoot you upwind. The key is to get a balance between board speed and amount of edging against the kite so you continue to go forward without stopping or having to go downwind toward your kite.

Say goodbye to those irritating walks back upwind!

Correct Stance – Dean Bottcher

Common Mistakes

• You keep sinking back down into the water
  Ride slightly downwind first to pick up some speed before you start edging against the kite. Also don’t put too much pressure on your back foot – this will turn the board upwind too much, effectively putting a brake on your forward momentum. You might also be ‘parking’ the kite too soon. ‘Work’ the kite in a wave-motion down and up to build up some more speed before you park it at around 45 degrees.
• You get pulled downwind at speed
  Straighten your front leg and bend your back leg to get more weight over your back foot. Think of your front foot as an accelerator and your back foot as a brake – the more you push on your front foot the faster you go, the more you push on your back foot the slower you go. You might also be ‘working’ the kite too much. Just park it at around 45 degrees and edge harder.

As always, we would love to hear from you… if you are struggling to stay upwind, feel free to ask questions in the comments below and we will be happy to help you.

Written by

Calvin Da Silva (Kitesports)

To learn more about Kitesports, visit their website at: www.kitesports.co.za

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Kitesurfing Progression: Riding Upwind was published by inMotion Kitesurfing.

Jessica is an accomplished kitesurfing instructor and is best known for pioneering a kitesurfing business on her own in a third world country.

We asked her to share with us her take on kitesurfing and the vital role the sport plays in her life…

A Burning Passion for Kitesurfing

From the first time I saw kites dancing above the water in Victoria, British Columbia (Canada) 10 years ago I was hooked. I used to go down to the water on windy days and just watch the guys practicing jump after jump. I kept saying to my husband at the time, “I want to do that” to which he just replied I would never be strong enough. This is the greatest misconception in the sport but at the time I believed him, so for 5 years I just watched. Finally after my divorce I decided I was not only going to kitesurf but I will excel at it!

I took a 6 month trip around South America and did my first lesson in Mancora, Peru. Leading up to taking this lesson I had only spent a couple of weeks learning to navigate ocean waves and was still pretty intimidated by the power of the ocean. Twice during the lesson I needed to take time out to try to build up confidence in myself. I was never a big swimmer and tended not to excel in water sports due to my discomfort in being underwater.

Jessica Winkler Kiting in Nicaragua

After 6 hours of lessons in Peru I was unable to find another place to complete the course until Jericoacoara, Brazil. I ended up staying in Jeri for over a year. I fell in love with the sport and kited every day. During my progression in kitesurfing I was also taking swimming lessons 3 times a week in the ocean to learn to handle currents, waves and rip tides properly. This was one of the most important things I could have done because kitesurfing can be a dangerous sport and the ocean is a very powerful force. It is very important to understand how to read the ocean and to stay calm in the case of an emergency.

I now absolutely love the water and spend most of my time in it either kitesurfing, surfing, wakeboarding or swimming. Once I got over my fear, I had the confidence to become a sponsored kiteboarder. I am currently sponsored by Fuel, O’Neill, Jet Pilot, You Scared?, ProTec, GoPro, Heart & Huntington, and I have just finished a film for Oxbow.

Jessica Teaching in Nicaragua

Starting the Kitesurfing Romance

Kitesurfing is an extreme sport and people should never try to learn it on their own. A certified instructor is always necessary for a minimum of 6 – 8 hours of instruction. People who attempt to launch a kite on their own without clear knowledge and understanding of the wind window and the equipment, often result in injury or in some extreme cases death.

When choosing a location to learn in I would recommend looking for shallow, flat water with as few hazards as possible. The school should have relatively new, well maintained equipment and knowledgeable capable staff and instructors. You can find this information by looking on Kiteatlas.com or here: Kitesurfing Schools Directory.

Kitesurfing Safety Tips from Jessica

Water safety in kitesurfing is extremely important. When you have so many elements to be concerned with, board, kite, wind, water, waves and other people, safety is number one. For me, I tend to be over cautious with my students. If I see someone kiting in an unsafe manner, I will point out to them how their behavior is endangering themselves and others.

One of the most important things is being aware of yourself in relation to others. You need to keep a good 30 meters of space between you and anything or anyone downwind of you. Always assess your surroundings before launching. Even as a spectator, never stand between the kite and the rider.

Secondly always remain in full control of your kite, on and off the water. If you feel over powered then you need a smaller kite or wait until the wind drops. Accidents happen really fast and the last thing you want is to put yourself or anyone else in danger.

Building the Dream Home – Kitesurf Resort Nicaragua

I ended up taking a surf trip to Costa Rica in June of 2010 to see my mom who was living there at the time. I decided to go to Nicaragua and check it out because it was close. About 10 minutes after I crossed the border I saw a sea of wind turbines facing a big lake with an island made up of two impressive volcanos. I asked the taxi driver to pull over so I could have a look up and down the beach for kitesurfers or windsurfers, but I didn’t see anyone, yet there was a good side onshore wind that day.

Kitesurfing at Amayo Kite Beach, Nicaragua

When I finally got to the beach town of San Juan del Sur, I spent the next week asking everyone about kitesurfing. The only thing anyone knew is that there was a guy who tried to open a school a couple of years ago, but it never worked out and at the moment there was no one doing anything here.

When I got back to Canada after my month trip I decided to start looking for a way to get down to Nicaragua. At the time I was working as a travel agent so I was exposed to meeting all sorts of people traveling to the area. About 2 months later I ended up selling a ticket to a guy who was building an action sports resort in San Juan del Sur and he thought the idea of opening a kitesurf centre was great.

By November I was on an airplane to start my new life. I’ve had experience with starting a kitesurf / windsurf centre in the past. In 2008 I was the Director of Operations for a million dollar Club Mistral / Sky Riders resort project in northern Brazil. That project gave me the confidence and knowledge for starting and working in a foreign country.

Jessica Winkler

Currently I’m living in Nicaragua trying to start the first kite business in the country. There are 330 days a year of wind and strong side onshore winds Nov – May on Lake Nicaragua. I’ve started working with a Nicaraguan family who owns 800 acres of water front property on the best part of the lake. We named the area Amayo Kite Beach after the wind farm consisting of 39 turbines which line the beach. The spot is beautiful, private and empty!

My business Kite Nicaragua is slowly getting off the ground as I am still looking for an investor to help me build it. I myself have been fortunate enough to pick up a few sponsors who believe in me for trying to pioneer the business of kitesurfing by myself in a 3rd world country.

If you would like to know more, or you have any questions or comments, please post them in the comments section below, or contact me directly from my website.

Written by

Jessica Winkler

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Kitesurfing Love Affair with Jessica Winkler was published by inMotion Kitesurfing.

There is a whole new vibe being brought into kitesurfing where sliders are involved.  Kitesurfing due to its nature is generally a solo sport across most of the disciplines.  You are out there on your own, pushing your personal limits and only every now and then do you glance over your shoulder to see what your mates are up to.  Sliding is different.  There will probably only be one slider at your local and that one slider to start with was more than likely the product of much group discussion.  So already there was a team effort even before you got wet.  Then it is all the brainstorming and the group work party actually building the thing, a true riot itself.  Setting it up also requires the hands of a few good people, so once again a time to interact.  But that’s not where it ends, it is really only where it all begins.

Sinisa Misic – La Mercy Lagoon, South Africa

Only one rider can hit the slider at a time so the rest sit and watch in anticipation of their turn as they circulate around.   It is in this queuing for the action that a whole lot of chatting and cheering, oohing and aahing goes down.  Here you will find the place of beauty, where creativity is set free and the soul finds a new expression as each kitesurfer is challenged.  It is this interaction that has been the core of the boarding industry for decades and now it’s finding a path into kitesurfing.  While surfing holds claim to the history of board riding it must be skate boarding that be given a lot of credit for the board riding culture that has filtered back into surfing, wakeboarding, snowboarding, cable and any other form that it takes.  Open any skate mag and you will find that probably 50% of the mag is dedicated to the good old “slider” which in skate terms will be either a hand rail on some sketchy stairs, a pavement curb, park or mall bench or any other item worthy of the task.

Sliding has been around for a long time in many board sports and it would appear that it is going mainstream in kitesurfing or as close as it can get.  In my opinion it is what we need in the sport, especially in the South African context.  It brings spectator value back into the sport in a neat focused package that is oh so easy to market to potential sponsors.  Slider Jams with the beat pumping and the juices flowing are possibly the media draw card that we have been waiting for, which will hopefully bring all the kitesurfing disciplines together again at events.  With the advent of the bungee tow and motorized tow they can even work when the wind fails to pitch.

Our Portable Slider – Sinisa Misic

So what makes a good slider?  From a safety perspective the box slider is the way to go as there is close to no chance of getting pulled through the thing from a misguided upwind approach or slipping under it, not that it happens too easily.  Is the box slider what riders want?  The answer would be yes for every first timer but a no for the more advanced and adventurous.  The mutter on the inter-web is that box sliders detract from the core culture of sliding or “grinding” as it is sometimes referred to in skating, where the metal trucks (wheel axels) eat away at the obstacle of choice.  To further explain – One of the most amazing things with the sliding discipline is the photos and videos that we will see coming out of it.  The subjected kitesurfer is easy to shoot as the action all happens within a confined and “controlled” space.  Multiple angles are available to the photographer by taking only a few steps in any direction.  You also don’t necessarily need photo trained riders to get the money shot as you would need in freestyle and surf kiting.   Skaters have been at it for years and some photographers have made it their bread and butter line.

Sinisa Misic – Kitesports

Herein lies the big quandary of what slider is a good slider.  A skate photo shoot would involve a scout of the town to find the elements that would make a good photo.  Now you answer the question.  How good a photo can you get out of a man made box slider?  Once you got your skills down, and that will take a while on the very same box slider or something similar like a simple rail.  You may then want to follow in the footsteps of the skaters and start looking for alternatives.  Maybe an old bluegum telephone pole or tree that has fallen over, a boat jetty or even the boat when the owners eye is turned, a fence that won’t kill you, a wall, some windsurfer’s masts or any other obstacle or item that you can get in, near to, or across dry land then back into the water.  An open mind is the key here.  These are going to be the shots that the magazines will be featuring.  Sliders that have an element of natural danger are the ones that are true to the core of sliding and the ones that will give you credit amongst your peers.

So the challenge goes out, and other than attacking hazardous obstacles, the quickest way to get beaten on a slider is to try doing it with your fins in.  We have a sign board that we put up on the approach to our slider that clearly states “use at your own risk and nofins.”  It is amazing how many people can’t read at speed, but it does make for good footage.  Riding without fins is a challenge on its own and in a way it separates potential slippers from the dedicated grinders.  Once you start riding your freestyle board without fins (preferably use an old board as it is going to get serious battle scars) you will find some new moves coming to you even in the flat water.  Channeled boards look like they will be the way forward, with or without smaller recessed fins.  Increased rocker is possibly a good thing for moves like the nosepress, it also helps to protect the fins if you using them and may make some grabs easier.  Bindings seem to be the rage but practically they are an extra effort.  Wakeskates, or now referred to as kiteskates (flatter rocker etc.) on the other hand are making a big impact.  They are strapless, bindingless boards being used to do skate tricks on flat water, on sliders, off waves, wherever creativity will take you.  Originally from the wakeboard scene they are most definitely a complement to the kiting outfit.  Landing a kickflip off the end of your slider on a wakeskate will rocket you into stardom for sure!

The possibilities are endless and only our minds limit where this slippery avenue will take us.  If you have not had a slip-n-slide in a while then it comes highly recommended.  Get together with your crew and start knocking one together.

Written by

Dean Bottcher

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Sliders: The Slippery Slide of Things was published by inMotion Kitesurfing.

But first let me just say this… kitesurfing is hands down one the most insane sports on this planet! I’ve tried many extreme sports and some not so extreme sports, and this is honestly the one I would choose to do every single day of my life. Now if only the wind would blow every day… well maybe in Cape Town… Anyway enough of that, you’re probably dying to know how to go about getting into kitesurfing.

Will I Be Able to Learn Kitesurfing

Girls make great Kitesurfers!

Well the good news is that anybody can learn to kitesurf. From the age of 10 through to 85, Boys, Girls, Men and Woman are all enjoying this thrilling sport! In fact, as long as you are mobile, you can learn to kitesurf. Contrary to common belief, you do not have to be extraordinarily fit or strong, and girls make great kitesurfers too btw. Naturally you will get super fit and strong if you kitesurf regularly, but this is not a requirement to learn. The bad news is that you can’t just go out and buy a kite, head to the beach and figure it out on your own…

Learn to Kitesurf the Responsible Way

Unlike many sports that you can teach yourself through trial and error, kitesurfing is a sport that requires the supervision of a qualified kitesurfing instructor. This is in the best interest of your own safety and the safety of other innocent beach goers and kiteboarders. Besides, do you really want to risk ripping that sexy new kite you just bought because you don’t know how to set it up correctly or launch and land it safely? Investing in a few lessons with a kiteboarding instructor will be money well spent, as you’ll not only become a safer more responsible kitesurfer, but you’ll also learn much quicker.

Some of the critical things you need to learn before you attempt to kitesurf on your own are:

• Safety, rules and regulations on and off the water
• Weather conditions and how the wind window works
• How to set up your kite correctly
• How to launch, land and fly the kite safely

More on this in upcoming articles…

What Do I Need to Get Started

All you need to get started initially is a few lessons with an IKO qualified kitesurfing instructor. You will find a list of recommended kiteboarding shops and a list of recommended kiteboarding schools or instructors on this website.

Tail Grab – Well Almost…

So head on over to either of those pages and contact your nearest IKO certified Kitesurfing School to ask them about their lessons. The school will provide you with all the training equipment you need, so you really just need to come with your baggies / bikini, sunscreen and loads of excitement.

Once you’ve completed the course, or you’re in the final stages of your lessons, you can consider buying your own gear. If you can afford it, I highly recommend buying your gear as early on in the course as possible, so that you can practise on your new equipment while still under the supervision of your instructor.

To get started with your own gear, you will need at least one kite (your local shop will advise you on the different types of kites and the best size for your weight and local conditions), a kiteboard and a harness. The bar, lines and pump come with your kite in most cases.

How Much Does it Cost

Well, the truth is kitesurfing isn’t the cheapest sport to take up, but trust me when I say this, it will be well worth the investment, and the best decision you will ever make… A brand new rig will set you back in the region of R 18 000 ($ 2 600) depending on the gear you choose. But you don’t need to buy brand new equipment to get started. Your local kitesurfing shop should be able to set you up with second hand gear that could cost you as little as R 7 000 ($ 800 in the USA). The beauty of this route is that you minimize your start up risk, and by the time you are ready to upgrade, you already know you are addicted to kitesurfing and the investment will be well worthwhile. Also, you will have a better understanding of what equipment will suit your needs best.

Wow, that’s Expensive!

Not really… I know the equipment might sound quite expensive at first glance, but let me put things into perspective for you. If you’ve ever taken up any other kind of lifestyle sport such as scuba diving, skiing, snowboarding, wakeboarding, sailing and even deep sea fishing or angling, you’ll know that this isn’t a lot of money to spend on something that’s going to bring you so much pleasure and keep you fit and healthy at the same time.

Wave Riding – Off the Lip!

Here are some numbers to get you thinking:

• Scuba Diving will set you back roughly R 20 000+ for a full set of entry to midrange gear
• Snowboarding: roughly R 8 000 – R 20 000+ for entry level gear, but largely dependent on where you are in the world
• Deep Sea Fishing : R 10 000 – R 30 000 depending on your requirements

Now the real difference is that once you have the kiteboarding gear, you hardly have any other costs to go kitesurfing, apart from the petrol / Gas to get you to the beach and your sunscreen. In contrast, with scuba diving you still need to pay for your dives and cylinder fills each time you want to dive, and there may be extensive travel and accommodation costs involved if you don’t live near a great dive spot. With snowboarding, you will need to travel to a skiing region, pay over the top accommodation expenses and buy a not-so-cheap ski pass. And fishing? Well if you don’t own your own boat, then you have to pay for a fishing charter or hire a boat for the day. If you do own your own boat, then I’m sure I need not tell you what it costs to maintain that bad boy…

You see, not so bad after all? So do yourself a favour and book your first double lesson, and see if you like it, how much you love it! Your first double lesson will cost you roughly R 800, so you have nothing to lose, but R 800 perhaps… You won’t regret it.

In coming articles we will break the kitesurfing course down into its individual modules, which will give you a better idea of what to expect and we will also be bringing you plenty of gear reviews and helpful advice and tips about kitesurfing.

Also, if you’re curious about how kiteboarding started, who invented the first inflatable kite, and where the sport is headed in the future, check out at our history of kiteboarding article, and definitely watch the video.

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See you on the water!

Beginners Guide to Kitesurfing: Getting Started was published by inMotion Kitesurfing.