Beginner and waves - tips?

[or6]

Sergei, I have never been to famara, but have been to el medano (Tenerife) many times. I have taught people in El medano....it looks to be rather similar to famara.

If you have the choice, stick to flatwater, if not, Plummet is right, smooth water does not make good sailors. You will find small waves upto a meter most annoying, but you'll find lots of things most annoying, as a beginner

Why not take a couple of lessons at famara? Go! Have fun!

Additional: winds on the canaries are, as a rule, very stable.

[Matteo V]

Great advice from everyone, especially with the different attitudes shown.

Your choices:

1. Learn to kite in safe flat water to the point of not crashing your kite, riding upwind, and jumping - jumping is very useful in waves.

2. Fast track yourself by getting in the ocean on the safest place with a good wide inside, stay out of the break, don't go out to sea - make sure you do not get kiting banned because you take out an innocent beach goer.

The last part is the most important. If you want to ride waves, you need to have a beach open to kiteboarding. If you take out an innocent beach goer because you did not have the skill to keep them safe, you will find yourself with no place to ride waves once you get good.

Safety of others is primary, yours is secondary (but important). If you cannot guarantee others safety at the location you choose to kite, don't kite there. And if you do screw up and get a spot banned, you may not want to show your face to any of the local kiters ever again. Could even be a situation where you would want to move to another city, at least for a few years.

[sergei Scotland]

Thanks or6 and Matteo. Good to get some encouragement too...
I actually checked what windguru archive says about that particular day I was in Tarifa last September.
It actually indicates waves of 1.3m - which is what Windguru forecast for Famara waves most of the time.

I was fine with these kind of waves in Tarifa - spent a couple of hours trying to waterstart, almost made it a few times and enjoyed it. I guess windguru gives wave height away from the shore so in reality they are considerably smaller closer to the beach?
- i did not feel those waves were that big at all

We'll wait and see. Certainly an hour or two of body dragging and kite flagging should get me going - if waves are similar size...
They do say some areas are sheltered a bit too in Famara. Wind is definitely cross-on most of the time and there is space for people to avoid me
And I can probably walk upwind on the beach there Tarifa style (long sandy beach) - so do not really have to be able to ride upwind ATM?
My body dragging upwind seems to work

Thanks for the tip of lose straps to allow ankles to rotate inside... sounds a good idea...

[or6]

Well, Sergei, 1.3 meters don't qualify as large waves, though you might feel different at times.

Flat water is easier, but hey, tons of people learned kiting in the surf...

I just looked at Google earth, famara beach, looks ok, lots of sand. Looks fine for the walk of shame .

[robclaisse]

Lots of good tips mentioned here and I'm a +1 for recommending people learning to ride a surfboard on flatter water first, particularly for those with less kite experience but keen to get started on a surfboard. Coming from a twintip you need to be prepared to experiment with a slightly different stance, particular getting far more weight on your front foot. I wrote a blog post a few years back that gives a few things to try when learning to ride a surfboard:
http://www.progression.me/blog/learning ... u-started/

Sergei - I have also finished my new series of surfboard instructional videos - the Riding and Control Collection seems to cover a lot of what you are trying to learn and maybe of help. The intro chapter will give you an idea of what is covered and along with some basic intro tips on getting started:

https://youtu.be/sHfM6uGzWPc

[coffeeking]

I don't really see that it has much influence to be honest. I taught myself on 0.5-1.5m waves, flat water isn't an option here - never even occurred to me that it was any different. At worst it's a bit buffety if they're coming from behind during the water start but I don't change my technique to deal with it - the effect is negligible.

[robclaisse]

I don't really see that it has much influence to be honest. I taught myself on 0.5-1.5m waves, flat water isn't an option here - never even occurred to me that it was any different. At worst it's a bit buffety if they're coming from behind during the water start but I don't change my technique to deal with it - the effect is negligible.

It just makes it easier, pretty much everything is easier on flat water (other than riding waves and many of us learnt on beaches with waves but for those a little more hesitant or with less kiting experience, learning on flatter water can just make getting the basics nailed a little easier. It also allows you to focus on good technique for things like gybes and powered carves before progressing on beaches with waves.

It also matters if you are learning strapped or strapless - with straps you can ride your surfboard much like a twintip and any beach with do but with strapless riding, fewer bumps with speed up a riders progression.

I guess my point it if you have the choice to practice on your surfboard in flatter water then it can definitely help and there is plenty you can learn before heading out to a beach with waves.

[sergei Scotland]

Thanks Rob (robclaisse).
I really like Progression videos (own Beginner obviously)... Are your directing those?

In this case I am not actually planning to use a wave board this year - I am still learning basics so it will be twin tip... I was speculating of trying to use a floater surf board in low wind days when a twintip does not work...

Thanks coffeeking... Yes this is what I thought - 1.3 m waves are not that big it seems.... I think I already tried kitesurfing with waves of similar height.

I guess when windguru says 1.6 - 2m+ waves that would be when I should stay out (even when wind is good) as others suggested

Is this about right?

[robclaisse]

Yeah, Progression is me - I write, film and edit the videos (along with pretty much everything else .

When it comes to waves the reported height isn't always the most important aspect of determining the actually size of the wave. You want to also look at the period and the direction of the swell. The period is the time between waves (measured in seconds), the larger that gets the bigger the actual wave will be. Every break is different but a 1m swell with a 12s period might actually result in bigger actual waves than a 2m swell with 5 second period - but as I said kind of depends on the spot.

Also the swell direction is important and again that is completely dependent on location. A direction that is unobstructed with no headlands getting in the way and with a long fetch of open sea will allow for the swell to build and actually reach your beach. Just start paying attention to the the height, period and direction, when you look at the forecasts and see how they match up with what you see at the beach. Then you'll get an idea of how they work together where you are. You might also want to look at a surf specific forecast - Magicseaweed is pretty good and takes all these factors into account and then gives you a rating for the waves: http://magicseaweed.com/Playa-de-Famara ... eport/209/

[nothing2seehere]

Haven't seen anybody mention it, but check which tide states will give you the easiest progression before riding. Even a spot with a relatively small tidal range will tend to have times when the water is flatter. The difference between 1m rolling swell and 1m breaking waves is dramatically different for learning. Rolling swell can still be considered almost flat water as there is only a small adjustment in technique needed. Breaking waves can give you a much more frustrating time.