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Kite Longboarding

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kitegirls
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Kite Longboarding

Postby kitegirls » Wed Jun 20, 2018 10:05 pm

Is it worth it to try to learn directional kiteboarding on a longboard (3 fin 8' soft top or single fin 9' epoxy) just to learn jibing muscle memory or will it be too hard to turn etc?

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FLandOBX
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Re: Kite Longboarding

Postby FLandOBX » Wed Jun 20, 2018 10:11 pm

Nahhh. I wouldn't spend time doing that. Just find a smaller directional that you'll be comfortable riding for a while, and learn on that. It'll be much easier to maneuver.

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Slappysan
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Re: Kite Longboarding

Postby Slappysan » Thu Jun 21, 2018 1:00 am

It is without a doubt 100% for sure a waste of your time. If you want an easy board to learn on get a wide 5 foot surfboard like Odysea Stump, North Nugget or old Slingshot SP. If you can't find one of those a 5-6 sotftop would still work well as long as it's over 20 inches wide.

Here is a video of me on a 7 or 8 foot wavestorm https://youtu.be/1DZa-oK50ws?t=260 and it was aweful. I've ridden SUPs with a kite before too so I wasn't expecting much.

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Re: Kite Longboarding

Postby Matteo V » Thu Jun 21, 2018 3:08 pm

The amazing thing about kiteboarding is the variety of different things you can ride. And experiencing those different things is the only way you will find out what you like.

Though I am with the majority of those out there that have first hand knowledge of how bad a longboard or SUP can be with a kite, there is a chance you could be in the minority of those who like them. And you won't know until you try. So if this experiment is no cost to you, give it a shot.

As far as jibing practice, you will gain some valuable experience from a longboard or SUP. This will be in the form of kite control in a long, drawn out jibe with very little chance for instant course correction during critical parts of the jibe. What you will miss is how to manage a quick turning jibe, especially at low speed, and having the possibility to correct (mistakes) quickly. Thus the reason few people use huge boards to kite on is that these big boards are a limitation, not an advantage.

Again there is some benefit to it, just be ready to possibly sacrifice having some high speed fun.

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Re: Kite Longboarding

Postby norcom » Thu Jun 21, 2018 7:33 pm

If you already know how to kite and own a longboard, TRY IT. Why not? It's possible and shoud be easier to get going because of the extra volume and length. My buddy uses his longboard in light wind and does fine. If you're planning to buy a longboard just so you can learn to ride a directional; there are better options out there for your first directional board.

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Re: Kite Longboarding

Postby Rakky » Thu Jun 21, 2018 8:30 pm

If you already own those boards, give it a try - although due to too much flotation, you will drift downwind and hard to go up. Easier for foot switching
Or, you can buy a cheap old surfboard 5’8 or so and play with that till it breaks.
You will progress quickly.
Go straight to strapless

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Slappysan
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Re: Kite Longboarding

Postby Slappysan » Thu Jun 21, 2018 8:55 pm

Honestly this isn't very good advice.

Even if you have the board available I'm sure you have something else directional that you could be learning on. Literally anything would be easier to learn on.

Now if you want to try longboard kiting for fun after you've learned to jibe, by all means go for it.

Jibing a longboard is about 10x harder than a board under 6 foot. The key thing to make learning jibes easier is width, which allows for foot misplacement without catastrophic consequences.

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Re: Kite Longboarding

Postby tautologies » Thu Jun 21, 2018 9:28 pm

I think slappy is on it. Obviously if you already own the board its just a bit fun, but don;t expect to learn anything from it. Its not hard to get up on if you know how to kite.

I would say just go with whatever board you think you want. No need to go super wide, because it will be shitty to do what the point is...to go in waves. Whenever you jibe, then just go with some speed. Thats it. No need to make it a big thing. Just pretend like you know what you are doing and do whatever you do with confidence...you'll figure it out super fast. There are a ton of threads on here on how to jibe. Or check youtube.

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Re: Kite Longboarding

Postby Matteo V » Sat Jun 23, 2018 9:04 pm

Rakky wrote:
Thu Jun 21, 2018 8:30 pm

......Go straight to strapless
Obviously, with a longboard, you want to go strapless. But I always advise you learn the strapped jibe first with a normal/smaller kitesurfboard. Once you get the strapped jibe, the strapless jibe is a piece of cake. Then you move on to strapless riding and tricks. Once you get some strapless skills, go back and fourth between strapless and strapped and see which one is actually more fun for you. For me, the one that turned out to be more fun was a surprise, and I had to admit that I had hyped up the other one in my mind to the point of nearly "brainwashing" myself before I knew how to do both.

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Re: Kite Longboarding

Postby Chicken-loop » Sun Jun 24, 2018 12:06 pm

I’ve tried a long board a couple of times in light winds just for kicks. I found that I had to stand towards the tail to get up wind, however when doing that, the nose would be bouncing and it would get caught by the wind.

It was fun for about ten minutes..


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