Relaunching a kite while holding board

[tomtom]

When you guys say to keep it on your feet, what body stance do you have while relaunching? Do you lie on your back having the board in front of you and relaunching? Or do you "face down" having the board behind you dragging while relaunching?

Lie on back - board in front of you - Use board as resistance - so edge against water. There is zero risk for lines catching on twintip. Just ignore board and focus on kite. Lines touching edges of board is OK.

[iriejohn]

When you guys say to keep it on your feet, what body stance do you have while relaunching? Do you lie on your back having the board in front of you and relaunching? Or do you "face down" having the board behind you dragging while relaunching?

I usually have the board in front of me (like a pre waterstart position) however this obviously carries the risk of catching the lines on the board.

This.

[FLandOBX]

I personally prefer relaunching with the board behind me. Then it's a short body drag to retrieve it. But in super light wind, having the board on your feet for resistance, as others have described, is a useful technique.

If you relaunch without the board, definitely keep it behind you and out of the lines. I've seen boards float out in front of a kiter, who relaunches and snags the board with a line, and then the board goes airborne. Scary stuff.

[JakeFarley]

If you do not keep the board on, definitely keep it behind you. If it is in the front or beside you, you could get dragged into it if the kite powers up and/or loops.

[matth]

Get the board on your feet if you can. It is much easier to launch if you use the board to hold your position in the water, especially in light wind.

[coupdevill]

I use a spare kite leash (short one) kiting in the gorge this year I have used it twice.

coup

[tomtom]

WTF! keep it on feet. seriously. everything else is nuisance

[gilesb]

For me, it is not really something I think about too much. I try and keep the board on my feet as much as I can, as others have said keeping the board on feet can help with the relaunch.

If it is a small crash, in anything but light wind and no big waves the kite won't be in the water long and I'm up and riding again.

In waves, it is much harder to keep the board on your feet and there is much more chance of kite getting swamped. In waves, my priority is always to get the kite back fast and I don't want any distractions so I probably kick board off at first hint of it causing a distraction.

Big crashes where the kite tomahawks, chances are the board isn't on my feet anyway or anywhere near me. Mostly its something which went wrong in the air and I'll kick the board out the way to not land awkwardly on it. I have dodgy knees so I'm probably a little more cautious about this than others, particularly about landing with one foot in the straps.

When I was less experience I think it was different, however, IMHO whenever things start going pear-shaped you should be concentrating on the kite. If you are thinking about the board your probably not concentrating enough on the kite. Anything but super flat water in some sort of protected area and every second that kite spends in the water is a second longer for something to wrong with the relaunch. Fixing the cats cradle which results from a kite relauch not happening is a big PITA and not getting that kite back up is a safety issue. Getting back to your board in super flat conditions is normally easy and you don't normally have troubles with losing track of it, so not really something to worry about either.

There are situations with strong currents in lagoons, rivers etc where board getting away from you is an issue. I don't often kite in these situations, but when I have other riders have been very kind and vigilant at returning boards. I guess I would consider GoJoe or similar solution if I kited in a location with few other riders and strong currents often.

[espana23]

I tried yesterday to keep the board on my feet on the pre-waterstart position, but one issue I had is that the recoil of my Cabrinha Overdrive bar was getting rubbed and cought on the rail of the board. I think this will damage the rail of the board in the long run. What do others with a similar bar do?

[ShaveTheWhales]

The dilemma of board recovery is a decision scale from body-dragging (best option), Go-Joes (good for distressing when learning), other kiters (hit and miss), taking a risk on the tide or waves doing the job (very hit and miss) then the heresy of reel leashes (expect prison if seen in daylight)....don’t mention, the reel. I mentioned it once and I think I got away with it.

Good luck and have fun.

Unrepentable total Blasphemy !

Toby time for a 1000 yr ban haa haa