body dragging tips please

[DWX]

Nothing to see here

[DWX]

OH and when I see my instructor next I'll ask him why he made me learn all that complicated shit to get to my board when I can just sit there and wait for the wind to blow me to my board... and demand my money back! Eyeroll

[kjorn]

Body drag like your superman

You GOT to keep your body and legs straight. One arm out in front, other controlling kite.

You can't ride a floppy board upwind, you can't body drag a floppy body up wind. If you are failing to go up wind, your legs are bent.

Personally I aim to do the same upwind tack as I would with my board, so I do a couple of long tacks to get back to where my board fell off (usually mid jump)

[waynepjh]

One thing that helps me when really powered is to put the bottom of your foot against the inside of your knee. Kinda like a keel. Ive noticed a lot of kiters try to body drag on their belly. One shoulder needs to be pointed at the sky and other one down.

[jeromeL]

Im pretty floppy with my legs. When I have hem straight I somehow stay deeper and swallow more water. I just make sure to point one hand hard slightly upwind and kind of relax my body. That's enough to get. Pars back. As long as you keep your ground with sloppy body drag the board will travel down to you anymore.
Though ideally you can keep good form.

[jeromeL]

What don't you get about that? If he body drags and doesn't make any progress going upwind then he will eventually reach his board if he stays in the same spot. I don't know how much more clear I can make that. I know your a big poster whore on this forum, but before going out and making a fool of yourself you should probably read and try to understand before opening your big dumb mouth. Have a nice day

True if you can keep your ground body dragging the board will come to you and you can wait for it (while working on keeping ground)
unless you are in a bad spot with current then even with good body dragging techniques it can be tough.

[LiquidXtasy]

What don't you get about that? If he body drags and doesn't make any progress going upwind then he will eventually reach his board if he stays in the same spot. I don't know how much more clear I can make that. I know your a big poster whore on this forum, but before going out and making a fool of yourself you should probably read and try to understand before opening your big dumb mouth. Have a nice day

True if you can keep your ground body dragging the board will come to you and you can wait for it (while working on keeping ground)
unless you are in a bad spot with current then even with good body dragging techniques it can be tough.

Exactly

[Oldpeople]

thanks for the tips. I'm wondering if, as suggested, it is harder to body drag in a good position with the lower hook of a seat harness. Anyone out there who switches back and forth with seat and waist harness notice a difference? It makes sense to me that the highest hook position would pull you in a better position. in the extreme imagine the difference of being pulled from up around your shoulders compared to from down around your knees. obviously the difference between waist and seat is not all that much but maybe it is enough to make a difference.
Really want to get better at this since after a bunch of tacks dragging trying to get back to my board I am generally pretty tired and need to ride for several minutes to catch my breath.

[jeromeL]

Really want to get better at this since after a bunch of tacks dragging trying to get back to my board I am generally pretty tired and need to ride for several minutes to catch my breath.

Today I also got really tired body dragging and self rescued from, wind was strong and cold so I had to wear botties, need to adjust the strap better.

It helps to try new things then you fall a lot then you get good training!
Kite at 45 don't try to go fast you can even depower kite a bit if wind is nuking. When you switch direction bring kite to 12 very slowly, can swim upwind while you do that but I don't.
Also when I see I'm not going to land well I kind of butt check my landing and most of the time the. Pars stays on my feet. It's rare that you have to

[foam-n-fibre]

The hook height is an interesting theory. I've seen a couple guys over the years who were good riders and poor bodydraggers and both had low hooks.

Another common mistake is trying to keep the head too high, so the feet end up down. If I'm in a hurry to crank upwind I've got my face down at least partly in the water. It's not necessary, but I think its faster. I also am not sheeting out the kite too much, but it might depend on the kite.

As for currents, if you and your board are in the same current then the current is not a factor. It just slightly affects the apparent wind. Current is only a factor if your board is in a rip current heading out to sea for example and you are not. In that case you might have to try to get your body into the same current as the board, then again the current should not be an issue.

Peter