One hand or two hands on the bar when going upwind in low wind?

[espana23]

Hi,

When I am kitesurfing in low wind (low-end of kite) I noticed that I am more efficient going upwind when I have one hand on the bar (back hand) as this allows me to twist my body better and head up wind. Is this normal, or should I be able to go upwind with the same efficiency in the same conditions having both hands on the bar?

Thanks.

-Mike

[unnuhi]

I have actually the same feeling.

[nothing2seehere]

Prefer both hands personally. With one hand, its too easy to lean back and reduce the board surface area on top of the water in light wind if you take one hand off the bar. This guy has a video on it:

[Havre]

To me that is a question of how low. When it is low, but not extremely low I also prefer riding with one hand. Not sure why. Then again I believe I go upwind better with one hand regardless of wind - just not necessary when you got a lot of power to work with and in very solid wind controlling the kite with one hand can be a bit tricky. When it gets really low I naturally tend to go more like in the video from n2s - without ever having thought about it (before now).

[Toby]

One hand is better.
As long as you have enough power to fly the kite with one hand.
But if winds get really low, normally you have to Sinus it more…and here you need two hands.

[Hugh2]

One hand is better.
As long as you have enough power to fly the kite with one hand.
But if winds get really low, normally you have to Sinus it more…and here you need to hands.

Gotta love Autocorrect!