UKSurf wrote: ↑Sat Aug 03, 2019 3:53 pm
cglazier wrote: ↑Sat Aug 03, 2019 2:58 pm
Easy.. just loop your kite and you will be lifted up and foiling even in winds where a kite downstroke can’t get you out of the water.
Start with your kite high and pull hard on your back hand. Point your board slightly downwind.
In extremely light wind you may want to loop your kite more than once.
CG
I think you are right I need to loop the kite not just try to work it up and down
Indeed, looping is needed to give an easy waterstart up onto the board, and then another loop or a loop the other way, to get going.
BUT, sometimes it is better to dive the kite, works great if longer lines, and NOT loop it, as you get a lot more efficient stroke with more power because of the apparent wind and angle, and can get going a lot better this way, but only sometimes it is better as said
So IMO looping is not always the best way in light winds where your kite can not hang in the air really - you have to "feel" and find what works the best, and also kite dependent and line length dependent I would say.
I ride in this wind really often, like today we were out 5 hours in sometimes marginal wind, other times loads meaning 7 knots 8 in gusts maybe, with a 12 m2 strutless tubekite, a great day.
What matters is to get the feel for exactly where your hydrofoils "foil-point" is, so you know how to sqeeze it to the max, or should I say, to the "minimum", as if you stall, you are in deep shit if kite is flown down close to the surface.
If you dont stall, you can start extremely efficient this way, particularly if wind is dead onshore an low water
PF