Some great manouvers during a kite surf competition..
This morning it started out too windy to kite surf, so when we got there, there was no-one kite surfing. Luckily the wind settled down, and we were able to do our class. As we were setting up a lot of other people were also coming out. Today's lesson consisted of learning the signs used by kiters, getting the kite airborne and getting it down again. Together with one new exercise and some more practice with the old ones the lesson went by pretty quickly.
Getting the kite up and down is a fairly simple affair as long as one remembers not to try and do it too directly into the wind. Rather as long as it is done perpendicular to the wind, i.e. both you and the kite are parallel to the wind it will both go up and come down in a controllable manner.
Some great manouvers during a kite surf competition..
Now to the signs, in kite surfing you need someone to help you get the kite up and also to get it down. Alex did mention that it is possible to get it up alone, but it is pretty difficult and takes lots of practice. Getting it down alone is not that big of a deal, but it is better to have help. The main issue is that once the kite is down it needs to be turned and secured otherwise it will fly off on its own. The same when getting it airborne. The kite is not just going to lie there and wait for you to be ready. If you have enough wind to kite surf, the kite will want to take off or tumble down the beach with or without you.
The signal to get airborne is a thumbs-up. The person securing the kite will then just let go of it, and if you are in the right position the kite will slowly climb as you gently pull the bar in the opposite direction. You are now ready for your kite surfing session. No too complicated. Some additional tips, in the wrong position i.e. the kite is too far down wind, the helper will have a lot of problems controlling the kite. Also, make sure there isn't any slack in the lines when the helper lets go, otherwise the kite goes directly downwind and will more than likely take you with it.
When you are finished with your session and you want to get the kite back on the ground, the sign is touching the top of your head with the fist of one hand. Assuming that there is someone on the beach who is a kite surfer, they will know what you want.
Bringing the kite down is simple, it wants to come down anyway, you just control that it doesn't come down too fast, and once your help grabs the kite take a step forward to put some slack in the lines, while your assistant turns the kite over and puts some sand between the ribs to keep it from going up on its own. That is it.
After practicing take off and landings a couple of times, Alex sent me off to do figure eights again. By now I am getting some good speed and I am nearly coming out of the water when turning around (I am using a kite smaller than I need, otherwise I really could be getting airborne when doing this exercise). After a while of this, Alex sent me off to do some more superman exercises. For some reason, I think that yesterday I did them better, as today I wasn't able to hold the position as closely as yesterday. Nevertheless, Alex was satisfied enough that he put me on a new exercise.
This exercise has no name, at least none that he mentioned, and involves taking a board for a ride out and back. Not riding the board out and back, but carrying it out and back. First he had me holding the board with one hand and then crossing over and holding the board with the other hand on land.
Here I should mention that all the time that you are on land you are controlling the kite with one hand, either right or left depending on where the kite is. At the 12 o'clock position you switch over to the opposite hand. When the kite is on the left side you control it with your right hand on the right side of the bar (the dark colored side), when the kite is on the right side you control it with your left hand on the left side of the bar (the lighter colored side). So now I got to practice carrying something in the (previously) empty hand.
Not all manouvers ended well..
Once he was satisfied that I could move from right to left holding the board, he sent me off to do body drags carrying the board out and back. The hard part was getting in and out of the water over the waves carrying the board. Once in deep enough it wasn't a problem. Just hold the board in one hand, keep the kite steady and off you go. The cross over was a bit tricky but not too difficult. I just had to do it a bit slower than before to avoid too much drag from the kite while moving the board from one hand to the other. The key being, to do everything nice and slow.
That was it for today. A few more of these and Alex called me in. Apparently I am now ready to try and ride the board, which will be the next lesson.
Technorati Tags: bmw, brazil, Cumbuco, kite surfing, motorcycle, south america, travel
No comments:
Post a Comment