From KitePassion Tarifa Kiteschool we want to teach you the entire learning process in this fantastic sport.
Once you have made the most of the first day of the course on land by learning:
- The different security systems
- Universal signals
- Setting up of the kite
- Different exercises on land to control the kite’s motor 100%: the kite.
Once with all this and if the instructor considers that you are ready to go to the water, comes the most fun and affordable part of your kitesurfing course. Already with all the necessary material, that is, neoprene, buoyancy vest, helmet … You will go to the water with your instructor to feel the traction or drag of the kite but only with your body, without the board.
STEPS TO FOLLOW
As we have taught you in the sand with the kite to walk with one hand on the kite and the other clear, we head towards the water. Once you reach enough depth in the water, that is, we have to enter the water with the kite at the zenith and we position ourselves perfectly aligned with our backs to the wind.
Two key points once we are correctly positioned:
- The first is to not stop moving the kite in the power zone from 11 to 2 or from 1 to 10, but very importantly, we do not stop moving the kite.
- Another fundamental point is the position of the body leaning forward, that is, we throw ourselves forward to go sliding on the water. Superman position.
The sensation of feeling a kite pull is simply spectacular and this exercise is also essential as it is useful for different reasons:
- Learn how to retrieve the table
- Stop looking at the bar and start feeling the kite with your hands
- Return to shore
- And above all, really feel the traction of kitesurfing ..
Once you reach a sufficient level in your bodydrag, you are ready to go to the water with the board. The most difficult begins here, but without having learned how to drag your body with the kite well, your first lengths with the board will be even more difficult.
BODY DRAG UPWIND
In kitesurfing there is a maneuver without a board of vital importance and that is called upwind bodydrag or upwind bodydrag.
Once you have finished your training on land and are ready to go to the water to do the bodydrag (dragging your body with the kite without a board). So the first objective once you go out on the water is to learn to perform the bodydrag perfectly downwind, in the same direction as the wind.
Which at the same time is very useful (essential), it is a lot of fun since at this moment is when you start to really feel the traction of a kite and the power of it in the water. There are two key points in this exercise:
- Not stop moving the kite
- And place the body correctly leaning forward over the water (Superman position).
However, the upwind bodydrag is different in terms of the movement of the kite in the wind window and also in the positioning of the body when you are moving over the water.
1.- First you have to enter the water piloting the kite with one hand. The placement of the hand if possible in the center of the bar and taking into account that if we walk to the right the left hand goes on the bar and if on the contrary we go in the opposite direction we drive with the right hand.
2.- Once in the water, if we enter the water with an east wind, we fly the kite with our right hand and move the kite non-stop from 12 to 10, we extend our body to the left and fully stretch our left arm that serves as a rudder. This position of the right hand in the center of the bar remains in this position throughout the maneuver and we make small and quick turns with the kite that generate traction.
At the moment that the kite generates traction, we begin to gain space from the wind and we go up in the opposite direction to where the wind is coming from. This exercise will allow us to recover the board that is normally behind us and it is very important to go and return to the same point doing body drag upwind.
More info: Juan Ignacio Fernández Candón 34 615683051
