| 2006.Mar.15 (updated
2006.Sep.28) |
Some of the things you should know when you're
starting out as a kiter, regardless of what
equipment you buy |
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This talks about
-
starting out
-
what skills you will require
-
your first purchase and when
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not as simple as buying a bicycle
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bars versus handles
-
winding your lines
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progressive skills leading to kite surfing
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Some
of the things you should know when you're starting
out with power or traction kiting |
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Where do we start? That
is a difficult question to answer. You've no doubt
recently seen someone in your area riding powered by
a kite, or possibly in a magazine, or on TV. Your
curiosity has been peaked and you're thinking that
looks like a lot of fun. I think I can learn to do
that. |
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Maybe you already have
some other skills that are going to get you there
quicker - skiing, snowboarding, wakeboarding, water
skiing, paragliding, hang gliding, wind surfing,
sailing, mountain boarding, or some other natural
powered sport possibly by the wind. All of these
sports have some skills that translate to the sport
of traction kiting. Some of what you've seen may
seem extreme and you think you'd never be able to do
that.
Wrong. |
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So the next question,
where do you start? I would say the two biggest
skills you need to start with is understand the
weather and know your equipment. Being knowledge
about how the unpredictable forces of nature can
affect you and your equipment. This article is not a
course in either. It's meant to make you aware of
what skills you need as you progress on you path in
traction kiting. For all intense purposes, would you
buy a new or used parachute off the internet, strap
it on and jump out of your friends plane who knows
nothing about parachuting? If you would, then read
no further as we can't help you and good luck. |
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The sport of traction
kiting should be approached with the same kind of
care you would if you were starting out paragliding,
parachuting, rock climbing, or hang gliding. You are
after all dealing with the unpredictable forces of
nature. And just like these sports mentioned above
your equipment is all that separates you from those
forces. It should be now easy to see why both your
equipment and the weather are important to
understand. |
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The grim story is that
people flying kites have died. Sometimes fatal
accidents could have been prevented. There are some
unfortunate accidents in which the riders happened
to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Being
informed about when, where and how to participate in
this sport are up to you the rider to understand. A
trainer can get you started, but the more you learn
about the weather and your equipment, the better you
can access the situation. There's a saying in
aviation that I learned many years ago. "Use your
expert knowledge so you don't have to use your
expert skills." |
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Any kite you buy has
properties of flight very much like that of an
aircraft. These are related to how their shape
interact with the forces of nature, the wind in this
case and how your controls affect their dynamics.
This is all about physics. Don't get discouraged!
You don't need to be an aviation specialist or a
physicist to learn this stuff. But, you do need to
know that certain things happen to an object when in
flight and what your controls are doing to affect
that. As long as you take things slowly and
hopefully with an experience instructor, all of
these things are very understandable and manageable. |
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As much as we'd like to
say that it's no different than buying a bicycle and
going and that's it. No way, and don't be fooled for
a minute that it is. There may be some products on
the market that you can get started very quickly
without much experience. This is great, but how much
knowledge are you equipped with to know exactly how
your new toy is going to react and what you will do
when it does. How much have you learned about the
weather and will you have enough knowledge to manage
every situation Mother Nature will through at you? I
believe some of the products like this on the market
are great, but believe that they may provide a false
sense of security for the rider putting them and
others in harms way. Especially when they don't get
enough education from an experience instructor. |
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If we haven't lost your
interest or scared you off, welcome to the world of
power kiting. It will likely change your life.
You'll wish you had found out about it years ago. It
will make you feel like a kid. It will humble you on
occasion, but it will give you a new yearning for
freedom with Mother Nature. When she's blows, that
pressure on your face, those hairs on the back of
your neck, that sound across your ears will tell you
that it's time to go and have some fun. If you're
lucky to have multiple seasons and multiple riding
terrains, each change of season will be looked
forward to with anticipation. |
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Don't be in a rush to
buy some equipment right away. Equipment is
constantly getting better, safer and the prices are
coming down. The longer you wait, the likely you'll
get a better piece of equipment and it could cost
you less. We're not saying wait, we are saying buy
informed. Find someone that has enough experience to
know where you are with your current skill level;
someone that can guide you with the right safe
equipment. |
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Take a lesson from an
experienced instructor. If you don't have one in
your area, you may want to seek one out. If there
really isn't any source around, you need to take it
slowly. Being educated is going to keep you happy
and safe and for that matter those around you too.
Again we must stress that this article is not going
to teach you to fly a kite, only make you aware of
what you should be looking for and possibly a path
to pursue that may meet your initial goals. |
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No matter what time of
year it is winter or summer, fall or spring, we
recommend that you start with a trainer kite;
something in the 2 to 3.5 square meters. Kites in
North America are measured roughly by their flat
(when lying on the ground) square area in meters.
Some measurements are also given for their projected
area. This is the square area a kite would project
if you measured its shadow when flying. Currently
all trainer foils either come with handles or a bar.
Some trainer handle or bar systems are equipped with
a safety release. |
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Are bars better than
handles or vise versa? There's probably a great deal
that many could comment on this. It's all about
trade-offs. For example, a two line setup will be
very easy initially as they're less to learn in
order to have some fun. Whereas something with 3 or
4 lines will give you much greater control, but may
be a little more difficult at first as you have more
to contend with. In general the more control points
or lines you have to the kite, the greater the
control you will have with your equipment. If you're
starting out with an instructor, and are given 100%
of their attention, we'd recommend more control in
your kite as the trainer will be able to guide you
through the difficult stuff. If a trainer is not
possible then it may be best to keep it simple until
you get some flying hours in. You can expect to pay
anywhere from CAD$150 to $300 approximately for a
trainer. |
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If your kite has
bridles, these are the connection points that are
found between the kite and the kite lines. They
distribute the pull of the kite and translate it
down in groups to the kite lines. One of the most
common problems a beginner has is winding and
unwinding lines or the equipment set-up and
take-down. In general thicker or stiffer lines can
tend to twist when winding onto handles. This is
where the greatest problems can occur. There are
techniques for winding and unwinding. They are known
and understood. This is one of the topics we cover
in our lessons. Usually winding lines on a bar end
over end does not appear to cause a lot of
difficulty. You will also need to take a bit of care
if your kite has bridles. Be sure when setting up
that all your bridles are clear and not hooked on
any of the flying lines or each other. One or more
of these hooked and you might not have full control
of your kite. |
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There are flying
techniques, starting, stopping, turning, the power
zone, the wind window, low wind flying, high wind
flying, to name a few all of which have something to
teach you about the physics of your equipment and
how it interacts with mother nature. The area in
which you choose to fly, the wind strength and
direction - all of these properties will be
different every time you go out possibly, and you
will learn more. You need to go through this
experience of difference. This is where you start
gaining your expert skills. You need to get all this
stuff down so that you feel the control - so that
you can do it with your eyes closed. Flying your
equipment should become instinctual over time just
like driving a car. You will eventually be able hook
in your harness without looking at it as well -
another skill to learn about. |
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Every time you go out to
fly, you will learn something. There is no short cut
to this. Go out and fly safely, learn and have some
fun. And it doesn't matter what time of year it is.
If you're concerned about cold weather, then
you're not dressed properly, or it is just to
dam cold to be outside and enjoy yourself. Most
riders are comfortable with the right clothes on to
about minus fifteen degrees Celsius or so. Beyond
that, you might not be out for a long time and you'd
better know what you're doing and have the right
clothing. Definitely not the conditions for a
beginner to be learning. |
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There are three to four
progressive phases that a rider will or should go
through as they eventually move to kite boarding on
water. Kite boarding on water requires the most
combined skills of all traction kite flying. |
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The first was mentioned
above. It's all that flying you'll do with a trainer
standing still, possibly skidding across the grass,
sand or snow. This teaches you the basics of kite
flying and how to use your equipment. |
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The second is
translating that power skill to motion. In motion we
mean where you use the power of the kite to propel
you along the surface of the earth, hopefully a hard
surface, using some type of craft - skis, snowboard,
buggy, possibly a mountain board, but I'd say the
added factor of trying to balance on a mountain
board might be left for a later level. In this
phase, you will learn about the power angles - where
to position yourself relative to the kite in the sky
and horizon to generate that pull. On top of that
you'll learn about orienting your craft so that you
can start to travel upwind and downwind. Up wind is
generally your friend. When things go wrong, things
end up downwind including you. Until you learn about
those power angles you will likely go down wind. So
find a spot on your terrain and try to keep upwind
of it until you get those angles down. Make sure you
have enough clear space around you and downwind of
you so you're not a hazard to yourself or any
bystanders. If you have to pick a different spot up
wind each time you pass the last one as an exercise
and it will force the angles to become more
apparent. You might slow down initially if the angle
is too much upwind. Next time back, don't aim that
far as an angle. |
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If you use a snowboard
and you launch your kite sitting down, this is the
best transition you can do to prepare yourself for
water starting with a kite. You will learn to dive
the kite into the power zone generating enough
energy to get you up and over your board. This is
very a very similar motion that you will use to get
you out of the water and up on the board. |
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Until you can transition
your turns, you can slow down at the end of the run,
put the kite in a weaker spot say not directly in
the power zone - more to the edge of the wind window
in the horizon but up but not necessarily right
overhead. Come to a complete stop and turn yourself
around then drop the kite forward ahead of you in
your new direction of travel and down, and you'll
feel the power start again. |
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It may also be possible
that you're at the body dragging phase around this
time. It is also a form of motion and a pre-cursor
to getting on the water. You will learn to power and
depower the kite and use your upwind hand as a
rudder to track upwind as required. |
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During the water
learning phase, body dragging and water starting are
the pre-cursors for kite surfing. This will get you
on the board and the last phases will be powering
the kite to generate a constant pull to propel you
forward, keep you buoyant, and balance yourself as
you track perpendicular to the wind. Sounds like a
lot to do all at once, right? By this time even if
you've learned all the previous steps, yes there is
still a bit to coordinate. But keep with it, you
will get it. Now look back at all the things you've
learned and the phases you went through. It's
progressive and graded to make it attainable and fun
in a safe manner. Now think of buying a used kite
off the internet. You don't know anything about
flying that kite or any kite for that matter and you
try to skip right to the water. If you get
frustrated and want to sell your equipment after
only a few tries, it's not a surprise. You're taking
on way to much to learn at one time. |
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Stick with a graded
phased approach and you'll have the most fun and
enjoy things as you learn. |
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Grant Fitz |
