hey guys Luke here in today's video
we're gonna go through basically a
general overview of kite surfy and how
it works you know a little bit about the
area what you can look for some terms
you know just talking about the basics
of kite surfing flight and really just
like I said an overview that you can
take to your first lesson so the purpose
of this video isn't designed to
substitute for a first lesson it's
mainly just to give you some of the
concept so that when you go and take
your first lesson it's almost like a
little bit of a revision which is going
to save you time and money during your
first lesson because there's a lot of
new things that are learned when you you
know undertaking the skill of kite
surfing there's a lot of new terms and
skills and and you know a lot of
thinking about you know all things and
so what that means is that it can be a
little bit confusing and and
time-consuming when you're taking a
lesson so hopefully this video just
gives you some of those basics so that
you can take it there and sort of think
oh yeah I've seen that I've heard that
before and and they can build upon those
skills and with a more comprehensive
type lesson you know one on one with you
standing there so again this isn't meant
to substitute a lesson okay I don't want
you this just think okay watch this
video and now I'm ready to go it's
definitely not that it's just to give
you some basic understanding so here we
are we're down on the beach and so we're
in the dominican republic right now and
it's a really good location for kite
surfing and there's you know we're going
to go through this sort of area and and
what it means and so we've arrived on
the beach today and so first off let's
just go down to some drier sand so I can
just explain a little bit about how this
works
the wind is sort of hitting us in the
face so the first thing you do when you
get down to the beach is you determine
the wind direction and you can determine
the wind direction by sort of letting
that sort of hit you in the face and
that and the little rule is you can hear
it in both ears like so when you turn
your head you'll only hear anyone here
but when you're sort of facing exactly
the right direction you'll you should
hear it in both ears or you can just
basically feel it hitting you straight
in the face right when you've determined
that direction it's good to draw a
little line in the sand something like
this today now there might be some other
clues around that you could base it on
there's a flag there you can see
good indication you can look for other
things you could throw a bit of dry sand
in the air and see which way it goes but
really find the wind direction you know
this is what we want now
if we draw our line directly across that
wind direction line there's a couple of
terms
that are quite important with kite
surfing and it's upwind and downwind so
from this line basically what we're
looking at is if we stand on this line
and we face and we can still feel the
wind on our face like this everything
from this line that way is upwind ok so
that's all upwind
now if we were to turn around and the
same thing with standing on this same
line and now the wind with our back and
everything from this direction is
downwind now the reason that that is so
important is that when we're flying a
kite if we're standing here on this line
that we've drawn and we're flying the
kite will pretty much always have the
wind at our back meaning that we're sort
of facing downwind like this holding
onto the kite the kites flying in the
air now the kites flying in the air and
there's wind particles rushing they're
hitting it right and just like anything
else if you were to release the kite it
would travel down when it would flow
with the wind because the wind would
push it down now the reason that's so
important for kite surfing is that this
upwind downwind definition when we're
setting up and we're assessing our area
is that this downwind is basically what
is going to you know be most of the
dangers that we're going to encounter
the kite isn't going to pause upwind so
when we're holding onto the cart it's
not going to pull this up there
it's always
this direction now why that's important
is we want to make sure that we're
setting up in an area or or being in an
area or managing ourselves you know away
from anything that is really hard and
you know any obstacles that may be in
this downwind area so a few different
obstacles that might be in that area
there might be people sitting right
there and if the kite was to crash or if
we were to drag then we might drag
through them it might be you can see
some of these walls okay it's a concrete
wall there there's trees there's
buildings it's all in this downwind area
so we want to sort of bring ourselves
far enough back that we're not going to
get dragged into that another term that
we you might hear in kite surfy 94
moment beach coming down like this this
is sort of
the line of the beach now like we've
already determined we've got a wind
direction hitting us in the face like
this
and the wind still blowing this way okay
now there's a couple of different terms
here for the wind direction and
basically anything that blows from the
ocean
onto the shore like this it's called
onshore so that's onshore wind anything
that blows from the shore and off onto
the ocean
it's called offshore and one of the main
reasons that this is important is when
we're looking at the wind orientation
for what we're going to be doing kite
surfing there's some sort of safe winds
and there's some more day
the wind direction today is you can see
it's sort of blowing onshore but it's
not completely onshore and that's
because this wind direction they're
flowing directly down the beach or from
the other way is called cross draw so
today we've got cross onshore conditions
now cross onshore wind is sort of
thought to be the safest wind condition
for kite surfing and the reason is that
if you can imagine if the wind was
blowing in this direction and we were
going to kite surf what what do you
think that that would mean for us all
right
and just talking about that sort of
upwind and downwind it would mean that
if the winds blow in this direction and
we're standing here then that's our
downwind area now if that's our downwind
area and that's the way the client wants
to go naturally and something was to go
wrong then of course we're just going to
drag out into the ocean you know forever
and so basically in kite surfing
anything any direction even like this
that blows offshore
considered dangerous departs open and
these really should avoid it the only
exceptions to that are sometimes on
islands you know you might have a boat
support or jetski support or something
that would come and get you but even
then there's still risks that you know
the boat breaks down and something goes
wrong or or for whatever reasons so
really we're looking for any onshore
type conditions now this directly on
shore if the wind was blowing straight
on shore like this you might consider
this to be also safe however this
particular wind direction also comes
with its problems it's really always
going to make sure that it blows you
back onto the beach so that's great
you're always going to end up back on
the beach but the problem is that you
might accidentally end up back on the
beach and so when there's absolute
onshore conditions it creates two
problems one is it's hard to get out
into the water and two if anything
happens you might end up on a you know
more of a hard surface and back up into
the building
so really what we're looking for is this
cross on shore condition and if the wind
was coming from here
okay same Beach coming from that
direction it's exactly the same as this
direction okay so that's still cross on
shore conditions that's still safe kite
surfing and just be coming from that way
okay so I think one of the biggest
things when you're getting into part
surfing - and obviously if you're doing
a lesson you're going to go somewhere
and they're going to you know have a
location for you but one of the most
important things to look for other kites
so let's go to your local area where
there are other kite surfers other
people that are kite surfing because
they're blithely determined the best
condition in that area to kite surf
they're probably worked out you know
some of the hazards and some of the
safety things and you can ask them and
really that's going to help you as well
so again what we're really looking for
is wind that's blowing back onto the
shore but not directly onto the shore
this cross offshore cross onshore
condition is going to allow us to go out
and in a lot easily which brings us to
the next point of how kite surfing works
how we ride our kites of EPCOT so if we
stand back up and we've got this wind
dirrection like this today and we know
that this is that cross that we drew
before and if you've watched any of my
other videos you know I love drawing
crosses in the sand but basically when
we're kite surfing we sort of don't go
everywhere kite surfers go across the
wing okay so that way and they slow got
the wind at my back and I'll go across
that way
I'll go across that way so I've head out
and then I'd come back in across the
wind and so that again is just you know
when we talk about that onshore
condition if the wind was blowing
directly on shore then we wouldn't be
able to get out you know would be trying
to get out that way and we'll be trying
to get this way it'll be going across
the wind and we'll just be keeping any
force back onto the beach so that's not
really safe directly on shore we're
looking for that cross on shore
condition okay so now let's just go and
talk that's just a little bit of you
know about some of the terms but when
we're looking for our environment there
are a few different hazards that we
might be looking out for definitely
building to anything downwind definitely
logs rocks anything that you might drag
across the cart is designed to pull you
okay that's what that's the whole point
of it it pulls you along it can generate
a lot of power or a lot of speed and so
when you're on land really important
that you try and minimize those hazards
including other people that the kite
might hear the lines might wrap around
and things like that on top of that you
can also have wind shadows so if there
was a big building if we look actually
straight up the beach here you can see
there's a massive building up at the end
now if you were to tuck your kite right
in behind that building that would be
considered a win
we're basically the wind is very
turbulent the buildings you know
interrupting the wind a lot and the
kites not going to fly very well so
we're also looking for a sort of a nice
clear open area away from obstacles
upwind so if we remember our terms that
would be upwind so no obstacles upwind
and then so nice clear inflow of breeze
and then no obstacles downwind and a bit
of a golden rule is to sort of be at
least three line lengths so that's
around about 75 metres ish away from
anything downwind that should give you
enough time to you know fix any problems
or D power and stuff with your kite so
let's just quickly we're not going to go
through equipment set up you know that's
something that you can do with your
instructor more of a hands-on feel and
you can see how it all goes together and
we're also going to put together sort of
more in-depth video series lots of
videos explaining everything all the way
up till the water start and so if that's
finished
you'll see a link in the description of
this video and you can go and you know
see all of those videos but for now
again this is really just an overview
prior to your first lesson but let's
just quickly talk about the card itself
very quickly
[Music]
so this is a kite
most parks particularly if you're if
you're taking your first lesson and you
know most parts these days are what we
describe is an inflatable leading edge
so leading-edge inflatable kite so you
can see this big tube that's going
around here this is the crunch of the
kite and basically we've pumped it up
and so it's full of bad now the reason
that would be full of air is if we crash
it out on the water it's going to allow
us to get it back up into the air and
continue flying it also helps keep them
sort of integrity in the cart you can
see it sort of holds its own shape with
this inflatable tube it also has some
struts so this is called the leading
edge this is called the struts and then
this sort of flappy part is called the
canopy now when we're handling the kite
we sort of want to always hold it by
this leading edge this is where we can
really hold and patrol the cut never
grab it by the canopy or the struts or
anything or any of the lines okay we
really just want to make sure that we
control it here and the best place to
control it is actually in line with the
center strut so the middle of the kite
holding on to the big in flip n flate
able sort of tube okay the leading edge
so this is how we handle the cut now
also how we roll it over
so they're not using a card it always
sits down on the sand like this and you
can see the wind sort of helps hold it
down and you can also put some sand on
there to help keep it in position or you
can see I had my board to help hold it
down now with that same wind direction I
know it's probably a little hard to
grasp with the video but the wind is
still coming from here coming down this
direction when we put the kite on the
sand we line up this Center struck with
that wind direction and what that means
is that you can see it's not catching
any wind that's sitting there very
nicely put it down the wrong way
let's say we put it down like this
because
because we think oh we're at the beach
and we put it down face into the water
or something like that you can see it's
starting to catch wind and that
increases the risk of it flipping down
the beach and it was wind here today it
probably would be flipping down the
beach right now
so we always put the kite down leaving
edge facing into the wind and the strut
in line with our wind direction so now
what we might do is we'll put the kite
up in the air and we'll just go through
some of the basics of piloting okay so
now we've got the card up in the air and
basically one of the most important
things when learning kite surfing is
learning your safety systems how to get
power out of the cart if something was
to go wrong how to detach yourself from
the kite and you know that's super super
super important and we're not really
going to cover that here but your
instructor should really go through a
lot of demonstrations with you a lot of
you practicing that skills so that when
the time comes if needed then you're
ready to sort of DiPaolo the kite but
this is again just a bit of an overview
about how this whole thing works and so
what we've got here what I'm holding on
to is called a control bar the control
bar is how we steer the kite and you
might be able to see that we've got sort
of four lines are tapped into the card
this is pretty typical for a kite
surfing kite they you know they can be
two lines they can be five lines but
typically there are sort of four lines
we've got the two outside lines
attaching to the back of the cart if you
can see that and then we've got these
two front lines attached in you know in
the center to the front of the cart this
centre lines attached to our harness so
you can see I'm wearing a harness around
my body and most of the weight of the
kite is actually transferred down onto
your my weight which makes it a lot
easier a lot of people when they're
starting to you know look into kites if
you think or you must have a lot of
upper body strength you know you've got
to hang on to this thing all the time
but that's not really the case most of
the power is coming from that center
line delivered all the way down through
here to the harness and that's where a
lot of that weight comes from on the
outside lines the two steering lines
this is how we control it and
control it by turning the kite like this
you see it starts to move now we don't
steer the kite like a car this doesn't
do anything if you see like this this
doesn't actually change much right this
doesn't help what helps is actually
bringing in with the elbow and slightly
steering at super light conditions but
this is the motion we want again you'd
really learn this with your trainer card
and everything first getting used to
this but this is just just you know the
overview now the kite if we just think
about our wind again it's hitting me in
the face you can see the kite it's sort
of flying over here and what we can do
is we can slowly just by steering with
that control bar it'll come up over our
head and I'll come all the way down to
the other side
okay so the clients basically gone over
our head like a big rainbow imagine we
call that you know we sort of refer to
the positions of that as you would with
the hours of a clock so all the way down
here on the water would been three
o'clock where it is about now would be
about two o'clock so that would go in
anti-clockwise now but this would be
sort of closer to one o'clock right
above our head there's twelve o'clock
and then we're coming back down the
other side eleven sort of you know 10
all the way down and this is considered
to be nine o'clock now everything if we
remember just you know the winds at my
face so that means that everything down
this way is downwind if we remember that
and this area is called the wind window
so basically everything through here now
the further down that way the kite looks
the more powerful it's going to be that
sort of the power zone in through there
and when we go up over our head very
gently that's sort of the front of the
wind window and that is where we're
referring to that clock position as we
move the kite through this area it
generates a lot of power and when we're
riding like we were talking about before
we're going to be riding from side to
side
meaning that we got a ride sort of this
way
with the kite like this riding along
like that and then we're going to ride
also this way so on this Beach we're
going to go out into the water and then
we're going to sort of kind of come back
to the water and that's that cross on
shore conditions allowing us to do that
because we don't get to choose the
direction we want to go the wind and the
card are going to choose that and what
we get to do is just tap it you know to
and from across that the one other main
thing about this control bar is the fact
that you may have noticed that I'm sort
of bringing the closer to me sometimes
and further away and what that's doing
is changing the angle of the kite and
how much air it's sort of forcing
against it's to placement and so the
more angle you know the more force there
is the more wind that's hittin it and so
what that will do is sort of generate
more power so you know simply pour it as
we pull these back lines closer to
ourselves that generates more power and
as we push this away that generates less
power so one we're controlling our sort
of power by moving the cut through the
air and
we're also got the control here on the
bar by sort of cheating in and sheeting
out another main question that people
ask is like am I going to die you've
seen the YouTube videos are getting
dragged into buildings and all of this
sort of stuff but the car technology has
come along so far that there are sort of
these safety mechanisms now and so this
here and again you'll go through this
with your instructor but if you push
that away it detaches it from this
harness meaning it's no longer attached
okay and I'll show that in just a moment
and there will be connected to this
leash which Flags the card out and
completely be paused at but also the
very first point we're just getting rid
of power in your kite it's actually just
to let go the bar or sheet out and
you'll see if I do that you'll see the
kite just basically so if I'm holding
onto the bar and then I just don't want
any power a sheet out you'll see it
basically falls out of the sky okay with
very little power in it now and so
that's sort of the main thing is if
you're in a panic situation what tends
to happen is you hold on you know you're
like oh something's not right and you
hang on and then you just dragging along
it's making it worse whereas with a kite
you really have to just let it out and
if you've got any sailing experience
that's sort of the same as letting the
sail out if you know you've got too much
wind in the sail and this is trimming it
in you know pulling that sail in to grab
more wind this is getting rid of it by
shading out
okay so look I think that's that's it
for a bit of a rundown you know just the
basics of how this works so hopefully
that was helpful again you know
hopefully you can just watch this and
now when you go and have your lesson you
just think oh yeah I understand some of
those concepts and just helps you sort
of move along a little bit faster so
thanks again for watching guys and we'll
see in coming videos
