this video explains in detail how to
ride upwind looking at body position
kite control common mistakes and angles
let's start with the basic body position
you should already be confident water
starting and stopping on both sides
without crashing yourself or the kite
begin with a comfortable water start
riding mostly up right with your front
leg straight to turn the board slightly
downwind heading a little downwind will
help you gain speed and start planing
once you're planing gradually lean your
shoulders back into the harness leaning
back will press your weight onto your
heels the hill side rail or press into
the water which carves the board upwind
let's have a look at that on the left
side comfortable water start left leg
straight pointing board downwind once
planing progressively drop shoulders
back leaning back further we'll carve
the board further up wind although
leaning too much will create drag and
slow you down to be able to ride upwind
you must be able to maintain a medium
board speed if you ride too slowly the
board sinks into the water and has too
much drag if you ride too quickly the
board Rises until it has little contact
with the water you can see here the
board is barely touching the water if
you have a middle speed however the
board is sunk enough to cut into the
water but high enough to not drag you
should see about half of your board
cutting in nicely like this maintaining
this medium speed begins with kite
control if you look closely you will see
experienced kite surfers making lots of
adjustments on the bar if they're a
little slow they sheet in if they're a
little fast they sheet out if they're
very slow and nearly sinking they steer
the kite up and down to reposition it
further into the power zone aiming the
board back downwind for a while also
helps to regain speed as well as board
speed there are several other easy
mistakes to make when trying to ride
upwind a very common mistake is trying
to turn upwind too quickly
many people who are becoming impatient
try this they water start then
forcefully turn the board upwind you can
see that a lot of energy is wasted and
the board never planes properly rather
think of turning up when there's a
smooth carve or arc
the Pugh stance is a very common and
amusing mistake the Pugh stance
originates when people try to lean back
upwind using their waist rather than
their shoulders things then get worse as
this causes the harness to ride up
towards your armpits
you then have to lean your shoulders
forwards to control the bar and the Pugh
stance gets even worse stop for a second
pull your harness down and make sure to
lean upwind with your upper body and
shoulders now we'll take a quick
overview of the angles involved when you
ride upwind at this location the wind is
blowing directly on shore but the rider
is managing to head against the wind and
away from the beach this is possible
because the kite pulls in this direction
across from the wind if you did not edge
the board obviously you would start to
head this way but with your heel edge
cutting into the water you can force
yourself across from the kites pool as
you lean back further and turn the board
away from the kites pool you can head
more upwind but you will create a lot
more resistance you can actually use
this to help you slow down quicker on
the other hand if you want to speed up
you can turn the board towards the kites
pool there will be less resistance and
this makes it much easier to regain your
speed this is why we turn the board
downwind whenever we water start
or need to speed up good luck learning
to ride upwind it takes effort and
determination but once you master it
your kiting level will improve much more
quickly
