Kitesurfing on a Jimmy Lewis 11'

[jjue]

There is a movement afoot in the kitesurfing world  to lose the footstraps , and   ride   boards including regular shortboards and longboard surfboards  without straps with kites.   Now  SUP's are    being added to the fun ... here is  a photosequence from  Losethestraps.com  .. of a guy kitesurfing a Jimmy  Lewis 11'   with a 20m kite ...







And here is a vid  of  what strapless kitesurf wavesailing looks like on a  standard longboard surfboard. ..

Kitesurfing - longboard

[PonoBill]

I was thinking about just this thing over the weekend in Hood River. I had my Starboard 12'2" out sailing but the river was covered with kiteboarders. Since the new kites take care of themselves much more than the old ones did you see people doing things they didn't do before--like swimming to a lost board while the kite hangs out above them. I thought wavesailing with a kite is now a possibility--kiting to the wave and then surfing it with the kite parked and most attention given to the board.

[pavedwave]

i should be testing this one out soon   (Hydra HQ trainer)    folds down small enough for a backpack.

HQ Powerkites: Hydra - water relaunchable trainer kite

i'll need to learn "how to kite" first though   

[Southbay]

Could you fold up the kite, and put it in the backback, in the water? 

[juandoe]

i should be testing this one out soon   (Hydra HQ trainer)    folds down small enough for a backpack.

HQ Powerkites: Hydra - water relaunchable trainer kite

i'll need to learn "how to kite" first though   

Any reports on this yet?  I am intrigued by the goofing off aspects of this hybridization.

[Keahi]

I can say I've done it as well. We tried tandem with 2 kites on a kalama. It's pretty fun

Keahi

[Keahi]

Found this one as well.

[Keahi]

I was thinking about just this thing over the weekend in Hood River. I had my Starboard 12'2" out sailing but the river was covered with kiteboarders. Since the new kites take care of themselves much more than the old ones did you see people doing things they didn't do before--like swimming to a lost board while the kite hangs out above them. I thought wavesailing with a kite is now a possibility--kiting to the wave and then surfing it with the kite parked and most attention given to the board.

Hey Bill,

Here are a couple videos of me kiting on a surfboard without straps. Although you can try and surf with the kite just parked the wind has to be real cross shore in order to do that. You can still make it just like surfing when your moving the kite.

Sunshine Beach

Sunshine Sessions (kitesurfing)

Tea Tree Bay

Noosa Sessions

Keahi

[crtraveler]

Looks cool - have been thinking of this for about a year now.  Where I do my training paddles it sometimes has a real nice N wind coming down the lake - I was thinking to paddle upwind for  the length of the lake (about 3 miles), get my workout and then deploy the kite and enjoy the ride back.........now I just need to buy a kite.

[pavedwave]

Any reports on this yet?  I am intrigued by the goofing off aspects of this hybridization.

It's been good comedy, just two times on water so far.   I wanted to get skilled at using the Hydra first, which is an awesome little kite.   Spent about 8 hours on land with it over a couple weeks and learned the patience of kiting sessions, often ended up just yakking with locals when the wind was completely flat.     

First time I got the kite up in really mellow winds (4-5mph) and pulled out to the middle of a lake  (pretty fast!!)  then the wind disappeared, and I learned how quickly even this Hydra kite starts sucking up water like a sponge if it doesn't stay puffed up and on top of the water.   A few futile relaunch attempts from the board just pulled me closer to the kite  (ahhh...physics)   and I also discovered that the handle does not float on its own!! ...buying some little styrofoam floaters to attach to it.

Second time, I was going to launch from a dock, winds were HUGE and spent the whole session just trying to get the kite off of the water surface again.   Luckily I have no shame.  I've really got to figure out how to get the kite back off the water quickly, it'll just take practice.

As I understand it, these 3m trainer kites don't "park" in one place as well like a big kite, they zip around a lot more so you have to learn how to keep the figure-8's going to keep them high while you're noodling around on the water-- but I'm still thinking it will work on the lake in the right wind.   

[pavedwave]

Could you fold up the kite, and put it in the backback, in the water? 

Forgot to mention...out on the water I was able to pull it back up on board, drain it, and roll it up enough to fit back into the backpack.   The SUP isn't big enough to spread the whole thing flat out there.   But back on land it was easy enough to lay it out, which you need to do to let it dry, then fold it up proper.