Hi all, I'm fairly competent in all the basics, but I am really struggling learning to ride toeside. I can transition into the toeside position easy enough, however it feels very uncomfortable and awkward, and I always fall within 10 - 20 metres.
Can anyone tell me, when riding toeside, should you:
- Allow the harness to rotate around your body, so that the loop is coming off your hip rather than in front of your belly button? I feel like this would help, because it feels like the kite is constantly trying to twist my body around.
- Position your feet any differently within the footstraps than when riding heelside? I know that the weight placement will be different, but do people do anything differently with their feet - like pulling them slightly out of the straps and rotating them?
Any other tips people think are helpful would be great, I've watched a few youtube tutorials, but still can't get it. Thanks in advance.
James
A sliding spreader certainly helps pulling from the hip,
Pads and straps that are more toe forward assist letting you raise your heel, a more closed than open stance on pad setting, powered at the kite, drop your upwind hand and touch the water, this enhances your hip rotation and fix a point upwind whilst your at it, pushing your back foot around slightly
Just lean into the lines, towards the water. One hand on the bar, right in the middle and keep the kite at 45 or slightly higher (don't have it at lunch time). Once you have that you should be able to cruise forever and can work on going upwind. Just leaning into it will make it click! The hips are doing most of the work here so unless your gear is hurting you, should be fine! If you can, join a downwinder crew. That's what I did and it made my toeside learning really fast.
Would help if you explained why you crash ..... if the nose of your board is catching = not enough weight transferred to the new back leg.
if your heel edge is catching = not leaning away from kite enough.
Need a bit more power to ride toeside than heel side on twin tip and a bit of speed is your friend before switching.
Don't do a complete 180 to start with, you can pop around and head slightly (about 45 degrees) down wind then progressively edge further upwind.
I feel both my legs are slightly more bent at the knees than when I ride heel side but might just be my style. As mentioned above: Kite at 45 or higher and dropping the back hand is gold, allows your shoulders and hips to rotate further upwind.
Keep practicing, if you don't wipe out every session you're not trying enough new tricks
Try it when you have a bit more power. If you are having to work the kite to keep going its that much more difficult. With a little more power you can be sloppy with your weight distribution and still ride along. Then you can start playing around with weight distribution (more front foot pressure, more toe pressure)
Also its a lot easier in flat water. If you don't have much space to build up speed to transition then you can waterstart to toe side so you get more time practising before you need to turn around
Thanks for the tips. I think I might invest in a sliding spreader, when I'm rotated as much as I can it still feels like the kite is trying to keep twisting me (I probably do have the kite a little high, but I think it's more than just that). I'm sure doing a downwind run would help a lot too, I think I could keep going toeside if I didn't have to worry about staying upwind.
A heel to toeside transition on dwinders at incoming swell is great to refine your toeside skills, especially on dwinders
If you can, join a downwinder crew. That's what I did and it made my toeside learning really fast.
!!?? What's downwind riding got to do with riding toe-side.
Disclaimer: Yet to do a proper long-distance downwinder
If you can, join a downwinder crew. That's what I did and it made my toeside learning really fast.
!!?? What's downwind riding got to do with riding toe-side.
Disclaimer: Yet to do a proper long-distance downwinder
You can point downwind, plane more, practice going rail to rail, heel to toe and back etc, while losing heaps of ground and not worrying much about it.
by a couple of km in, most find they are even holding ground toe side, and need to consciously keep heading down wind. It is just a bit of a circuit breaker, in case toe side riding isn't clicking for whatever reason, eg the nature of the spot you normally ride.
Disclaimer: Yet to do a proper long-distance downwinder
A proper down winder.....awesome...
They toe-side too
www.kiteworldmag.com/video/the-magic-river/
I suppose on topic comment should be made... some thoughts...nothing new but might be a slightly different way of looking at the issue which lights your bulb!!!!
1). Do heel side runs work out an angle you can easily hold choose targets in the distance. - Use this as a guide for your toe side path..
2). Look at the edge angle you are holding when heel side and try to work out where board axis is ( front to back). it is not necessarily symmetrical. When you are going toe-side what sort of edge are you holding - similar to Heel side.. to get the angle you may be leaning over more than you think you are (=that axis is biased towards the heel side). So it is easier to over balance when less power from the kite and or slowing down. The solution as per Gateman - bend from the knee - this allows you to get the edge but keep your weight more centered over the board.
3). Remember when you first started getting the hang of heel side... That balancing act between going up wind (ish!!) and down-wind and the power in the kite..?? Well it is essentially a replay... what worked for you then replay.. The trick for me was to always keep moving .. so S tracking and flipping back to heel side re-loading and having another crack. If you don't already, when you are about to change direction on heel side, try flipping the board to Toe-side and then down looping the kite and follow it around to end up back on heel side going back.
My toe-side is never as efficient as heel side - = there is a power limit available and below that I do not try and track for any long runs on toe-side.. I mostly ride directional strapped in, on waves, until I loose the straps it is unlikely to improve..
Keep asking and give us an update...
cheers
AP
If you can, join a downwinder crew. That's what I did and it made my toeside learning really fast.
!!?? What's downwind riding got to do with riding toe-side.
Disclaimer: Yet to do a proper long-distance downwinder
Great practice for carving transitions. You go out on your heels flip the kite over and come back on your toes and if there is a little wave you can try to have fun with that. Since you don't have to go back upwind it is quite good training. Longest downwinder I did yet was an hour. It is good to mix it up, coming back to the beach on your heels and then flipping the kite around and going out on your toes instead to give the good leg a break