Riding Upwind: Stop the Walk of Shame

Edge harder, park the kite lower, hold your line

Where you should be starting from

You can waterstart both directions and ride 50-100m under control. You can stop without ditching the kite, and you're doing the walk of shame back up the beach after every run. That walk ends here. Riding upwind is the skill that turns kitesurfing from a series of rescues into a sport, and it's mostly a matter of understanding what the edge is for.

Conditions and gear

Powered is the whole point. Underpowered riders cannot learn upwind technique, because edging against a soft kite just stalls the board. Aim for 15-20 knots (28-37 km/h) with a kite that has you comfortably planing on a beam reach: a 12m at 15-18 knots or a 9-10m above 20 for a 75-85kg rider. A 136-140cm twin tip gives you rail to lean on. Flat water or chop under half a metre keeps the edge connected; a washing machine of a sea state can wait.

Side-onshore, as ever. While you're learning this, every failed run still drifts you downwind, so the beach should always be your safety net, never your enemy. On cross-off days, stay on the beach or ride somewhere else. And know your right-of-way basics before you start lapping a busy stretch: the rider on starboard tack, right hand and shoulder leading, holds course, and when two kites cross, the upwind rider flies theirs high while the downwind rider keeps theirs low.

The concept: the edge is a keel

The kite always pulls you roughly toward itself. Park it at 45 degrees and the pull is half sideways, half up. A flat board simply follows that pull downwind. Tilt the board onto its heelside rail, though, and the rail plus fins grip the water like a yacht's keel, refusing the sideways component. What's left drives you along the line of the edge, and if that edge is aimed upwind, upwind is where you go. You don't point the board upwind so much as refuse to be dragged downwind.

The rail is a wing, and wings stall at low speed. Water flowing fast along the rail generates the grip. Ride slowly and that grip evaporates, so the board slides sideways no matter how hard you edge. This is why the golden rule is speed before angle: bear away a few degrees, get the board hissing, then take the ground you want. Ten degrees lower and moving beats fifteen degrees higher and slipping. Speed helps twice over, because as you accelerate the apparent wind, the breeze your kite actually feels, strengthens and shifts forward, powering the kite up without you touching the bar.

Kite height sets the direction of the fight. At 11 or 1 the kite lifts you, unweighting your edge exactly when you need it planted. At 10 or 2 the pull comes horizontally, which loads the harness, lets you lean against it, and drives the board forward. Riding upwind well means parking the kite lower than feels natural and leaving it alone.

"Speed before angle. A board slipping sideways is just a wing flying below stall speed."

Phase by phase

Build speed first. Off the waterstart, ride a beam reach or slightly below it until the board is properly planing, light and hissing underfoot. Resist the urge to point high immediately. Two or three seconds of patience here pays for the whole run.

Set the edge progressively. Drop your weight upwind by pushing your hips back over the water, front leg long and firm, back knee bent and driving the tail's rail in. The board tilts, the rail bites, and you'll feel the harness load up as the kite starts pulling against something solid. Add angle a few degrees at a time and watch the water: a clean, narrow spray peeling off the tail means the rail is working; a wide slushy wake means it's sliding.

Fix the stance. Weight hangs off the harness hook, not your arms; if your forearms are pumped after two runs, you're hauling the bar instead of leaning on the hook. Torso twists to face upwind, leading shoulder pointing where you want to go, head up and looking 50m up the course. The board follows your eyes with unreasonable reliability. Bar sheeted to steady, moderate pressure, roughly halfway out on the throw.

Trim and hold. Once you're locked in, the work is quiet: kite parked at 10 or 2, tiny bar adjustments, hips doing the steering. In gusts, edge harder and take extra ground upwind; in lulls, bear away a touch to keep speed. Pick a transit, two lined-up landmarks on shore, and check it every run. Feelings lie about upwind progress. Transits don't.

Turn without giving it all back. A sloppy transition can dump 50m of hard-won ground. Slow down early, keep some edge through the turn, and bring the kite up and over deliberately rather than letting it drift to 12 while you wallow. It's normal to hold ground on one tack and haemorrhage it on the other; train the leaky side deliberately.

When it goes wrong

Huge spray, no progress. You're pinching: pointing high at low speed, so the rail has stalled and the board is sliding sideways. Bear away ten degrees, rebuild the hiss, then edge again. Angle you can't hold isn't angle, it's drift with attitude.

You keep getting pulled up off your edge. The kite is too high, or you're oversheeting so it climbs on its own. Park it at 10 or 2, ease the bar out to the middle of the throw, and the pull will move from your shoulders down into the harness where you can lean against it.

You feel fast but end up downwind anyway. Fast in a straight line downwind of the wind line is just efficient losing. Your edge isn't set; the board is flat and following the kite. Push the hips upwind, commit weight to the heelside rail, and accept the slower, loaded feeling. Upwind riding feels like work through the legs. If it feels effortless, check your transit.

You slow down, sink, and stop. Oversheeted and over-pinched at once: the bar is pinned, the kite has stalled backward in the window, and the board has run out of speed. Sheet out, dive the kite gently to rebuild power, run flat for a moment, then start again. The bar is a throttle, not a handle to hang on to.

Your back leg is on fire after every run. Your weight is camped over the tail, usually because the kite is high and you're defending against its lift. Lower the kite, lengthen the front leg, and let your stance spread the load. A burning back leg is a kite-position problem wearing a fitness costume.

Next session

One focus: park the kite at 10 or 2 and forbid yourself from moving it for a whole run. Steer with the edge, throttle with the bar, and check your transit at the end of each tack. When you finish a session upwind of where you launched, that's the day this clicked. If your school-era board is holding you back, a slightly longer twin tip from the classifieds buys real upwind grip, and the how-to section has your next step waiting: your first jumps.

Why can I ride upwind on one tack but not the other?

Everyone has a stronger side; the weak tack usually hides a lazy front leg or a torso that never fully rotates upwind. Film one run each way on a mate's phone and compare your shoulders. Then start every session with two runs on the weak tack before you're tired.

Would a bigger board fix this faster?

It genuinely helps: more rail and more surface means the board planes earlier and grips at lower speed, which is why 140cm-plus boards are the standard learner call. But a bigger board with a kite parked at 1 o'clock still goes downwind. Fix kite position first, then throw surface area at the problem.

How do I know if I'm actually gaining ground?

Take a transit: line up two fixed objects on shore, a roof behind a tree, whatever, at the start of each run. If they separate the wrong way, you're slipping regardless of how heroic the edge feels. Judging by spray or effort flatters everyone.

Should I move my kite in waves of chop?

Keep it parked and let your knees absorb the water instead. Riders who saw the kite up and down for every bit of chop unweight their own edge on every stroke. Soft knees, quiet hands, parked kite: the chop becomes texture rather than a problem.