KERRI SHUTE TARPEY
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Be in the know before you go
Deciding to Kite
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 Congratulations on deciding to be a kiteboarder. You are about to embark on the journey of a lifetime. Kiting means excitement. The world is now your playground and the size of your family can’t be counted. You have joined an elite group of healthy, active friends, young and old, who welcome you. 

Learning to harness the power of the kite and ride the board is your first step. Working with a kite school is the safest bet to a good clean start here. Should you not be staying in paradise, look on line for a school near you to assist in continued learning, purchasing gear and making friends.
​

Be Friendly

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   Talk to people upon arrival about the beach. They will respect you for it and support you. Walk right up to other kiters, wait a moment to be acknowledged and introduce yourself. Explain that you are a new kiter or new to this beach. Simply ask, “What do I need to know about kiting here?” You will be hard pressed to find a kiter who doesn’t respond well to this gesture. 

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​Kite community is a team; a family of sorts. Typically people are very friendly and extremely willing to offer support. If you decide to go it alone, consider the dilemma you create for the other kiters. They know nothing about you or your skill level so they may not even realize you need assistance until it’s too late. 
​

The Basics

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DO NOT  kite in off shore wind. Off shore wind can only take you away from the safety of land. We know a solid million reasons that no one should ever kite in an off shore wind. As a beginner, you don’t yet know what you don’t know. So just trust that off shore can only lead you into trouble and possibly death.
​

An excellent way to prove this rule is to run a test. Toward the end of a great session of kiting in on shore wind, stop in deep water. Make sure you are far enough away from shore to perform a convincing test, but not so far that you are alone or can’t get your feet on the ground in a reasonable amount of time. 

Perform a self rescue. This means use your chicken loop and let the bar flag out leaving the kite powerless. Wrap your lines on the bar while treading water and then turn your kite onto its back when you reach it. Flipping the kite can be a challenge in itself, but now notice how far you are from shore. You have likely drifted quite a distance during the time it took to accomplish a standard self rescue. Now attempt to swim out to sea. After a grand effort, you are likely to be on shore before long. 


Try this exercise at the beginning of a session before you are fatigued and you will still end up on shore. Swimming against the wind with a kite and board in your arms would prove difficult for an olympic swimmer. When you add the fact that the tide might be receding or that you might be injured, it’s impossible. What if your kite is damaged and the leading edge has deflated? It’s even heavier and harder to move in addition to the fact that you now have lines to contend with in your swimming stroke. 


Please just don’t kite in off shore wind. When one kiter makes a mistake, we all pay. Communities all over the world as struggling to adjust to sharing beaches with kiters and many beaches have been closed to kiting all together. Be safe.

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​On shore wind can be dangerous for new kiters because it's hard to get away from the beach while the wind is pushing you directly to the beach with shore break and shallow water. Even if you don't mind the struggle, we are obligated to make sure pedestrians are not nervous about their safety. Eventually, when you can control your direction of travel better, on shore wind is fine. ​

The best wind direction to kite in is side shore. This direction blows parallel with the beach and allows the kiter to move down wind never getting too far from land or too far out to sea. 

Always make certain you have a safe exit point. This is called the down wind out.

​



What could go wrong?

Not all bad ideas begin with the statement, “Watch this. Hold my beer.” 

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For safety sake
To keep you safe, kiters have established a right of way pattern that can be extremely helpful when kiting in popular locations. 
Kiters exiting the beach have the right of way. It’s never safe to stand on the beach with a launched kite. You should get into the water as quickly as safely possible. Therefore, kiters in the water need to allow space for those exiting the beach. 

When passing another kiter and your right shoulder is forward you have the right of way. When your left shoulder forward, you give way. This means that the up-wind kiter keeps kite high while downwind kiter lowers their kite. But, it also means be courteous.
Get out of the way if you don’t have the right of way. 



A Great Finish

Do a check of the sand before you leave the beach. Every kiter has left expensive gear at some point. Preform a mental inventory as you load the car. Are the leash the knife still with your harness? Have you packed both booties? Kites, board and pump seem easy enough to remember, but you would be surprised to know how many have simply been left behind. Lots of things are left hanging to dry or dropped on the walk to the car — wet suit, impact vest/floatation vest, gloves, glasses, hat, helmet, towel.


Food for thought


Take your time to purchase gear carefully. Often your instructor can advise you on what is the best equipment for your level and style of kiting at the best value. Many folks who sell equipment online are honest, but be wary and ask plenty of questions. 

Learn to be an independent kiter. Under supervision of an instructor or other experienced kiters, practice self-rescue techniques, body dragging, board dragging, board capture, self-launching and landing. These skills are invaluable when you need them, but you need time and these skills require practice. Don’t wait until no one is on the beach to learn self launch. Ask kiters to assist you in learning and then practice. When you need the skill, you will be safe. 

Wind your lines carefully for easier set up next time. Run your fingers between the lines as you make your figure eights on the bar. Lots of time is often wasted walking lines that were put away too quickly.

Dry your gear thoroughly especially if you used it in rain or fresh water. Fresh water will mold and ruin your gear. 

Listen well to other kiters. They have invaluable information and entertaining stories you will learn from. 
All of these conversations are designed for beginners. Play and evolve, but be smart as you go. Take lessons until
​you are comfortable, a safe kiter. 


​Reading the wind

The arrow in the image points in the direction the wind is blowing, however, the wind is named for the direction from which it comes. A Southwest wind or a Southeast wind is great for a south facing beach.
​
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  Saturday begins with no wind but builds until there is enough to kite with a big kite at 13:00 through 16:00    
  hours. But, then it drops. Where will you be when this happens? If you forgot to check for a storm, a fog
  bank combined with the direction change could leave you headed for the open ocean. Thunder and
  lightening might just accompany a rain storm. It’s important to look at the big picture and kite when the
  window of opportunity assures your success.



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​The wind often drops while changing direction which can trick you into pumping the wrong size kite for the next bump of wind. If you begin your day in a Southwest wind, can you still kite at the same beach when it changes to Northwest? A jump from 21 knots to 37 knots is dangerous for all kiters. These models are not exact. They are a helpful tool but that’s it. No guarantees. 
​


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  Wednesday’s wind direction looks steady enough, but is the variance in strength is beyond 10 knots and
  changes from a safe 19 knots to dangerous 44 knots. Even if this wind didn’t pick you up and drop you like a
  tea bag in hot water, you would very likely hurt yourself and others trying to land. 


  This isn’t a good day to kite for a beginner or intermediate kiter. Even the sand on the beach is flying at these speeds. It’s impossible to keep out of your eyes and it’s painful.

Kiteboarding Terminology


  • Apparent wind is created by moving the kite. On a light wind day, you will move your kite more aggressively thereby creating more resistance on the kite. 
 
  • Body dragging is a skill where the kiter uses their body like a rudder to control the direction of travel through the water. This is important for getting back to your board or back to shore when injured or separated from your board.
 
  • Boost is big jumps.
 
  • Chicken loop is the connection point between the two center lines and the harness. It is equipped with a release mechanism that disables the kite.
 
  • Dawn Patrol is an early morning session.
 
  • De-power is an adjustment to the kite lines that limits the power the kite can generate. This can be achieved by adjusting the depower/trim line or attaching the steering lines to one of three knots on the kites bridle. Sheeting the bar out also depowers the kite. 
 
  • Dip stick is if you don’t know how deep the water is, put the kite at 12 and when you sink into the water try to reach the bottom. You are now being a dip stick much like the one used to measure the amount of oil in a car engine.
 
  • Donkey dick is the rod that is placed into the chicken loop to keep the kite attached to the harness. Also called keeper tube or chicken finger. 
 
  • Downwind is the direction the wind is blowing toward.
 
  • Downwinder means riding downwind and typically ending far from where you began.  
 
  • Edge refers to using the board at an angle rather than flat on the water. 
 
  • Freestyle riding means general skills and may include many tricks but not limited to one specific skill. 
 
  • Guinea pig is a wind-dummy. This person is used to test to see if the wind kiteable. This person’s bravery is always appreciated. 
 
  • Heel side is the standard riding position where your heels are lower than your toes and the board is on its edge slightly in front of you. 
 
  • Hindenburg is when the kite stalls and drops out of the air. 
 
  • Handlepass is passing the bar behind your back as you spin after unhooking the chicken loop.
 
  • Heli loop is looping the kite directly above your head. 
 
  • Keeper tube is the rod that is placed into the chicken loop to keep the kite attached to the harness. Also called donkey dick or chicken finger. 
 
  • Kiteloop is turning the kite in a full circle to either the left or right beginning at 12 o’clock and rotating in front of you. 
 
  • Kitemare is a dangerous situation that was difficult to avoid or predict or due to poor planning or inexperience.
 
  • Launch is getting the kite in the air either with assistance or without.
 
  • Lofted means to get lifted vertically into the air by the kite in a strong gust of wind.
 
  • Luffing is when the air flow doesn’t fill the sail and the canvas is not tight. The kite can’t fly until the sail stops flapping and becomes tensioned. 
 
  • Nuking is extremely high wind that is usually not comfortable to stand in never mind kite in. 
 
  • Offshore is where you will end up if you kite in wind blowing away from shore, offshore wind. Never kite in wind that is blowing away from everything that you know and love.
 
  • Onshore is wind blowing straight at the shore from the water.
 
  • Overpowered means you have more power than you need to kite normally. This can be a good thing when jumping, but the set up is designed with a depower or trim line to help in this situation. 
 
  • Pop is when you turn or carve the board in the upwind direction while briefly putting additional pressure on your back foot in order to get the board to lift out of the water. This is the first step of learning to jump.
 
  • Power zone is the area of the wind window in front of you. Put the kite in this area to generate power.
 
  • Re-Launch simply means launching the kite again either in the water or on land. 
 
  • Rocker refers to the curve of your board. A bit of curve makes landing a jump softer.
 
  • Send it means to dive the kite aggressively.
 
  • Slogging seriously underpowered and struggling to stay upwind or above water. 
 
  • Side offshore wind blows away from the shore at an angle.
 
  • Side onshore is wind that blows from the ocean onto the shore at an angle. 
 
  • Side shore is wind blowing parallel to the shore.
 
  • Spreader bar is the stainless steel bar at the front of the rider's harness where the chicken loop attaches. 
 
  • Tack refers to changing direction, also called transitioning, by turning into the wind while riding a surf board.
 
  • Gybe is changing direction by turning downwind on a surf board.
 
  • Tea-bagging occasionally in high gusts or when accidentally kite looping, the increased power of the wind picks the rider up and drops him back into the water. Typically no damage is done to anything but the rider’s ego. 
 
  • Transition means to turn your direction of travel in the opposite direction. Slide, jump and toe side and backroll transitions are most common.
 
  • Toe side means popping the board around so that you lean your toes into the water where your heals were. Your forward direction is maintained. Only the board turns. 
 
  • Tomahawk Is an axe used by Native Americans. In kiting, when the kite drops out of the sky rapidly and slams onto the water hard, typically making an easily distinguishable, cringeworthy sound, you have tomahawked your kite. This is an excellent way to break your leading edge.
 
  • Twin tip  is a type of board that can slide in both directions.
 
  • Underpowered means either there isn’t enough wind to ride or you have selected a small kite size for the current conditions. 
 
  • Unhooked is when a kitesurfer unhooks the chicken loop from the spreader bar for short periods of time in order to perform advanced tricks.
 
  • Upwind is the direction from which the wind is blowing.
 
  • Walk of Shame is walking back upwind with your kite in the air or under your arm to the launch point. Typically you have to walk past many other kiters which just makes you feel silly.
 
  • Wind-dummy is a person who tests to see if the wind is rideable by attempting to kite in questionable conditions. Also known as the guinea pig.
 
  • Wind Shadow is the result of an object like a building or trees blocking the wind from and area. 
 
  • Wind window is anything the kite can touch when it is attached to you and flying. The window is divided into two parts - the edge and the power zone. 
 
  • Yard sale is when you crash while kiting, you go one way and your kite goes one way and the board goes the other, hat and glasses fly off. All the debris looks like a yard sale.
 
  • Zenith is directly above your head. This is also called 12 o’clock. The kite not generating power when parked at zenith. 
























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  • HOME
    • If Not You, Then Who?
    • Writing
    • Artwork
    • Lucky
    • My TV interview
  • Kiting
    • My kiting story
    • Kiting safety
    • downwinder
    • terminology
    • Waterplaytci >
      • About Us
      • Activities Request form WaterPlayTCI
      • Meet the Team
      • Watercraft
      • Windsurfing
      • windsurfing terms
      • SUP
      • Miami Beach rules
  • Buy my book
  • Contact Kerri