Kiteboarding
Terminology
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.
- Handle-pass 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.