UPWIND BODY DRAGGING ??

Patience. If you lose your board and pull up short (downwind) of it when you try to retrieve it, just go back out again. Head back upwind as hard as possible, point your arm out straight in the direction you want to go and fly your kite low. Careful not to pull the bar in too much. Keep your eyes looking where you want to go (upwind).

I find if you head out 50m upwind and then turn around and head back, by the time you get back your board has drifted and you're good.

In Whyalla we just stand up and wait for the board to catch up

My tip is to go out and spend a session with no board, body drag around muck around and you will be a pro in no time. Consentrate on the turns this is where most people loose there ground, longer runs help also.

Why werent you taught to body drag upwind during your lessons?

I think you might have missed a vital part of the learning process, you need to ditch the board and get out there for some upwind body dragging. When we teach, no student is allowed near the board until they have upwind body dragging sussed and honestly if someone shows you the correct technique it really isn't a hard thing to learn.
Maybe get yourself a lesson, an hour would be more than enough for an instructor to get you flying upwind.

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waxman said..
In Whyalla we just stand up and wait for the board to catch up

My tip is to go out and spend a session with no board, body drag around muck around and you will be a pro in no time. Consentrate on the turns this is where most people loose there ground, longer runs help also.

That's why I come to Whyalla.......on my road trip!

in regards to the body dragging....I also steer with one hand and use the other one as a rudder. Go upwind, let the board pass and than come from behind like a shark!
I sometimes had to lift the body fully out of the water to find my board again. While learning I took a tennis ball out for body dragging thrown it and tried to get it back.
Weird but good training and the doggy was happy to bring it back when it ended up on the beach!
cs

First of all go and get your money back as assuming you took lessons they were rubbish obviously. Don't put your kite at 12 as this will drag you downwind and nothing else. Keep it at 45 degrees and as others suggested do the superman thing. Avoid frequent change of direction as whenever you brong your kiteover 12 to the other side you go downwind a bit. So move the kite slowly through the zenit. Having said that don't go huge distances left and right either as you have to keep an eye on your board ideally at all times especially on choppy waters. The idea is to be relaxed, try to not go downwind much i.e. hold position while your board will float downwind eventually catching up with you. I am sure you will find some videos when googling "body dragging".

Rag, lots of good advice here mate. The superman thing is what I do, one hand on the bar, one hand out the front and keeping your body straight so you steer through the water.

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Ragzilla said..
any tips on how to body drag upwind??
lost my board a few days ago after i got ejected. Was dragged downwind a fair distance away from board. Could not get back to board for the life of me. T

Tried flying kite to edge of window and at 12 and still too much pull downwind to get back to my board. Ended up pulling de-power and swimming ( backwards mind you) which took 45 mins to get back to my board.

Any solutions, other then a leash ( no no no ) or riding with other people ( not always possible )
?????

With all the hot air about dodgy people in the Dandenongs you have, maybe you could simply fart your way upwind? JUST SAYING.

It only takes losing a $700 board once and I promise you this guy will figure out how important a skill it is the be able to body drag upwind.

My new board has bright red fins
I can spot that thing from 100 ms away
Makes it great to body drag to because you have a target to focus on. Sometimes if you aim too far upwind you just become a sea anchor and just keep stalling the kite out. ( I wish I'd known this cause I had my other board for 7 years and struggled to spot it in the swell, and spent many anxious minutes trying to find it and calling out to other kiters for help.)
Invest in a tin of paint and paint your fins RED. Cheaper than loosing your board and won't really cause any damage.

Keep you eye on your board (if possible) and body drag with just enough angle. Get a bit of speed up, and do long runs - it's just like kiting really, YOU are the BOARD and all the same kiting rules apply.

But a bit of practice and it becomes soo much easier.

Also, The instant you crash, adopt the superman stance. Dont let the kite drag you along for 5 or 10 seconds while you recover from your big wipeout cause you'll loose an extra 25 meters, and loose sight of your board bigtime!

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tgcp said..
I think you might have missed a vital part of the learning process, you need to ditch the board and get out there for some upwind body dragging. When we teach, no student is allowed near the board until they have upwind body dragging sussed and honestly if someone shows you the correct technique it really isn't a hard thing to learn.
Maybe get yourself a lesson, an hour would be more than enough for an instructor to get you flying upwind.

really good advi$e here, for instructor's that is.
It's otherwise known as "milking the cow", "dangling the carrot", or making as much money as possible out of the student as possible.

Bro, no matter what anyone tells you, some day's getting back to the board can be a bee-arrt-ch with or without any level of skill.

If you TT in waves or rivermouths, tidal waterway's, you'll know what I'm talking about.

One of my m8's has me rescue his board about once every 2nd sesh. He still refuses to buy one, but he's really good at dragging so he obviously doesn't need too.

Me I rather be on my board in 5sec than 5min trolling around the ink or walking the beach wondering where?

I found the kite 12 and back frog kick paddle worked for me sometimes .
Better than my superman attempt at the time\tide condition.

Lots of advice here. If I can bring some key points from an instructor point of view. We teach daily in rough waters and strong winds i.e. some of the most difficult conditions to learn this skill...so here are the tips I found the most effective for students. (sorry if some have already been mentioned):

-You need to relax as much as possible and focus at the task in hand. As soon as you loose your board and you know it's behind you, don't turn around and start looking for it just yet, this will just have you loose precious ground and time...so start body dragging upwind ASAP.

-By far the most common mistake is to angle your body too far upwind in the water. This especially happens when people stress too much and are looking directly upwind and swimming at their board thinking they will get there quicker...NOT!

If you do this you will essentially body drag DOWNWIND. When and if you get the correct angle (in the superman position) you will feel the water pressuring equally along your entire body. If you feel the pressure only on your arm and chest and not in the lower body, you are pointing too far upwind, and thus going downwind.

-When you get it right you should instantly feel your speed increasing and more power in the kite (you're creating what we call apparent wind), that's a really good sign!

-Another common mistake is to move the kite too much up and down in the wind window, this usually powers the kite up and sends you off-course and further downwind. Keep your kite stable around 10:30 and 1:30. Always avoid keeping your kite at 12.

-If you had a big crash which also involves a difficult/long kite relaunch you will need to prepare for a longer recovery, which means you will have to start by doing 30-45 seconds tacks before changing direction. If you know the board isn't that far upwind, then usually 10-20 seconds tacks will do the trick. Doing tacks that are too long, you run the risk of completely loosing sight of your board. Doing tacks that are too short will typically make you loose ground due to frequent direction change. When you change direction, push the bar out completely and don't move the kite too fast across the window, otherwise you will loose the ground you just made.

-You typically don't need a lot of power to make good ground upwind, but this depends on a lot of factors. Current direction vs wind direction is a big one. If you body drag upwind directly against the current you will need little power to perform very well, you'll have heaps of speed without much effort...BUT If the current is dragging you more downwind, you will need a lot more power in the kite and speed with your body to prevent going downwind, this is when most people loose the most ground, simply because they're not going fast enough to counteract the effect of the current. This is especially true when the current is very strong.

For example, where we teach, you only have to pull the bar half way in on the left side (against the current) but when coming back towards the shore on the right side, you have to pull the bar nearly all the way in if you don't wanna loose ground.

-There's typically one side that's gonna feel and perform better when you body drag upwind. Always start going on that side first (your ''good side'') as you are more likely to make up the most ground there. If in doubt go for a bit longer before you change direction, even if you overshoot the board a bit and end up going downwind to get it back.

-The best way to measure your performance when you get out there and practice is to enter the water from a fixed point from the beach (Leave your board on the beach as a marker) you should be able to at least get out 50 meters and come back to the same point you left from. If you loose ground there is improvement to be made. If you can come back further upwind than where you left from you'll probably never struggle with board recovery again:)

-If you are in rough waters and strong wind, keep the kite slightly higher and put more power on the bar to speed up, this will lift your head a bit further above the surface and you'll avoid getting blinded by the water and also avoid drinking the whole ocean...

Christian

I also see you are in Vic- body dragging is also important for place like St Kilda to get out far enough so as to not be in the way of people learning- i know i did this for several months- dragg out two line lengths (past the yellow bouy) then get up on the board-gets out of the initial mess and is generally i find a better option than trying to content with several instructors.

Good luck