Cant go upwind after 20-30 sessions

[Beats1818]

I have been kitesurfing 20-30 sessions (1-3 hrs per session) with a north vegas 05 and still cant go upwind. I can jump and land, I just cant go upwind. I put all my weight on my back foot, I have the kite locked in at 3:00 I just wont go upwind. I would be thankful of any help or tips.

[OliverG]

Going upwind effectively is a subtle combination of body and kite position and being powered is essential. Keep your hips forward, back straight, rear leg bent at the knee, front leg fairly straight. You want to maintain balance and effective planing on the board, with weight on your rear foot to edge hard, but not so much that it's your sole focus. Some boards also respond to different body position, with some going upwind better with some weight on the front foot or even slight upward pressure. Experiment with different positioning and weight distribution.

[dewey]

Remember also jumping takes you down wind. I think board/kite control should be the first thing you work on. Jumping will come after. Like Ollie said it's a balance thing. Too much back foot pressure and you kill the kite power, and go down wind. Too little kite pressure and you go down wind. It takes a while, but you'll get it. Once it clicked for me I couldn't get down wind back to the beach.

[Scotty]

Not only balance, but equipment also. I had a Naish TT for my first season and couldn't go upwind for the life of me. Went out honestly 20-30 times.
Bought a Hana Crew Stealth and started carving upwind on my first session. Plus, are you too overpowered? This can cause you too skip. Where have you been kiting? Flat water is ideal, chop makes it harder. There are definitely a lot of factors involved with trying to go upwind.
Did you take lessons? I did not and sure wish I did. Would have saved a lot of frustration.

[Rascal]

Beats:

I am going through this challenge myself and have made dramatic progress in only a few sessions so this problem should be relatively easy to fix ... Going upwind is ALL about BOARD DIRECTION. Board direction is ALL about your overall FOOT PRESSURE.

There a few simple mental images that you can focus on that should help quite a lot. Think: 1, 2, 3!

1>. BAR TOWARDS TOES:
Take both hands and push slightly down on the bar as if you are trying to push the bar to your toes. What you want is to make a big proud chest, to square your shoulders, and straighten your back. Pushing down on the bar will do all the posture things Ollie's post suggested. At the same time visualize lifting your toes towards the bar. This will allow you to edge harder and will get your weight onto your heals. Don't push too hard on the bar, its not the bar pressure that counts merely what this does mental image does to your shoulders and overall posture.

2>. POINT CHEST TO TARGET:
Turn your shoulders to face up wind, and try point your chest at your target. You won't get there all the way, but this will square yourself to the correct direction.

3>. LOOK UPWIND!:
Say to yourself Look Upwind!! Pick a spot to go to, and continue to say to yourself, "look up wind!" "look up wind!" "look up wind!" and this will get the direction of the board in the right direction, and your focus correct.

Best of luck, and let me know how it goes.

When you are learning there is so much to take care of that there is the potential to completely mentally overwhelm yourself. The way I am learning is to focus on only a few key mental images and use a 1,2,3 list approach were I go through my list of simple things to do, and then I execute these steps, which in turn corrects the technique. Or so the theory goes :)

If anybody is battling to get onto the board, I also have a short list that I believe will help you get up.

Rascal

[panzerfaust]

I also found that moving your knee away from the direction where you are going helps as well. Move you back leg knee in and out to see what happens.

Also, the Glide seems to take people way upwind.

[knyfe]

what board are you using? What is your weight your wind your kite size?

keep you view to something which is upwind and try to direct your baord to that. By that you need to put pressure on the REAR foot which gives you a hard edge.

[maxsteamer]

Dive the kite down just a few inches from the water,move your hands close together on the bar..as to keep from over flying the kite ,you will fly upwind?? BECAUSE YOUR KITE IS EVEN WITH YOUR BOARD YOU CAN KEEP YOUR EDGE AND POINT CLOSER TO THE WIND GUARANTEED!!!!

Good Winds......Can you help me with JUMPS!!!!!

Max

[panzerfaust]

Dive the kite down just a few inches from the water,move your hands close together on the bar..as to keep from over flying the kite ,you will fly upwind?? BECAUSE YOUR KITE IS EVEN WITH YOUR BOARD YOU CAN KEEP YOUR EDGE AND POINT CLOSER TO THE WIND GUARANTEED!!!!

Good Winds......Can you help me with JUMPS!!!!!

Max

of course, SEND IT :shock: