unhooked wave riding

[doc]

Sooooo, unhooked wave riding then. Is it any good? what are the advantages/disadvantages and the like.

 

Anyone had a go? Anyone do it all the time?

 

if you have tried it what were the conditions you found favourable and what kite and board did u use.

 

How best do you try gettin accustuomed to it.

 

any pointers appreciated as it takes balls of steal i would imagine to unhook on a wave and a strong wind.

 

any good vids that i can watch might also be helpful.

[ShapeShifter]

I'd be surprised if anyone does it here ... you need decent sized waves for one, and it helps if they last more than 30 seconds before closing out.

 

Its all about slashy carvey looseness. whole body freedom on the board and wave.

 

I have not done it but a good friend of mine in italy does it all the time and loves it.

[paulie_amoose]

Not that I have ever done it but your riding with smaller kite and big normal thruster (around 6ft) so the unhooking is not that bad. The idea is to get as close to real surfing as possible. Hooked in your not able to open your body up fully and get into super critcal body positions you see proper surfers doing and your always conserned with the trim of the kite. Unhooked you just hold on to it and stays perfectly trimmed.

 

As Ron said, difficult in this country where we ride in on-shore/cross on-shore stuff where the waves close out quickly. It is really suited to pure down the line, super clean off shore stuff.

 

If you want to give it a go Mark I have the perfect board for sale... 6'2 Airush Converse the choice of Felix Pevic (surfing with kites master).

[doc]

thanks guys. yes i think its something a bit special for sure. There are guys from all over the world on this forum so there may be some who pop by. what u say makes a lot of sense tho particularly the smaller kite surfboard approach. i have a rocket fish surfboard so am ok on that score (thanks paulie).

 

in principle tho, it only takes a moment to unhook and hook back in so i cant see why it cant still be done in this country.

 

After all when ur tryin to pick it up ur only gonna want to do it in brief intervals between hooking back in.

 

ur also gonna need at least enough wind/power to stay upwind and get outside i would have thought.

 

Appears to give u a lot more mobility tho but ur out and out surfing skills would need to be improved significantly.

[paulie_amoose]

Stick this question on kiteforum and you'll get some better responses.....

[npeac]

are you at a stage where you are finding the kite restrictive to what you are doing on the wave, if not get to that point then revisit this.

are you unhooking for jumps as well.

getting the kite trimmed for what you want it to do on the wave is critical, its not hard or a black art but you need to know how to do it. most people who are buying the sort of kites that let you depower at the bar will find no advantage to unhooking, as ron said we dont get the kind of waves here to make it worthwhile and there generally arent many photographers bobbing round in the waves. thats pretty much all there is to gain is looking good.

[doc]

i'm ok with unhooking itself in the waves but havent tried it out and surfed propa

 

when hooked in if find the top turn quite hard to execute. i can do it pretty wel mind but not to the same extent as a good surfer would. So it strikes me that it would increase maouverabiltiy no end.

 

i use a twin tip mind but would like to try the full on surf board and then go for the unhooked and try it out. As u say, just get in there and try it out is often the best way.

 

think i will get dialled in on using the surf board first though instead of a twin tip. But it stikes me as something to aspire to and aim for one day.

 

i like to have a goal to work toward on a step by step basis just like i have corresponding freestyle goals to achieve as well. Cheers

[whiteside_josh]

my opinion on this is that... if you wanna ride waves to the max and be a 'pro' wave rider then its probably best ridin the waves unhooked.

 

mainly because you get more manouverability! If you think about it you are actually surfing the wave exaclty the same as normal surfers but you just have that extra power/speed for keeping up with the waves and doin massive carves!

 

i had ago the over day (onli on 2 ft waves) but its does feel better and probably would get easier as you get use to it.

 

also you dont wanna be hooked in when ridin 12ft+ plus waves! if your unhooked you can simply let go!

[too much wind]

Yeah, there's definately no reason as to why you can't give unhooked riding ago in this country. We get plenty of more than good enough surf to warrant it.

It's way better to learn unhooked wave riding in smaller waves first just as it's much easier learning strapless on flat water before venturing out into the surf.

I would definatley learn with a directional though. If you aim is to get your kitesurfing as close to surfing as possible you'll need to look at you stance on the board. In general kitesurfers and windsurfers make poor surfers becasue the kitesurfing stance is very different. Legs together and leaning back, whereas for surfing it's feet wide apart crouched low arse in. The bigger directional will give you a better surface area with which to work on your stance to improve your style.