How to Cure Crashitus with Proper Kiteboarding Body Position

Most Kiteboarding Stance Problems Come From Your Body
If you suffer from any of the following symptoms, your kite stance likely needs help:

• Sliding out – Once up, your board slides forward, up and out from under you, like it’s on ice.


• Stalling – You get up, but just can seem to keep your speed going and end up sinking.


• Losing Control – Blazing across the water is unintentional and you’re crashing after losing board control.


• Downwind – Everything’s fine, as long as you’re kiting downwind. Getting back to your launch takes physical effort.


• Sudden Falls – As your riding, you suddenly find yourself catching an edge and falling forward like you’ve just been tripped. This usually results from catching a board edge that suddenly stops your momentum.


• Sporadic Jumping – If your position is off, you won’t be able to correctly load, pop and initiate jumps, rotations or any other kite moves. You’ll leave the water, but likely dangle like a rag doll rarely landing comfortably.

Position
Even though poor body position causes crazy crashitus, it’s easily treated. To progress your kiting, you must focus on balancing, cruising and falling properly. These five critical areas will build your riding foundation. Most are easy to manage, while others will take some practice..

• Eyes & Chin Your body follows your head, and your head follows your eyes. In kiting, you must focus in the direction you want to ride. To keep yourself in position, keep your head up by putting your chin close to your forward shoulder and eyes on the horizon. Avoid looking down or up at the kite, this moves your chin and relaxes body position, often causing sudden falls or sending you downwind.


• Shoulders & Arms Keep your shoulders upright, back and square. Arms should be relaxed with elbows comfortably down. Remember you have a harness supporting you. There’s no need to lean forward, like your holding onto a tow rope behind a boat. You’ll likely loose control if you do.


• Bar should be kept out and in front of travel direction. This will help you and lean against the kite. If you use it for support, you’ll pull yourself up underneath the bar, and slide out onto your backside.


• Knees & Legs Unlike other board sports, where squatting helps with balance, you want to keep your lead leg almost straight and your trailing knee bent. This helps control your board’s tail with your large leg muscles while simultaneously steering by pivoting your lead leg at the hip joint. When both knees are bent, it’s hard for the fins to do their job and keep you upwind.


• Hips This is probably the most difficult stance for those coming from other board sports. In kiting, your hips should be driven forward. If you squat (like in surfing or skating), you’ll put too much pressure on your back, losing your gravity center. Use your hips to get maximum leverage and torque against the board and the kite

As a kiter, Crashing is How We Learn!
You’ll never stop learning . The secret to excelling your learning curve is in keeping your crashes from becoming accidents. This is best done with knowledge and confidence in your safety systems. And, by practicing proper crash control. We’ve found that you can drastically increase recovery time and decrease accidents during crashes by following four steps:

1. Get your kite to neutral as soon as you realize you’re losing balance.


2. As you hit the water, turn to your side so your narrower shoulder breaks the fall (instead of your broader chest or back) and keeps your body into a rudder like position, helping you keep control.


3. Be sure you’re breathing out your nose to keep water out and chest pressure down (in case of impact).


4. Focus on your kite quickly to regain bearing, reset to body dragging position and then restart. .