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Step 8Drag and Slide, Don't Step
I was in love with a girl once, so I tried to teach her to kitesurf.
It was a long time ago and we'd only recently learned to do it ourselves.
She was flying a trainer kite on the beach.
Each time she flew the kite through the power zone I had her sit down and drag, or lean back and slide on her feet through the sand. She was doing it well.
I told her again and again, "Don't take steps. Lean back and slide."
You need that friction to slow you down. Stepping while dragging is dangerous.
An expert friend kiteboarded over and offered to continue the lesson while I went for a ride with his kite.
While I was gone she forgot the methods and powerzoned the kite.
She stepped rapidly downwind, twisted her foot, turning it under her, and fell, screaming.
Her leg was bent into a terrible shape, broken.
Imagine being in a lot of pain for a long time.
It took a long time for paramedics to show up. They were rough and we wished we'd moved her ourselves. Here's her leg after the cruel paramedics wrenched it back sort of into a leg shape.
We finally got her to a hospital that could treat broken legs. The doctor wanted to cut her leg open right away. The whole place seemed really incompetent and she insisted on going home with her broken leg to find a doctor who wasn't a freak.
longer longer story, she spent several days with an untreated broken leg, got a metal plate and a bunch of wood screws installed, missed her work trip to Indonesia, etc. etc.
Don't take steps. Just drag. Fly the kite. It's better to flop down and drag on your belly through the sand, as long as you fly the kite. Don't step.
And don't play with kite power on land. That's what "body dragging" is for.
For proper learning methods, look at kitesurfingschool.org
It was a long time ago and we'd only recently learned to do it ourselves.
She was flying a trainer kite on the beach.
Each time she flew the kite through the power zone I had her sit down and drag, or lean back and slide on her feet through the sand. She was doing it well.
I told her again and again, "Don't take steps. Lean back and slide."
You need that friction to slow you down. Stepping while dragging is dangerous.
An expert friend kiteboarded over and offered to continue the lesson while I went for a ride with his kite.
While I was gone she forgot the methods and powerzoned the kite.
She stepped rapidly downwind, twisted her foot, turning it under her, and fell, screaming.
Her leg was bent into a terrible shape, broken.
Imagine being in a lot of pain for a long time.
It took a long time for paramedics to show up. They were rough and we wished we'd moved her ourselves. Here's her leg after the cruel paramedics wrenched it back sort of into a leg shape.
We finally got her to a hospital that could treat broken legs. The doctor wanted to cut her leg open right away. The whole place seemed really incompetent and she insisted on going home with her broken leg to find a doctor who wasn't a freak.
longer longer story, she spent several days with an untreated broken leg, got a metal plate and a bunch of wood screws installed, missed her work trip to Indonesia, etc. etc.
Don't take steps. Just drag. Fly the kite. It's better to flop down and drag on your belly through the sand, as long as you fly the kite. Don't step.
And don't play with kite power on land. That's what "body dragging" is for.
For proper learning methods, look at kitesurfingschool.org
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Dec 1, 2008. 4:38 PMalterecho7
says:
ow!!! that had to hurt!! ok now my ankel hurts >.<
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1
May 29, 2008. 7:22 PMknex-4-life
says:
ouch...
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42
May 9, 2008. 7:25 PMthe_burrito_master
says:
wow... thats grows.
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