10 Ways to Improve Your Basics Riding Skills

1. Ride in all types of conditions

To improve your riding skills you should always try to ride in any type of condition and especially in light wind… why? Because being able to ride in light wind will demand that you are gentle with the control of your kite and will help you to find the right body position to get going on your board to be sure to find the right balance between edging and releasing.

2. Change your stance

We already talked about changing your normal stance for a skinny one but if you find yourself feeling more confortable with a different angle or a larger stance then just take the option which will suit you the best. Just try and change the settings on your board to see how it feels.

3. Play with your board

Edging, working on your pop, going downwind, riding switch, riding blind. There are many options to learn how to play with your board.
Just try to see how this thing under your feet works and never ever feel ashamed of going back to basic moves even if you think that everybody is staring at you on the beach.

4. Play with your kite

After the board or before, learn to control THAT kite. You know, you can loop your kite without killing yourself… we are not talking about megaloops, no just learn how to water start with a kite loop for instance… or why don’t you try a download transition.
The more confortable you are with your kite the better and safe rkiter you will become… and of course you will be able to land so many new tricks.

5. Try new support

You should sometimes try new toys… strapless surfboard, wakeskate, … maybe become a masrter of the foil :wink:
If you try strapless for instance you will see that having a good control of your kite as we mentioned before will make a huge difference to your riding skills.
And the same, if you improve at strapless and you go back to your twin-tip you will notice the difference too.

6. Go for downwinder

The downwinders are excellent to learn how to ride in different types of conditions as you can very often play in the waves as you are riding downwind. It is also a great exercice to learn how to control your kite better. As you go downwind you can try so many way to ride with your board as we mentioned above.

7. Watch the other riders

Looking at other riders will be a big help for you. Whether it is at the beach or on video, we learn a lot through the other kiteboarders and we can compare the difference between two styles of riding. So when you have a moment or if you rest on the beach between two sessions, look around you and analyse what you see (position of the kite, position of the body, angle of the board, etc…)

8. Ask to your friend to film you

Like you do with the others try to analyse yourself too. We always have the wrong idea about what we might look while we ride and at the moment we see ourself riding we realized how the image that we had made of ourself was wrong. So no better way to improve that be able to see ourself riding on video.

9. Don’t stress about falling

It is by making mistakes that we learn how to get better. You have fallen 20 times? Well try and try again, Rome wasn’t built in a day!

10. Go on a Kite Camp.

It is always good to go on kiteboarding holidays with other riders who are there for the same reason as yours… improving!
It is really motivating having people sharing the same passion and wanting to get better at what they like the most. And more than this you will get to meet new people and get new kite friends!

Published on: 14th March 2018