One of the most important parts of kitesurfing when we are already starting to waterstart is knowing How to recover a Kite board body draging when we fall, as this will prevent us from wasting so much time and we can practice as long as possible in each session.
There are many people who do not learn it or do not teach it, using a leash to carry the board with them and not lose it , with the consequent risks that this entails and can cause an accident.
At Atlantic Kite we recommend that you do not use leash on the board since following a few small tips and understanding it, recovering the board is very easy.
The first thing we need to know are the different directions in which we can go with the kite according to the wind direction. Is important to learn ho to bodydrag to go in each direction.
In the following photo we illustrate the different directions in which you can move with the wind direction.
In order to recover the board when we fall, we will have to do bodydrag with one hand more or less perpendicular to the wind to go zig-zag against the wind (upwind) and reach the board.
How do I get my kite board back?
In this image you can see that the kiter has lost the board, staying behind and the different routes (purple and yellow) in which he can go to pick up the board by bodydraging.
When we have lost the board, the first thing you have to do is place the kite around 11 o’clock or 1 o’clock depending on the side you want to go to and start doing body-dragg upwind (1 hand) and make tackles of about 7-8 m each side. Whenever you change sides, you have to pass the kite through 12 o’clock very slowly and releasing the bar to prevent the kite from taking us forward.
Steps to recover the board
1.- I look for where is the board.
2.-When doing the body drag it is very important that you forget about the board and do not look at it or try to go towards the board behind you in the direction of the wind since what will happen is that the kite will drag you in the downwind direction since we can not go in that direction.
We will do the body drag in zig-zag.
3.-To go for the board you have to pass it and leave it in front of you as you see in the photo to be able to take it.
In the next photo you can see that if you try to place your body in the direction of the board, the kite will drag you in the opposite direction.
Tips to recover the kitesurf board.
-You can never pick up the board when it is behind you, you have to forget about it and not look at it, zigzag until we have passed the board, and pick it up only when it is in front of you.
-If we try to go in the direction where the board is behind us, what will happen is that we will be dragged in the opposite direction.
-In the upwind body drag position, with the body stretched out, the head should always be a little ahead of the feet. If the head is carried more upwind than the feet, the kite will drag us downwind.
-Always go for the board when in front of you. A very common mistake is to do it well and when we are 1 meter away with the board behind us we try to go to catch it and what we do is to move away since we cannot go in that direction.
In this video you can see how to do body drag, at minute 2.15 you can see how if we try to go too upwind we will start to get dragged downwind,
