Kiteboarding Basics

I just started kite boarding like a 2 months ago and had caught the wind like 5 times now. Just this week the wind started up again on the coast of Sanur. It's the westerly wind which can be strong and gusty at times.
I am just a novice; no where near being advance however I have upgraded from using the wide board to the narrower board which is much more smoother or slippery I call it as the board and the water surface tend to be frictionless. Trust me, I had a good underwater experience the first time I stood up on this board. The thing about using this narrow board is you need to edge it as suppose to the wide board where edging is not really something a beginner needs to worry about. All we beginner wants is to get up on the board and go with the wind. Upwind or downwind, who cares as long as we are up, we are happy. But getting up is just one more step closer. The next step is to stay up and control the kite to the power that you need. With the narrower board, one can maneuver a lot more easily however to get to this you must first be up on the board,control the kite to the "comfort Zone" I call it. This zone to me is where I know that I am in control of the kite in terms of the power and the wind; the kite is capturing.In this zone, I am able to talk to myself.I am calm and I can program myself to do more, like edge the board more,get the board to point into the direction that I wanna go and soon be able to fly. This comfort zone that you achieved right after you get up on the board is the zone where every learner will have to go through at least once. As for the pros, this zone has become them but once before this zone was the thing they were searching for too.

So to all of you beginners/learners out there, go find that zone, from then on, it gets easier. Nothing more can be verbally taught by an instructor after you gotten that zone. The rest is all practice and practice. Not until you get that comfort zone that you actually get the feel of kite boarding.

SMILE


This article is entirely the authors experience and opinion of the subject.

Hey its Bali!!

I first landed in Bali more than three years ago on my way to Kuala Lumpur (K.L.) from Brisbane. A friends' father in K.L. was to hook me up with an engineering job up there.
Now three years later I am still here in Bali.

I arrived in Bali with no guide book nor any idea what is it like here. Going through the immigration and getting my passport stamped was a breeze. Upon picking up my 70ltrs backpack from the creaking conveyor, I walked through the customs. "Hello!! Hello!! Change money! No commission!Aussie dollar" In front of me was rows of money changer. Each of them promised giving a better rate that the other. Wow, I thought to myself, how can I forget about the need to change money. I approached one of the counter with a sense of gratitude, little did I know that these hard sellers will be everywhere in Bali. After putting my negotiation skills in Bahasa Indonesia to test I ended up with thousands of rupiahs. I'm rich!!

I skipped along out the the airport. Coming from Brisbane winter, I was given the hottest Bali welcome. The heat gushed through the automated door as it slide open when I approached it. I was wearing my Merrel's high cut boots and my favourite jeans. Within seconds I am covered in sweat. This is going to be very interesting I thought. They were people everywhere. "Taxi! Taxi! Hotel! Accommodation!" I'm claustrophobic yet covered in anxiety.

Aylin came to mind. I knew Aylin from Brisbane. Her parents lives here and I knew before I left that she is back here. I looked for a phone and made a call to her hoping that she could offer or suggest me a place to stay. The call did not help to answer my question of where to stay., however we did made a point to catch up later. Still in the heat and surrounded with people making offers, I approached the taxi counter. At the counter, this Aussie bloke in front of me seems to know where he is going so I decided to ask him if I could share his cab and go into town with him.

The cab ride was like traveling through time of the past and present. Old tired looking buildings with asbestos roof, make shift houses, food vendors pushing their wagon, horse carriages and people loitering around everywhere. I am amazed at how many motorbikes there are polluting the streets. Amidst all of this on going events, I still have no idea where this cab is taking me. The bloke I am with told me we are going to Kuta.

Kuta is like the centre of the tourist destination of Bali. Every first time tourist must at least go to Kuta once in their trip to be considered as having been to Bali. Cheap shopping, restaurants, clubs and nice sets of waves breaking onto the sand which is good for the those learning to surf.


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