In this how-to we will elaborate about the question: how to set up your kite for Kitesurfing?

When going kiting the first thing we have to do is to set up our kite. But is this the first thing we do? Actually, before setting the kite up, we do a lot of other things. So when we arrive at the beach, the first thing we do is to check the wind. We first need to characterize the wind into direction, strength, and stability.

Read on to find out how this works!

Enjoy reading!

We first need to characterize the wind into direction, strength, and stability. So the wind direction can be off-shore, on-shore, side shore or variations like side on-shore or side off-shore. Determining the exact path of the wind is very important as all the following procedures are related to that. There are several ways to determine the correct wind direction, and you can look at flags, use sand, wet thumb and other methods.  My recommendation is that you use your senses by facing the wind feeling it in your face and rotate your head until you hear the wind passing by both your ears in a stereo effect. This method gives you the exact wind direction. In order to check the wind strength, there is a wind meter that you can use to find out the correct value you can measure. I used it in the very beginning but never used it for kitesurfing after just because I now manage to find out more or less the wind strength only by observation of the conditions. One easy way to check the power is to look around and see what sizes other persons with similar skills and weight are using, and this helps you determine the strength. The quality of the wind is harder to define, but you can choose places that don’t have obstacles to the wind helping it to be more stable. Any obstruction to the wind will create wind shadows making it less stable and so worse for kitting.

Find one place near the water so that when you get the kite up, you have it on the side of the wind window that is closer to the water. This way you don’t need to pass the zenith to go into the water. This place should be clear of obstacles upwind or, so the wind is not gusty on the launching moment. Once you found this place, you are ready to prepare the equipment.

First, let’s prepare the kite and after the bar. The order can different it’s a matter of choice. For me, it’s easier this way as I can connect the lines to the kite when I finish separating the lines. The other way around I will need to get the tip of the line buried and get back to it after I pump the kite.

So let’s start by getting the kite out of the bag and place it on the spot previously chosen to set up the kite. We should unroll the kite completely before pumping. All modern kites use the single inflation system (called one pump), so the whole kite is pumped in one point. We should put our back to the wind, and with the kite entry point in front of us and the kite perpendicular to the wind, we connect the pump leash the is in the pump to the kite. The connection point is near the single entry point where we will connect the pump hose.

With the 2 feet pressing on the pump base we should pump the kite. The kite pumps are dual piston pumps meaning they pump when they are pulled up or pushed down. So there is no need to go entirely to either side. A more vigorous pumping will help to pump more air. So make smaller repetitive movements up and down without going to the full extent of the shaft. Use your leg movement instead of the arms to save your back. When pulling up the strength applied can be high. Newer pumps now feature single inflation selector, so you can use only the down stroke on the last part to get the optimal pressure easily by using your whole body on the end part of pumping. This feature is especially useful for girls and people with less strength allowing them to use the body weight instead of the arm and back strength.

The majority of the new pumps have a gauge with a measuring system usually with a green part, so you know when to stop pumping and that you have the kite with proper pressure, some other brands put the value you should achieve. But if you don’t have anything like this to measure you can use different technics like trying to bend the kite (usually against the normal arc) it needs to be hard to bend it. Anyway, the kite should be well pumped and hard, so it can maintain the shaped as it depends on stiffness to fly with the characteristics it was designed.

Now that you finished pumping the kite you need to put the kite on the place you have previously selected. So pick it up on the pump connection point, disconnect the pump and keeping it in the smile position carry it to that place. Once there put one tip on the ground and walk to the other side to flip the kite and place the leading edge on the ground, make sure the central struct is pointing to the wind. Once the kite is in the park position, put some weight on top of the kite. This weight shouldn’t be aggressive to the kite. So placing the board can lead to accidental cuts in the kite canopy due to fins. Putting sand is the standard alternative, but it’s not the best as sand is also very abrasive. The best option is to have a sandbag and place the bag on the kite.

Now that the kite is secured we can prepare the lines and bar, so we have it all connected.

We can put the bar upwind or downwind of the kite. We should always set up the kite with the bar downwind. It’s also possible to set it up upwind, and you might see some people still doing this, it was the way people used to set up the kite back in the beginning, but this lead to many accidental launches because the kite is in the power zone, and so it has been completely abandoned by all schools.

So just put the lines on the downwind part of the kite and take them out of the bar while you walk downwind to get the lines straight. Once you have finished, you need to separate the lines. It’s important to make sure the back and front lines are well separated. I recommend you put the front lines in the middle of your legs and the back lines on the outside. This way they are separate. To make this even better have the four lines split between your fingers. Then walk the lines back to the kite combing them to make sure they are all separate. Once you arrive at the kite, I recommend you place the back lines on the outside of the kite and the front lines in the center of the kite.

It’s now time to connect the lines, most of the kites use as a standard the kook proof connection lines. So you will have knots in the kite and loops in the bar if this is the case on the back lines the front lines will be opposite. This changes from brand to brand, but in all, you have two loops and 2 knots on the bar ends and the reverse configuration on the kite. So now open the loop and attach it to the know making sure it’s correctly connected. Start by one outside line and go line per line until the other end.

The rigging can be confirmed by going to the bar and checking each line is connected to the correct part and in a straight line.

The kite is now ready to launch.