Hey my name is kris
I was wondering how to jump up higher. I am getting around three ft but gapping 20? I am 14 and weigh 80 lbs and know that im not to heavy to jump. OBVIOUSLY .but am still new to the jumping thing.I have a slingshot turbo diesle 6m and just love it! Once i get it I know I will take my snowboarding tricks and add them into my snowkiting. but please help me out!

Thanks for the reply Tighe
Thats prety funny in the article that you sent me to on jumping because I actually did the same thing! My first jump ever, I ended up actidentilly doing a 360, but my kite hindenberged and i fell on my butt. Thanks for the help though. I just want to go right now and try it. I also noticed the first time I jumped that i dove the kite really quick when I was in the air. also I sheeted way in. do thoughs things efect how your suposed to jump?
Thanks!

Yes definitely those things will effect how you jump. If you are really powered up you'll be ok pulling in when you send it, but in light winds this may slow the kite down too much as it rises to the top of the window, reducing your lift. This depends a lot on how you have the kite trimmed out to, i.e. how the adjustment strap is set. As I mentioned in the other post, I usually send it and but don't pull in until I am in the air, then at the apex of the jump I'll sheet out and redirect it, so that it speeds up and maximizes my glide ration on my decent. One thing I see a lot of first time jumpers doing is pulling themselves up with the bar. I think it is better to let the kite pull you up through your harness, and just adjust the bar for steering and trim.

As far as sending it too quickly down. If you want to stay up longer and land softer keep the kite overhead until you're closer to the ground, say 5 feet. Since you're not getting that much air yet, diving it back is fine. You'll land powered which is what you want. Also don't try to land with your edge across the wind. Land heading downwind and depending upon how powered you are, carve across the wind. Your kite is so fast that you may want to hold the bar with your hands closer to the center to have less of an effect on the kite.

The main thing I've found with the TDs is to keep them flying through the air fast by making small adjustments to the bar trim. When you dial it you'll be in heaven.

hope this helps.

Tighe -- I mixed posts on my question of the Coppermine ice climbing photos. The photo album called Ice Fest 2 was at the MNKiting.com site (that I went to from Rudeboy's post on ND Snow), not the Lakawa site you noted with the jumping thread. Sorry.

(Rudeboy -- if you get a chance pls send me a private email with the location beta...so if winter ever comes to the north again I can go check it out. tks)
jim

Tighe thanks for helping me out. is the apex of your jump the peak of your hieght or when you take off or... what is it? also when you jump and your going say this -> way do you let go with your right or left hand when you want to go in the same dirrection?lets say this is my kite at the end of the wind window, ( I bring it to 12 or 1 right? and then back down to here (. That will give me enough lift to jump high.
Thanks

I consider the apex to be the top of the jump. One of the schools on Maui I think teaches jumping having you let go with your back hand after redirecting the kite. I'd keep them both on for now. i I'm sorry I wasn't quite sure of the next question. I got what you were trying to show with the ())() marks but still couldn't quite get it. During the entire jump the angle between the kite and the ground is never less than 45 degrees...hope that helps. Much higher if you are really powered up.

How I explain it to students, (it helps to use our simulator) is to remember when you were a kid and wanted that single line kite to rise into the air, you'ld run into the wind. What you're doing there is increasing the lift in the kite. Well the same is sorta true here. Your speed, and you sending the kite in the opposite direction (and into the wind) generates a huge increase in the lift of the kite. Once you're in the air your don't have any leverage anymore and you have to redirect the kite to come with you. You can also give the kite more lift by cranking to windward as it races back. If for that quick instance you are cranking at 10mph into the wind, it's like the kite got hit by a 10mph gust = lift. Obviously the analogy falls apart pretty quickly though it is another way of thinking about it. You motion and the motion of the kite in the sky is what is going to generate the lift needed to lift you skyward.

Hope that helps some.

Thanks for the help. I do addmit it was a little confusing to understand. That really helps me out. Also are you a teacher in a school because maui sounds like a nice place to live. but I dont think there is snow in maui though. Thanks

I teach and run Lakawa School of Kiteboarding just to your East in Minnesota. I was just referencing something I had read about how one school teaches in Maui. Haven't been yet. I'm concerned if I go, I'll never come back.

Keep us posted on your progress. Dialing jumps is so much fun. Remember timing is everything. If you do all these things and it doesn't work, try adjusting your timing.

good luck

Hey Kayak guy..

Those photos were taken in my little town of Sandstone, MN about an hour north of the cities. We are sponsors of that fest.. and an upcoming kayak fest too on the Kettle River this spring. Ice Climbing in the Quarry is great. A local guy even trucked fire hoses out there to farm there also. Come check it out sometime. Email me at rudeboysaude@mnkiting.com for more particulars. Later man!

A.

will do! I am going this weekend and hopeing to get some good wind. I'll try out jumping again and hopefully now I will do some good "Floaty" jumps. Thanks a bunch for helping me out, it seems like you know a whole lot about snowkiting and are well acomplished at it.
Chow!

today I went again and it was great! It wasnt quite windy enough to jump good but I got a pretty good one in and was about 5ft above the ground! I was so exited and feeling like a bird. I was wondering were tighe is from?

Isn't that a blast. Believe it or not I feel the same way everytime I go a little higher than the last time. Nothing like flying.

I live in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul) in Minnesota.

Maybe you can make it over to our Mille Lacs Kite Crossing in the end of Febuary. It's a fun event. Here's some info from previous years events:
http://www.windancing.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=4630

Keep the recaps coming. Always fun to hear the stoke growing in others.

ride on