Kite SUP with kids

[Slappy]

After watching some Kite Tender videos ( http://www.kitetender.nl/ ) I thought that looks like fun but expensive so I figured I'd test out my SUP instead.

I used:
- LF Solo 12m (wind was about 12-14 knots)
- ULI Gerry Lopez 10' x 31" Inflatable SUP
- 55 lbs kid

Firstly carrying a SUP around in 14 knots of wind is quite a challenge, move it to the water's edge before launching. I chose Boundary Bay for knee to waist deep water as it's less scary for kids if they can stand but I found that the shallow water made mounting the board much easier with the kite without tipping.

Remember even though this is a SUP it's basically a cheap Kite Tender for our purposes so you'll be kneeling on the board not standing (Inflatable SUP and wetsuit make this comfortable). I recommend starting solo and getting things dialed in before adding the kids to the board. You want to kneel almost sideways across the board with your toes in the water at the upwind rail. This allows you to use your toes as an extra rudder if you need to turn the board more upwind. The optimal position on my board was about half way between the tail of the board and the carry handle, further back than I expected. Keep in mind once you load the kid in front of you you'll need to move back a bit to compensate. Once you get going you need to edge the board pretty hard and hold it at about a 20-30 degree angle to go upwind. Try to lift the whole nose of the board out of the water and ride it off the back 1/2 of the edge and use the fins. Best way to tack is to just jump off, swing the board and jump back on.

I was able to beat upwind very well, solo on my knees, solo standing up and tandem with my kid. The board moved quite fast and was able to fully plane probably hitting about 15 knots on a reach. It was a lot of fun and a great way to get kids on the water without the fear of kiting. Because the SUP is so big and heavy board control is much easier on your knees. Also having a kite like the LF Solo that you can't back stall really helps while standing because sometimes you just have to pull like mad on the bar to avoid falling when the SUP is taking 10 seconds to respond to your input. There was a bit of spray in the face for the kid when they were on all fours so encourage them to kneel upright and get out of the spray, kids have a tendency to just close their eyes and take the spray in the face if you don't do anything about it.

I had brought a small canoe paddle along to use as a rudder or perhaps to paddle upwind with the kite at 12:00 but it proved totally useless as a rudder and we had no trouble going upwind under sail.

[morrison]

why take a young goat kiteboarding??