Patty is looking for pointers! (by Jim)

[JimPat]

Hola from South Padre!
Big week here at KOA - they had a deviled egg contest. I ate more eggs than JRN could lay (or is that chicks?), you devil. I started out intending to eat half of an egg (you know, like only having "half a donut" at the office?), but they were so good, I went back for ten more! Fortunately, we've had two great weeks of wind and I have been kiting a lot, so hopefully I haven't gained any weight. Last week, Patty was in 'drag' mode. Day one she flew the kite in the shallows followed by 30 minutes of body dragging. Day two I followed her around in the jetski while she body dragged for two hours and worked on sending the kite followed by very quick up/down signing and parking the kite. Now it's time for the waterstart (I don't want her to think of kiting is just a drag). If any of you have pointers for Patty to make this easier she is all ears. We gave the board a try at the end of all that body dragging but not so smart as she was really tired at that point. She only got up briefly a couple of times before we called it quits.Our Canadian friends told her not to worry about not getting up right away, because if she had, they would hate her. Saw Rookie on the water recently -good to see him again. We have had a couple of days off so we went into Brownsville to our favorite H.E.B. grocery store. They sell T-Bone steaks at $ 3.79 per lb. I cleaned them out by talking all eight that were out on the shelf, yum, yum (score)! The other thing I'm shopping for is a 32" flat screen TV for the RV; not sure if I should go DLP, LCD, Plasma, 720 or 1080 (some say the dif. between 720-1080 is not so noticeable on the 32" as it is on the larger screens)? I'm not very Techy so, HELP! Thanks! (P.S., favorite show-Dog Whisperer, not Cat Wiskerer)
Jimster,
Team RV

[tnautique]

I would buy a LCD if I were you. The picture quality is better if you watch the sport show.

[steveb]

Jim. Teach Patty to body drag upwind, sinking the knee and body to increase drag. Stand in the water to give her a visual target to get back to.
Then send her off on a windward body drag and let a board go for her to pick up, practice the board recovery until she's comfy getting back to the board and putting it into the position to ride.
Then practice flying the kite overhead with one hand not watching the kite. This prepares Patty for putting the board on her feet. Once she can squat in the water maintaining control of the kite with one hand, not being dragged all over the place it's time for putting a board on the feet.

[JRN]

WE'RE ENJOYING YOUR UPDATES. At first I was envious , until you mentioned there was wind after you had consumed 10 deviled eggs. My beginner pointer is as follows: When you have the kite overhead, and the board on your feet, sine the kite over the foot in the direction you wish to go. This should pull you up on the water. Immediately tuck your back foot under your booty and aim the board down-wind towards the kite. At this point you should begin sineing the kite back down and start edging up-wind. Or, have her hop a plane and show up for the UMD kite expo this weekend!

[Jeff G]

Hi Jim and Patty,

It's great reading your posts even though I'm insanely jealous of your adventure. Will you be returning to Minnesota this summer?

Patty, don't worry you'll be riding on your next session. Just dive it hard and go - oh, and if you're flying a bow don't pull on the bar.

[Tighe]

Great talking with you the other night. Looking forward to riding with you in April.

[shera]

This is what I figured out.....through hours and hours of stop and go!

I was a wuss and was too scared to dive the kite into the power zone enough to really get up and going....

I would try and cut up wind too early and therefore stalled the kite into the side of the window.

So two things to remember if your kite ends up in the side of the window you either resisted the kite too much by edging on the board too much as in wakeboarding and snowboarding or you did not dive the kite far enough into the window.

It can be intimidating so be patient!

Leah

[tom_latcham]

Greeting from the tudra:
Leah explains the main problem I had when I 1st tried water riding. In the snow I rode right away with out problems. It took me a long time to figure out the water. One main bad habit held me back. I will call it turn table effect. Not sure if she has the same problem or not. When I would dive the kite to get up it would always rush to the front of the window and depower. As the kite takes off to the front of the window, The pull on my harness would cause me to spin so my board would point too far upwind. So even if I got up the kite would race to the front of the window depower and I would fall back into the water. Even after I knew this was happening I had a hard time stopping it. Eventually I learned to point my board at the kite like JRN talked about. once I was planing then I could start to edge. This has to be done with the hips and legs to counter the lines triing to pull you the wrong way. Wish I was better at explaining this. Hope it helps. I miss you two. I am glad you are having fun in a warmer climate. Hope I can come down and ride with you this spring. Jim can teach me all those new spin moves.
Tom

[johnz]

Jimmy,
As one of the defacto AV geeks in the crowd, my advice is:

'Man up and spend as much money as possible on that TV'

Stop whining and pony up the dough!

It was good to talk to you the other night - love the updates! We are all insanely jealous, even with the deviled egg wind.

Wow, great comments on the water starting - I remember that sooo well. The frustration.

My happy place is floating in the water on my back, board on, kite in neutral, and bar between my knees, just getting ready to dive the kite - It was so much work to get to that spot...

[Paul F]

Apparently there a lot of flat screen deals hoping to attract people who want to upgrade for the Superbowl.

1080p HDTV Deals Roundup (w/ Updates Until the Big Game)

The shiny plasma screen is bad for reflections if you are in a sunny place. I have a 1080P LCD that I also use for my PC monitor.

[JimPat]

Hi everyone: thanks for all the pointers, I can't wait to give it another go using your techniques. This week was rainy for several days so Jim focused on the TV shopping and passed on a couple of days that offered only short sessions due to all the rain or days when the wind only blew for a couple of hours. He found a really nice TV and it really came together. After getting it home it was wider than the four inch deep recessed wall opening. Jim popped the back wall panel loose and found the recessed opening went 6 inches deeper and was 2 to 3 inches wider on both sides. The TV screen set back into the opening on its stand like it was designed for the space! The big bonus was that we didn't have to buy one of the $100 to $200 hanging brackets (yay). Looking forward to those superbowl commercials, bring it on! Sunday, Monday and Tuesday are looking good for wind so I'm anxious to try riding again! Thanks again for all the tips- I'll let you know how it goes.
Patty