Ever wondered how you could kitesurf off your boat? How can you set up the lines without a whole beach to do it on? Well, today is the day you find out!
Let’s walk through our setup process step by step, as well as how to land safely at the end of the session.
Interested in more water-sports related posts? Check these out:
Sailing to Fiji: Surfing Cloudbreak, Restaurants, and More from Your Boat
Surfing Etiquette 101: Respecting Local Breaks While Traveling
The Lines
Okay, first up, we have to run the lines!
Stand at the back of your boat, where the lines can run straight into the water, and unwrap them, dropping them into the water. I know, it probably sounds crazy if you’ve never done this before, but just trust me.
Once all the lines are in the water (they should just be in a big line behind your boat), you want to place your bar the RIGHT WAY UP. Normally, when setting up on the beach, you place your bar upside down, but when setting up on the boat, have the bar the right way up—like when you’re riding.
Okay, now that you have your bar in place, we’re going to pull each line in one by one.
To do this, grab one of your lines and start pulling it in. It helps to do a quick, jerking motion as you pull so that the lines don’t tangle. The whole line should come in, and you want to have it in a pile on deck with the end easily accessible and out of the way.
Great! Now do the same for the other three. By the end, you should have four piles and four ends waiting to be attached.
The Buoy
This is important—you need to attach your kite to the boat, so we need a line to do that.
The line we like to use is around 10m (30ft) long and has a small buoy and a clip on the end.
When you’re setting up, you want to secure this line to a cleat or tie it off with a bowline at a short length (1-2m / 3-6ft), so you can pull it in easily once the kite is set up.
Once you’ve attached the buoy and line, clip it to the bar just in front of the safety system. (Definitely gonna need some pictures for this post!) By clipping off here, you can easily get the kite on your harness while still being attached to the boat—just in case.
Right then! We now have our lines ready and our buoy and line set up. It’s time for the kite!
The Kite
Next, we’re going to grab our kite and pump. You literally pump it up like normal—just make sure it’s out of the way of any obstructions (solar arch, dinghy, lines, etc.).
Once you’ve got it pumped up, close off the struts, then flip it over.
Your kite should now be upside down off the stern!
Attaching the Lines
Take your time here and make sure you have a good grip on the kite.
It helps if someone else attaches the lines while you focus on manoeuvring the kite. It’s a lot easier, but you can do it by yourself.
Just attach each line like normal, making sure they match and look good—common sense here.
Don’t worry if the lines start to drift into the water while you’re attaching the others. That’s fine; it won’t cause any issues.
Letting the Kite Out
Once all the lines are attached, grab one of the inside lines—the one closest to the boat.
For example, if you’re letting it out on the starboard side of the boat, you want to hold onto the right inside line, and vice versa for the port side.
If you get confused about this, don’t worry too much. We’ve done it with both inside lines, and it works.
Right, now, still holding that inside line, step inside the rest of the lines and start releasing the one you’re holding, watching the kite to make sure it stays upside down.
Keep releasing—you can go fast or slow, but always keep tension on the line. If you don’t, the kite will start to spin and catch the wind, which is NOT what you want.
When you’re almost at the end, double-check that the bar is clear of obstructions and that your buoy is attached and clear. Then let the rest of the line out and allow the kite to fill with wind.
It should sit directly behind the boat. Now, grab the bar and work on getting the kite onto its side. Again, it depends on which side you’ve set up on, but if you’re on the starboard side, you’ll tug on the right outside line to get it on its side.
Once it’s on its side, you’re good to leave it there as long as you want! It should stay in place, though if the wind is light, it may drop.
Launching
Get excited—we made it to the launch!
Put your harness on and grab your board. You want to have it within reach once you’re attached to the kite.
Now, pull in the line currently holding your bar, then hook in – don’t forget your secondary safety!
Once you’re confident you can hold the kite’s power, unclip your buoy and slowly launch the kite. Make sure you don’t go past 12 o’clock if you have a solar arch or boom to watch out for—you don’t want the kite going over the other side of the boat!
Keep the kite steady and avoid powering up while you grab your board and head into the water. Get your board on and…
Ride away!
You’ve done it! You’re out there enjoying your session—woohoo!
For a more fun takeoff, I like to stand on the deck, put my board on, and then cut the kite and jump over the side to land in the water and ride away. Once you’ve set up off the boat a few times, I definitely recommend it! Why not? It looks cooler!
Landing
Alright, now you need to get back to the boat. How do you do that?!
First, remember that buoy and line we talked about earlier? You’re going to need it again.
This time, you want it at full length, and ideally, someone on the boat should throw it to you as you approach.
As you come in, take plenty of speed so that you don’t have to cut your kite too soon—this is important because you don’t want the kite or lines going anywhere near the mast.
Go as close as you dare, then have someone onboard throw you the line. Clip on as fast as you can while keeping the kite at 12 o’clock. Once, and ONLY once, you’re clipped on, slowly and carefully land the kite on the side—just as if you were landing it on the beach with someone grabbing it.
Once the kite is on its side, unhook yourself, undo your safety, and swim to the boat.
Your kite will stay on its side. It’ll happily sit there while you decide whether to rest and go out again or bring it in.
Bringing the Kite In
The session is over—it’s time to bring your kite in!
I’ve done this by myself before, but it’s much easier with a second person, so I’ll explain it that way.
Pull in the line with the buoy until you can reach your bar. I recommend leaving the bar clipped in, just in case you lose hold of the kite and need a backup attachment point.
Once you have the bar, grab one of the inside lines. As you pull it in, the kite will turn into the wind, making it easier to retrieve. It’s best to do this quickly to minimise the chance of the wind catching it.
While you pull in the kite, your partner can wind in the lines at the same speed to keep everything tidy.
Once you reach the kite, detach the lines, flip it over (watch out for obstructions), deflate it, and breathe a sigh of relief—everything is safe!
Summary
A couple of quick notes for those doing this process by themselves:
I mentioned how it’s best to have someone throw you the buoy when you’re coming back in—you can work around this by lengthening it once you have the kite in the air and leaving it in the water for you to grab when you return.
When bringing the kite in, I also said it’s better to have some help with the lines. If you don’t, the best way to do this is by simply pulling the kite in and leaving the lines in the water. Once you’ve undone the lines and deflated the kite, you can go back and wind the lines.
Some more tips:
- Some people like to use inflatable platforms attached to the stern of their boat to launch and land. This works really well and is a great way to get behind a solar arch or boom.
- If you have more than one kiter out, you can set up buoys on each side of the boat to keep the kites separated and prevent tangling. We’ve had four kiters out at once—two at midships and two off the stern—and it’s 100% possible!
- We like to have our dinghy up on the davits when setting up to avoid lines getting tangled in the outboard or anything else. If it’s not up, we keep it secured to the side.
- Some other helpful things: this video by Sailing Zatara, use Windy for checking what the wind will be doing – it’s our favourite!
I really hope this how-to guide on kitesurfing off a boat has helped and that you can now do it off your own boat!
If you have any extra ideas or tips, I’d love to hear them. Have you done this before? Do you have any questions? Let me know in the comments!
Wow, how interesting. And all quite technical but you have it all clear and you’re very well experienced at it by now I’m sure.
Hey Alison, thank you! Yes, I’ve done it a few times now 😊