Having decided to bite the bullet and take up kite surfing, I am arranging some lessons from Kite Surf East Anglia and picked up an old Wipika Free Air 8.5m for practice on land.

I have been flying foils for a while using handles rather than a bar so am not a complete novice to the concept.

Having tried twice now to fly the LEI, I find that after launching I have little or no control from the bar, the kite gets about a third of the way towards the neutral point above me, turns so the leading edge is facing down and - you guess the rest – crashes.

Outside lines go the trailing edge and inside to the leading. Leading lines are equal in length but longer than the outside lines – all seems good to me?

The only other thing I can think of is that the few time I have tried to fly it, wind has varied between 7-9 mph. Could it be there just isn’t enough to keep it up?

Sorry if this is a bit basic but no chance of a lesson for a few weeks to come and I am determined to fly the bloody thing!!

Any ideas where I am going wrong?

More wind would probably be helpful.

There's a fine balance in front/back line length. Front lines short, less power but also less resposive in steering. Front lines too long, kite stalls easily and flies backwards.

Do you have a power adjustment on your centre lines? Are you hooking in to your harness?

You'll find the bar a lot less responsive to your usual handles, don't be shy in inputing an instruction. You may need to have the bar pointing completely straight at the kite to get it to turn. What bar length are you using? If it's too short, the turn input will not be enough. Older kites needed big old bars to get them to work.

Hope this is some help!

Thanks for the response.

The more I think about it, the more I think its been a lack of good wind.

I did try adjusting the line position on the pigtails to see if I could find a setting that worked better, the centre line does adjust but I didn't want to mess with that at the time. Have a big bar for lots of input and hooking on.

I think good wind and persiverance are in order. Am doing a starter day on 7th July (still cant get a full 3 dayer that suits) so will ask the instructor to take a quick look at the set up.

Thanks for the info and if you find yourself running a course in Suffolk, drop me a line.

Please don't take this wrong, it may be better not to do too much self teaching before your lessons with a school. learning to set up the gear and trim it as well as learning to release and pack down safely is something a school does well and under controlled conditions and you could have misshaps doing on your own. You may also teach yourself bad habits that will be hard to shake once under tuition. Also LEI kites will punish you on land more than ram air kites would. Keep safe whatever your choice is and enjoy the world of kitesurfing.

Thanks Gazxtreme - understand your point perfectly. Am starting training with a school in a few weeks time so not so long to wait.

Interesting point about the difference between foils and LEI's - foils do seem easier to fly and certainly more easily controlled.