Lessons / Level 2 · Intermediate / Lesson 6
Into the waterBody dragging is kitesurfing without the board: you lie in the water and the kite pulls you. It’s where you learn to fly the kite with your body in the sea — and it’s how you’ll get back to your board later.
With the kite steady near 12 you drift slowly. To actually go somewhere, use power strokes: dive the kite from high on one side down into the window, then turn it back up. Each stroke is a pulse of pull.
Strokes on the right take you downwind and to the right; strokes on the left, to the left. Mix them to steer toward a target.
With the kite parked at 12, walk into the water, eyes on the kite. Go to a depth where you can lie down without touching the bottom — your instructor chooses the spot: sandy, no rocks or coral, nobody downwind.
Then lie on your chest, arms forward on the bar. You are now a body dragger.
Keep the kite between 11 and 1, at the edge of the window, and let it drag you gently downwind. The higher and calmer the kite, the slower and more controlled the drag.
When in doubt — too fast, someone ahead, you want to stop — bring the kite back to 12.
One stroke at a time. Dive, climb back up, check where you are, then the next one. A kite left low in the power zone keeps pulling — that’s how body drags turn into wipe-outs.
Later you’ll drag with one hand on the bar (near the middle) and the other holding the board, so practise steering with one hand too.
Complete the missions in order. Each one ends with the same move to try on the beach.
You need: Kite and bar, harness, helmet and impact vest as your school uses them, and your instructor in the water with you.
Tick each step after you’ve done it with your instructor.