10 Tips to Help You Start Riding in Boots – by Clémentine Bonzom

1. Ride a little bit more powered than usual

Boots make your board a little heavier and require a bit more power to start the board planing in the water, so it is important to not be underpowered. So take a kite that definitely has enough power as you will notice this on your very first tack.

2. Stay committed to your tricks all the way to the end

If you want to avoid doing what I do in my latest video (which you can see here) they think about really finding the blind, wrapped or landing downwind position at the end of your trick, because you want a flat landing free from edge catching errors.

Those that take the hardest crashes in boots are always from catching the infamous back (or front) edge.

3. Unhook

Riding in boots can be fun, but the real interest is for unhooking. Start with a simple railey, that way you don’t have to risk your life and limbs from the outset. Then little by little expand your repetoire and don’t hesitate to add a little grab here and there.

It is from wakeboarding that kitesurfing took the idea of the boots and we have many things we can still learn from the sport whilst adding in our own personal touch.

4. Train in the cable park

As I was just saying, kiting in boots and wakeboarding have many similarities. So if you want to progress with your kiting even on no wind days then don’t think twice about hitting up your local cable park.

It will allow you to familiarise yourself with the feeling, pressure and pop, …then if you like the sliders and features you might just find yourself competing at the Triple-S next year.

5. When it does all go wrong, don't tense, relax.

Although we want to avoid the crashes, I will take a moment to tell you that when you sense the inevitable impact approaching, try and relax your body a bit and everything will be alright.

In general the more we tense our bodies the more likely we are to hurt ourselves, trust me, I speak from experience!

6. Always ride in enough depth of water

To anticipate the bad crashes you should ALWAYS ride in deep enough water that you can crash without hitting the bottom.

Falling in water can be almost pleasant (if the water is warm and the trick was not too high) but scraping yourself along the sand definitely isn’t and can be very dangerous.

7. Warmup properly before a session

Physical preparation, stretching and warming up are very much the in thing to do at the moment, so take advantage of this.

When we ride in boots we engage our tricks much more than in straps, height, speed, landing, everything is harder and faster, …so assuming you haven’t just put on boots for a little ride up and down, …warm up every part of your body as you are about to practice a ‘real’ extreme sport.

8. Start by doing the tricks you know

To get used to boots you need to advance progressively. This means that during the first few sessions you need to get used to the feeling (as it is not the same) so you should only try tricks that you know you can do like the back of your hand.

9. Don't hesitate to go back to straps form time to time

Deciding to ride in boots does not have to be a definitive choice, I advise you to sometimes go back to your old straps from time to time especially if you feel you have reached a bit of a block or you have hurt yourself and want to relax your style for a little bit before you go back to crashing again.

10. Don't forget what's important

Finally, whether you ride in boots, straps, strapless or on a skimboard, don’t forget what’s important when you kite, …to have fun.

Written by Clémentine Bonzom. You can follow Clémentine and her adventures here:

Facebook: Clémentine-bonzom
Instagram: @clembonzom
Official site: Clembonzom.com

Published on: 17th August 2015