The words you’ll hear on the beach, explained.
- Body drag
- Letting the kite pull you through the water without a board. It’s how you get back to a board you’ve dropped.
- Cross-shore
- Wind blowing along the beach. The safest direction for learning to kite.
- Depower
- Taking pull out of the kite, usually by pushing the bar away from you.
- Downwind
- Away from where the wind comes from. Beginners drift downwind; a walk back or the boat brings them home.
- Duck dive
- Pushing the board under an oncoming wave so you can paddle out behind it.
- Green wave
- An unbroken wave face. Catching one is the step after white water.
- Gybe
- Changing direction by turning downwind, with the wind passing behind you.
- Harness
- The belt that takes the pull of the kite or sail on your hips, so your arms don’t have to.
- Line-up
- The spot just past where the waves break, where surfers wait for their wave.
- Offshore wind
- Wind blowing from the land out to sea. Clean waves for surfers; not a direction for beginners on a kite or sail.
- Onshore wind
- Wind blowing from the sea towards the beach.
- Planing
- When the board rises and skims across the surface instead of pushing through the water.
- Pop-up
- The move from lying on the surfboard to standing, in one motion.
- Power zone
- The middle of the wind window, where the kite pulls hardest.
- Quick release
- The safety handle that dumps the kite’s power in one pull.
- Relaunch
- Getting the kite back into the air after it has landed on the water.
- Tack
- Changing direction by turning into the wind, with the wind passing in front of you.
- Trainer kite
- A small kite flown on the beach to learn steering before you move to a full-size kite.
- Upwind
- Riding slightly into the wind, so you finish where you started instead of halfway down the beach.
- Waterstart
- Going from sitting in the water to standing on the board, with the kite or sail doing the lifting.
- White water
- The broken, foaming part of a wave. Beginners learn here because it pushes you steadily towards the beach.
- Wind window
- The area of sky downwind of you where a kite can fly. Where the kite sits in it decides how hard it pulls.