Losing your board in choppy water is annoying. Losing it a kilometre offshore, with the wind pushing it further away and your kite refusing to relaunch, is the sort of afternoon that turns a good session into a story you would rather not tell. Body dragging sits between those two situations. It gets you back to your board, and it gets you home when the kite has given up on you. It is also the first skill that separates riders who stay calm from riders who do not.

Why body dragging is worth learning properly

Body dragging is what you do when you cannot water-start: you let the kite pull you through the water instead of trying to swim. Swimming with a kite is slow, tiring and awkward. Your arms give out long before you have covered any real distance, and every stroke pulls the bar about and disturbs the kite above you. A body drag uses the kite's own power to move you, so your arms are there for steering and nothing else.

It does two jobs. The first is board recovery: after a crash the board drifts downwind, and you need to travel across and upwind to reach it. The second is self-rescue: when the kite will not relaunch, dragging, swimming or packing down are your options, and all three are easier if you can hold a line in the water. Neither job is dramatic. Both are worth an hour of deliberate practice.

Setting up before you move anywhere

Get these right and the drag feels almost effortless. Get them wrong and you will drink half the sea.

• Kite position. Hold the kite around 45 degrees on the edge of the wind window, where it pulls steadily without lifting you.
• One hand on the bar. Fly with your front hand, gripped near the centre of the bar rather than out at the floaters. That way the bar cannot be ripped out of your fingers.
• Streamline your body. Lie on your side with your lead arm extended and your trailing arm tucked in. A long, flat body slips through the water; a curled-up one acts like a bucket.
• Trim for comfort. If the pull is too strong, pull in some depower. You want steady towing, not a fight.
• Check the space around you. Other riders, buoys, rocks, shallow reef, the beach itself. Look before you commit.

Keep the lines tight and the kite flying throughout. A kite that stalls and falls into the water turns a simple drag into a completely different exercise.

The basic side body drag, step by step

This is the move everything else builds on. Start in waist- to chest-deep water with an onshore wind.

1. Walk out with the kite flying, then turn side-on to the wind.
2. Fly the kite up to roughly 45 degrees and hold it steady there.
3. Lie down onto your side, lead arm stretched out in front of you, other arm relaxed against your body.
4. Let the kite pull you. Resist the urge to swim. If your legs are kicking, you are wasting energy the kite would have spent for you.
5. Steer with small bar movements. Big inputs will send the kite across the window and yank you off line.
6. To stop, bring the kite smoothly up to 12 o'clock, sit up, and either land the kite or go straight into a water-start.

The pull comes from where the kite sits, so the kite is effectively your steering wheel. Hold it at the edge of the window and it tows you across the surface rather than dragging you straight downwind.

Working the wind angles

Once the basic drag feels natural, you can start choosing your direction.

Downwind

The easiest angle. Kite high and settled, body relaxed, and the wind does the work. Useful when you are overpowered, when you simply want to travel with the wind, or when you are heading back towards the beach in a strong breeze.

Crosswind

Your default for board recovery. Kite at around 45 degrees, body side-on, and you slip across the wind towards the board. Most recovery drags are some combination of crosswind and upwind.

Upwind

The one that takes practice. Keep the kite low and tucked towards the edge of the window, stretch your body out long and flat, and be patient. You will gain ground slowly, and only if the kite is sitting still. In light wind this can feel like nothing is happening — that is normal. Build the habit of dragging on a beam reach first, then gradually angle up.

Board recovery: getting back to your board

Make this a routine rather than a scramble. You fall, the kite goes to neutral, you spot the board drifting away, and you start dragging. Aim to arrive slightly upwind of the board so the wind brings it to your hand rather than pulling it away as you reach.

When you get there, grab the handle or the rail near the middle. Never push a hand or wrist through a footstrap — that is how fingers and wrists get broken. Keep the kite flying with your other hand; if you drop the bar or dunk the kite, you start the whole process again.

Then either slide your feet into the straps while still dragging, or bring the kite up to 12 and fit the board on calmly. Water-start as normal. If you miss the board first time, do not thrash after it — turn, drag back upwind, and approach again.

Self-rescue: when the kite will not relaunch

Some sessions do not come back. The wind drops too light, the kite inverts, a line breaks, a bladder goes. Now body dragging is about getting you and your gear back to the beach.

Try to relaunch once or twice, not ten times. If it is not happening, keep hold of the kite. A kite left to drift is a lost kite, and it can tangle another rider or end up on a crowded beach. The exact self-rescue technique depends on your kite and conditions — often it means holding the kite and dragging with it, sometimes it means a full packdown in the water and a swim. Learn the version your kite's manual describes, and practise it in shallow water with an instructor.

If the wind is offshore or you are a long way out, do not commit to a swim you cannot finish. Stay with the kite, keep your energy, and call for help if you carry a means of doing so. Riding far offshore without a way to raise the alarm is a gamble, not a personality trait.

Practise it while everything is going right

The reason most riders are shaky at body dragging is that they only ever do it once something has already gone wrong: the wind is nuking, the light is going, and they have lost the board for the fourth time. That is the worst possible moment to learn.

So spend ten minutes of an ordinary session on it. Pick a flat, shallow spot with an onshore wind and no one else close by. Drag downwind, then across, then upwind. Pick a mark on the shore and try to hold your line towards it. Let a board float away and go and fetch it, twice. If you have never done any of this, book a lesson — body dragging is standard beginner progression, and a couple of hours with an instructor in waist-deep water saves years of guesswork. Once it is automatic, you can stop thinking about it and get on with the fun part.

Photo: michaelhumenberger / Pixabay