Hey Guys,

On Wednesday I had my first attempt at using a waist harness (I've been using a seat since a teenager for windsurfing, then kiting, and i'd been very happy with it) which i bought fairly cheaply on ebay.

From the advice I'd been given, I'd been told that you wanted it pretty tight, so it wouldnt ride up, so this is what I did.

I was pretty overpowered on Weds, which didnt help matters at all, but I found it really uncomfortable when the kite was anywhere between 11-1 oclock, the top ridge of the harness was digging in big-time into my ribs. Walking up the beach was arkward, and I found even doing slide turns on the water to be really uncomfortable, due to having the harness pulled up/dug in (in fact it tore my wetsuit).

I spoke to Scott about it after, and tried his harness on, which he has really quite loose, but the harness seemed to have a more anatomical shape than mine.

I've tried putting my harness on again at home, but leaving itmuch looser (so that i can turn the whole harness through 45 degrees in either direction), and although it does ride up considerably, the top of the harness doesnt 'dig in', it just kinda stops going so far due to the shape of my ribcage.

Is wearing it loose the way to go? is it expected that its position may rise or fall 6-9 inches depending on where the kite is? should the harness be loose enough to rotate left and right ?

I dont want to give up on it straight away and go back to a seat harness, any advice would be welcome.

Peet.

PS. James: what harness do you use for your beginners lessons? if you use waists, do they have problems with them? Ta.

Buy an ION harness and you wont have a back problem's Peet!