Getting from sitting in the water to riding: the kite pulls you up onto the board via a controlled power stroke.
The water start is the key milestone in any kite course, and it usually fails for one reason: impatient legs. The sequence is park the kite at roughly eleven or one o'clock, both feet in the straps, knees pulled to your chest, board across the wind with the edge resisting the pull — then steer the kite down through the power zone and back up in one smooth, committed movement. The pull lifts you; you don't stand up yourself. Extend your legs too early and you get dragged over the front of the board. And your first metre always heads slightly downwind, never straight upwind — you earn height only once you have speed.