Kiteventure

I headed down to narrabean,  hoping that I would find better surf conditions than last time. I was kind of relieved that it was an ne wind, it meant that I wasn't heading to dee why, where a shark was spotted yesterday after ramming a surfers board.  Mind you, narrabean is the next beach along to the north,about 1 km away. I was still fairly cautious, but headed out a long way to sea to get upwind.  After about 5 runs, I was heading out from the beach, possibly only 10m from the shore when I saw a shape through the waves.  I had to double check as the whole shark thing was on my mind, but the outline does not lie, something primeval in me said shark. I had great vision through the waves with my Polaroid sea specs on, I could distinctly see the whole shark,  the Grey color, the side fins and tail. Measuring it up later with Darren I reckon it was about 1.5 to 2m long.  It was swimming parallel to the shore, perpendicular to me. The shock for me was that it...

Another magical afternoon kiting session in the waves at long reef.  After spending the day at dee why with the kids, and watching Sonny swim a lap of the pool, it was an absolute bonus when the south easterly kicked in.  I headed back down the beach and was greeted with about28 knots, lucky I bought the 7 up. Got some big air, then decided to surf a few waves. It was glorious. About half the guys use twin tips up here, half on surf boards.  It doesn't seem to matter all that much, everyone is getting heaps of waves. Friendly crew at long reef, I'm thinking my experience at narrabean was just due to the fact that there is no one concentrated launch spot. And.... two days later the beach was shut due to a large shark. Not that this is an issue, still planning to get out tomorrow wind permitting. The chance of getting nabbed on the kite are extremely slim. http://www.smh.com.au/environment/water-issues/shark-attack-closes-sydney-beaches-20121230-2c17n.html

The best wind forecast I have seen for some time,  a flat line at20 knots! Headed down to long reef, hoping for less shore break and more consistent waves. I was not disappointed at all, it was one of the best sessions I've had up here. Great waves and a good consistent wind allowed me to surf a hell of a lot of waves and get out of trouble on occasion. Great session. Kiters tend to congregate at one point at long reef, subsequently there was the sort of camaraderie I'm used to in Melbourne.  Can't wait for the next southerly, due tomorrow! 

Big shore break, average wind and a different kiting culture are what greeted me at narrabean. Iwas itching to get out for a sail, the forecast was great but it was a bit of a challenge to find the right wind info in a new location.  Surf it is apparently the go. When I arrived the were kiters out, most were struggling to hold a line. I immediately noticed the big shore break, a new challenge! setup and headed out, charged through the big shore break and avoided playing in that area for most of the rest of the session,  the place where kites go to die!  Went out a long way to get the best of the wind, stunning vistas of the Sydney shoreline. Didn't try anything crazy, still recovering from my cough and I was keeping am eye on the surf. Definitely adifferent vibe on the beach to Melbourne.  Maybe a carry over from the surfing culture.  When I arrived, one guy crashed his kite in the surf impact zone, no one was helping so I grabbed his kite before it was pulv...

After making dinner for the family, hightailed down to St Kilda to grab the seabreeze.  Had a nice hour in just enough wind - about 17 knots - in close to the pier.  Looking forward to the day though when I don't have to put the kite on maximum power !

Don't know why - I just like the gentle waves down there.  Bit of a dodgy day, frontal winds kept coming on and off.  Got out on the water for a 20 minute session, borrowed James 13 for another 10 minute session, and finished off with 20 minutes on my kite.  It was an experience riding the big kite, like driving a truck.  Nice in the air though, went for a backflip and it turned into two without even thinking.  Still a joy to be down the beach.

Title says it all - got out from Hampton, wind died, did a downwinder to Green point and a long walk back.  Still - a bad day kiting on the beach is a good day doing anything else !

As a kiter, there is nothing worse than watching a perfect day go by because you are tied up with social commitments.  After 3 days in a row of perfect weather, it was fantastic to break the grid lock and get out for a session - allbeit pretty late in the day.  The kids had been sick all day, so I put them to bed and headed down the beach at 7pm.  Got on the water quick smart after saying a quick hi to Tarren, and went hard for about 1 hour in fantastic conditions.  Landed a forward 720 for the first time ever, and a backward 720 went well too.  Not really landing my forward 360s on the weaker side though - something to work on. Went into the kiddies pool to finish up for some choice flat water. The only downside - after the pristine conditions we have been kiting in, St Kilda smelt and tasted like poo.

The warm water and sea breezes of summer arrived, nice 20 knot breeze at Hampton with James.  A joy.

The wind was set to do nothing at Inverloch so we headed up to Frankston to grab the southerly - and what a southerly it was.  A consistent 20 knots with the beautiful low surf, water and sand of Frankston.  Had an absolute ball pulling off all the old tricks - even got back into a 720 spin.

The blokes kitesurfing weekend at Inverloch was set for disaster - as much as you can define disaster as surfing in the morning, swimming and landboarding in the afternoon - until a southerly kicked in of around 18knots at 6pm.  We had a good 1 hour session in the beautiful surf - fantastic conditions - before it putted out.

Tried the surfboard for the first time on a beautiful blue day.  It was really tricky to get up on, but once up it was kind of fun.  You have to pay attention though - not having straps on the board at all means that any slight deviation and you hit the drink.  I did 3 or 4 runs before abandoning it for the comfort of the twin tip.  Magic day with about 16 knots - not enough to do anything crazy but nice for cruising.  No real pain from my knee - thank goodness - so I'll just lay off cycling and stretch and see what that does for me.

Hit port melb after work with Tarren and elke.  Wind was good for the first 15 mins, but after that rain and fronts made for a dodgy session.

Everyone had bailed out as it was marginal - about 10-12 knots.  Luckily Pete had the new kite and his raceboard - so we took turns of the raceboard which was actually able to hold a line in super light winds.  It was fun to ride it on flat water - I still haven't got transitions anywhere near sorted but it does fly along.  After a while I noticed Pete starting to go upwind quite a bit- so I rigged for a session of 15-16 knots.  Great to get one in - particularly when the kids are already in bed - no credit points lost !

It hit 4:30 and the wind sprang up so I high tailed it to the beach (a mere 2 minutes away) and had a lovely session on flat water.  As ever the currents were a bit crazy, but the flat water and consistent winds were magnificent.  Not quite enough to do a lot of crazy tricks, but enough to do some nice transitions.

Tarren and I hit the seabreeze at St Kilda - wind was between 14 knots and 16 knots so thank goodness for new kites.  Had a ball being out in such light wind, beautiful blue skies and nice water.  You just can't beat this sport !

Back out at Hampton for the first go of the season without a wetty.  Yeehaa ! Temperature is back up to 15 c, enough wind to do some nice transitions and summer doesn't feel too far away.

Disappointing session at port melb, beautiful evening but not quite enough wind.  Kite fell out of the sky several times.  Hoping it was just lack of wind, the kite was flying badly. Pete did very well on the sector 60 , that thing is a beast.

Just enough wind to keep upwind and do some transitions.  Good to be out with Pete and Tarren, but no real kiting highlights.

I must be somewhere tropical - NO - actually in the kiddy pool at St Kilda on an overcast day.  Wind was magnificent, the new kite has a mass of power that I think should be able to hold down to 14 knots or so, and no one was around.  Glorious.  The repair on the bar looks to have held up - that wetsuit repair glue is amazing.

Headed down to Brighton for an early morning session with Pete and Tarren.  Beautiful to be down the beach at 6:45 and out on the water with clear blue skies and warm temperatures - hello summer.  Still wearing booties as the straps on my board are still a bit cactus - they need replacements.  The new kite is still handling like a dream - it was slightly offshore so I didn't try anything radical.  Makes for a superb start to the day.

Got out the day after a massive front hit Melbourne.  Enough residual wind in the morning - from 17 to around 22 knots - to give the new kite another run.  Kids are away so I was able to stay out for quite some time - mucking about in the waves, transitions and generally having fun on the kite. The new kite handles so much better than my old one - its hard to imagine going back to it now.  Picked up my old bar that has been repaired, got a new handle for my board and some glue for the divots in my new bar.  Productive day !

First day of holidays and got a kite in - yeehaa. Second day out on the new kite - absolutely fantastic.  Really getting the hang of the response times and the power of the kite - so happy to have it.  It blew around 15 to 20 knots for the session and I was the only one out.  Magnificent fun, managed a few transitions with a kiteloop at the end to power out.  Can't wait for the next session.

Great to get the new 10m switchblade out on a frontal day at Hampton.  The kite was magnificent, quite a bit of grunt when it mattered, turned slow when hands in the middle and fast on the outside - I'm impressed.  Got a massive amount of air when a gust blew through with sweet landings - stoked to be on the latest technology.  Can't wait for the next session.

Gt the 7m out for a great session. Probably could have trialed the newly bought 10m, but the wind has been very heavy this week and the forecast was for some fronts to push through so the 7m it was.  Down wind to the Cerberus was fun, some big carving turns to the ship.  The ship is almost totally underwater now.  I went around the backside of the ship and the wind was dying out quite badly, tried tacking across and the big cliffs certainly played havoc with the wind.  I ended up - along with Pete - having to walk along one of the beaches a little to get a decent tack to get out again. Cut it pretty fine back into the bay at Hampton - between the rock wall and the signal post ! - but happy to have had quite a long duration session.  The wind wasn't as good in the bay as out the back, so it probably wouldn't have been great for trick action anyway. Great fun, very tired and good to have the flexibility of the put put.

Good winds came through for Saturday morning so we hit the beach early.  Unfortunately about 20 minutes in my centre line blew again - it was the fix that SHQ put in place for me.  I'll be going for the original part this time - that line was just not going to hold under pressure.  I'm getting good at self rescue - had the opportunity to spend about 15  minutes sailing the kite in whilst sitting on it.  On the way in also found out the kite has a hole in the leading edge bladder - bubbling away - really is time for a new kite.

Got out the 7 in magnificent wind at frankston.  Nice little waves, had an absolute ball.  The water was amazing, it's starting to warm up!

Don't know what I was thinking going out in frontal winds - I know - I was desperate for a kite.  Most of the time the only good wind was when it was pissing rain. The last 30 minutes compensated a little with a good 20 knots coming through.  It was still better than watching Olympics!

Pete and I hit the beach at around 10, and kited for around 2 hours before Franz and Wayne turned up.  Conditions were a beautiful 16-18 knots, nice little waves and nice sunshine.  The water was quite cold - got an ice cream headache at the first dunking but you soon get used to it.  Nothing monumental in terms of tricks, just great to be out there.

Becoming a big fan of Frankston in a northerly - fantastic consistent wind, nice little waves and no repercussions if things go bad - unlike Brighton.  Had a magnificent session - spent the first hour solo under blue skies, about 20 knots and nice little waves.  Worked on my weaker side with jumps, transitions and spins.  Magic setup.  Franz and a couple of his buddies showed up as I was thinking of going in so I stuck it out for another hour - mucking around in waves mostly.  As I haven't been kiting as much as summer I pulled up really sore - my neck, stomach and legs have had a big workout.  I had 4 large blisters on my hands too - its great without gloves for grip but these IT hands are not quite up to it!  In time I'm sure it will be fine. After fixing the depower line on my kite there is a little more slack, but the kite is flying fine so all good.  Ive got a strong feeling that this kite is going to explode one day - its starting to feel ...

Hit frankston fairly early (9:30) to ride the 20 knot northerly.  It was beautiful consistent wind, lovely water and a great beach - we'll be back for sure.  I went down with Pete and met up with Tarren and Franz down there.  Frankston has a big advantage over Brighton in a northerly - if things go bad you wash up on the beach.  And fortunately this time we were at Frankston - it proved fortunate later in the session. Had a great time rolling out the old tricks - I was able to work on backrolls and forward 360's, raleys, board off's, reversals and backroll transitions - all going well but not landing all as well as summer.  After a couple of hours I tried a couple of 720's - one that ended badly with a kiteloop at the end and an impending slam until my middle line and safety snapped.  I ended up swimming in after tying up the kite - a bit of a drift.  Franz later remarked that he saw 3 sharks - certainly makes the swim seem more exciting. Once Pete...

Tantalising wind of about 14 knots. Highlight was seeing a turtle...no... A plastic bag.

Tarren and I hit the beach early - I had things to do in the afternoon, so we were at Mentone at 8:00.  Mentone was in wind shadow a little bit in a direct westerly, so we headed a little further south to Parkdale.  The wind there was amazingly consistent for winter - spot on 17-18 knots - just enough sometimes for some air but not quite enough to do whatever I pleased.  The water was beautiful, small gentle waves around.  We stayed out for over 2 hours - when I came out I had blisters on my hands.  Next time I'd probably go a bit further south to Mordialloc as there is a little more beach there.  Lost my wedding ring whilst changing - had to go back and find it later that night. Still happy not wearing gloves even though I got blisters, the grip is a bit better, less fatigue in my hands and I figure they will harden up over time.

Just got enough wind to keep on a line - funnily enough I was still able to get air on transitions.  Magnificent to get out on an otherwise average day.  Water was a lot warmer than expected, I have to do something about the water shooting up the legs of the wetsuit though - its driving me crazy.

Its been a long time between drinks, so when it blew up steady 25-35 knots on an otherwise unpleasant rainy day Pete and I teed up to go out.  It was the first outing for Rod's old 7m kite - and it handled beautifully - heaps better than my old one that got smashed at Inverloch. The wind was quite strong so heaps of great opportunities for big airs, lots of big rolling swell so I got to ride some fun waves.  Really enjoy riding waves on the kite, it is an absolute blast.  We ended up having a 2 hour session, fantastic to have an outlet. I ended up ditching the gloves with about 30 minutes to go as my hands kept slipping - and it was heaps easier without them.  I think I've made the transition now to gloveless.  Still a little worried about lines, but the newer bars are fantastic without gloves, very grippy.

A perfect 20 knot breeze rolled in following a southerly change - headed down to Hampton for a quick session before going to the comedy festival.  Had a magnificent time - stringing together all the regular tricks and really working on my weaker side with jumps and inversed board rotation.  Had a massive smile on my face after this short, sharp session.

Almost the standard trip in Inverloch - from the surf to the inlet.  It is magnificent fun - such a highlight to muck around in the surf then hit the flat water.  There was a small section which was butter soft which Tarren and I hung around in for a while.  Went past Hutch in the inlet - he was doing well - but didn't recognise us. We pulled up in the inlet after about 6 hours of kiting - enough to create wear marks on both my feet.  A very happy pain though !

Wind had picked up to 25 to 30 so I headed in and grabbed my 7m.  Had a fantastic time riding waves, backing off the kite, going toeside and trying to stay on the wave.  Lots of fun as the amount of chop had died off and the surf became cleaner.  I was getting pretty knackered after around 3 hours of riding, and decided to get on a pretty big wave.  Unfortunately I left it a bit late and went over the falls.  The tension went out of the lines and scared me as they were floating around, I didn't want to tug on the kite in case I got something caught on them.  After quite a long hold down I came back up to see the kite on the water, missing one of the centre sections - totally blown out.  It relaunched, and folded in a strange way before - bang - the thing exploded.  A happy end to an average kite that helped me have a few big adventures. It was handy to have the 7 - I will definitely seek a new one.  I think this is part of going out in the ...

At last the weekend we've been waiting for.  Predict wind had forecast that the wind would be best early, so we hit Inverloch at 8am after a 6am start.  Setup on the surf beach and Pete and I were joined by Tarren, Franz, Rod, Wayne and another guy.  The surf was quite big in relation to other places we have been out in.  Headed out on the 10 but I was well powered.  Fantastic fun to be in the surf, but also a little daunting - hard to settle in and do any tricks as there was the constant threat of being hammered.  Franz and Rod on surfboards were going nuts - they showed some great technique.  After a while I was the only guy out - I realised that I was riding fully depowered with my arms well extended - time to exchange kites.

Beautiful afternoon down at Mentone - had Peter, Tarren and James down there for a late afternoon session.  The wind was a little light, then lifted a little to give us all a fantastic sunset cruise.  Got to try Tarren's ozone edge which was a fantastic kite to fly - very simple with fantastic lift and wonderfully stable in the air too - if the safety and depower check out it could well be my next kite.  The switchblade is great but a little too fast for my liking - I tend to get spanked everytime I try some new move as the slightest change to the bar powers up the kite massively.

I can't sing that sites praises enough - it predicted that a wind would come from nothing at 6pm and it did.  Had a beautiful session at Port Melbourne in about 16-17 knots. A beginner was kiting next to the Port Melb yacht club in the very narrow section of beach - I advised him to move up to South Melbourne.  It's amazing that someone would pick such a trecharous section of beach to try to learn in.

Headed down to Hampton after work with Pete. Good fun session in about 17 knots until fairly dark.

A perfect day ! Had a dance off with Tina (I lost !) then headed down to Mentone for a lovely session in 17 knot winds.  Stoked to get a kite in on my birthday.  Did quite a few 720s and 1080s just from a simple backroll - just let it roll on and on.  No other progression - wind was just enough for most of the time so no chance.

Location : Port Melbourne  Kite : 10m Switchblade  Wind: 20 knot southerly Fantastic wind, awesome session.  Went across to South Melb and tried every outstanding trick I had. Tried the toeside forward 360 transition - and landed it on my preferred side.  Still not consolidated by any means.  Tried the deadman - can't get my head around letting go of the bar.  This will happen.  Tried riding blind - but really struggle with the transition to blind.  Tried riding unhooked but the kite was super powered whenever I tried it - so I couldn't do anything.  Got to do my homework on this.  Tried board off on my non preferred - and pulled it off.  Not as elegant but some practice is due.

Location : st kilda Kite : 10m Switchblade Wind: 17 knot south westerly  Sunset cruise - just enough wind to stay upwind, cruised out past the breakwater and into the kiddies pool.

Location : Mentone Kite : 10m Switchblade Wind: 22 knot south easterly Perfect wind, perfect waves, what a great day kiting.  Landed the best board off so far, and the standard set.  Landed a backloop to toeside but didn't have enough power out and sank coming out.  Did a toeside frontroll - not as elegant as I would like but I can see now how this could work.  Also did a very nice raley - its time to unhook next time I've got an 18 knot day.  Had an amazing time - still buzzing.

Location : Mentone Kite : 10m Switchblade Wind: 15-18 knot southerly Up and down in terms of wind and weather, but the water quality was beautiful. Nice little waves rolling through. James making great progress and one good wind day away from sorted.

Location : Hampton Kite : 10m Switchblade Wind: 16 knot southerly Just enough wind - long session but only just enough so no tricks to be had.  Had a go on Pete's sector 60 raceboard - amazing upwind ability.  It's an incredible experience to be able to tack that hard into the wind.

Location : Hampton Kite : 10m Switchblade Wind: 16 knot southerly Fixed my kite at SHQ - unbelievable really, when I went in for the pulley replacements last time they put the old style pulleys on my kite.  No wonder it broke ! Replaced the front pulley with an eyelet, and got all new style pulleys for the rest.  Went out at Hampton with Jeremy - wind died off whilst we were out so had to run back from Green point to make an appointment with Tina.

Location : Hampton Kite : 10m Switchblade Wind: 25 knot southerly My kite has a broken pulley, so I borrowed Tarren's trial Cabrinha drifter.   The drifter has no centre strut and turns real fast.  I got caught out taking off - I turned the kite through the sky as I would the switchblade and this thing just pivoted fully powered and smacked me into a wave.  I wasn't wearing my impact vest so I bruised my ribs in the process.  The kite was fairly powered so I did some long floaty jumps - it seemed to launch into jumps differently from the Switchblade too - at much smaller angles.  The kite is super twitchy and turns a bit too fast for my liking, any kind of grab and the kite is shooting off somewhere.   Riding waves is where is excels - the fast turning speed and the ability to stall the kite and ride were fantastic.  Having said that, I won't be buying this kite. Jeremy borrowed an Ozone edge after finding problems with his kite, but I...

Location : Port Melbourne Kite : 10m Switchblade Wind: 20 knot southerly Another awesome wind day.  Tarren and I set off from Port Melbourne, again scooped around the corner onto South Melbourne beach where some beautiful waves were breaking.  Had a ball in the breaking waves before heading up to St Kilda to check up on James.  He's going well in one direction now - won't be long now till both are happening. We headed back to South Melbourne - those waves were just too good.  Pete joined us later in the session. Heading back to Port Melbourne I got some air and heard the ping - broken pulley again.  Fortunately I knew what to do from last time - quick release and wind in the centre lines.  Tarren got a bit close at the end and got tangled in the lines which made things a little tricky.  Very glad to have only jumped a fair way out so that I had a chance to get the kite under control before hitting the beach.   Time to replace the p...

Location : Port Melbourne Kite : 10m Switchblade Wind: 15-17 knot southerly Just a bit fatigued after a big week so not a big session.  Wind wasn't as good as the night before, nor was the swell.  Managed a good crash whilst attempting a frontloop transition, otherwise nothing to report.

Location : Port Melbourne Kite : 10m Switchblade Wind: 20 knot southerly I was pretty tired but just had to give it another shot - and am I glad !  The wind was spectacular - nice and consistent, the day beautiful, Tarren and I hit Port Melbourne at around 4:30 and had an absolute ball.  Went the other side of the pier to the South Melbourne beach - lots of nice waves to play around in, flat sections and rolling swell out the back.  I had a massive smile on my face the whole time - I just love playing around in waves.  Took one massive hit to the balls at some stage - but even that couldn't dampen my enthusiasm.  We ended up staying out for about 2 hours. I consolidated the board off by landing another one, tried the forward loop transition which is getting ever closer and even landed a backroll to toeside - but by no means consolidated yet.  

Location : St Kilda Kite : 10m Switchblade Wind: 25 knot southerly What a month it is turning out to be.  Absolutely incredible amount of time spent kiting - and the wind has been playing along perfectly.  Got out with Tarren and James.  James really got up and going today - he is basically away which is fantastic.   It was real windy - I used the opportunity to try some new stunts and the regular stuff - with some big success and some hard landings.  Managed to land a back foot board off on my preferred side - stoked.  Got 720 through a backloop and decided late to go for 1080 - bad idea - fully powered kite going backwards is never good.  Also raley's with gusts end up with you kind of hanging and drifting which is not so great either.  After about 40 minutes I was totally spent so chucked it in for another day - I think I'm still feeling the effects of the marathon session on Sunday.

Location : Hampton-Altona Kite : 10m Switchblade Wind: 20 knot southerly It has been an amazing 3 days - kited all 3 days - 4 hours on the first day, 2 on the second and 3 hours today.  And had a big night on Friday, and did a lap of Lysterfield on the mountain bike with Jamie and friends.   So how could I top the weekend off ?  With a fantastic kiting session and a bay crossing from Hampton to Altona. The session was magnificent - nice and warm, beautiful water and perfect wind.  Managed to land a board off (back foot) but didn't have quite enough power on landing to pull away - its close though.  So a couple are real close - front loop transition and board off. After waiting for Tarren for a fair while, I decided to follow Pete out when it looked like he was headed for the beacon.  Pete stopped along the way and said something to me - I didn't really understand but I figured he was heading for a crossing.  The wind seemed good and alt...

Location : Mentone Kite : 10m Switchblade Wind: 17-20 knot southerly A real high point having a line up of Tarren, Pete, Jeremy and myself heading across to Beaumauris point.  All on the same tack - would have made for a great photo. Re watched the kite lessons in the morning and figured out how to do the vertical frontloop - they start toeside.  Kind of makes sense in my head, but still have to turn that into reality.  I haven't made any progression for a while - its really time to have a red hot go at some new stuff. Had a great long session and was just thinking about ducking around to Beaumauris when the wind dropped out entirely and I had to swim in a little.  

Location : St Kilda Kite : 10m Switchblade Wind: 17-20 knot southerly The Saints were with me - with Tina going on holiday, I needed some good wind and it came through straight away.  Hallelujah ! Spent a bit of time with James - he's completed his lessons and just bought his first kite.  Incredible flying skills - he kept the kite up even after doing a full rotation in the water.  Really reinforces the fact that it is all about the kite - the next decent wind session he will be up and away. I had a fantastic couple of hours out doing the regular thing.  Tarren was down at St Kilda too completing his trial of every kite known to man.  Stayed out till around 8 - then went and met Wildy, Darren, Steve and Linda for a big night out.

Location : Hampton Kite : 10m Switchblade Wind: 25-30 knot south westerly Big wind hit hampton with a change and kicked up the best bay surf I've seen at Hampton.  Decent waves were rolling in.  Everyone is back from holidays though so it was busy - and with the wave factor - it suddenly seemed really crowded.  Some folks are on tacks, some are trying to get waves, and idiots kept pulling off tricks and almost landing on me.  I went downwind to the second groyne - until that got busy - then headed down to green point.  Green point was great - the surf wasn't breaking on the point but further south.  Its a bit dicey though as any error with the kite could have massive consequences - power lines and train lines are not far away.   It was a fun session in waves, but a bit frustrating fighting folks for waves.  I probably should have gone upwind to near the Cerberus - the waves are quite good up there and no one around.

Location : St Kilda Kite : 10m Switchblade Wind: 20-25 knot southerly Very consistent wind down at St Kilda - great setup for getting out and trying a few of the things that have been on my to do list.  Tried a couple of them and got pretty hammered a couple of times, but pulled off a nice 1080 on my preferred side.  With consistent wind anything is possible.  Landed a forward 360 transition but didn't have enough power in my kite to pull out of it - but an end is in sight for that one.  The backwards 720 on the non preferred is still proving to be my nemesis - got caned on that again today.  And I have to do some research on riding blind - I can't even transition into it anymore !

Location : Rye back beach Kite : 10m Switchblade Wind: 20 knot south westerly  Big surf on at Rye back beach - a couple of days at Peter's holiday house in sorrento gave us the opportunity to give it a crack. The wind seemed very strong in the car park so we went small - 7m - but that was rubbish. Not quite enough power to get out through the surf. You often need a bit more power in the surf due to the flow of water - in this case it was all over the shop - in, out, sideways. The surf was real big and messy - no nice troughs and flat sections, all chaos. Grabbed the 10m and it all became a lot easier - the surf was still hard going but I could hold a line and power myself out of bad situations. A tough place to kite though - lots of rocks and as mentioned, messy surf. The best spot n the peninsula would have to be balnarring for mine - the surf beaches need a combination of wind, tide and swell that are hard to come by.

Location : Hampton Kite : 10m switchblade Wind : 18-15 knots southerly  Late afternoon session to see out the year. Tarren took out a 12m switchblade to trial. Was glorious in the water, could have done with a bit more wind though.