Kiteventure

After 2 sausages and some kick starter drinks we headed back out.  Grabbed the wetsuits this time as we were a little fatigued. The wind had died somewhat so we pumped up the normal kites, then had to sit on the beach as it faded completely.  We had decided to call it a day, deflated the kites then a kick arse south westerly came through at around 25 knots.  Pumped up the kites again and had a fantastic session.  Had a big air competition, and tried some of the moves I was reluctant to try in the surf.  Landed a 1080 backroll, front 360 transition, and almost got the toeside 540.  Had a big smash on an attempted dead man - I fell right on my arse from a large height.  The session was the absolute cream on a perfect weekend for kiting !

Broke with consensus and decided to head to Seaford, as we weren't keen to drive the extra hours to get down to Rosebud, especially considering the forecast was nw to sw.  We cut through to Seaford and got there in quick time, to find a perfect 25 knots on the beach and no-one around.  The expected chaos from the iron man was a non event, there was only half a lane closed on beach road, we parked in the woolies directly opposite the beach - with great access to a sausage sizzle and junk food.  Tarren and I headed out with the small kites as it was really pushing through pretty hard, white horses everywhere on the bay.  Great to be back in the shorts and 1mm too.  Did plenty of kite loop transitions, worked on the forward 360 on goofy, was fantastic in the little waves.

After stopping for lunch at Sandy point cafe, we headed back out for an afternoon session.  With Pete letting us know that it had picked up a bit we broke out the small kites.  It was soon obvious after heading out that this wasn't going to cut it, so we went back to the normal kites and had a few runs before the wind died out completely.  Happy end to the day though feeling well worked.

Headed down to Sandy point rather than Inverloch as the forecast was for north westerlies, swinging to westerly which would not really work at Inverloch.  We made excellent time - we got there at 9:30 after a 7:30 start after doing the Koo Wee Rup cut through.  The inlet was really high tide and not working at all - mostly offshore - so we checked out the surf beach.  Conditions were fantastic, nice waves and a perfect cross shore breeze of around 20 knots.  By the time we pumped and headed out it was approaching 25 - so we were well powered.  Had a magic time in the surf - didn't try and big tricks but did a lot of wave riding.  Copied the technique of the guy with a surf board, turning the kite and then following it.  Ended up having a 3 and a bit hour session with Pete and James turning up at the tail end.  Tarren unfortunately experienced equipment failure and ended up dragging 200kgs of seaweed onto his lines, a situation that looked benign ...

Went from Aspendale to Mentone with James, Pete and Tarren.  Wind seemed real strong so we took the small kites down - big mistake.  Althrough threatening to come through, it never really did and seemed to stick around 17-20 knots most of the time.  This meant chaos - we had to go out a long way to get any sort of wind, James struggled to get around the pier and had to walk a long way.  Definitely not in the top 10 downwinders ! Forgot to set the camera to landscape and dodgy day so the photos were rubbish too !