Kiteventure

I took the day off to take care of the kids, and Gonad man managed to work from home.  A ripping wind came through so we went out at Beaumaris by the yacht club.  A really high tide turned the place into a fantastic flat water arena, with nice waves out the back.  Had an absolute ball, and still no big issue with my foot - so the next session should be absolute freedom and an opportunity to get back onto my to do list.  Try a couple of triple rotations but didn't land them.  Grant and I both had a ball.

Just enough wind to stay off the rocks within Western port.  Nice flat water, but not quite enough wind to go bananas. It's my first time back from injuring my foot - extensor tendonitis.  It's been a real pain, very difficult to walk and has been about a 2 week recovery.  If I ever get this again,  these guidelines  are fantastic for recovery.  I kept the session short just to make sure it didn't flair up again.  If it's benign tomorrow, I'm back in business.

After the massive session the day before, it was nice to be on the big, more stable kite.  The wind was just enough for me to keep upwind on the surf beach, but Pete was headed downwind.  I eventually decided to join him, and indicated to do a downwinder into the inlet. The wind in the inlet was rubbish, perhaps due to the incoming tide, so pretty standard downwinder.  The surf was a joy though !

After an abandoned session where about 40 knots came ripping through (standing near the beach becomes painful in these conditions), Pete and I returned with a mere 30 knots ripping through.  Small kites were the order of the day, so I chucked the 7 up. Very well powered, we were able to tour upwind to the surf life saving club fairly easily.  Along the way, we managed to call in to a speed run arena - a spit of sand next to a deep channel with beautiful flat water - which was a joy. Near the surf club the waves were barreling up - it was close to the biggest surf I've been out in with the kite.  There were some amazing peaks pulling through.  Had a fantastic time posing for some shots - little was I to know the camera was off centre and missing me.  I could be relishing me giving the thumbs up whilst being totally wiped out by an unsuspecting wave right now. I headed back to Pete in the mouth of the inlet and noticed a massive front pushing through.  ...

A massive 5-8 knots was blowing in the inlet, so Pete decided to break out the zero - his new light wind kite.   Amazingly, Pete was able to stay upwind, so I decided to have a crack.  I was about to find out that 8 knots on the zero is scarier than 35 knots on my little kite. Through the air it looks like an absolute beast.  On the water, the thing pulls like a truck.  Transitions are a bit unusual, it takes a long time to turn and likes to have some power so you must arc the thing to get a smooth transition.  Coming back... holy hell... its like when I first started kiting in 2003...massively overpowered, getting pulled off a line and hard to stop.  I would hate to imagine this thing in over 10 knots, you would end up in a tree.  It consistently wanted to pull me downwind or straight up. At one stage, I was heading towards a sand spit and tried to slow the zero down. Stuart - Slow down kite, got to walk across this spit Zero - Computer says no...