Kiteventure

James and I were perfectly co-ordinated, coming in to work at the same time and tearing down to Port Melbourne to meetup with Tarren and Pete for a session on project sawtooth.  Spiky wind, but still fun to be out.  Amazing how well modern kites can handle big variations in wind.  No real progression, but first chance to practice some old summer rotations. Long session (about 1:20) with no sign of pain in my foot which is a great sign. Fascinating looking at the GPS track log - you can see how the wind was curving around into the port melbourne area but was coming more straight down the bay outside the harbour.

Tore down to Rosebud to grab a very promising northerly and met up with Tarren and Pete on the beach.  Unfortunately it didn't come through as expected and the guys had 3 kites pumped so I jumped on Tarren's 11m edge.  There wasn't quite enough wind to really enjoy the kite, just enough to enjoy a kite on the surfboard and then a walk back.  I changed over to the Airrush 12m and some stronger wind came through, making for a great 20-30 minutes. It was great to try a couple of different kites - both of them deliver a lot of power.  The edge doesn't turn quite as well, but I remember it being great for hangtime and stability while you are doing tricks - something I couldn't test out today.  The Airrush was fantastic for the conditions, a hell of an almost square surface area delivered a lot of power and very quick turning ability, I'd be fascinated to see what it would be like in the middle of a rotation cause I reckon it would loop real quick and leave you in ...

Tarren made a triumphant return from his overseas adventure to join Peter, James and I on a downwind trip from Beaumaris to Port Melbourne.  Grant also joined us for the initial session at Beaumaris.  Fantastic day with nice strong wind -I ended up taking the 7m kite out with the surfboard, and tried several different gybing techniques.  I became a lot more comfortable on the non preferred side, still only got gybes at 70% though. There were some fantastic breaks, just beside Sandringham and off Green Point were both highlights.  Spectacular session - 2 hours on the water - great start to the season.

Just an amazing place to kite, beautiful clear water, protective sand bars on a perfect blue sky day.  Wind was just enough to keep a line, but it was still an absolute joy to be out.   Peter, James and I were all smiles.  Bring on summer ! Saw what looked like quite a large shark a little way offshore.  No need to worry, just looked interesting.  Amazing to be on the water again and just re-emphasised (yet again) why I love this sport so much.