2015 01 25 - All over the place

Strong forecast got everyone all sorts of excited.  I headed down to Hampton to meet James, Pete was doing an across the bay training session.  It looked like it was howling, so much so that I put up the 7m.  At the start, there was nowhere near enough power, had to work the kite super hard and grab onto some gusts to get up the beach and to the northernmost groyne.  The straight onshore westerly had made it super crowded, everyone on the same tack and heaps of kites around.
After another 10 minutes the wind picked up and we were off - I managed to get back out into open water and see James on his big kite.  Managed to land some big jumps with a few standard moves, James did the best jump I've seen him pull off.
The wind was fairly variable, it would be hitting 25 then fade really quickly.  At one stage I was motoring along and I felt a massive yank on the bar, after which the wind dropped completely.  I thought I must have put a hole in the kite.  The wind then swung about 90 degrees, the biggest swing I've seen in a very short timeframe.  Shortly after I headed in - just crazy gusty conditions !

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