Kiteventure

Another fantastic session at Frankston with James, Stu and I.  Its still ridiculously warm in the air and the water.  We all had a great time and close to a 2 hour session.  Perfect preparation for Greek Easter.

Met up with Stu Styles, Job, Grant down at Beaumaris.  There was just enough to hold a line, but nice to get out and have a few laughs.

Ripping forecast for morning wind so Tarren and I met up at Aspendale, thinking it would be ripping the roof off.  Turns out it was a perfect morning there for a sup.  It seemed some wind was getting in at Frankston so we tore down there and it was definitely on.  It turned out to have something for everyone, we had wind ranging from 16 knots to about 28 knots, sunshine, rain and a ripping great time on the water.  The first 30 mins was good consistent wind for trying all sorts of stuff, I discovered that I could get massively upwind by gliding just 1 metre from the sand - had great fun carving up then going for big air on the way back.  Then the wind picked up and we were going huge - excellent fun.  Managed an entire board off and 2 rotations for an epic stack.  Love the track log on this one.

When in Rome, surf some.  Waves were coming in, grabbed the surfboard and rode some. it was fun.

The wind wasn't hitting its forecast nastiness, so I went for the 10m.  This also gave me the opportunity to throw the camera on the kite and grab some footage - I figured on movie for a change. Great chance to see what tricks I'm hitting (and which I'm not), plus good to through some of my compositions on the backing track.  The camera only records for 26 minutes, so I had to go bananas.  The first run I nailed 6 things in a row - so that went on pretty much unedited.  After that, I cut in all sorts of stuff. Things that seem under control (featured in the clip) - backroll - nosegrab - gayley - frontroll - backroll transition - one hand jump and rotation - backroll to toeside - backroll toeside to heelside - backroll toeside to toeside - double backroll jump - riding blind for a very short time I got totally munched going for a darkslide which unfortunately I missed on the footage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIO9_fmdQ8o

Figured with time on my hands I'd chuck a surfboard session in.  why the hell not.  It was fun.

Headed down to Rosebud with the week free, and the kids spending a couple of days with my folks.  Freedom ! The forecast was for ballistic winds dying down by lunchtime to 15 to 20.  My plan was to get down early and kite until I could no more - and I was successful. Met Eric and we made the call to go small kites as it was a steady 22 knots and looking like it was going to hit hard any moment.  Had the first session on the twin tip and loved being out in consistent winds, flat water and a beautiful warm day.  The wind didn't gain much so I decided to try everything with a loop. And it worked a treat.  It was great practice for getting my head around exactly what happens at small scale when you loop.

Session at Hampton after the epic adventure at Point Impossible.  Fun to get out with James, Job and Pete but just no comparison.

With so many highlights its hard to know where to start. After much discussion, we had a fair size crew settle on a destination.  Pete, Stu, Eric, Dan and Mike all joined forces at Breamlea at around 9am, with the promise of solid wind all day and big surf. Bremlea looked magnificent, but alas the wind was not really pushing through there so we decided to circle around to Point Impossible. Hitting Point Impossible there was stronger wind and 1 kite out.  There is a lot more reef and rocks, but there are a couple of back out points so whilst it looks pretty dodgy, we were confident that we couldn't come to too much grief.  Heading out it soon became clear that the wind was not quite strong enough - I had to battle hard to keep on a line.  Pete dumped his kite and lost his board but I had no chance to retrieve it - it was upwind.  Luckily he drifted in to our back up point. The wind picked up as time went on, the surf was big and amazing.  Lots of wind...