Kiteventure

 Met up with James, Mike and Taz down at Rosebud YC for another cracking session down the coast.  Had to avoid the 50 knot squall that came through later that day.  Water is so clear !!!

 Still a magnificent spot.  James and I drove down, later joined by Stu, Anthony, Job and Luca.  Very shallow going over the reef at launch, but after a bit of gybing got out to our surf spot.  Not really working but still great to be out and just whet the appetite for better tides and waves.

Solo out off Mentone in light waves with not much time.

 James and I launched a bit down the beach from Gnotuk in very strong wind and great waves.  Magnificent fun and also a bit scary at times.  Joined later by Pete, Athol and Mike launching from Gnotuk.  Ended up getting a landing at Gnotuk.

 Dobbo, James, Taz, Mike, Ant - glorious to be out in the waves in the beautiful water.

 With Ant

 Flat water - met up with Job and Luca - glorious

 Cross off so gusty as all get out, but great for going down the line.

 Broke out the nugget in the light wind and it goes upwind like a maniac.  Great to be gybing on such a stable machine.

 after lunch, back in the waves with a bit more southerly in it.

 Great crew headed down to Sandy point.  Kicked it off right with a massive 2 hour session in the waves.

 Taz and I hit the beach and were just managing to hold a line.  Heaps of photographers down the beach but I reckon the shots would have been pretty lame.  I cast a look off into the distance and could see a front coming through and BAM - it hit 25 to 30 knots and it was big air time.  Very frontal of course but a great addition to the session.

 Enough wind to poke my head up at South Melbourne, yay

 Met up with Chris Leverkuehn who had nabbed a whole heap of new sailboarding gear.  Did a few runs out and back with just enough wind.  

 Fantastic breeze at Hampton.  Went out with Anthony, solid 40km session

 Took Alexander and Tina with me to Mentone - there were people everywhere !  Ended up at North Ricketts to try and grab some less gusty wind.  James and I got out, it was around 20 for 10 mins then dropped to almost nothing just when Tina and Alexander arrived after walking from Mentone.  Then we were hit with around 30 knots of power, managed to hit up some massive jumps.  Fairly short session as it was hectic and I didn't want to keep them waiting.

 What a turn up.  After a very long pause for Covid, we finally had James, Stu, Pete, Athol, Rich, Anthony, Mike, Dan, Grant and Hamish.  Our initial plans for a crosswinder up to Aspendale were a little foiled, the wind was squalling up to 35 or so knots so best to stay around Ricketts.  It is such a tricky spot though and totally unforgiving, I had to rescue one beginner from hazard with the rock wall, and had to help out again when Stu Styles got into trouble when he hit his safety accidently.  Lots of fun though.  Big air, small surf and just great to have a bunch of fun people about.  All wrapped up with a couple of beers, winner. Lots of photos of me being very serious.

 Thank goodness finally got out for a session with Tarren at Port Melbourne.  Woke up at ridiculous o clock, waited and hit the beach at 610.  So nice to be back on the water.  I'm always amazed at how much of this stuff is muscle memory, was able to slot right back into backroll kiteloops and big jumps with helis.  Heres to a lot more kiting over the next couple of months.

Hit it up again with Stu, James and Rich.  Sensational superman from Mr Styles - board flung off, backwards, both legs kicking, hilarious.

Ripping northerly during covid with Stu and James.  Had to take back roads but well worthwhile.  Great little waves and some nice air.

An ominous sky, 2 amazing photographers and a couple of preening kiters.  Awesome fun session, I was cracking up for most of it trying to get a double shot nailed with Taz.

Cracking wind forecast so I grabbed James at 630 and we headed to Rosebud.  Met there by Taz, Rich, Dobbo, Stu, Anthony.  Amazing session, pretty much lit at 25-30 knots that whole time.  Lots of early jumps on my weaker side (backrolls, forward rotations, backroll kiteloops) - feeling really comfortable either way now.  Then went out the back for some great surf, did heaps of runs from the pier all the way down to other markers at West Rye.  Got fantastic secondary lift on one jump, highlight !  Called in on Julie and Keith on the way home for an amazing day.  Fell asleep at 830.

Back to the old crew with Tarren and James hitting up Port Melbourne, with James and I immediately heading for Sth Melb to hit up the small waves.  Heaps of fun as ever.  On return we met a photographer who was enticing Taz to put himself back in hospital.

Dobbo, James, Stu and I hit Aspendale just after the front came through for a magic session of consistent wind and great bay surf.  Cracking session.

Early morning session with James, Dobbo, Stu, Job and Luca.  Very consistent breeze at first with some nice waves.  Blew up quite a bit later on, enough so that James' depower strap broke and his kite flew off.  Luckily it got snagged around a post and wrapped around a tree.  Amazingly enough no holes and no real damage to the kite.  Stu and I tried to go backout afterwards but it was nuts, blowing really hard and inconsistent.

early session at beaumaris with job, luka, stu, james.  Got home before the family was out of bed, winner winner.

1 hour faffing around waiting for the wind to pickup, then 1 hour of magic on the water with Job, Anthony and Dobbo.  Yeefreakinha.

20 to 25, new kite, board, harness and life is good.  Lots of nice big air.

Joined James and Anthony for an after work session at Hampton.  Cut upwind into some nice waves.  quite a comedown from Westernport though.

Big crew with Adam, Pete, James, Stu, Anthony, Rich all hooking up.  We'd hoped to get out at Flinders but the southerly just wasn't getting in to the bay and the tide was out.  Note to self - for that break you need 1. south easterly or easterly 2. more than 1.7m swell (we went out in 1.5m and it was just ok) 3. close to high tide We were about 2 hours before a very low tide and the whole rock shelf was out of the water.  If we ever crack that place in perfect conditions it is going to be the best session ever. So... back to point leo.  We tacked out and back to "suicide" point and kited in a narrow lagoon amongst 4 surfers.  Some fun waves were had, great little session.

Launch in the flinders carpark with James, Anthony, Pete, Stu and Mike.  Kited out to the break at the south of flinders point, smaller waves than last time but still glorious to be out there.  Just rode waves all morning.  Such an amazing spot.

Hampton.  Not a lot of wind but great to be on the water.

James and I hit up Balnarring.  Quite specific rules about where you are allowed to kite, but had some great wind so lots of nice high jumps.

Doubled up on yesterdays session.  Great wind forecast so we went back to the bay from the day before, not quite as good a swell so we went past Flinders pier.  I could see waves breaking further out so we tacked hard and came onto some fantastic waves on the point.  Dropped my kite and one point and felt like it was going to be shredded on the rocks - but through some miracle I relaunched and continued to have an amazing kite.  Had a big trip back - halfway back we got hit with some big gusts that made it pretty hard going, but wrapped to have a couple of solid hours on the water.

Fantastic wind, amazing scenery and a trip along the coast from the Pines, Honeysuckle and up to Flinders pier.  Found a fantastic little bay where we got to tuck in to some nice little waves.  Spectacular session.  Unfortunately gave my new board a little scratch - oh well !

Fully powered in about 15 knots for about 1.5 hours with James, Anthony, Adam.  Got the new board and new kite and new harness and life is sweeeet.

Just bought the new Cab Switchy (2018) - first run and it was amazing.  Parked the kite in 14 knots and it's pulling like a truck, nice big floaty jumps and loops.  Great session with Pete.

Bit sketchy in close but nice and strong out a bit.  Pulled some nice jumps with kiteloops, all secretly filmed by Anthony on the beach.

Looked like a great forecast so we hit up Point Leo - wind was just enough but SW so a bit tricky.  We headed down to the Pines but it was very variable there, so we cut back to 2nd reef and it was magic.  Very little surf but super fun carving it up. Great spot, just can't wait until we get surf and wind there.  Excellent fun with Pete, James, Stu and Mike.

James, Stu, Rich and I hit beaumaris on a perfect seabreeze up to about 22 knots.  Tried out the new bar which is sensational, nice and short so lots of stability.  Got lots of big air, rotational jumps, transitions, heaps of fun.  Hamish was out on his windsurfer too which was great - he seems to be enjoying himself.