Kiteventure

 Perfect conditions at Mentone - but lifesaving club has been relocated to where I would normally kite.  Went a bit further south to parkdale - really the south end of Mentone beach - and got perfectly consistent wind - all on my own - no other kites, wings or sails to be seen.  Worked on rotational jumps and managed to get some comfort and progress, but just loving being out on the water.

 SSE forecast and didn't seem to be getting in at Mentone, so I figured South Ricketts would be the go.  Welcomed to the beach by Ken the lifeguard telling me that windsports are forbidden (whilst there were 3 wings on the water).  He softened slightly and told me to keep out of the swimming area (which is massive with no people).  Out on the water it oscillated in strength from 12 knots through to close to 30 and changed direction quite a bit too.  Pretty challenging and no margin for error with rocks everywhere.  Great to get out and probably great to survive.

 Tina is amazing - suggesting that I go for a kite after christmas lunch at Nicky's.  We quickly circled back, I grabbed my stuff and the car and after a great lunch, went up to Ricketts and was joined by Stu.  Wind was just enough to hold a line and sometimes cut up to the flat area in front of the cafe.  Grant and Chris L dropped by for a chat which was a lovely way to top the day off.  Spectacular day !

 James and I hit the jackpot with a consistent (but hard to pick) wind at urquharts bluff.  Water was spectacular, landscape amazing.  Just a joy to be on the water.

 Having a grand old time at flinders, thinking about going round the corner when I spotted a big grey thing right in front of me.  Thought it was a massive shark and went quickly into the shallow water.  I would have cut for it but everyone was still out - so I spent the rest of the session trying to warn everyone.  Eventually I gave up - I figured it would have moved on by then - and just kited through the rest of the session.  Looking back through the tape discovered it was actually a dolphin - there were a couple of them chasing me later in the piece.   Wow.

 Out of nothing came a downwinder session with Pete, Stu, James, Ant, Rich, Sean and for the first time we were joined by Garry and Anton and some other random dude from Ricketts.  I took it easy on rotational jumps but spend a lot of time jumping and surfing, always a fun little trip.  Great way to spend the day and wash away the cobwebs from a blinder the night before watching Wolfmother with Ben, Darren, Johnathan, Ben and Gus.