Kiteventure

 Big wind, up to around 40 knots made for massive air.  Bad idea to do kiteloops though with a depowered 7 - got smashed pretty bad.  Watched taz go huge.  Surf was up and super fun!

 Surprised to see Pete in the carpark doing the stealth bomber move.  Waves all the way to Frankston so we did 2 runs from Seaford pier all the way to Frankston and back.  Glorious.  Somehow hurt my ribs but not from landing, just twisted a bit funny.

 chucked the small kites up and an instant sense of relief.  The wind had backed off a little, but very nice to have things under control again.  Did speed runs close to shore which was heaps of fun.

 Headed out with James for the first kite of the daylight savings season.  And what a cracker.  What looked to be a little over 20 knots soon turned out to be quite a bit more.  We put kites up and I was somewhat surprised that James headed straight downwind.  Once I was on the water it was clear that the wind was quite a bit stronger than we thought.  Got some massive massive air, thought about pulling a loop coming down but worried I would end up in the dunes.  After 30 mins it got to the point where I could barely hold the kite down.  James pulled safety so we put kites down happy to have got through the session.

 Out the front of Taz's house on the nugget but no Taz to be seen.  Landed some magnificent forward rotations and backrolls - nice, slow and balanced.

 after snorkelling rest day

The old crew - James, Taz, Pete and I - all met up at Seaford car park for the Sunday morning session.  Very familiar setup and ominous white caps.  We still decided to go big kites which made for a bunch of fun.  I was a little off with my timing for some of the jumps but was so much fun to be on the water.  Not long now till Lombok action. 

 Crazy windy on Saturday, so picked the declining wind on Sunday morning.  Water was a little murky and had to dodge pieces of wood and wildlife.  Was a bit light for the first 10 mins, but really came in hard later on to get some nice air.  Got scared when a little diving birdy popped up right in front of me.

 Almost flat line 25 knots at Rosebud, glorious cool clear water, with Tarren and James.  Perfect. Got a sore back which impeded me somewhat, particularly when I landed hard trying a triple.

 Pretty light on for the first 30 mins, then it came in for lots of fun in beautiful water at Seaford.

Really dialing in the backroll kiteloop transition on the nugget in both directions.  Fun trick.

 Poor James got to Mt Martha but had forgotten his harness! Had a fun session on the nugget, got pretty powered, tried all the variations of gybing and got heaps better.  My favourite is the backroll kiteloop to toeside gybe, cause it is easy and gives you a tonne of power coming out.

 14 to 35 knots, south westerly to north westerly, rain and sunshine - all the weathers in one session.  Not gusty, just frontal.  Still was mighty fine to be on the water with Taz again, getting big air every now and again.

 Hit up hampton expecting 20 knots and it looked like it could go balistic any second so put up the 7.  Lightly cruising for a while then a big front hit, lots of massive air and kiteloops, super fun.  Met a guy called Pete who was also enjoying a bit of air time.

 Woke up and was surprised by the wind strength.  Headed straight down to Aspendale and made the most of the westerly - about half the time on the twin tip and half the time on the nugget.  Joyful !

 Similar weather patterns to yesterday, got to the beach on a lull but we could see craziness on the horizon. Still put up the big kite and it was full adventure.  On the way down getting big air, then flat water and ramps on the way out from the north side of green point.  Heaps of fun.  Not the biggest waves I've seen there, but the flat water and waves makes for a lot of joy. Headed back up to Hampton, got some serious big air before Garry inverted his kite.  Tried the toeside board retrieval which worked a treat - will be using that more in future.  Fantastic session.

 Headed to Hampton with James but no wind so we decided to go pay Taz a visit.  He is still recovering from surgery to his shoulder.  Wind was light but the forecast was so ominous that I was a little nervous putting the 10 up.  And within about 10 minutes it came in heavy.  Lots of jumps, good surf, wicked session if somewhat totally overpowered at times.  Caught up with taz for a bit afterwards at his place where he made everyone coffees. I've got a weird bump on top of my left foot - seems like bone spur or something so I'll need to go to the docs.  Doesn't impeded anything at all but just looks strange!

 Momentous day - landed the triple backroll on the preferred side.  After about 13564238 attempts I've finally landed it.  Wrapped. Still struggling to recapture the forward 360 transition with kiteloop so still stuff to work on. Was at Hampton with Stu and Ant.  Great wind.

 First hit out for the new mazda 6 at Hampton beach.  Just enough for the nugget, lots of fun.  Worked on transitions in my weaker direction - clockwise.   Worked out a good backroll - kiteloop to toeside transition on the surfboard, lots of fun and easy.

 Getting nice air with the nugget and rotational jumps, but unfortunately the garmin broke off at some stage.  Time for a new one !

 Rock solid 20 knots at Hampton so we went up to the sea wall, tried to get the run up and jump happening.  Heaps of small racing boats coming in to juggle around with.  Did some nice high front 360's and landed some back 720s.  Met Martin who is just starting out.

 Joined by Garry and Ant.  Kicked in to 20 knots beautifully.  Did a lot of rotations.  not a lot of successful landings though!

Tested out the new bar - perfect Tested out the new glasses - perfect Used the nugget to stay upwind and jump - perfect Also landed some beautiful floaty forward roles - perfect 

 Very choppy off Beamauris but lots of fun and jumps all the way down to Brighton.  Stu, Ant, James and some others that I now totally forget.

 The session kicked off with Taz getting big air way too close to the beach, landing on the beach and putting his kite into a bush in his neighbours back yard. Consistently strong wind and big waves made it full of adventures.  Big air and secondary lift, kiteloops, all going on.  Taz, Stu, Mike, Adam and I were all out.  After a hefty fall the float on my glasses fell off on one side.  After removing the float, toeside on a wave I had a pretty major faceplant.  The glasses cut into my face somehow leaving me with a cut on the bridge of my nose and eyebrow.  It was bleeding a bit, but not too much so I perservered. Stu and I tried to do a run to Frankston but the angles weren't working.  We got to Chelsea, then jumped all the way back to Taz's place.  Totally wild and fun session, had to have a nap afterwards.  2 hours, 55kms.

 Joined taz and James after work.  Just enough to stay upwind, could have done with an extra couple of knots.   James and I cut around to South Melbourne but a swimmer was waving his arms at us on the beach so I hightailed it back to port.

 Took me ages to get my head around how it would even work, but today magic happened and I sorted it out.  Should be easy from now on in.  Down at Hampton with Anthony, perfect 18-20 knot breeze for trying out new stuff.  

 big boats were in and so were Mike and Taz.  Great session in very consistent wind.  Stu even dropped by and took some footage.

 Last session before going in to work.  Just over 20 knots so took out the 10.  Tried a lot of rotational stuff, happy with my forward 360 again.  Tried darkslide and couldn't help but pull a loop at the end, gotta go back to basics on that one.  happy to have a rest for a couple of days, starting to hurt myself.

 Picked up Sam's surfboard in the morning and gave it a shot in the afternoon.  It turns beautifully but is quite long and skinny, I don't think it's perfect for me.  Aspendale was glorious, 20 knots, little waves and good opportunities for jumps.  Tried a darkslide on my non preferred which I crashed head first into the water - some way to go on that.  Mike and Dobbo joined me there - Mike having his first session in ages.  I had a go of Mike's WAM board - very similar to the nugget in terms of the ride, just turns a little faster.

 Met Stu and James down at the Pines.  Surfed the pines a bit then headed up to Zappas, which was good fun little waves.  We meandered up to Left and Rights and I wondered why we bothered.  Then a set came through and great waves, sitting up and surfable for ages.  Awesome fun.  We spent heaps of time there.  It would be incredible with a bit bigger surf.   Predict wind had a 1.4m wave height and 7s period for today.  Half a metre more would be amazing.

 Another session at Hampton to claim the local legend title for the most amount of kms between the rock groynes.  Hilarious.

 Job and I met up at Hampton, joined by Garry a bit later on.  Strong wind so a small kite day.  Huge airs launching off the nice swell.

 Great clan together for a downwinder on Job's birthday.  We had Job, Luca, Cam, James, Stu, Garry, Adam & Sean, with Ant joining us on the beach at Brighton.  We set off from Ricketts, waiting a little while for Adam to launch and for Cam to join us from Ricketts south.   Was a really fun downwinder, calling in at all the favourite spots.  Garry almost hit a pylon with an x on it on the way down, and I had a kite fall out of the sky just at the red cliffs at Sandringham.  I thought there might be more wind closer to the cliff - turns out there was none.  We also got a bit tight around Green point, I ended up taking it really shallow over the reef.   I still had quite a bit of energy by the end so Stu and I did a quick trip out to Fawkner beacon and back to make it 50kms.  Job had beers and some fruit to celebrate the trip and his birthday - was a great little setup.  Awesome day.