Kiteventure

James and I went down to Frankston for an invisible session - that one where you get up at 6, tear down the beach and be home before the wives get up - and were greeted not just with a ripping 20 knot north westerly, but also Pete in super spy mode (i.e. turning up largely unannounced).  We were all wrapped to be on a beach with a good bit of wind and some time on our side - a rare occurance. The small surf was rolling in at Frankston and was an absolute joy.  The wind wasn't cranking (yet) so I did some backroll kiteloops and a range of rotations with a range of success. After about an hour, had a chat to James, then Pete and I decided to do a down and back run to Mornington.  All went well on the way down, I noticed that from about Mt. Eliza on the wind was picking up, the jumps I took to give my legs some relief were getting bigger and bigger.  Finally got to the southern point of Mornington and the wind was really cranking - about 30 knots and some big waves w...

Headed down to Hampton to meet up with James and Stu.  I got to south road and saw Pete out on the horizon with his kite.  Pete did the secret agent trick and rolled up early - surprise ! Dan and Mike true to form went wherever we were not - choosing to go to Brighton instead of Hampton - weird. The session was fantastic, rock solid wind of around 20 to 25 knots.  Westerly to north westerly, so we were able to go upwind with ease.  The section inbetween the rock groynes was beautiful flat water, absolutely magnificent.  With the nice flat water I actually managed to land some riding blind's - probably 3 in total - fantastic to get it happening after so many stacks.  Rotations were a bit of a challenge for me today - I didn't land too many of them.  Did land a couple of double backrolls though. At one stage I got to see James run his new trick - the Jesus superman.  He landed a jump in that awkward position of back to kite, after which it loop...

Hit up Rosebud for the early northerly - but there wasn't enough wind on arrival.  I ended up heading south to Tootgarook - the first place that I saw the trees dance in a happy way.  Setup in a nice little car park and soon enough I was out on the beautiful clear water of the Peninsula. It took about 30 minutes for the wind to build, then it was nicely on.  I managed to land a sequence of tricks that I've had trouble with for a little while - backroll to toeside, toeside backroll.  And topped it all off with a nice darkslide with kiteloop - magic way to start the day.  I even managed to get back in time for Sonny's soccer game at 11am...sweet.

Met James, Eric and Pete at 7am at Aspendale for a session.  I love aspendale - beautiful clear water, small waves and white sand.  The wind was a bit up and down - kind of frontal - but when it was on, it was nicely on.  No real progression today, it was a bit dodgy to try anything new, but heaps of fun.  

That was perhaps the most variable session I've ever experienced.  After waiting most of the weekend for a decent set of wind with no hail, a small window opened on Sunday afternoon. Pete, Stu and I dashed down to Mentone.  Just as I arrived a squall set in.  Given that the day had been so up and down, I took out the small kite - and within seconds I was glad that I did.  About 30 knots hit, with rain, but great to be well powered on the small kite. From there it was all over the shop, 25 knots one minute, 10 the next.  Got some big air, but struggled with rotational tricks given the variability of the wind.  Still managed to push through for 1 hour 20 minutes, just loving being out on the water.

Lucky punch of wind from 4 to 5 on a totally unexpected day.  Headed down to Hampton with James, Pete and Eric.  A nice 18 knot breeze was blowing, so I tried the usual sequences - riding blind (fail), backroll to toeside (fail), jumps with kiteloops (yeah!), backroll kiteloops, rotations, backrolls, butterslides it was all going on.  Tried unhooked raleys and was overcome, as ever, of the power of the kite when unhooking.  Got a galey in I reckon, but the whole thing definitely needs some work. Things were going sweet until Pete got a bit excited with doing downwind kiteloops and very very nearly took me out after 4 in sequence.  He crashed his kite to avoid totally cleaning me up - and got dragged in to green point.  He seemed happy enough with the adventure, I packed up and ran off to Greek Easter.  Magnificent session.

Met Stu at Mentone, but I could only get there at 630 which meant I had about 20 minutes before the sunset.  Setup real fast and had a beautiful session in the dying light in about 18 knots.  Did some rotations, but wasn't keen for any looping given that it was dark and I was the only one out there.  Was still glorious running through the surf, I stayed until about 8pm,  by which time the only illumination was the full moon.  Great way to end the day.