Kiteventure

Location : Brighton Kite : 10m Switchblade Conditions : 15-23 knots north westerly Beautiful day so Pete and I headed down to Brighton to pickup the wind as it came in.  Been a long time between sessions, was a little rusty but soon shook out the cobwebs.  I'm still not too keen to try anything crazy - the water is very cold - but had a great upwind session.  We went from Brighton up to Elwood in very consistent north westerly conditions, we ended up being out for about 1.5 hours.  Awesome ! I've spent a bit of time over the last weeks working on the kitesurfing handbook with Pete.  This is basically a how to for beginners that are learning to kitesurf.  Check it out : http://kitesurfing-handbook.peterskiteboarding.com/ Pete asked me how many sessions I've clocked so I thought I'd give it some consideration. In the early days I was getting out heaps - up to 3 or 4 times a week, but I figure an average based upon the current measurements would be...

Location : Brighton Kite : 10m Switchblade Conditions : 15-20 knots northerly Great to get out on an average day.

Location : Brighton Kite : 10m Switchblade Conditions : 15-30 knots northerly This season has been a bit atypical - consistent winds and some southerlies coming through.  None of that today though - back to the winter of old with a gusty northerly to contend with.  PredictWind was spot on again - we were first on the water and got the best of the breeze by going early.  Trickiest wind I've kited in quite a while - it was all over the place.  Too cold for any crazy tricks - and too gusty but transitions are all good. Managed to kite a bit upwind with Pete to around Brighton harbour - fun to do a mini tour.  Great to get out and wash away the cobwebs after a night on the town on Friday.

Location : Hampton Kite : 10m Switchblade Conditions : 15-20 knots westerly After a holiday in the sun, this was the perfect way to readjust to Melbourne's temperature.  A kite in 12C at Hampton in a very consistent westerly.   As mentioned previously, I've put a bit of a monatorium on new tricks as it is freezing in the water when you ditch the kite.  So nothing crazy today, but great fun to be out in just enough wind, quite a swell around so some fun to be had in the waves.  A boat busted a mast so I did my best to help take a lady to shore - but she was too freaked out to be helped much.

Location : Long Island, Whitsundays Kite : 10m Switchblade Conditions : 15-20 knots south easterly The stars seemed to align during the week, predictwind indicated that the wind would be perfect for the first day of our holiday.  I looked around Long island on google maps and found what seemed to be a perfect kite beach just 200m from where we were staying.  Yeehaa ! It looked like a beautiful spit, perfect for a south easterly, with great sand for landing and launching.  Check it out and you can see why I got excited. Reality however, looked a little different.  What appears to be a sandy beach is actually a rocky beach.  Not little rocks either, but rocks with barnacles and pieces of coral - all very sharp.  So did I go out - hell yes.   Luckily the tide was outgoing and revealed a sand bar around 4m by 4m. I was able to launch from this sand bar, and navigate out through a passage inbetween the rocks.  Rocks were everywhere, in the water, on t...

Location :Brighton Kite : 10m Switchblade Conditions : 15-25 knots north-westerly One of the most consistent northerly breezes I've seen at Brighton.  Had about 1.5 hours out in fantastic conditions.  Good opportunity to consolidate skills, managed backrolls and 360 forwards in both directions.  Stuffed up a raley and learnt again that the water is quite cold - I'd hate to be in it for any length of time.  Had a terrible crash - tried a reverse 360 on my good side and totally stuffed it up - I was about the same level as the kite and came down with the board square underneath me.  Lucky that I didn't break anything - board or body.  Managed to pull off an inverted twist on both sides - ace. Still astounded that some folks persist in going out with a leash but without a helmet - terrible accidents happen this way.  

Location :Hampton Kite : 10m Switchblade Conditions : 15-20 knots westerly Beautiful to get out in the morning.  Not quite enough wind to do anything special, just nice to cruise around.  Interesting that you seem to need less wind in winter, the air is apparently denser.  Not nearly as cold in the water as I expected.