Kiteventure

Unusual start to a session.  Motored down to port after home to see Tarren and James just leaving the water. Got in and a guy walked in directly in front of me. Bad form but a sign off what was to come. On my second tack, I did an air gybe, only to realise that the young guy on the orange north was right on my hammer.  I was jammed up against the yacht club so my only option was to come down and just wait for him to turn around.  But he didn't - he just kept on coming right at me.  I had to take evasive action in the end, turning hard to wash up on shore - and he still followed me and crashed his kite into mine.  I asked him "what the f*ck dude" to which i got a lot of advice about learning to kite, to f*ck off somewhere else and that twin tips weren't allowed at this beach.  Incredulous I asked him if he really meant that twin tips weren't allowed, to which he stormed off.  Seems like someone was having a bad day. I soon took off upwind and aroun...

Went down to St Kilda with Bruce - forecast was fantastic and his kit has just landed, so the stars looked to be aligned.  We pumped up his kite - which was in immaculate condition - and went through the basics.  No wind so we opted for a swim to cool down. The wind picked up closer to 6, so we launched Bruce, then it became apparent it was going to come in pretty hard.  I setup and got out - it was pumping.  I had my 10 and was well powered, Bruce landed to get his wetsuit on, but by the time he relaunched it was hitting 25 and kind of dangerous so it was pack up time for him. On the water it was very heavy.  I had to work everything hard to not be overpowered, but there were sections where I was being pulled downwind regardless.  I'd guess 28 knots or so, which is tricky to hold on the 10.  Got some big air though, but stayed away from any tricks that may have been a little more dodgy.  It was still fun, but I packed it in when it started t...

James, Stu and I struggled to stay upwind at Hampton - at one stage we were out quite near the beacon just hunting for enough wind.  Saw Pete on the way through with the across the bay crew - they were all working their kites super hard - must have been quite a slog.  The wind picked up near the end of the session, so I managed to land a nice darkslide then packed up.  Great day to be at the beach, a couple more knots would have been nice too.

I actually got down to Mentone about 7, but the wind only really picked up after 8.  Managed to pull off a backroll kiteloop.. and thats about it.

Rock solid wind, great surf, fantastic session at Mentone. I picked up Stu Styles on the way, and we met Pete down at Mentone.  Initially we thought it was going to be too strong for the 10s, but down on the beach the wind was a little more subdued than up at the lookout.  Absolutely perfect setup.  I depowered the kite just in case. Tried the toeside backflips with no further success, but managed to land quite a few front roll transitions.  I wasn't really focussing on progression though, as always I just love mucking around in the little surf, trying to jump on waves.

Strong forecast got everyone all sorts of excited.  I headed down to Hampton to meet James, Pete was doing an across the bay training session.  It looked like it was howling, so much so that I put up the 7m.  At the start, there was nowhere near enough power, had to work the kite super hard and grab onto some gusts to get up the beach and to the northernmost groyne.  The straight onshore westerly had made it super crowded, everyone on the same tack and heaps of kites around. After another 10 minutes the wind picked up and we were off - I managed to get back out into open water and see James on his big kite.  Managed to land some big jumps with a few standard moves, James did the best jump I've seen him pull off. The wind was fairly variable, it would be hitting 25 then fade really quickly.  At one stage I was motoring along and I felt a massive yank on the bar, after which the wind dropped completely.  I thought I must have put a hole in the kite. ...

After almost melting to death, having driven from Mentone to Hampton looking for wind in my wetsuit, I was very thankful to have found a decent southerly blowing at Hampton.  Just 17 knots or so, I had to stay a long way out to keep the wind coming.  Tried to practice the toeside backflip with keeping both hands on the bar, the way I ride toeside just makes that near impossible.  I might just have to look at placing my one hand differently.