Kiteventure

Some days are just perfect. After a wicked session at Marrawah, Peter took us to Stanley and to an amazing flatwater section just to the south east.  With the tide out it was reduced to a widish river with ridiculous flat water and a ton of wind.  Small kites were the order of the day, we had to setup and walk for about 500m to get to the water.  Taz, James and I joined up with the two already active windsurfers to do speed runs, jumps, and exploring the delta.  Magnificent flat water session - don't think I've ever had flatwater that flat for that long anywhere. Once the tide came in a little we were able to explore further up the tidal river, which made for heaps of laughs.  What a session !

After such an amazing first day, what better way to back it up than to do it all over again. We grabbed breakfast material from the local shop, and cooked up some bacon and eggs for breakfast at the sensational beach setup.  A little rotondah right on the beach with 2 bbqs and a toilet block - amazing facilities.  The wind was a bit lighter so we managed to break out the big kites.  Same pattern as yesterday, heaps of amazing waves to ride, good wind and a ton of fun. On the downside - I mucked up the camera position again so not many good shots of me, but heaps of the rest of the crew.  James dropped his kite in front of a wave where it got promptly smashed to bits, and Tarren blew out a strut for no apparent reason. Bam goes Taz's kite

The kiting weekend was finally here after counting the days for several weeks.  The prospect of Tasmania had been the shining light in what had been a pretty tough run at work and home. It dawned on me on the plane as we flew into Tassie just how amazing this had the potential to be.  A rugged coastline with seemingly beautiful beaches as far as the eye could see - we all got off the plane as excited as little schoolchildren.  We piled into our rented van - Peter, Tarren, Stuart, James and I - and beat a path to Marrawah - where a good surf and strong wind was forecast. It was about a 2.5 hour drive, but upon arrival we were delighted to find a magic beach with good waves, and strong wind.  Pete had got in touch with the Tassie kiting crew - lead by a guy called Peter - who met us at the beach.  We'd scoped out that we needed to walk a little way down the beach to get the SW wind that was blowing - and we headed his advice (thankfully) of putting up the sma...

Just enough wind for the new Switchblade at Beaumaris.  Met up with Grant, Stu and Pete for a sweet session on a beautiful day.

Great early morning session at Brighton.  Wind was north westerly, which made for some great flat water.  New kite is super powered - it gusted up to a bit over 25 and was at times hard to hold down.  Had to go for quick release on landing as the lines are so hard to hold with the waxy coating.

Arrived at Hampton with a steaming 28 knots coming through after a windy night - and there was a surfer out.  Nice little swell and solid wind made me put up the little kite - which was great fun, some nice big airs and lots of waves to ride made it quite an adventure.  Stu and Anthony arrived, after which we did a tour down to Green point - the waves down there seemed even bigger which was fun.  It was nothing compared to the monsters we were out in at Ocean Grove - nice to have a semblence of control back.  Great session after which I was completely knackered.

After an epic day out the day before, we were keen to have a somewhat lower key session.  But that is not what nature had in store for us. We waited for Pete to grab a new board, then headed to Ocean grove to grab some of the 17 knot westerly.  We were greeted at the beach by absolutely massive surf.  It was the biggest surf I'd ever been out in, kind of scary.  I got my new kite up and the wind was fickle - slightly cross offshore - crappy wind conditions for big surf.  Ideally you want solid wind - this was anything but. I did a couple of runs and realised that I was losing ground - not enough wind and the big surf pushing me down the beach.  I decided to do a long run out the back, so I had to jump over some big waves.  Pretty exciting/terrifying - the waves were huge.  I was a little too intimidated to actually surf any of them  - I didn't want to kill my kite.  I took a long tack and again - couldn't make up any ground. After...