Let-down : 2. To fail to meet the expectations of;
Wind was supposed to be pumping in Hamamatsu so I thought I'd take advantage of the wife still being at work to sneak down to the beach and enjoy a day by myself, listening to what I wanted in the car and not having to make nice chat.
Cross-onshore at Maisaka, limited surf for a change - maybe 1 to 2m breakers and a 3 to 6 foot swell near shore. Whitecaps out there but anemometer only reading 9 knots. Still it's supposed to get to 20 by 2pm - here's hoping. Out comes the Synergy 19 - it pre-fills ok but not as fast as I'd like, meaning the wind is weak :( Take a test run but I'm going nowhere fast ... walk back to the kite's bag and have a cool drink and wait.
Melt-down : 3. An emotional breakdown;
Wind picked up noticeably enough that another kitesurfer has appeared, with a 12m Cult and a directional ... I'm beginning to understand why everyone here has at least one directional! Head into the water again and as I'm on my way out, the damned red hat safety pops and I lose the kite onto the shore at the water's edge - WTH I turned it upside down to avoid this problem!!! Much fighting with twisted lines (How?!?) and struggling with relaunch then try again.
Still limited joy, the Synergy just doesn't have the grunt for this little wind. Working it like a mad thing but really, I'm just drifting downwind. Walk back upwind, have a drink (2L of water at the shore is my best idea yet!) and get back in the water. Drift downwind on a half-sunk board.
Coming back into shore the board gets washed into me by a wave and trips the safety again! FFS!!! Everything is a mess and I spend what feels like an hour running around trying to untangle lines then trying to launch, only to have the kite bow-tie, invert and retwisting all the lines. Sort that, re-launch and oh FFFFS there's a bloody plastic bag wrapped around the pulley! Land, untangle all the lines, relaunch ... insert temper tantrum.
And I still have to walk back up the beach!
Have another drink, breath in, breath out ... goosfraba ...
Try again. Oh come on that little prick with the Cult is riding upwind and I'm STILL not! So in a fit of pique I loop the Synergy right back through the middle of the power zone and ZOO-oom! off and away ... for a few more seconds than normal, anyway!
Loop ZOO-oom! Loop ZOO-oom! Loop ZOO-splat! Tee hee!
This is getting me downwind like a rocket but it's like doing wheelies in a carpark - totally pointless but totally amusing! Looping up and backwards into the power zone is easy enough although it needs 2 hands on the bar ... looping forwards and down is difficult and less rewarding and results in the odd crash into the water.
So I get to try my first water re-launch of an arc. First one was a bit of a struggle - couldn't get the kite to taco, it just wanted to stay on the leading edge. Floated nicely though even in the 3 - 6 foot swell. Finally get it over and sort out the right line to pull and get it into roughly the right position and - here's the trick - the wind pops open the leading edge a little, so rather than lying flat on itself the center of the kite has opened up. Yank on the center lines and up she goes! The second time I dunk the kite, I'd try to loop it too low and the tip had dragged itself into the water. It landed in the taco though and with just a little bit of tugging on the bottom rear line, it opened up and I yanked on the center lines and up she goes! Not bad.
Walk back up the beach and decide on one last run. Loop ZOO-oom etc and I've gone a whole lot further than I meant to ... crap there's the hotel again, that means I'm about 3 kilometers down the beach! It's going to be a lo-ooong walk. And it was.
Crack-down : 1. severely repressive actions;
Walk walk walk ... pack up and head back to the car to wash my gear, wash me and change into dry clothes. Ah, cool sweet fresh water! I just stand under the hose for a while ...
...
... finally stop playing with the hose and load the car, head home. Buy about 20 ice-blocks cos I'm dying of thirst! 3 hours on the highway home but for once no traffic jam. Get home and start to take stock of today's punishment.
Grazed nipple (?!?) where the depower line rubbed against it when the kite would auto-zenith when I'm trying to walk down the beach ... not always a good thing that auto-zenith, I've decided.
Right leg, inner thigh rubbed raw by walking up the beach with the kite to the right. I can live with that.
Taken off a few layers of skin where the leg straps go. Usually happens, no big deal.
Rashed inner left elbow from carrying the board. Hopefully I'll get over that if I ever get riding upwind!
3 x 2 inch patch of sunburn on the back of my right knee, where it folds.
WTH?
Dunno what sunblock I'm using - whatever was sold at 7-11 in the SPF 50 range - is bloody good stuff though. Kind of thin liquid that doesn't spread very well and leaves a white stain but boy howdy does it stop sunburn! I go mad with the stuff and do several coats on face, neck and ears cos they hurt the worst when burnt. I usually make sure I've spread it all over but I guess that like mosquito repellent, the square millimeter you miss is the bit the gets nailed :/
I better make sure I make certain to really lather myself up in future. Perhaps I should buy stocks in the company cos I go through the stuff like I go through erm money ...!
You're busted!
Was hoping to get home before the wife and pretend I'd gone to a local beach ... no such luck. Damned Prius drivers!
In summary ...
I really dig the Synergy, I love not having to pump and I love how fast it turns, how easy it is to loop and make power that way but I'm hating the lack of torque, I'm nonplussed with the relaunch but I detest the Zero7 bar!!! Thinking of selling both mine and getting a Navigator ...
Need a directional.
Must cover self from head to toe in sunblock.
A 2L bottle of water on the beach is awesome. A 2L bottle of frozen water would be heaven.
Walking sucks. Now I know why there are no fat people pro-kiteboarders and why gear is always sized so small - when you're learning, you spend so much time walking that you either lose weight and fit their weenie harnesses or you have a massive heart attack and die.
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