Summer's gone

Forecast was 6m/s (12 knots) which usually means it's going to be a good time on the lake ... I guessed it was actually 15-20 knots, gusting to 25. Took 2 hours off work (got permission from the boss this time!) and hit the lake ...

Got there about 2:30pm, pumped up and got in the water ... there was only 2 others there but the rest of the crowd turned up a few hours later. Didn't really matter cos I went upwind hard and headed away from the beach; had the lake all to myself!

Had the board set to wide stance, thought I'd try it out ... find it a bit harder to edge and go upwind, just couldn't get the weighting as comfortable as before. Didn't spoil the fun though! Engaged in the usual silly playtime, trying to load'n'pop, carve turns, ride toeside etc.

Got a few nice lofty floaty jumps in and even (intentionally) redirected at the right time for the weightless landing ... most non-load'n'pop jumps were very messy though! Got dunked, lobbed, spun around and dragged ... all good fun! Put the kite in the water (for the first time) several times and it relaunched sweet, except twice - once it was directly downwind and I had to supply some input from the bar, the other time the steering line got wrapped up in lake weed under the water.

Wind was a bit gusty for a while, got quite violent at times - Hindenburged the kite in a lull but the wind came right back up after that so it relaunched fine. I stopped for a drink about 4:30pm and when I got back out on the water, the gusts had settled down. Rode until sunset, packed up in the dark - another 3 hours riding under the belt!

What I learned today ...
• A good load'n'pop is done crosswind, not upwind.
• Put the bloody donkey-dick in before trying to pull trim straps 0_o
• Much easier to carve turns and ride "waves" with power in the kite, pulling on my harness rather than just trying to glide around the turn.
• Wide stance is harder to hold down power.
• Need to Loctite the screws on the board's handle :-/
• Throw the kite around like an animal.
• Turns, be they sliding or carved, are best started with the kite low in the wind (about 45 degrees or a little under) and then sent straight back across.
• Even the monster 'bow floats around nicely so that playing silly buggers on the waves means the kite is always there and ready to pull, with a minimum of control input.
• Keeping tension in the lines by playing with board and body angle to the kite is interesting.

Summer's gone ... the solid Autumn winds are here (no more walking!) and though the temperature is still pushing 35 degrees, with wind chill makes it actually warmer in the water than on the board. Not that it was cold out of the water ...!