Bah humbug. Back to work ... waste of my kiting time, that is. Had an early start though and got to the lake at 4pm. Wind looked good, but Miyachi said it was up and down. I took the 16 and 13m Crossbow over the road, as well as my Flydoor and the Flyradical with the adjusted footpads and straps.
Measured the wind at the shore line and it was good (see below) and had me second-guessing my choice of kite. I ended up putting my trust in GPV and going with the 16, trusting that the wind would drop off - it did and it was a good decision.
Added the GoPro to the line mount ...
Just-powered on launch, riding crosswind only cos the wind had dropped by the time I'd finished setup. Tried to do 3 back rolls in the light wind - only just possible on the 3rd attempt! Wind picks up after a couple of tacks though and we're off! Comfy for a while then we get some more and it's good fun - big jumps! Try some front rolls ... no joy. Splash down, lose the board ... not working today! And alas, the GoPro seems to have turned itself off :( in the end I only got 13 minutes of footage and missed some really good bits ... damn it!
Wind is up and down ... gusty as hell! Have to walk a few times in the lulls and in between got battered a bit.
Got onto the Flyradical for a bit at the end of the session - the moved footpads are better, much less spray to the face although I can still feel it hitting my back leg. Also like the feel of the footpads further up my foot better too. Board still feels skittish underfoot ... I need more time on it :( problem is, I can only ride it when I'm over-powered on the kite I have up! Feels too light under foot too - like it's not there :D
Wind was dropping again and had a fight to keep the kite in the air and get back to shore ... so I decided to call it a day. Must have been just after 6pm ...
Moment of the Day was throwing a good sized back-loop, pulling with my back hand and not getting spanked :D
Wind speed was recorded as 5m/s falling to 4m/s at 7pm with gusts of 12m/s. My trusty $10 eBay anemometer recorded 6 to 10m/s when I arrived at the beach and it went up and down from there. There was one point when I was like "Oh crap I might have to land the 16" but that lasted on a few minutes ... so I feel it was averaging 7-8m/s.
What I learned today ...
• The water is starting to cool off ... I'm still fine in shorts'n't-shirt though.
• Back-rolls are mastered :D well, riding up a wave/chop versions are - I need to move on to flat-water boosts.
• Front-rolls ... need work!
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