Late tide tonight - think we got it sussed so I arrived at 5:30pm then set up ... got on the water about 6. Started on the Flyradical but the wind was dropping ... all the guys on 10s got off the water and I tried to ride my Flydoor but it wasn't happening.
Asked around, Sam though the wind would keep dropping so I pulled out the really freakin' big guns - good ol' Relentless. Had a chat with the guy who I would come to know as Brendan - he's learning and was desperate for a ride so set up anyway ... Fixed the bridle, put it in the air to many "OMG that's hooj kite!" type comments.
Powered! on the 'radical. Boosting to the moon! Front-spins, back-spins, transitions no worries! Wind is still dropping and jumps cost me too much ground upwind so I get back on the 'door. More big jumps then ... in the middle of a transition, something goes "sproing!" and the bar flies out of my hands ... I pull it in and check the CL - all seems well ... huh, maybe I popped it off when over-sheeting or something. Kite is soggy and tangled, I untangle it but it seems LE heavy and doesn't want to relaunch. I get it in the air and it arcs across to the RHS and I *think* there's something wrong up there, so I release to safety and self-rescue ... oh nuts I'm way the hell across the other side of the estuary from the car park and launch beach and downwind is the road that's only a meter or so from the water - can't go that way ... I'm in for a lo-ooong walk ...
No wait - Brendan has come to my rescue! We haul the kite on the curb, tie it up and he gives me a lift back to the carpark - cheers dude! "I so want one of them!" he says!
Check the kite - nothing seems wrong ... WTH did I just cause all that hassle cos I had the bar in my hands backwards or what?!?!?! Fu-uuuuu ...
Got back to the wife 90 minutes later than I was supposed to ... she was worried :D
Moment of the Day were all the people me watching me riding and playing in "no wind at all" :) FSer wins! Flawless victory! Except for the erm ...
Weather was SFA. Probably 10 knots when I messed up.
What I learned today ...
• Self-rescue with the big foil is fine - sure you have bridles floating around ... but I'd have the same problem on the Crossbows anyway. And it floats just fine. Too bloody well, in fact - if it had deflated at all, it would have been much easier to handle LOL
• Arriving 2 hours before the tide turns is perfect.
• Take yer bloody cell phone with you, jackass!
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