I think it is anyway... it's about now I'd be messaging AJ saying "Woohoo! 4 days in a row!" and he'd be like "Good for you! Today was 24 in a row, for me... bwahahahahaha!"... gone but not forgotten, AJ.
Forecasts conflicted with each other. One said crap southerlies, the other good northerlies. I went with the flags out the window... gradually increasing northerly, was warm in the morning--we'll probably get a thermal! Picked up my almost dry gear at lunch time and headed down to Locus after work.
Good blow! Apparently arrived a few minutes before I did. Gloves Guy is here; so is Hironobu ("It's COLD!!!"), just back from Thailand, and WagonR Man. I take my Flyboards over to the lake with the S3 21 and the 15. Hironobu has just come in to change his 14 Torch for a smaller kite, so I go with the 15 and the Flyradical...
Nicely powered! Great jumps, feeling good... I'm pretty convinced that my "matched kite & board" theory is correct--the 'radical is working real well with the Speed3!
I start playing silly buggers... hands-on dead men (makes me feel ill, looking at the world upside down), lame tail-grabs and weak attempts to "go big" with my back-spins. But I'm having a great time!
Do manage a double rotation, calm and under control. Such a shame I left the board behind at take-off :D
Wind drops a bit, or I can't be bothered working the board and kite to keep speed up so I switch to the 'door... now that's a whole heap of board to throw around!
Gradually, I'm the last left on the lake as everyone packs it in... the wind is dying but I'm still amusing myself but it's getting dark again...
Another 90 minute session! Never enough though is it :(
Moment of the Day was the first silly tail grab.
Weather was recorded as 10.4 falling to 6.6 knots, with gusts to 16.8... felt more like 15 falling to 10 with gusts to 20 to me. But whadda I know? Temp was 10.5°C falling to 7 at 70%! zOMG it's summer in NZ!
What I learned today...
• Tail grabs are easy... with a small, light board you can bring to your hands easily.
• My jumps were around 5m - WagonR Guy pointed out a line on the club house he reckons I was getting up to... ok, time to aim for the roof!
• Slamming into frigid water onto a elbow already complaining about pulling a kite around... hurts.
• But not for long.
• One-handed jumps are easy enough too--more time for grabs!
• Enjoy the view up there but don't forget to breath! Getting dunked when you've been holding your breath for 10 seconds already is... stressful.
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