Wind is due later in the afternoon, so did some stuff at lunch time then headed to the lake. Got there about 3pm, just ahead of the wind. Came in cracking like yesterday but was a bit more gusty.
Headed out on the 'radical with the Renegade harness, slung low and doing fine... till I fell over and pushed it up again. Got off the water and swapped harnesses... felt really weird at first but is an improvement. Much more comfy...
So the wind is cracking, and I'm having a blast! Over-powered but loving it. Front-rolls were off but back-rolls were great. Numerous no-hander foot-outs too... guess that's how I tweaked my knee :-/
Fun jumps, not so high but hours of hang time. Then the wind kicked it up for a bit and I got a few jumps that made me want to "HOOWOO" and wish someone was filming. Narrowly missed someone's kite when the gust lofted me a good 'un... but kinda got the hang of looping on landings. Kinda. One time I wasn't paying attention and managed to get the kite out of shape and folded the leading edge.
Waves were only good one way for boosting, so it was ride out jumping then back in making ground upwind.
Stayed out til I was the last one on the lake, pushing sunset. Feeling very beaten up but I like flying.
Gloves man had either a front line or bridle break on him - guess the later, cos he didn't just swap the bar over... ooh, just thought - he might have broken a pulley! Going to replace mine with Ronstan Orbits - so long as I can find blue Amsteel.
On Miyahci's blog, I am now a kite size. He makes a short comment about the day, often adds a phot, lists wind direction, number of kiters, and the sizes used; like 8~14 or whatever. Days I'm there, I'm using gear that's just so OTT it's merely written as "8~Kevin". I'm not sure how to process that...
Moment of the day was smacking a 'wave'... long carve across the front of it as it broke and sent a fine, gentle spray across my face.
Mood of the session was mwa-hahahaa!
Song stuck in my head was The Immigrant Song by Led Zepplin... "Valhalla I am coming..." BOOOST!
It sucks when you fall over and push the harness up your body so it starts digging into you chest again... and the muscles are still sore from yesterday so even though you're using a waist harness, it still feels like it's digging into you, every time you have to use the muscles.
Weather was reported as 12 to 18 knots, gusts to 26; 12˚C at 48%.
Wind felt like ~18 knots with gusts just over 20.
What I learned today...
• Wetsuits fit better when you put them on properly :D
• Seems I can either have a harness that gives proctological exams or one that attempts open-heart surgery.
• Flite has about the same wind range (tad wider) as the XB16 but is way more fun.
• Really need a smaller kite though, cos I'm losing the edge boosting when that over-powered.
• Gotta sort out the 15m Speed3. See above...
• Upwind easier with the knots on the long setting.
• Looping on landing big jumps... don't forget to pay attention to what the kite is doing.
• All the people with cameras out there... and I bet I don't get any pics of the good stuff!
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