Friday, May 17, 2013

Topped up the tanks

Didn't think I'd get a session in today—forecast looked like crap; but the wind blew steady all day. Got lumped with some work in the PM which meant I didn't get away til 5pm… got the gear off the washing line at home and headed on down.

Only kite on the water is Naish Directional Dude. Nice, no whiners!

Took the 21 and the 17 over to the lake… looked light so I went for the 21. Er, bit powered guvnah! For the combination of board and kite, might be a bit iffy… could be in for a spanking.

Get stuck in and get to boosting. Not super-huge (level with a parked kite?) but days of hang time and the amusing penduluming back 'n' forth under the kite :) initially, too powered for tricks but as the wind drops off I get into them too.

Wind is dropping, working harder to get upwind now. Finish at dark with just enough wind to get back to the beach, then it drops right off as I land the kite. Sweet session!

Moment of the day was doing a very-powered front-roll transition and using the down-loop out of it for horizontal pull :)
Mood of the session was aaah!
It sucks when I need a Flyradical L :(

Weather was reported as 8 to 13 knots, dropping to 4 at 7pm. 19˚C at 59%.
Wind felt like a bit over-powered for the board, to under-powered at the end. If I had to guess, 16 knots to start falling to 8.

What I learned today…
• The S3-21 is a BEAST!
• It's also very lifty—check out the wedgie!
• If you're a twit and release your QR unintentionally but somehow catch it before it flags, you CAN hold the depower line in one hand and reassemble the QR with the other—without dumping the kite :o
• Landed several double rotations but couldn't ride away cos the kite was out of position.
• An over-aggressive take-off saw me do a 360˚ before I'd gotten a foot off the water. Managed to wiggle around and almost landed it though :D
• You can still do front-roll down-loop transitions even when powered with the big Speed.
• Could be considered a bit too cold still for just the 3mm suit… especially if you have to body-drag for a while!

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