Well, we got 6+ knots at 10am. I'm going to give it a go anyway so I drag the Flite and Dialer out. Launch near the carpark and toddle off... with the waist harness. Few tacks barely riding then the wind fill in some. Easier riding but can only just get away from the beach on the outward tack - it's dead on-shore and the waves are pushing me in... Then the wind tips the scales and I decide I want my TT and the seat harness.
Let the disasters begin!
1. The beach, kiddie-playground and car-park is more crowded now... hmm. Try to self-launch but there are kids running out to the beach so I wait. Get ready to go, kite starts moving and then - kid runs back at it trying to go through my lines to the parents on the sea wall. :o I yell "Oi!" at the kid and wave it off but it just slows down (parents just stand there) and in the moment of inattention, I've not seen that the line is over the tip - so the kite powers and flips over onto the LE downwind some. Go to relaunch it again and - the kid rushes towards the parents (behind the kite) again... wait for the danger to pass and relaunch. I should have moved further down the beach but didn't expect it to be crowded!
Riding around on the TT is good but still pushed to the shore. Doo-dee-doo, have some fun for a while, then the wind drops off. Get on the Dialer again... feeling more comfy on it now, yeehaa! Too much wind for it, swap to the Origin again.
Ok-ish jumps, some wave-carving but nothing is up to much. Get slammed a few times trying to ride the Origin like a directional... twit.
2. Lose the board on a kicker that broke on me and swing under and front stall the kite - resulting in a good tangle around the kite right on the shore so I walk in and untangle stuff... takes some time! Also put the kite on lighter steering cos I'm tired and still want to ride. Trying to untie knots, got my hands full and guess what - Taki wants me to land his kite. Takes me a few minutes to re-untangle the line I was working on.
"Just one more... just one more... just one more..." and now for number 3.
3. Tide is out, so what used to be a deep near-the-shore band is now much shallower, as I'll discover. On my last tack - honest - and come in to the shore, getting ready to tack. Feel the fins touch down so I sheet out, ease up the edge pressure and drop onto my ass... what I don't feel is the kite going across the top of the window. But I do feel the yoink as I'm yanked at the shore - pull the QR mid-air and shoulder-check the ground. Kite has flagged out and I'm ok so I take it as a sign to go home :D
Four and a half hour session - not bad for me.
Oh bonus disaster - the drinking fountain in the park... I have a drink, wash my boards on the bottom tap. Turn them off walk away - turn around and the tap has fallen out and water is geysering out the top.
Moment of the day was getting away with a only a mild spanking.
Mood of the session was bemused satisfied knackered.
Weather was reported as 9 to 16 knots, gusts to 20; 26˚C at 56%.
Wind felt like I mostly would have been happier on the 13.
What I learned today...
- Still getting sunburned :( use more cream. Everywhere.
- "Lightest steering" setting on the Flite in dangerously vague when the wind is up and the kite is trimmed. Better to change kites!
- Driving the Dialer - front foot more on the rail, back foot more centered or even a little over the other side. Seems to push the fins better for easy upwind, easier to carve, less beating up on my ankle (which is starting to hurt). Perhaps!
- The little waves are a good warm-up but I need more practice!
- Think I still prefer my big Door in the ocean...
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