Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Not bad - about time!

Forecast should have been good but the webcam looked like shit. Checked GPV and it said from 2pm, so I dashed to Immigration and got home just before 2. Check the cam - whoa, there's wind and someone launching! Haul ass...

Bah, it's raining. I forgot to check the rain. From the look of the clouds, it might clear... gear up! Bit of a fight to get into the 6/5/4 AmpIII... yikes.

Gah, the wind has died. Much head scratching... I'll go with the Flite.

By the time I set up and launch, the wind has picked up again. A couple of walks, and then there's enough to ride upwind... mostly.

Bit rusty! Oddly enough, now I can gybe easily port to starboard, but not my "natural" way. Having a great time out there...

Wind keeps building. But it's gusty. But it's not so bad... switch to the Origin, but it's not consistent enough. My forearms are shot, it's gonna get dark soon so I pack it in...

Wind wasn't great but it was good enough. One more session to break a 100 this year.

Oh had to QR right on the shore, as a loop to get power caught a gust and I got rocketed at the shore... board and kite fine, I just splashed down then reset the kite.

Weather was reported as 13 to 16 knots, gusts to 26; 5˚C at 79%.
Wind felt like 8 to 18 knots, gusts to 25.

What I learned today...
  • NPX boots aren't as grippy as flesh on the soft foam pad for the back foot but are fine on the front foot, with the adhesive "wax", on the Dialer.
  • It's remarkable what you can recover from, if you continue to fight to hold onto the board.
  • Flite is a great kite to "surf" with - turns well enough to get around and power you out of the carve quite nicely.

Monday, December 16, 2013

The Season of Crap unexpectedly delivers crap

Forecast was good, webcam looked good... but it was gusty as hell. I got 45 solid minutes of riding, the 45 minutes getting into and out of the lake trying to deal with gusty conditions.

Not much else to say, really. I hate this season.

Weather was reported as 16 to 12 knots, gusts no more than 30; 7˚C at 61%.
Wind felt like 45% under-powered, 50% powered and 5% Imma gunna die!

What I learned today...
  • You really have to just go with the smaller kite so you don't completely ruin it and then just live with working the hell outa it.
  • Good to get back on the Dialer...
  • The slippers were fine until I was in the water, then my feet were noticeably cold.
  • The Switch 4/3 wetsuit was fine... back of my upper arms were, as always, cold. What's up with that?