Rain... no problem.

Snow... no problem.
Hail... problem. Right in the eyeballs!...

Before that bout of hail though, the wind was pretty good. Which is really good cos there was family stuff I really should have been doing...

Started off just right for the 10m, got a bit light, picked up, then went ape-shit. At first I felt a bit meh about the whole thing but eventually got into the groove - hard work with all the gear on!

Bit gusty for my taste for stunts - I got lobbed and dunked a few times, so couldn't rely on the wind to be consistent enough not to mess with me, but it was steady enough for boosting hard. Got a few that put smiles on my face... still think it's easier to go higher with the seat harness...

Came in for a break - like I said, hard work. Was sweating under my suit... ew. Got a bottle of water and the Mako, cos I was having a nice time slashing the waves...

Aw yeah! I took some fins off and it's much better ride as a mutant now. Gotta get it out in real waves!

Back in, finished my bottle then went out for a mega-boost session. Some real doozies... bet they'd really rock if I wasn't 20kg heavier with a 6/5 suit and 10L of water in my boots :D

Really tired now, come in and call it a day...

It was fine for about an hour (was worried about sunburn) then it started raining, snowing then hailing for the rest of my 3-hour session. Pretty epic day, I'm happy. Nice to be whoo-haa-ing jumps again.

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Weather was reported as 12 to 20 knots, gusts to 40 :o 3˚C at 78%.
Wind felt like comfortably underpowered (i.e. riding but thinking about taking a break) to really should have taken a break.

What I learned today...

• Might have a leak in my 10m... Miyachi is checking out the LE.
• Seat harness needs some stretching - it seems to have shrunk without use :o
• Waist harness was hard on the back today, just couldn't get it to stay put.
• Landing feet first - if the water is shallow, even chest deep, you can hit the bottom. It's jarring.
• Mako so good the way I have it set up now! Carves like a beast but isn't a pig in sliding transition cos of all the finnage. 
• Boosts well about my average height - yes you gotta actively fly the kite. When you get that elevator feeling of going straight up after you've hit your pendulum apex, bring it just back above you to control the descent till you need to finally redirect properly...

Lame gusting to crap. Whoopee.

Forecast looked ok and the wind was ok when I arrived, but instead of building, it dropped off.

Played with the settings on the Flite but again, tough to notice any difference... trying to decide what kites to take to NZ next month.

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Weather was reported as 12 to 10 knots, gusts no more than 18 at 1pm; 6˚C at 57%.
Wind felt like crap... was holding ground ok to begin with, then the wind dropped a little and I was holding ground on the Dialer, then I was going downwind and walking. Lame.

What I learned today...

• I need to put the 21 back together and risk riding that again /rolleyes.
• Would have been a good day to try out that race board...

That does it! I'm going to give you a jolly good thrashing!

Started off so well... got going with the Speed3 12 DLX and the Flydoor while the others were struggling on 12m, 10m and directionals... had about an hour of fun till a down loop transition saw the kite go flying downwind... mufuggin pigtails snapped again! I thought.

The reality was much worse... ALL the bridles on the RHS have been ripped off at the LCL and the LHS is much the same, with the added joy that there about a whole cell has been ripped off the kite.

Fuck. It's not like I was stressing the kite, what the actual fuck! So that's three out of 4 of my Speeds waiting repair...

Thinking of selling all my Flysurfers and being shot of them...

Got the XB13 and went to pump it up... but the adapter on the hose broke. Yes, the new hose that's about 6 months old. Back over to the carpark to get my 3-year-old pump's hose...

Kinda underpowered... lame jumps so I went for rotations... bit rusty eh.

Last one on the water again. What a day, eh.

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Weather was reported as 15 to 11 knots, gusts no more that 24 (3 hours before I went out); 3˚C at 60%.
Wind felt like powered enough to not walk on the S3 12 while working and then having fun, to losing ground on the 13 and having to walk a couple of times... the Speed3 is the better kite.

What I learned today...

• Maybe Flysurfers really aren't for me :(
• Which is a real shame cos the bottom end of the 12 is stunningly good.
• I've forgotten how good the Flydoor is...
• and I've forgotten how to do front-rolls.

A long 2 hours...

Good forecast, good wind. Started on the 10m but the gusts to 36 knots at 2:40 were too much to handle so I got out the 7m XB for the first time. Lulled a lot in the last 30 minutes of the two-hour session so that sucked, but the first 45 minutes out on each kite was good.

No massive boosts - think I need to get the seat harness out to hold it all down. The waist harness did a lot of riding up too which was annoying.

Only 2 hours, but I'm knackered...

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Weather was reported as 18 to 22 knots, gusts to 36; 6˚C at 65%.
Wind felt like totally underpowered 10%, just underpowered 50%, happy powered 30% OOH YEAH 18% and Imma gunna die 2%.

What I learned today...

• Front foot further forward to flatten the board for better low-wind performance on the Dialer. Maybe :o
• Really fuckin hard to fix a waist harness when it's ridden up and you're trying to keep hold of a surfboard in the fuckin surf.
• Really need to sack up and loop the smaller kites on the landings cos getting dropped sucks.
• 7m loops fast but doesn't pull like a beast.
• Didn't need the 6/5 suit today either, despite the snow.

Deeeeluxe delight!

Well, wind really delivered today. Got to the beach about 2pm and it was up - 8 and 9m kites out. A few spots of rain but I gamble on that blowing over and take out the Speed3 12 Deluxe for its first flight.

Mmm, in need to tuning the lines. And untwisting the centers! Prone to back stall... yup, small Speed - but I'm finding it easier to keep it on the boil and working. Turns better too IMO...

Wind is ok, having some fun. Picks up in the middle and really goes mad, then falls off again but I have a great time for three hours... mostly alone on the water as some guy has put his kite in a tree and everyone is helping.

Once again, an accident completely avoidable by simply pulling the QR first, and not holding on to the bar for grim death. I didn't see what lead up to it, but I saw the kite take off across the beach and his kite disappear into the trees. Mountains of time to QR... idiots.

And then, when I'm packing up, Taki strolls over to the beach and offers - repeatedly - to carry my surfboard back for me. This is the guy who walks up the beach dragging his brand new board behind him on its leash, and slammed a borrowed kite into the bushes and trash kites on the other side of the beach... FFS.

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Weather was reported as 18 to 15 knots, gusts to 28; 6˚C at 66%.
Wind felt like comfy powered to over-powered but loving it.

What I learned today...

• Fully pre-inflate the smaller Speeds... less pull on take-off.
• 4/3 suit is the bomb, but the water pools at the top of the boots - need another drain hole up in there.
• My timing was off, so the boosts weren't as huge as they should have been... that, or I'm just used to "that" much now.
• Down-looping... watch that shit! 12 is s-o-o-o fast through the window, the pull so aggressive... it's a wild ride.
• No thrust bearing on the CL is horrid.
• The alu-block is horrid.

That's one...

Wasn't really expecting to get a ride in, but I needed to take some pics of the Speed3 and Psycho4 I was to sell, so I took advantage of the sunshine and headed off to the beach. The Hard Ass crew was there waiting for the wind... I flew the kite in light wind but it's picking up, oh myyy!

So I gear up and take the Flite across the road. Hmm, Junkie Sensei is having a hard time with the Turbine... so I go back and get the XB13.

Bit underpowered for a couple of tacks then it picks up and I have enough to play with. Try some kite loops to get a feel... then do the boost thing.

Wind drops off after a while so I try the Dialer but that's not working either. Must be time to pack it in...

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Weather was reported as 11 to 9 knots... gusts no more than 24; 5˚C at 80%.
Wind felt like comfy powered to under powered on the 13... say 12 to 18 knots?

What I learned today...

• Switch 4/3 suit is just fine for these conditions.
• 13 was the perfect choice... I'm beginning to see the wisdom in not using big kites :o
• Need another drain hole in the suit above the boot line.
• Hard to fly a kite and take photos at the same time :o
• You can loop an XB so that it creates lift and you can loop it so it does nothing much... it's a fine line between the two.