Good forecast, hit the lake early. Probably got on the water by 4pm.
Hmm, tough to judge the wind - Soh is under-powered on his 9. I go for my 13 and the Mako.
Wind is gusty as hell and although initially I get off the beach, I end up back on it again. Switch to the Flydoor... ah that's better! Upwind...
Mmm. Gusty. Really choppy water, current going different directions - tough to get clean launches off them. Have some fun though! More landings this time, but get massively over-powered.
Soh dumps his kite at the shore break and can't relaunch, and the other guy packs it in - I'm all on my own now, having a lark boosting as the gusts hit :D Feeling pretty good so I just don't stop riding till the wind drops off again...
Reckon I got 90 minutes riding, mostly on the 'door. Not bad for a sick guy. I feel better now too!
Moment of the Day was actually a back-roll this time, using the kite to loft and then pull me out of the spin. All the neater cos it was intentional! And with the Flydoor :)
Weather was recorded as 20 falling to 16 knots with gusts to just over 30 at 8°C 44%, falling to 6.5°C 50% when we packed up. No wonder I was over-powered at times!
What I learned today...
• The Mako really flies upwind - so long as it's powered good. Need to work on the bottom end technique a bit...
• Truly is a great freeride board too - slashing waves, jumping, carving turns... it's so light on the feet it's easy to flick around!
• The 'door ain't bad though! And I'm getting used to adapting between them... I think!
• With the faster, smaller LEI kites you gotta really use the speed across the window to soften the jumps - most of my landing were slappers today. If they weren't butt-first splash-downs.
• Seems the LEI really prefers to make height out of board speed and sending it aggressively behind you - when you really feel the pendulum (rather than the yank) that's when you go UP.
• Should swap to a smaller board sooner :D
• Damn cold - first time I've had numb fingers since the first session this year in February. Winter isn't letting go without a struggle!
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