Forecast looked like a cracker ... from 3pm :-/ take time off work and get to the lake at 2:40pm or so. Wonderful weather, 27°C so I go without my wetsuit.
Wind isn't up to much yet ... stand around waiting for it to pick up but it doesn't so I go with the big Speed3.
Start out on the Flyradical and to my surprise, I can ride upwind ok. Put a bit of distance into the upwind bank then start to play silly buggers ...
Oh yes baby yes! My 'new' backroll method is working a treat! Just one over-rotation and that was because I sent the kite unconsciously and lofted myself at the end ... otherwise, I'm backrolling Like. A. BOSS. Only problem now - they're starting to get so big that I'm landing pretty hard at times ... poor ankles!
Shame I'm not up to spec with the frontrolls ... work on them next!
Other than that ... I spent the rest of my time trying to jump as high as possible :D got some good ones in - real nice view up there ;) what a hoot!
Problem with the Flysurfer is the hangtime is so good that you lose a LOT of room downwind ... also, I think I'm sending it too far back - seem to jump better when I send the kite straight up.
And I think I'm sending it too far the other way ... redirect too early and it shoot across the window. This USED to result in me landing backwards and falling over, but now I just land 'toeside' and ride downwind as the kite goes to the edge. Should loop it I guess - or just wait and redirect later.
Getting better at handling big power and popping well ...
Now to the directional goofs ... boosted a real good jump, was having a nice ol' look around when I noticed that one of them decided to change direction and ride right underneath me - without looking behind himself, natch. Could have been bad but I had plenty of time to think about options :D decided to just hang under the kite and splash down, as he went sailing downwind of me, beneath my buttocks.
Got my own back, unintentionally - popped another good one off a wave face, thinking the guy was going the other way but instead, I went sailing downwind almost directly into his kite! Nose-to-nose with a parked Rally ... then I drifted downwind and it was all ok. Except he panicked and fell over ... so we had to be careful getting started again.
Couple of big moments - during the set up for a jump, just as I launched, the board caught and I got spun around on the way up and splashed down in a heap. The other one I remember, I ran out of ramp and did a double backroll ... almost landing it.
Wind was up and down all day actually, and now it was down again. Kite front-stalled in a lull and I had to noodle around for a few seconds relaunching the kite. Another time, I had to loop it just to get to the shore until the wind picked up and I could ride off.
It was a bit punchy at times too ... had a couple of moments in the gusts - went shooting away towards where the river mouth was, working hard to shut the power down and drifted off over the 'wall' that luckily is under water.
The other time, Mr Fujii was downwind of me right where I would bomb if I got yanked off my edge ... had to work hard to keep it together as the speed built up.
Got off the water with stiff and sore legs - and a sore ankle, landing on it HARD :( about 6:30pm, I guess - 3 and a half hours riding non-stop! Gotta love the Speed3!
Mood of the session was maniacal cackling like a loon.
Moment of the Day is hard to pick; could be looking the Rally in the eye, but I think I'm gonna go with the the big phat backroll that was just perfect and BIG. Well, felt big to me :D
Weather was recorded as 19.4 knots at 2pm falling to 4.6 knots at 6pm. 24°C 58% and gusts to 27.4 knots.
Wind felt like I was mostly comfortably over-powered, occasionally under-powered and rarely shitting my pants.
What I learned today ...
• When you get hit by a gust in the middle of a backroll transition - it sucks.
• You gotta have some power and speed for backrolling properly.
• Pays to keep the kite at 45° so if you do send it a tad, it doesn't loft you.
• No wetsuit makes for massive wedgies. And it rubs like a bugger everywhere. And digs into my stomach :( I think I might get a summer suit ...
• Nice being able to take a whizz without fear of a stinky suit though!
• Getting better at overpowered jumping - hitting the launch cleanly is the hard bit.
• Having someone ju-uuust downwind of you when you're really overpowered is worrying.
• Dead Man jumps ... being upside down makes it tough to judge where the water is - those are the cause of most of my redirected-the-kite-too-early jumps with sideways landings. Mmm, must remember to try tucking the bar under my knees so I can lean WAY back :D
• Jump front-loop transitions - requires some wind-power for the kite and careful modulation of the bar for the hit of acceleration ...
• I'm sure there was something else I wanted to remember ... but now I've forgotten what it was.
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