The forecast on GPV and the Locus webpage finally aligned - I checked them both at 1pm at it looked good so I finished my whatnot at home then loaded up and headed out around 2. Must have arrived about 2:30pm, headed over to the beach and measured the wind - good solid 16 to 20 knots... The Master of Disaster thought it was just the "rain blow" but I thought I'd rely on the good forecast and rig small.
Had moments of doubt setting up the S3 12 but once it was in the air, and once I'd had a single walk up the beach, it was all on. Good wind!
Seemed fairly consistent for a while; smooth enough that I was doing foot outs (ugly but landed them... need more work huh) and phat backrolls like a boss... then the wind got punchy :( and started making me look like a twat.
My timing for redirects was wa-aay off and at first, I sending the kite too early and getting yoinked. Got back in the groove a little but the kite started to get fond of shooting across the window to the very edge... then front-stalling. Recovered a number of tip twists when it did this. And the kite would front stall when I unloaded the lines carving 'waves' rather than just floating downwind. Hmm, mixer not right?
Some good jumps, loving the 12 and it's got nice hangtime now, more consistent feel through the wind range. Just that stalling issue... gotta do some research!
So I'm having a good time, trying to cope with the redirects when I drop the kite and twist the left hand tip... dick around trying to fix it but it's not going to recover this time.
Then I notice that the metal clip on the chicken loop has broken - one end is held on by only one side of the U-loop :o so it's kinda lucky that the kite is all messed up, otherwise... it might have given way in the middle of a jump :o
The kite is thrashing around, but I can touch the bottom so I try and sort it out while shuffling back towards the beach - naturally, I'm upwind of the bloody trees. Miyachi comes into the water and rescues my board, then rescues the kite from The Master of Disaster who is trying to grab the bridles. I wrap up the lines while Miyachi holds the kite, then fold it tip-to-tip and walk it to shore. Bridle looks a horrid mess but is untangled in a few seconds :)
Close look at the QR... sigh, guess I won't be riding that again today. But I launch the kite on the beach to dry it out, holding onto the depower line. Back up, head home... got about 80 minutes on the water.
After what feels like weeks of no wind, it's all good!
Moment of the day was that feeling of extended hangtime for the first time.
Mood of the session was relieved philosophical thankful.
It sucks when you've borked up the mixer test... or think you have.
Weather was reported as 12 to 14 knots, 15°C at 61%. Gusts to 22 knots at 4:30pm.
Wind felt like it was closer to my measured 20 knots... 80% nicely powered, 10% under-powered and 10% thrilled.
What I learned today...
• Foot outs... I seem to be messing up the balance of myself or the kite and making landings a bunch more difficult than they need to be - I've gone down in skills! :o
• As the mixer test is, I've gotten better bottom end than before, faster turning speed (slightly), and the upwind is good. Hangtime is really nice, and there's no backstall while floating under the kite with the bar right in.
• However, it seems unstable and prone to shooting across the window then front-stalling... hmm.
• Gotta get to the forums for some research.
• The water is shallow :o I guess all the storms have driven sand into the beach, making it shallow further out than it used to be... hit the bottom on a couple of splash downs!
• Me and metal just don't seem to be getting on at the moment :(
• This is the season to be riding my LEIs...
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