In which I face-plant from several meters above the water

Started out light and built up.

I got out on the 21 and the Origin for about 30 minutes, just in case it continued not following the forecast. Flat-bottomed boards just aren't as locked and loaded feeling as the channeled boards. By the time I don't need to ride the 'door, I can get on the Limited so I think I either want an Ultra or will just get rid of the Origin and leave it at that.

Swapped out for the 15 and had a good time. Ok jumps, so I got into some tricks. Started doing some foot outs until, near the end of the day, the chicken loop snapped at the apex of a jump.

I was ended up falling and hitting the water in a staple, with the board still on my feet. Thought the spreader bar had gone again, but nope. Nothing hurt but my pride... although I had an odd, very localized ache in my left leg... gone now, so not broken or anything.

Fuckin' CLs. That's the fourth FS one I've broken. Looks like the hook is wearing through the PU tube and then the rope is just letting go, which it shouldn't cos I'm guess it's rated to thousands of pounds, so maybe it's rotting as water gets in...

Checked all my others... the 21 is borderline, the 12 is fine; 55cm Cab bar has holes, the two 48cm bars are fine; and of course the North bar is fine. Hmm... will either replace with Switch CLs or try adding another layer of PU.

Might flick a mail to FSer...

Tsu yet again

Kinda the same as yesterday, (without the traffic) but with the wind dying it went from fun to lame...

Nailed it again!

NW forecast but yellow arrows - worth a look. Head right down after lunch.

Bit light - rig the 16. Wind picks up... Too much now. Rig the 13... Almost too much but I know it's going to die late.

Nailed it again! Epic session for 2 hours, boosting good times! Til the wind dropped, but I'd had enough anyway...

10m weather... crikey!

Determined to get out to the estuary at high tide and just wait for the wind... Nice sunny day and whaddyaknow, the wind is coming! From the best direction, even...

Start out on the 13m but soon I'm more powered than I'm comfy with so I change it out for the 10m. Good move... lots of fun! Not up to best standard but had a nice time.

When I was driving away, I got a call from Adrian of Axis setting up a meet. Haul ass back to the estuary... very nice to meet him and eye up his boards...

Weather was reported as 30kph i.e., about 18 knots. LOL!
Wind felt like comfortably powered on 10m, whatever that is :o

What I learned today....

• Should've had my seat harness with me.
• Need to work on my rotations.
• Gotta get a SurfLock :o

Back on The Big Stinky

Itching to get on the water, I headed out to the Estuary for high tide, regardless of the forecast. Looked ok, and the other guy there headed out so I thought I'd back him up. We did ok for a 1/2 hour of lame lawn mowing then it got gusty and shifty.

I gave up, he kept trying with lots of kites falling out of the sky.

Naturally, as we'd just finished loading our cars, the wind picked up from the NE... and I'm beginning to regret not going out again cos it looks like it's still blowing :(

---

Wind felt like 15 knots dropping to 10, lulls to nothing.

What I learned today...

• Flat water much good. Bottom end so drop.
• Jumping more difficult... but load n' pops go big.
• Sun is terribly strong - feeling burnt through my hat :o
• SunDog glasses are the goods - so like!
• The bottom is less gooey and dirty - your feet don't come up with black mud stuck all over them... but it's still squelchy.
• Launching on grass is a bit rough - you really shouldn't slide as the kite powers into the sky :o

A nice send-off

Forecast looked grand, lots of red arrows. Got to the lake and had a hard time deciding between 10m and 13m... went with the 10 and the Flydoor and the Origin.

Went out first on the Origin and it was fine. Then the wind dropped and I grabbed the Flydoor... urgh, that felt so wrong. I wonder if that center fin should be removed!

Came in for a break and took the Flydoor back and got the Dialer, but the wind had picked up so I went back out on the Origin. Wind is still iffy, and everyone else gives up... just as the wind picks up :D have some good fun then!

Very bloody tired after 3 hours on the water... no wonder I can barely move my legs. Next session will be in NZ... although the forecast looks like crap there :(

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Weather was reported as 17 to 20 knots then falling to 14, gusts no more than 40 and that was at midnight; 7.5˚C at 52%.
Wind felt like meh powered to giggles powered.

What I learned today...

• Many different ways how not to set up a boost... thankfully, I didn't get spanked on any of them but came down hard on my bad ankle once. Ouchie.

Some is better than none!

So, the forecast was for yellow in Hikone and blue in Otsu.. that means we'd probably get lighter wind here. Looked ok on the web cam and when I arrived, but when I put the kite up and got on the water it was all show and no go.

Dicked around for a while, got some runs in and did some floating around waiting. It was ok - better than sitting around at home...

---

Weather was reported as 9-12 knots, gusts to 26 at 5am so not real useful that eh; 7˚C at 48% - jeez, it's like summer!
Wind felt like just powered 45%, barely or not powered 50%, maybe-I-need-the-Origin-after-all 5%.

What I learned today...

• The Regular S3 12 is actually pretty good too... and I'm now confident again in using such a small kite. Well, for now...
• Like a regular kite, I don't like being over-powered on the Dialer and so far my zone of comfort is pretty narrow on the board... the Speed3 of course builds apparent wind nicely when looped but that can get quite gnarly in the gusts.
• S3 12 seems to do ok for me on the directional... when the wind was enough to be powered, it floated ok-ish without deforming and the power came back on nicely when just sheeting in - better than the XB? Turned ok too - the ol' stall, rotate and zoom out the other style.
• I have gone WAY backwards at getting up on the board :o man-oh-man, what a kook.
• Fast n' ugly footwork is more effective than slow and perfect, in the gybes...

Better 'n yesterday and the snow wasn't so bad at all

So, the wind is up again. Looks like the same as yesterday...

Unbelievably, the Whale Scrot is dry :o so it's warm getting into that. Go with the 13 again, and the waist harness. Seem to have more power than yesterday but the waist is bugging me...

No fun boosts, some nice rotations but the waves are nice so I opt for the Dialer... long ol' session on that boy, trying to figure out how to do the nice carves. "Waves" were really nice and clean all along the beach... loverly!

Had a hard time with gybes and switching feet but nailed almost every switch to toe-side then carve... weird.

Snow poked me in the eyes a few times but it didn't stick around for long. 2.5 hour session - not bad!

---

Weather was reported as 14 to 16 knots, gusts to 26. 3˚C at 55%.
Wind felt like ok powered on the Origin to slightly over-powered on the Dialer.

What I learned today...

• Probably better to use a smaller kite and be fully trimmed for max AoA than a bigger kite and trimmed in... loose too much steering input it seems.
• I can carve heel to toe much better and constantly on my goofy side :o WTF is up with that?
• Really need to learn how to start to the right as well as I can to the left...
• Even with the holes, I like the WorkMan gloves more but my hands are still worn out :) happy.

Not bad. Not great though...

Good forecast, slightly not living up to the hype.

Rode the Origin ok and had a play on the Dialer but wasn't really feeling it. Did a lot of rotations for some reason...

Wind was cross-on from the NW and I ended up over the "windsurfer side" of the river... had a little fun popping over the river wall.

Switched boards a lot to make the most of the wind... really tired now. Not a bad session eh.

---

Weather was reported as 14 to 15 knots; gusts to 30 at 2am (bah!) at 5.7˚C and 71%.
Wind felt like ok powered lulling to just riding with gusts to mmm ok.

What I learned today...

• Those XCEL gloves are warm but wa-aay too thick - can barely bend my fingers in them, nor now - forearms were burning and now are non-responsive... the $9 WorkMan gloves are better :o
• Put the Sprint2/Boston/whatever-the-heck-it's-called valve in the 13 - easy enough job - and it's even better than the original!
• Threads are a bit stiff... wonder if they're just a tad off but snug is good and it held air good. No sign of damage that I can see.
• There's a way to turn the Dialer that feels like a real sharp carve on a TT but doesn't require a lot of weight on my bad ankle.
• Need some repairs to the Impervious...

Wind burn, sun burn, hail burn? Ouch.

So it's been a while. Forecast talked big and for a change could back it up... sand was flying.

Was 10m weather when I arrived then it picked up so I went out with the 7m. First launch was hairy, so I put it down with Miyachi's help and we waited...

The hail had died off some and the gusts were less vicious so we tried again.

At first, the hail in my eyes was killing me and I nearly gave up on the whole shenanigans cos I couldn't see and my eyes kept hurting even after I shut them :o but just as I thought I couldn't take it any longer, the hail stopped.

As always, with 10 or 7m weather it was gusty as hell so although the jumps were epic at times, the landing left a lot to be desired... I really gotta learn to loop for landings - this years goal.

Wanted to get some Mako-fun in so switched boards... whee!

Wind's starting to get nasty again, my legs are tired so I pack it in.

Which is probably just as well cos the cops, fire-fighters, lake police boat, and SAR helicopters are starting to freak me out... turns out a fisherman's boat was found capsized so they're out searching for the guy. Doesn't look good...

---

Weather was reported as 22 to 24 knots, gusts to 40...! 4˚C at 63%.
Wind felt like comfy powered to well-powered with a few moments of uh-oh... but I was pretty cautious with the kite most of the time.

What I learned today...

• Wear. The. Glasses.
• Seat harness is comfy. New speeder works fine.
• The waist with the clip has gouged a hole in The Impervious. Gah. Something else to fix.

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.

---

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.

---

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...

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...

---

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...

---

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.

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.

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.

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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?

Took one for the team...

Can sum this session up in one picture, right HERE.

But I had to push out to try and get some pictures for OR . . . I think they want an article out of me :o 16 minutes worth of pictures (one shot per second) and 1/2 of that is me launching and walking up the beach.

Bah. At least I didn't have to swim/tow the kite in, like I thought I was going to have to do when the wind died...

The least boring photos have been uploaded HERE.

Broken the dry spell!

Red arrows forecast in Mie... work in the PM so I headed over early - leave home at 9:50, get there about 10 past 11. Yup, looks good, here we go with the 10!

Start was a bit iffy, but it picked up for a while and I had a lot of fun boosting n' stuff. Then it dropped off a bit so I played the waves, before taking a break to sort my harness, have a drink. It's 12:40 so I go back out.

Wind is up n' down again... the first half was better but I manage to ride a wave into the beach for about 150m, making a half dozen turns :D it was good.

Off the water finally when the wind really turns to custard... home by 3:30, on time for work. Worked out well.

---

Moment of the day was the long surf in... just like I meant to :)
Song stuck in my head was "Yes, I can boogie" by Bacarra. Thanks, wife.

Weather was reported as 18 to 20 knots, gusts to 36; 17˚C at 75%. I measured 16 to 24 knots at the start.
Wind felt like 30 minutes of look out! 60 minutes of verah nace, 30 minutes of ho-hum.

What I learned today...

• Wearing something like a rash guard under a wetsuit isn't the best idea. Yeah, it's toasty-warm but I do believe it causes the harness to move.
• When the harness rides up into armpits, and won't stay down, it's a good bet that the PowerBelt has come undone.
• Doing a backroll up a wave, then landing back on it and surfing it out is fuckin' cool... until you face-plant a second later.
• Distance is your friend... nose-diving your board just after you've dived the kite hard and it's head right into the wharf - I probably should have left even more space cos as I went under the waves, I was thinking "uh oh" but all's well that ends well...

Oh well... Part 4.

It's never-ending, eh...

Red arrows on the weather forecast. Got to the lake at 2pm... nowt. As in zilch, zip, nothing. There was more wind in my trousers. Sat in the car sulking... was about to drive away for a coffee when the wind arrived. Keen! Geared up and headed over to the lake...

Should be good for the 13. But by the time I'd laid out the lines and pumped up, it was picking up. I launched the kite but it was clear I couldn't ride that...

Pack up, back to the car for the 7m Core. Pump, set up, launch... hmm, a little underpowered. Try the Origin. Huh! going upwind but not powered enough to boost. Crazy!

Go back out on the Dialer... bit rough, bouncing off the chop - gnarly. Have a few good hacks 'n' slashes...

Kite actually pulls enough to ride upwind fine without pulling so hard you need to lean against it, but needs to be worked hard for bursts of speed and it's damned fast! Too fast for me...

Right about the time I decide to sell it on, I fall off doing something simple but the wind blow my board up, into the air and... into my lines. Steering leader gets tangled, the kite loops into the water and r-i-i-i-i-p... nuts.

So that was that. Should have gone out on the 10m XB and had a boost fest. Le sigh.

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Weather was reported as 16 to 18 knots, gusts to 35 :o 12˚C at 70%.
Wind felt like 10m gusting to 8m weather.

What I learned today...

• If I decide I really don't like a kite and decide to sell it, I should get off the water before something bad happens :-/
• Shame, cos it was a good kite. I bet Miyachi can fix it easy but then who will buy it?
• Maybe I could make a jacket after all...