Under and over

Light wind forecast, and it was very when I got to the lake just before 3. Out on the 21 and the foil board for some very light noodling. But after about an hour, it looked like it was picking up and so I packed up the 21 and stood lookin' and thinkin' . . . good call, me.

Hiro went out on his 10 and he looked powered, so I got the Limited and went out on the 15. Yeah, it was ok. Bit rusty I am, many almost-balls up but a good time was head.

Miyachi did well on the Cabrinha foil--strapless!--but wasn't getting on the foil . . . I had to leave before he went out again and I missed the fun.

Surprise session

Huh. Forecast yesterday for today was nothing at all, but it was picking up around 3pm so I went on down. Thought it would only be a foil day so didn't bother with the Duke . . . should have.

FX was ok but does that running-away-on-the-front-lines thing. Great power in loops, was able to get up and foiling just by working it. Couldn't jump it at all, and no wind to work on the technique :(

Contra s-u-c-k-e-d. No power in a loop, then it started bending the LE when I loaded it up hard.

But both impressed with how well they stayed in the air when the wind dropped. Very light, must be the new material.

Got a bit over-powered on the 15 when riding the foil, switched to the 'door but by the time I got it from the shed, the wind was dying off again.

Grassed me up

Mie again. Risked the rain forecast later in the day, for the hope of the good wind at 3. Didn't come but I got 4 hours of riding on the foil. Tried to get my Duke on in the windy bits but it wasn't happening.

Grass in the water was a drag (ha!) so it was a buckin' bronco time out there as it stuck to the mast and sucked bubbles down, but I got some good foot changes and gybes done. The 13m LEI was wrong and I really want new kites now.

Snapped the depower rope on the 55cm bar, which I knew was coming as it was badly frayed :D I flew the kite to shore just fine so that's good to know how all that goes. Now I get to figure out how to repair it or at least if it's worth the effort.

Changed to the 48cm bar--and the shorter lines!--which sucked further but I rode another hour until I'd had enough finally.

Diet wind

It was lite. Geddit?

Website said 8 to 10 knots . . . summer is here, no cheating with 6 knots. Ho ho ho.

T-shirt and shorts, no wetsuit . . . so chilly balls! Wedgies without the filter of a couple of mm of neoprene . . . much fidelity! Rip in shorts allows thighs to rub . . . very bleeding!

But it was so-ooo satisfying . . . all but one or two foot changes didn't fail, only one downloop failed. Is Gud.

Only an hour, but as I said, it was satisfying. That's all, carry on.

What a difference a day makes

Bloody awesome. Good wind, got to try a new kite that didn't suck, got some good riding in and even got some jumps. Good long session too!

Drifter was great. Good bar pressure, probably slightly less than the Crossbow. Fast, responsive, stable when overpowered and predictable: I'd put it between the Park and the Pivot for bar pressure, performance and feel but would choose it over either of them, cos although I prefer the performance of the Pivot, it's just too twitchy--and it's clearly ahead of the Park. Even jumped ok which was a surprise, though the landing weren't floaty gentle and I had to redirect well to avoid a thump.

20 to 25 knots in the good bit, 34 knots in the great. So I need to look at an 11 or 12 . . .

Grr. Double Grr.

Gusty nasty nasty crap. Nothing was much fun and didn't get much of a chance to enjoy the SB, although it was what I thought it would be . . .

The Double Agent on the other hand, wasn't that good. Slow and draggy. Stable and boring. Board might be interesting though . . .

Otherwise I got very annoyed. Could be worse -- Miyachi tweaked his ankle on the foil.

More of the same but better

Another session at Tsu, forecast for 3 p.m. looked better than yesterday.

Got to the beach, and there's Jun and 3 other guys getting foils ready. Neat! Wind was super-light though, bit annoying. Set up the foil again, but gambling that the wind would pick up, I took the 15 to ride.

Flailed around in the water again, with no success and so I came in for the 21. As I launched, the wind dropped right off and the other guys kites started hitting the water. Jun couldn't relaunch and the other guys (Diablo, Chrono) just made it back to shore. I helped Jun untangle his lines and by that time, the wind had come up a little.

I reckoned I could cope with the 21, so I headed out as the guinea pig. Yep, riding ok. Nice cruise around . . . the wind picks up so I go back for the 15. More excellent cruising; nailed a lot of my foot changes . . . hmm.

Jun dropped his kite again for a longer swim, and it felt like it started to rain so I called it a day. Rain didn't appear so I could have gone longer but oh well.

So . . . early . . .

Good forecast at Tsu, so I trucked out early (9 a.m.) after very few hours sleep. Wind was ok but not up to the forecast--I wanted to ride the Duke but there was no waves. Tide was very low and going out, the wind was ok though.

So I went out on the foil and the 12, but I thought I'd try the rear wing further forward . . .

Yeuch. Too twitchy and reactive to the boiling ocean. So it was an OK session but it could have been better! It was good to chase Jun around on the water though!

Watch out for the fish

Well, damn my eyes. Not supposed to be any wind but I went anyway cos I had to get out of the house.

Absolutely nothing when I arrived at 1, so I went and did some shopping. Got back about 2 and it looked marginal, but I thought I'd have a shot.

Dodging the tow-launch paragliders, their boat, the SUPers and the kids swimming . . . and had a butter-smooth ride out there. Except for the time I hit the dead fish and fell off.

Fabulous. Dropped the kite once, but in the shallow end so got a relaunch ok. High success rate with changing feet and downloops . . . good fun!

Packed it in after about 2 hours. Excellent!

Then the wind dropped

Gah. Another "why did I bother" day as the wind was up and mostly down and nothing went according to plan.

I got 15 minutes on the Duke. Then the wind dropped.

I went out on the foil with the 7m but that sucked cos it's really too small. Then the wind dropped.

So I got the 10 again and that was ok, but the riding wasn't up to much. Then the wind dropped

I gave up and went to work.

I love the D

Over the hills and far away.

Jun had just finished his morning session; he was out on the foil. I was hoping for the Duke ride and got lucky--the wind picked up and I had a rocking good session on the D for two hours, hackin' and slashin'.

Took a break, thinking I'd have a little fun on the 15 and the TT but the wind died away and it sucked so I packed up and came home.

Swim, narrowly avoided

I knew it was going to be light, but it turned out lighter than Thursday and dropping. . . . I got some runs and some funs in before it just died right off. But this time, I managed to squeak back to the beach.

God I like riding on flat water.

Ride, swim, walk

Went to the lake to get out of the house and spent some time tuning up the Speeds. All the lines were in need of a tune. The mixer on the 12 had stretched a half dozen mm, the 15 had shrunk 3/4 of an inch (my Amsteel pulley lines made in NZ), and the 21 was perfect.

By then, the wind had picked up a little so I thought I'd give the foil a run. Took the 15 and the 21 to the lake, but thought I was even pushing it with the 21.

Hot-launched, but it needed serious pumping. I got out on the water and was up, riding, and going upwind fine so it was all good! Had a nice time just flying, playing with the load n' float of the foil, trying out the downloop transitions . . .

. . . all went well until I duffed a downloop and then noticed that the wind had dropped. How did I notice? Cos I couldn't relaunch the kite :-/ I did manage a half-successful attempt at a reverse launch, but there just wasn't enough wind to over-come the now soggy wing tips and it wrapped a bridle and I couldn't get air into the center to open it out. Total wind drop-out.

So I wrapped it up and started my swim in. Got the lines in easy then started the roll up. Much easier having a floating board to dump it on!

I was making my way in, when some fisherschmucks in a boat came past. I was sure they were just interested in having a gawp, which was confirmed when they asked the dumbest question, "Are you ok?" To which I of course replied, "Yes fine thanks" and finished my swim. Tossers, if you'd actually wanted to help perhaps offering it would have been a good idea . . .

Not so much water in the kite, but it still got terribly sandy as I laid it out on the south marina beach, reading for the hike up the road . . . which was actually the worst bit of the whole ordeal.

Oh well, such is life.

Another great one

There wasn't really supposed to be any wind, and there wasn't much in truth either--6 knots the webpage said, but I think it was more like a steady 8, maybe 10. The 15 stayed in the air but only just; had to trim the heck out of it to stop it stalling, and thank god I didn't put it in the drink.

But I had an excellent session, cruising on the foil, riding the swell. Managed a few feet changes and nailed some downloop gybes which are really nice to do.

Brilliant.

Well that was fabulous

Probably best day ever riding a directional. Good ol' Mako, I think I got the hang of it. Finally. Still want a decent surf kite though . . . and maybe a bigger board :D

I need a bigger surfboard

Brilliant forecast. Total let down. Well, not total cos I stayed at the Yacht Harbor for 3 hours and did manage to hit some good "waves" but it was up and down again, and I spent a lot of time going downwind and being annoyed. Wanted a break from the foil and wanted to ride the waves, but the weather had other ideas. . . .

What a surprise

In a good way this time. Slight puff of wind, hoped to ride the foil . . . but the wind suddenly picked up and stuck around. Huh. Laid out the 15 and went out on the TT for a jumping good time. Apparently I'm a bit rusty.

Wind dropped a little so I went out on the foil and had some of the most perfect rides, until I fell and landed on my face. Felt like someone kicked me in the face. Gave up and went home before they could do it again.

Oh it's a holiday is it?

After turning up to the kind and finding it closed--despite having made a booking the day before--I went to the lake anyway in the hope that Miyachi's wife could look after the boy.

Although I had a sneaking suspicion that it wasn't going to be worth all the messing around . . .

. . . and I was right :( gusty crappy wind. Never the right amount to be of any use. Bloody annoying.

More is more

Super-light wind forecast, but I like foiling so that's fine. Took the 21 and the 15 over to the lake and . . . oh now it's picking up.

Lay out the 15. Oh it's still picking up. Pack that up and get the 12.

Go out on the foil--cos it's the only board I have--but I'm a little over-powered. Decide I want to play jumps, so I go back for my Flydoor that's in the shed.

So that was fun. Till the windsurfer kook bears down on me from his port tack, without blinking or making like he'll move, so I jump downwind of him as far as possible but he decides to bear off at me and crash, like it's my fault. Tosser.

Missed most of the rain

Sloped off to Mie early in the morning (9am) to catch the wind before the rain and hang out with Jun. It was li-iiight as but we did well, then it picked up some and I tried to ride the Duke. Didn't work so I went home.