Waiting for the Wind

Blast from a dodgy past!

2011-10-20T10:24:00.000+01:00

Auckland - back to square 1, and onwards to Muriwai

2010-04-29T04:52:00.000+01:00

waitingforthewind.com ... Note to self (while sat on the deck on Waiheke watching 9m wind): Always take kite gear, especially when staying at a beachhouse, regardless of complaints about space in the car.

Nice pic from Muriwai - this was epic. It's 45mins from Auckland on the wild west coast. I keep on reminding myself, you just gottta ring people ... you can spend 3hrs piss-arsing around on the internet, or call the local kiteshop and they'll tell you in two minutes where's good to go and what the issues are. Souwester, Muriwai's the go, will be gnarly out there but likely to be a few locals, kit up 2km south of the surf club, just past the golf course. I got that tingly feeling as I arrived, not from the customary double caffeine shot ahead of a cold session, but just from the sight of kites in the distance. 6m and 7m kites against my smallest which was a 9m. 50km long beach. Kite it a couple hours either side of LOW tide - - it's got a gentle sand slope so that way you get the MASSIVE waves out the back but there ends up being this nice flatwater close to shore. Weird to kite as the space was moving so rapidly, sometimes there was hundreds of meters of butter flat 1ft deep water, then the waves would come in and smash it all up. I got dumped on numerous times by misjudging breaking waves, and misjudging the depth of the water I was in. Really black sand so the water visability was pretty low. Friendly crowd out there on the water. I had a ball for my allocated 1hrs water time before we took the nephew & niece back home. All twimtips out there til one surfboard as I was leaving. 8 kiters at rush hour (5pm). 9m did me proud.

Pt Chev - "Got a nice little session in yesterday at Pt Chev (Point Chevalier) - logistics always a problem when staying with people and trying to go off for a kite - but KT was headed to the zoo so I got dropped & left which was good. Main spot is the motorway end. Two guys flailing with a 10m on the massive beach in almost no wind. And two blokes sat in their cars waiting for the wind. But oh yeah - in the distance - at the tip of the Point - I could see a kite flying, so I got my lift to there. Classic situation, wind far from ideal and people waiting around. Argentinian blooke was reading his book and only had a 9m. The German had a 12 but wanted to wait n see. I didn't have the luxury of time on my side, my lift returning in an hour or so, so I pumped up and off I went - impressing the "locals" with my 10kt wonders. That 12m Switchblade is such a good kite, even in light winds it stays upwind nicely.

The spot is shallow, slimy (slippy) but hard sandy bottom. There's really nice changing rooms. And a bus stop with direct buses to the city - this is a great spot to come if you are passing through Auckland. Wind was 10kt ish souwest gusty, off and on. I had 5 whole minutes powered properly though. Got a little cruise about round to see the sights of the city - Sky Tower and the bridge. And managed loads of backloop kiteloop things, and little jump with kiteloops, and downlooping and popping around. Nice little fun session. Two blokes teaching two a piece. This is a great spot to teach and to be a beginner."

Another Divine weekend

2010-04-15T23:51:00.003+01:00

waitingforthewind.com We took another 5 students up the coast to some of our super spots for an awesome weekend of kitesurfing. Pure rock n roll, we forced sickies on the punters and took off at Friday lunchtime to catch the forecast Noreaster before night fall - that worked out great and we got our intermediate (Thomas) out on the water at Blacksmiths, while our two newbies (Neil & Joris) got to practice kite skills on the 6m foil on the large empty sandy beach. The instructors also managed a quick session into a stunning sunset. Margot stuck at work arrived Sat am as did Gen.

Saturday was hard to call, the forecast for a very light southerly early came true early and unfortunately kept the promised noreaster at bay most of the day. We played around at a beautiful spot though - just at the tip of "Penis Point" [you gotta see it on google maps, Map view, to see what we mean]. Light breeze and perfect shallow tranquil water for practicing water relaunch, deep water packdown and self rescue - - and some body dragging for the newbies. Good to get that stuff outta the way before we get the real winds. Tried for a late dash to the ocean side to catch some noreast knots before dark but to no avail. Classic - running up the dunes, like a movie, everyone rushing, then, at the top. Stop. No wind. Amble back down - to the great house - and the lamb chops, snags and pasta salad - washed down with plenty of red and a game of Articulate.

Sunday was epic. That noreaster came in early and we spent the morning body dragging and doing serious kite practice on the large sandy ocean-side beach at Blacksmiths. Was really good to get the guys to practice landing and launching over & over again - partly as you can't reinforce enough good technique for both - and also it teaches good control skills. Then messing around in the water, bodydragging - low tide made it nice.

And of course the moment Neil lost my camera - what! Yep - in the water, loosly attached, he legged it to help Joris and lost the Pentax in the shallows. Waterproof but still no where to be seen. Fortunately for all of us the local swimmer had more patience and nouse than us lot put together and went a good 300m south following the cross current and found it! Phew, Neil looked like he was gonna kiss the man. Nick taught Thomas out the back. Next stage was water starts and the shore break was not suitable, so Divine style, we got the crew to agree to a SUPER FAST pack down and jump in the van and head to our flatwater shallow noreaster spot in the Swansea Channel.

The big boys - Thomas included - went on a downwinder mission from 'smiths through the Channel to meet them there the carbon neutral way. Nick led and I followed tightly behind our hero Thomas - I lost a few years! Exceedingly gnarly in there, he lost the board 4 times and downed his kite once, but survived to tell the tale and vow "never again". Over in the Paradise spot, it was shallow (low tide) and flat as a pancake and 15-20kts. Absolutely perfect for teaching water starts. The instructors got some fun too, and Thomas got a few backloops in top finish a fine but exhausting day. Home James. I was driving alone and was so utterly utterly exhausted I had to stop for a sleep when I got to the Pacific Highway.

Another Divine weekend!

Easter sess at Boat Harbour

2010-04-07T03:44:00.004+01:00

waitingforthewind.com

A nice afternoon session down at Boat Harbour with Cuspy - sweet 18kt southerly, not gusty, reasonably protected behind the reef, nice crowd down there. I gave Cuspy 10 mins of coaching and got him landing his backloops. My trick o' the day was backloop transitions with my hand in the water - totally gay sort of spinning around upside down - sort of got there with that. Got the van (AWD) on the sand as well, not hardcore but at least it didn't fail at the 1st hurdle. Boat Harbour is in Sydney, $20 entry for 4wd, 45 mins from home ... what an amazing city this is!

Chasing turtles over the Great Barrier Reef at Green Island

2010-03-18T13:19:00.001Z

From waitingforthewind.com

Wow that was fun. Helping out on a research project on Green Island off Cairns and managed to squeeze two sessions in. Unbelievably good wind, too good as only one small kite between us. What a spot, it blows from the south east on to the far corner of the island, well beyond the walking range of most day trippers so it feels like your own island paradise. 30 kts in shallow water, loads of fun, even more fun following turtles around the reef. I spotted some rays as well. The wind strong enough to be able to move slowly and controlled over the water checking out the life below. Divine. To top it off, Brother Rich benefited from 10 mins of expert coaching! And pulled off his first air.

You can get out here for an early afternoon session on the ferry from Cairns, well worth it if you're in this part of the world. Some coral to watch for in low tide but plenty of seagrass areas as well for less sharp landings. Also a nice little bit of reef break on the farthest south-east corner and a little one on the west not too far from the jetty too.

Buttery flat at Lake Tabourie, then back to the cable park at Penrith

2010-03-16T23:05:00.002Z

From waitingforthewind.com

Cuspy and I took the van down south to scope out some new spots. Here's what the birthday boy had to say: Day 1 started at Tabourlie lake. Lovely spot. Nice for families. Perfect for N or S if windy. We got about 12 knots directly onshore. Enough to muck about in but not enough to have fun in and too much like hard work. [Not enough for big boy, but aplenty for me, just south of the rocks to the south of the sand bar was butter flat and nicely powered on my 12m - Cuspy also tried straplesss briefly and shocked us all with his immediate talent! Ed!]

Checked the arrows and at 3pm we made the call to drive north. 90 mins to Shoalhaven Heads. Place was full of kiters when we arrived. Good sign. Flat water spot too low, so into the waves we went. 20 knots and building. Kited til sundown. Epic. Twin tip, surfboard, strapless. We tried all 3. Few nice toeside runs under the barrel...

Finished with a steak and a beer at the local 'bogun house' and prayers for wind for the next day.

Back to me: Day 2 on this little kitetrip was classic old school "Waiting for the Wind", all day to kite, van full of gear, green arrows on the forecast, but came to nowt, then glimmers of hope, the occasional tantalising yellow, culminating in the odd fluttering tree leaf. But managed to explore many beaches from Seven Mile up to Minnamurra, and all the "bogan" towns along the way (the snobbery is all Cuspy!). Then squeezed some rock & roll into the day with a last-minute dash to the cable park out at Penrith. My first time and will be back for more. Not a patch on kitesurfing but fun nonetheless and great for a day when the main plans might get blown out (pardon the pun). As for Australia, loving it right now, exploring around and about, kiting being the catalyst to check out new towns and beaches and hanging out with mates all over and the fam in Bondi.

Towra-tastic, strapless in today's yellow arrows

2010-02-21T09:42:00.000Z

More from waitingforthewind.com ...

What!! Both days of the weekend windy, you gotta be joking. But true. Not that it matters to a man of leisure. Yesterday totally amazing, I arrived late and missed the boys, went 12m to Towra from Hollywood, played a bit but was overpowered. If I'd been on ANY OTHER kite I couyld have self-landed on the beach and changed the knots. But not the bloody IDS. No easy self-land on a specific point, just chaotic downwind hope for the best stuff. So anyway that turned out to be a good thing as it sent me back tot he mainland to swap to my 9m. nice little sess, with Daz the Irish Kiter, trying to improve upon my crappy raileys. The alone which I love out there, til I got tangled!

Today I was back but timed it totally wrong, arrving at 2ish and leaving at 4ish just as it went green. BUT, that was a blessing as it made me go out on the surfboard, 6'10" normal surfboard, strapless. Dunno why I'd not done it earlier! 12m, over to Towra, played with Jase, then back to Scarborough in a rush to get back, but dropped my kite - very northerly so wind lulls near the shore line - then struggled for a while to find my board - thought it was upwind of me, so I bodydragged half a beach before I realised it had been downwind of me! Rush rush rush home home home.

Gnarly waves & wind

2010-02-17T07:21:00.005Z

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Big day yesterday ... Long afternoon waves session at Long Reef, to myself early on, then the hoards (well, 10 kiters total) arrive at 5ish for after-work sessions. This was a massive swell and 15-30kts SSW-ish wind day. Very gnarly gusty hectic both the water and the waves, loads of fun though. Did twinny, and SRT. Then back south of Port Jackson to our southerly evening wave spot. What with a surf in the morning as well, I woke up unable to walk this morning.

Camping, families, rain, Rick Stein

2010-02-15T08:23:00.003Z

More from waitingforthewind.com ...

[Pic: Me & her at Narrawallee]

Got to kite Caves Beach (nr Jervis Bay) at last ...

Three kiters, three wives, five toddlers, a baby and an unborn under canvas in three days of relentless rain & mud

But we did get three southerly sessions in:

A 12 metre southerly session out at Collinwood Beach (Vincentia), in the flat water downwind of the rocky reef, lots of air. Still in love with my brand new 131 Nobile T5 and the 12m Switchy. Though it ended messily trying to kite into the shore through the deadwindzone, dropping the kite, losing the board and swimming to shore. A nice little warm-up for the real show that afternoon at Caves Beach:

[Pic: Hatherall comes good, Coley cruising by]

An epic session at Caves ... Protocole wanted to kite Caves for years so nice to knock that one over. Onshore 25+ knots, stunning spot, place to ourselves. Had a ball in the messy waves, loads of air ramping off the incoming waves, loads of fun playing with "surfing" the waves on my twinny, real confidence building sess. Things clicked even for Cuspy, on his 10m he's a different man to the 13m tank he normally flies. Got some pics too. Kited til dusk. Actually til delirious. Alive alive fun fun this is what its all about.

We woke up to wet tents and unhappy muddy campers, wind lighter and slightly offshore at Huskisson so made another dash for Caves to get the best of it facing the open ocean. Slight west so wind shadow at Caves west-end, so took the 1km bush walk to Bherwerre Beach. Again, what an amazing spot. I am continually staggered by how spoilt we are with such amazing pristine and empty beaches to play with so close to Sydney. Hard work this one - compared to the ego-sess the night before (as one gets from perfect wind). Struggled to get out on 12m kites, but once thru the break all good. Again, nice wave skill developing. Got on the SRT (directional) but still can't jibe it properly. Cuspy struggled with the Tank, but I loved it. Got to showoff to some friendly grannies as well - "wish I was 40 years younger" - makes you realise you gotta do it while you can!

End of the wind so glad we capitalised when we could - that's the thing with this sport - when its windy you just gotta go.

Fine fishy cuisine ... 5 wet nights took its toll on the fam so we moved into a bt of luxury at Bannisters and some fine cuisine courtesy of Rick Stein. The hotel is on a great spot on the headland, I spent the afternoon watching the white caps build til I couldn't bear it any longer and got a little underpowered session in on Narrawallee Beach, with local kiter Glenn. Little waves. Few tricks. Things have really clicked recently, new gear makes a HUGE difference, you can't beat having confidence in your kit, and regular sessions means you don't forget everything in between! Loving this year off work!!

Cycling to the perfect session in the rain

2010-02-12T09:50:00.018Z

More from waitingforthewind.com ...

Green Island, south coast NSW ... Wow. Just cycled back in torrential rain, wetsuited, my new Nobile 131cm T5 board on the milkcrate on the bike, my 12m Switchblade on my back ...

What a beautiful session. I was plotting to go out in the 15kt ish rainy cloudy humid noreaster at Washerwomans Beach at Bendalong (a stroll from our campsite), while the fam were having their naps.

But fortunately got chatting to a surfer who said the best spot in a noreaster is Cunjurong Pt, on the spit out to Green Island, he's seen a kiter there before, and it's good right now.

Couldn't drive as the kids + the missus were sleeping in the van

So loaded up the bike with the gear and cycled over

What a spot, the downwind side, crossshore across the bay, so offshore off the spit ... waves peeling perfectly into offshore breeze as they wrapped around the island

Just divine, loved the new board, loved the new kite, had some beautiful pure-vertical air off some vertical faces of waves

Such a crazy playground - the direction of the swell kept changing so the waves were wrapping around small big, then the amount of water coming over the spit was changing things too

Really loved chasing the waves around, surfing them in, doing toeside bottom turns at the shore, powering back into the oncoming surf or breaking wave

Two hours of that and I was starting to get a bit delirious, and the rain started hammering down, so I packed-up, no point in putting dry clothes on so wetsuited back to the fam on the bike.

Yep, what a great spot. I had it totally to myself too, the three surfers were leaving when I arrived, just the occasional dogwalker

Another Divine Kiting weekend

2010-01-18T05:03:00.014Z

Just back from another awesome Divine Kiting weekend with four students and the heroic teaching of Nick & myself. Very long day Saturday at our secret shallow flatwater spot down south, just perfect for teaching. Nice wind too, noreaster. Sunday morning a bit sketchy on the wind front, so we went wind hunting and found PLENTY at Windang.

Great team, awards this time were:

Biggest Air = Ness

Most fear to least fear = Chris

Cockiest student, longest ride = Shappa

Superhero for water starts in the waves as a total beginner = Mike

Best dressed kiter = as usual, Mr Cole

Divine Kiting on Facebook

Sydney sessions at Towra, back to the secret wave spot & Boat Harbour

2010-01-13T04:20:00.003Z

Yesterday's little session on Botany: "wow, afternoons like that MAKE living in Sydney ... 3.5hrs kiting on Botany Bay on my own little adventure in 25kts, by surfboard from Dolls to Towra (my private beach by day!) to play about in flat shallows, then an epic upwinder to Hollywood - then borrowed Priya's twintip (thx!) for an hour jumping and crashing, then a kitelooping downwinder into the sunset across the bay alone to land to the last guy on the beach! ALIVE

Just been loving the wind of the last week - - two big sessions at the secret wave spot #2. 2nd one I was braving the old SRT - not been out the bag for a long long while. No gibing unfortunately, but loving the turns coming into shore, and toeside right handers.

Even managed a double session one day - Botany by afternoon and secret spot by dusk. Awesome. Out there with Jase and Richard the architect.

Even got a Sunday session down at Boat Harbour - now $20 to get in there - - wow never seen anything like it, literally HUNDREDS of 4x4 family Aussie BBQ tent action, miles of beach dressed like a carpark, cars lined on the water side and the dunes side with hardly a gap!

More imprtantly tide was low, water was lovely and downwind (southerly) of the reef.

Also had a little mission east from there, heading out round that headland towards the oil refinery. Such a little kid i am - find all that stuff so exciting.

Great day out!

Downwinder from 1st Groin to Hollywood

2009-11-26T06:28:00.006Z

I did my back in - just before my bro was in town for a day - I'd promised kiting so we had to do it - I was reduced to cameraman for the day. Got a cupla good 'uns of Coley, and Daz.

Midweek sessions ... teaching etc

2009-11-23T12:40:00.000Z

Defintely adds to it knowing everyone else is in work!

Three Dutchies down there at 1st Groin for 20ish kts soueaster. Landing frontloops magically.

Taught three hour lesson last week - totally heroic - my teaching that is - I got this total novice body-dragging upwind and on the board planing in one direction after just that one session.

From Kitesurf lesson Gerard at Hollywood St (Alex)

1st session at 1st groin

2009-10-29T05:38:00.000Z

Back on it - southerly, 20kts +, on the 11m slightly overpowered. VERY choppy.

"MADE MY MONTH" was Coley's comment afterwards! Sweet

The moneyshot from Cornwall - the Branson kitesurf re-enaction

2009-10-17T11:29:00.002+01:00

Nomad test drive / review at Kurnell

2009-10-16T05:35:00.000+01:00

Got to demo the Nomad 9m today ... 20-25kts gusty/bounding around, so going from underpowered to just about right.

Nomad review: I hated the old IDS but the new one gets my thumbs up, they've put the flagging line through a sleeve so it doesn't wear-out through the bar. And the stopper is now adjustable rather than the old fixed one. relaunched off the water fine. Only issue I had was it turned inside out after a wipeout landing with the lines slack. My old Cabrinhaa rvolver never turned inside out no matter what I did to it. Nomad turns very fast, got some reasonable lift off it as well.

But firstly - gotta love Kurnell - such a great spot, quite flat yesterday close to shore, sun shining, beautiful colours from the west as the sun set, small crowd down there midweek for the a westerly. Two hour sess.

Back in Sydney - three powered SW sessions

2009-10-12T06:35:00.000+01:00

Back a week and already three sessions at our favourite "top secret" souwester spot. 1st sess was like the old times - ie Where did the wind go the minute we arrived? Etc. Classic. I ended up on the rocks just north of the sailing club when the wind dropped to zero on my final run back to the beach. Packed-up. Worst fish & chips in Sydney later and the wind was back - actually got a good session after that.

Then we went back for the BIG wind day. Seabreeze said it had been gusting to 70+kts, but "only" mid 40's when we were out. We took it in turns on my 7m rev - Coley ended our session by breaking one of my steering lines and humbly getting dragged back to shore - fortunately no whale watching today!

And a perfect hat-trick ... third day we parked at the sailing club and launched downwind of the big rock groin - a few obstacles today with pipe-laying in operation but we kept clear with no issues. Coley's 9m SB3's de-power strap snapped so he had to retire it for the day being too strong to stay fully powered. I suggested 7mins each/competition style - get all your moves in front of the other one, then swapping. worked well - will do this again for sure. So obviously I let him have a go on the 7m again - using borrowed lines (thx Rich) - and guess what - crash/pull wrong side of bar/kite smashes to other side of window and he blew one of the nipples off the one-pump valves. Great. Back to the 9m to conclude the "comp". I think I won - with front 7 back loops both ways and backloop transitions and totally gay railey and even gayer board fumble.

Thanks god there's no wind given lack of operating equipment!

Gnarly North Wales session at Kinmel bay

2009-08-28T14:33:00.003+01:00

Kitespots on Google Maps

Hour session in 7m weather hanging on for dear life, VERY VERY choppy, different conditions for me with waves coming from all over the place and very variable. Sun came out just as I stopped and got this snap! Tidal spot. Loads of space. Safe for beginners I'd say given the space and lack of other users. But clearly choppy so maybe difficult.

Thanks to the Kinmel Bay Kitesurf school, based right at this spot - for the 5 quid loan of a wettie and the launch & land!

Bye bye Mauritius / perfect front loops / board lost in the current

2009-08-21T07:11:00.006+01:00

[Pic: Just found this nice little wave jump one from the Kiteival Camrig pix of a few days ago]

Tides make a huge difference at Kuxville. Went out yesterday - final day in Mauritius - in some strong winds. Was flat when I left, then had a minimare, then when I got back out again it was full choppy, then an our later it was perfect flatwater upwind of the little island. PERFECT for perfecting those bloody front loops! Managed to land quite a few in the end. It's obvious and funny with all these things, once you've grapsed it you've no idea why it was so hard before!

Anyway the minimare: Just as drift launching, I lost my board in the current running downwind. This i not a problem normally, but here it was close to the shore and thus in the lee of the wind. So every time I bodydragged close, the kite started dropping. So I was following it along downwind, downstream, trying to get close enough to the bugger. In the end I dropped my kite too close to some rocks, and it was mission aborted. No harm done. Except a few more coral cuts on my feet and a nice bruise on my knee.

Well worth paying that little price for the two ours I had on the water before heading to the airport for what was 24hrs of journeying - taxi/plane/transfer Paris/plane/aborted Heathrow Express/taxi/fast train to Chester/pick-up. Last half of that with just me & the toddler, and seven bags! Enjoy Brighton mummy!

Unhooked begins ... (Tour09 Mauritius)

2009-08-18T21:26:00.003+01:00

Had a look at the Advance Progression DVD yesterday, and today there was a spot of wind at last. So tried out the unhooked thing - essentially just steering off downwind, unhooking, hanging-on, then steering downwind again to hook back in. Why I've not been doing this before? Well cos I never watch the DVDs - why AM I trying to reinvent the wheel. I got the best two ours of the day out there, which was still marginal, I came in when the tide got very low and a trapped fin on the coral ended up bloody. Just two others out today. Forecast good for tomorrow.

And now thinking of heading to this Beauduc place in south of France in a week or two

Pic is from the other day, waiting for the drift launch in VERY light winds to kick-in

Reading my book, wind light this afternoon

2009-08-13T12:09:00.003+01:00

[Pic: From the verandah. really recommend this place to stay wit family to kite. comes with housekeeper, 3 en-suite doubles, and its in the less of the wind, you launch a 4 min walk away]

I have the strange sensation today of being glad the wind is not there so it means I can sit on our verandah and enjoy the afternoon with my little girl, take her swimming and catch up on emails and start my John Steinbeck book – from the limited English language section at the Kuxville library.

Here's the house 'Alain' at Kuxville

Smooth water session outside Kuxville, Mauritius (Tour09 #)

2009-08-12T13:48:00.005+01:00

Beautiful session, went out alone but was soon joined by young David and his mates
There’s a beautiful little flat water spot which comes good at half-high tide, in the lee of a tiny rock island
First proper landing of a forward roll, NICE
Played around for an hour or so crashing over & over, doing backloop transitions and forward loops. Going to the left – my usual preferred direction – I find it harder to land the front loops.
After all tat I made a big upwind run out to two kites on the reef to join them on some waves for a bit. Quite exhausted by the end. Sweet run home to a chaotic self-land at the little beach out of the wind.
Sweet session.

Kuxville
Twintip
2.5hrs
Smooth flatwater & reef break

1st gybing practice (Anse La Raie, Mauritius, Tour09 #)

2009-08-11T14:49:00.005+01:00

Nico Kux lent me his directional – I have one back in Sydney but have rarely used it. So I took it for a spin, pretty big and unwieldy compared to the F-One fish (5”2’) I tried in Le Morne. I played on the edges of the reef break where the crew were – Daniel, Cameron etc – then went to the Anse La Raie lagoon to mess about with gybing. Or try it for the first time. Manged quite easily to get either foot out. And to turn to toes side with rear foot out. The hard part is the wriggle-round which I didn't manage to pull off.

Kuxville, 6”6” directional, 11m Rev2, chop, skirting the reef break, lagoon

1st session at Kuxville, Mauritius (north) Tour09 #

2009-08-10T12:15:00.003+01:00

[Pic: Flag at Kuxville]

Launched at the point 5mins walk clockwise from Kuxville
Wasn’t really sure of the territory so went on a big upwinder to get my bearings and check out the depth of the water/coral/reefs etc
Then all of a sudden I had a moment of clarity – recognised where I was – aha, I had kited up to where we finished the Kiteival, and did the course racing – so back to the upwinds. Amazing how that made me much more confident straight away – knowing I’d kited here with the crew before, it was all safe, I wasn’t somewhere where there was hidden dangers etc

Nice little spot too, with the rock islands

Was perfectly powered at the beginning of my session, but past 2:30pm wind picked-up too nicely for my 11m and spent the rest of the sess over-powered. So played around in the lagoon with crappy tricks, mostly practicing powering up pops to give me pure veritical lift – I’m thinking this will help me manage the psychological pregoression from back loops to front loops?

Half way thru went in for a strugglesome land at the public beach where most of the kiters kit-up to change the kite settings, clutching at straws to get a bit less power. Slightly tricky landing, quick swap of the attachment points, and back-up. In the meantime, someboy fed is lines thu mine so the launch was tortured wile he sorted is sh1t out. Then back on the water for more of the same.

In the end decided to finish my session here, rather pathetically I was nervous of hammering it round the corner overpowered into te back of Kuxville. Landing at Anse La Raie was chaotic again with the wind gusting, so ended up dropping the kite and letting it release onto the flagging line, then some guy grabbed it. Nice little walk home from there.

Kuxville
Twintip, 11m Rev2

View Kitesurfing spots - Alex on Tour09, inc Mauritius Kiteival in a larger map