Saturday, June 18, 2011

Solo at Hampton in clean winter wind

Session 139, Saturday 18 June 2011

Kite: Noise 12
Wind: 20 knots, W
Location: Hampton
Time: 9:15am to 10:30am
Board: Naish Haize twin tip

I arrived early at Hampton at about 8:45 and dodged the cyclists on Beach Road to check out the beach.  Stuart was already rigging up and headed out in about 15 knots.  The wind looked a bit sketchy and I had missed my morning coffee so I was feeling a bit sluggish.  The wind picked up a bit though so I scooted back to my car parked up a side street near Hampton Beach (parking is prohibited from 6-10am).

It was great to be on the water again with some wind.  The wreck is now gone from the water which is nice.  I headed across to the breakwall and back for a couple of runs, working the kite to just stay upwind. Stuart came in and headed home early.

I stayed kiting to maximise my time on the water.  Just when I thought the wind was going to drop right out, whoosh - in came 20+ knots.  I even de-powered my Noise 12 for a while and did some good jumps.  By this time I was the only one on the water which was nice.

With more wind I was able to go upwind past the Sandringham marina rock wall for a view up to Black Rock, then all the back to Middle Brighton for some small waves.  There was some nasty reef popping up close to shore there though.

Having worked a good distance upwind, I then did some toe-side riding and powered "slalom turns" from heelside to toe-side and back again.  It was nice to get out of the "heel-side rut" for a while.

Jump transitions are still eluding me though.  I get some air, but when I try to send the kite in the new direction I just tea-bag under it.  I need to fly it more aggressively, but I am not sure where.  Perhaps into a kite loop or a down loop?  I have looked at a few videos but can't quite figure this out.  Its tricky.

I came right into near the marina then took a spill and lost my board.  There was not quite enough wind to body drag back to it.  I got very close so I put the kite down, swam a few strokes, grabbed it, then relaunched the kite. There was not enough wind to get back out though so I came into shore and landed the kite a bit awkwardly when the wind dropped right out.

It was a really good session .  Distance, speed, some jumps and nice wind.

I tried some new "wetsuit gloves" made for canoeing too.  The worked well and kept my hands warm.  They have a bit of a curve in the fingers so you don't have to fight the neoprene to hang on to the bar.

I had a nice toasted sandwich and coffee in the nearby Biskit cafe - which I can recommend for the food, coffee and bayside view.  I spoke to a guy in a wetsuit - who turned out to be a diver doing some rescue diver training with a group just off Middle Brighton beach.  He said there was not much on the bottom, but there are a lot of sea urchins 30m out and deeper.  Yikes!  So be careful at Hampton and Brighton.

View from Biskit Cafe

1.5 hours kitesurfing, coffee and toasted sandwich = happy

The right place at the right time for the wind

5 comments:

Stuart Tarzan Man said...

Hi mate, with the jump transition, here is what works for me.
1. Kite at 2 o'clock
2. Take speed off by carving hard upwind to a point where you are almost stopped
3. Kite to 12 o'clock and up - keep it at 12.
4. On your way down, approx. 1m from the water, send kite hard to 10 o'clock
5. If there is still not enough momentum forward, downward loop the kite

Check the ikitesurf mag lessons, I'm pretty sure I picked up the best tips from them.

vancouver kiteboarder buddy said...

Wow i cant believe with that moment, i learned so much about kiteboarding. Hope i can get along with you guys.

Wind Forecast said...

kiteboad news are so useful for me. Thanks.

Stuart Tarzan Man said...

Hi Pete,
thought I'd let you know that I've started throwing things on my own blog too. My main aim is to record my progression with tricks - ie. what I can do and what I'm working on. I'm also interested to see just how often I get out in a year - its hard to track otherwise. It's nowhere near as elaborate or interesting as yours, but it's doing the job for me.
http://kiteventure.blogspot.com/

Peter Campbell said...

Good stuff Stuart - I have added a link to your blog in the "Kitesurfing blogs and forums" link list on the right.