Session 33: Jumping!

Hampton beach at about 20 knots was on again at about 5pm today (Tue 12/2/08) after a couple of out and backs to get going I tried some jumps. This time I succeeded. Initially I was carried in the air for about 3 - 4 meters just off the water.


It definately helps when you get airborne first off a wave, then fly the kite back to vertical and pull the power on. It was a bit daunting to do this right out from shore as a wipeout and tangled kite would mean probably a half hour swim in, so I kept my jumping moves closer to the shore.

I got one really good jump in (probably not very high, but it felt fantastic) when I launched off a wave and swung the kite back to vertical quickly with the power on. The touch down was not too rough, but it is easy to lose the board. Ivan advised me afterwards to turn both feet out in the loops to lock them into the board when in the air.

I augured in on one fast return leg chasing a speedy windsurfer and nearly stopped another kiter coming towards me in his tracks. He jumped over my horizontal lines though without too much trouble, then I retrieved my board and got going again.

I took my GPS out again and logged 29.4km for this session. I didn't reset the maximum speed though. Here is the track log.

I was out for about 1.5 hours. There were about 10 to 15 other kiters out too.