Sunday, November 29, 2009

Some good jumps at Hampton among jellyfish

Session 64, Sunday 29 November 2009

Kite: Switchblade 10m
Location: Hampton
Wind: 25 to 30 knots S
Duration: 2 hours 4:00 to 6:00

Got down to Hampton at about 3:45 and a good wind was blowing at last. There has been a lean spell of good wind over the last fortnight or so.

There were about a dozen kites out and quite a few pole dancers (windsurfers). The vibe was good and everyone was having a good time.

I kited upwind to the marina breakwater in a moderate swell and did some fast runs on the flat water inside, but the Southerly wind dropped out a bit behind the marina, so this was not a great place to be.

I then did some very fast runs back to shore. No GPS but they were definitely quick. I did a few jumps on the left tack and found it quite easy to get some air.

About halfway through this session I dunked the kite attempting a kite down turn and it inverted. I could relaunch it but it flew with a wrap on the leading edge, not generating much power. After a period of dragging back to shore I tried some kiteloops which got me up an going. After putting the kite on the water I successfully sorted out the inversion by pulling in the front lines and got up and going again, with one outer line twisted over a rear line. I returned to shore to sort this out.

I tried carving among the waves both out an in, arcing the board to accommodate peaks and troughs, which worked well.

I was not feeling to confident toe down riding - this needs more practice. No backrolls yet either. But I did get some big air and landed fairly well. Only one thud when the kite flew back too far.

There were plenty of jellyfish about but they were mostly well under the surface. I didn't get stung by any.

I finished the session with some kiting in the 0.3m swell that was breaking onto the shore. All in all a really enjoyable session.




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