Louis Tapper attempts a world record downwinder

Louis Tapper from Wellington, New Zealand, is attempting a world record downwind kitesurfing trip of 2000km in Brazil.

Louis has just started this amazing journey. You can read about his progress on his blog here

Good luck Louis.

Links

• Kite Surfer Attempts World Record on Coast of Brazil - Press release

A strong northerly at Brighton with kitecam

Session 93, Sunday 18 July 2010
Kite: Switchblade 10m
Board: S-Quad
Location: Brighton
Wind: 15 to 20 knots N
Duration: 2+ hours
Weather: Overcast then rain

A strong northerly winds around 25+ knots abated to about 18 knots when I arrived at Brighton at 11:00am - should have got there a bit earlier!

I took out the waist harness and S-Quad to get some more practice in for Bali.  The 10m kite flew quick, but was a bit underpowered to start with.  The wind picked up though and I got some good fast runs in.  The waist harness was fine - I will take it to Bali rather than the seat harness.

I didn't try any fancy gibes - or even toe down riding.  Ditching the kite offshore could be an epic.  I don't fancy driving around to Portarlington (or hiring a boat) to get it floating across the bay!

The wind then dropped off so I landed the kite and turned off the kitecam.  I headed out for another session when the wind picked up.  It pays not to go too far out, and to keep an eye on the water surface to the north to see what wind is coming (or dropping).

I ended up coming in downwind and over the reef, which gets a bit gnarly.  Good to have booties on when walking across it back to shore.  Around 1pm some rainsqualls arrived so I packed up and headed off.

Here are some more kitecam photos - the first with my Pentax Option W90.

All photos

2010-07-18 Kitecam Brighton

Lizard Island kitesurfing trip

If you are interesting in a kitesurfing trip to Lizard Island from August 1 - 7 this year, contact Bretto from Windswell on 0427 498 042.  There is a vacancy for this trip due to a cancellation.

I won't be there as I will be kitesurfing in Bali at this time.  Next year I hope to visit Lizard Island.

More information

A sunny day with a good northerly at Brighton

Session 92, Sunday 11 July 2010
Kite: Switchblade 14m
Board: S-Quad 
Location: Brighton
Wind: 15 to 22 knots N
Duration: 2+ hours
Weather: Sunny


There was a good northerly blowing at Brighton during the morning and early afternoon, after the gale force winds of yesterday.


Stuart and I headed to Hampton and got on the water about 10:15.  I used the S-Quad surfboard to get more familiar with it in preparation for my upcoming trip to Bali.  


It was about 18 knots when we started, then after half an hour it dropped back to around 15.  The advantage of the big kite and board meant I could keep going while others ended on the beach.


I did some longish runs out against the bay swell, then coming back in I was able to surf the swells quite well.   The wind picked up again to around 20 knots so going upwind was easy.


I tried moving my rear foot out of the rear footstrap and up behind my front foot.  It worked well.  It is similar to a Stand Up Paddleboard (SUP) stance.  I could relax, the board speed drops and going further upwind is easier.


To turn I am still doing water restarts - manually grabbing the board tail, flicking the nose around, re-setting my feet in the straps and then powering up again.  I am getting more proficient at this.  A bit of pull from the kite helps locating my feet in the straps; just toes in is enough to get going then I can wriggle further in once moving.


No kitecam today - but a northerly would get some good shots as the kite and camera would be pointing back towards the shore and city.  Next time . . .

New video added - Kitesurfing Inverloch in 35+ knots

I have just added this new video made from some footage from our Inverloch trip last year.  Enjoy.

More videos are available here.