Kite: Switchblade 10
Wind: 25 knots, N
Location: Brighton
Time: 9:00pm to 11:00am
Board: Naish Haize twin tip
Stuart and I arrived at Brighton at about 9:00. The northerly forecast was blowing so we headed out with haste. I was testing out my "line ordering device" for the first time (more on this later). Laying out the lines was much easier but I did get one outside line twisted to I had to re-rig it.
There was a gale warning for the day, but the peak wind was forecast for around noon, so we elected to go out earlier and avoid the peaks.
Glorious sunshine and a lovely day. There was a climate-change rally on at 11am in the city, so the choice was "save the planet" or "be a funhog". I was hoping to do both, but in the end I missed the rally.
Just off shore the wind picked up and we got in a few good runs, but then it backed off a little. Not wanting to get stranded 500+m offshore I headed in, doing a few kiteloops close to shore to get in. I landed the kite near the bathing boxes, the walked back to the launch site, waiting for the wind to improve.
It did. A honking 25 knots sprang up, gusting to 30. I was well powered on the 10m kite and getting some good speed. I did a few nice jumps, but am still struggling with doing a jump transition (turning). My homework is to learn the theory on what to do with the kite to get this sorted. I think I need to fly it more aggressively in the new direction (of the turn).
I am getting a bit rusty riding toeside too. More practice is needed. The desire to avoid crashing at Brighton in a northerly is strong, so I find it limits my appetite for trying new tricks.
I did some very quick runs (no GPS though) and landed quite a few nice jumps. There were a couple of other kiters out initially. More arrived later.
Coming in, I was nice and warm but my hands were a bit chilled. Stuart and I were on the beach with our kites up. I signalled to another kiter to land mine. But when I brought it down, he walked past it towards Stuart's. The he headed back to grab mine but a gust jetted it forward. I left it on the sand but before he got to it it relauched and zinged across he wind window. Stuart kept his how then I jumped across his lines and all was good.
Walking back, someone's board bag was drifting along in the water, having been blown off the beach. I headed down and retrieved it then walked it back to where the kites were. The owner was trotting along looking for it and was happy to have it back.
In summary, great kitesurfing but quite tricky conditions ranging from not enough wind to almost too much and some quite big gusts.
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