Hampton kitesurfing photos from the beach

My spine fractures are still healing so I am not kitesurfing yet, but I am mobile. I headed down to Hampton to give my friend Stu Styles some tips and assistance with his kitesurfing.  Stu is adding kitesurfing to his water sports and is an accomplished surfer and windsurfer.

I rigged up a marine UHF radio for him but it got in the way of his harness so we took it off.

Stu has finished lessons and is now on the quest to get going and upwind.  He did exceptionally well and got up and going on his strong (natural) side, along with some water starts on his unnatural stance side.

Stu's big tip was:

After the water start and the first dive of the kite, let the bar out half way to give the kite some air and generate more pull and water speed.

Keeping the bar right in tends to "choke the kite" after a water start - you then lose speed and sink back in to the water.

Stu Styles ripping along

The Walk of Shame, not! Stu did exceptionally well

Stu ripping again

Stuart Webb transition

Stuart Webb transition

The debrief.  Kitesurfing vs windsurfing?

Jesse Richman and Patri McLaughlin kitesurfing Jaws in Hawaii

This video is worth watching to see the upper limits of kitesurfing huge waves.

Jesse Richman and Patri McLaughlin kitesurfing giant waves at Maui, Hawaii's famous surf break, Pe'ahi (Jaws).

Enjoy

A serious accident put me in hospital (not kitesurfing)

I have just had a serious accident that put me in hospital, but not from kitesurfing.

I had a bad fall from a ladder on Sunday 5 January.  Like most accidents it was a combination of several factors, including:

• Coming down the ladder face first
• Wearing boots with worn smooth soles
• Wearing a bee suit - impaired vision
• At the end of the day
• Complacency

I slipped near the top of the ladder then pitched forward to the adjacent shed porch roof.  I then flipped back off the roof and landed on the my back on the ground. I hit the lower back of my head hard on a concrete block retaining wall but stayed conscious.  My lower back hit something else, possible the brick porch - this caused intense pain.

The bee hive above our water tank.

I yelled out on the ground but nobody could hear me.  I decided to push through the back pain and got onto all fours then my feet and walked back into the house.  Lena immediately checked me out as I lay on the floor.  When I tried to get up I had bad spasm and intense back pain so I couldn't walk to the car.  

Stuart came around to help and put some cushions under me.  The ambulance showed up They couldn't get their stretcher up the steps in our house so they but a drip in my wrist and gave me some morphine, after which I was able to walk with assistance to the stretcher.

They checked me out in the Emergency department of the Epworth - the CT scan showed I had two fractured transverse processes - the bone flanges that protrude off the lower vertebrae. 

The good news was the main vertebrae, spinal chord and kidneys were all OK, so it could have been much worse.

I was in hospital for two an a half days, cursing that I was out of action for the upcoming second Across the Bay in a Day kitesurfing crossing.

Peter in hospital in morphine induced haze, trying to smile

James and Simon called by to visit on the last day which cheered me up a lot.

After a final CT scan to check there were no issues with my head I left the hospital, gingerly sitting in the car with large packets of Panadol Osteo and some Ibuprofen.

I had a lot of pain the first couple of days and kept the pain killers up. A short walk to the local shops was an epic outing. After about 5 days I was feeling much better - the pain had subsided, although there is still a large tender region to the left of my spine.

I got some calcium powder and Injury and Bruising cream (Arnica, Calendula, Hypericum and Lavender) from Dartnell's Pharmacy and have been using them.

I am now also able to drive the car for about 30 minutes.

While its very frustrating to be out of action (cabin fever set in on day 1!) I am also very grateful that I was not more seriously injured and that the pain has greatly diminished.

Oakton, my employer, has been very accommodating too.

Apparently over 50% of serious domestic accidents involve ladders.  So I am now part of this 50%.  

My major (re)learning is that ladders are VERY dangerous and that you should use them with extreme caution, preferably with someone else nearby.

I will hopefully be kitesurfing in around 6 to 8 weeks - the time it will take for the fractures to fully heal.

Thanks to all of you that have provided me with your best wishes and support - it is greatly appreciated. 

So I think more kitesurfing and cycling is indicated, rather than dangerous domestic duties around the house . . . 

Kitesurfing variable westerly wind at Hampton.

Session 277. Early session at Hampton with Stuart.  Strong westerly wind when I arrived so I took out my Lithium 9 and was well powered and surfing some nice waves on the main beach.  

The wind dropped after 30 minutes so I swapped my 9 for my Lithium 12 and got some more runs in.  I tried some duck tacks again without success.

The wind dropped again so I came in and packed up.  The wind was up and down all day ranging from 10 knots to 35!  This is more like frontal winter winds than summer wind.

I skipped the training downwinder from Aspendale to Port Melbourne due to family commitments. Cesar and 5 others made it to Port Melbourne but many others didn't go the full distance.  They had to deal with sections of not enough wind (10-15 knots) to gusts of 35 knots - very tricky conditions.

GPS Log

Not enough wind at Gnotuk Ave Aspendale

Session 276. Not really a session. Got down to Gnotuk Ave around 3:30pm with some good wind shown on Baywinds.  However, it conked out just as I arrived and all the kites that were out came right in.

It dropped to around 10 knots so I headed out on my Lithium 12 with the Sector 60.  I got going, just, but then turned around and struggled to make it back to shore.  I chatted with Stuart and some other kiters while waiting on the beach for more wind, but none came.

It was a strange day for wind as Predictwind had forecast a south easterly but there was good westerlies blowing to the south and the west.

It was a bit frustrating but at least I got wet. 

Kitesurfing Mentone in 15 knots with Sector 60

Session 275. Light winds prevailed during the day, I headed to Mentone late in the day to see if the South Easterly was coming in there.  It was, but only around 15 knots, so I setup my Lithium 12 and took out the Sector 60 board for my first kitesurfing session of the new year.

I did a run across close to the Beaumaris Motor Yacht Squadron, then a long tack towards Mordialloc up close to the pier.  The return tack was bearing off Ricketts Point so I decided to go there.  Half way I realised my GPS was off so I turned it on.  No other sailing craft about - it was almost spooky.

There were a couple of boats fishing close to Ricketts Point.  The evening light as nice, and I was able to maintain a good speed on the magnificent Sector 60, the secret to this session.

On the turn leg I was bearing towards the Mordialloc Pier but I decided to head closer in and do some downloops and ride the swell.  Going downwind I the kite touched the water and stayed down. It took me a little while to get it relaunched, then I headed in with the wind dropping a bit.

A really nice solitary session.

GPS Log

Nice early evening kitesurfing session at St Kilda with a tour over to Hobsons Bay

Session 274.  A nice sea breeze came in late in the afternoon at St Kilda. Stuart and I headed down and found it surprisingly quiet. The boats in the marina now come right past the sand spit so the "kiddies pool" is quite hard to get to now.

Once on the water we took off for a tour over to Hobsons Bay.  The Spirit of Tasmania was turning to enter its channel when we scooted across. We nearly made it to Webb Dock but the wind was a bit lighter over there so we came straight back, with the Spirit of Tasmania now departed and some distance down the bay.

Riding strapless seems to require more leg effort to control the board, there is no "lazy option".  I did notice I was leaning back more on my natural (left) tack compared to my goofy (right) tack, so I made an effort to relax my legs a bit on the right tack and use my body weight more.

The wind was consistent but not strong. I had plenty of power on my Lithium 12.  Downloop turns were the go on the swells to keep some board speed up.

I tried one duck tack and nearly looped the kite.

We did quite a few runs closer to St Kilda West before coming in.  A nice session - back to where I started from and challenging in its own way.

GPS log 

Kitesurfing Hampton in light winds on the Sector 60

Session 273.  There was lighter winds at Hampton in the morning when Stuart and I arrived.  I took out my Sector 60 board and the Lithium 9 to test how this combination would go in lighter wind.  It worked very well.  I had enough power to get some good speed up and could easily go upwind.

I had a phsyio treatment on my back yesterday which improved my movement and reduced the pain a lot so I was intent on not going too hard kitesurfing today.

I was able to ride the swells well between the first and second groyne.  Stuart was finding it difficult to keep upwind on his twin tip and headed down towards Middle Brighton following the waves. I came down into the beach for one run then cranked back upwind to Hampton.  Stuart eventually ran out of wind and walked back some of the distance.

The wind was definitely lighter close to shore so I stayed offshore and kept going well.  The Lithium 9 flew well and generated enough power. I even managed a few jumps.   I downlooped the kite heading in on the swells to get enough forward pull.

No duck tacks today though.

There were other kiters on the beach but nobody else got out while we were there.

The Sector 60 turns a marginal day into a fun one.

GPS log

Afternoon cool change rips through gusting up to 45 knots

The wind forecast on Predictwind looked ominous for Saturday, and they were right.  Hot northerlies in the morning were blown away by a massive cold front that ripped in during the afternoon.

The wind speed changed from around 15 knots to 40 knots, with gusts reaching 45 knots.

This was a good day to not be kitesurfing!

Kitesurfing Hampton to Green Point with nice bay surf

Session 272. A good sea breeze of around 25 knots sprang up around 4pm.  Here was a great opportunity to work off the excess food intake of Christmas Day. Hampton was the place to be.  Stuart and James got there a bit before me and were already on the water along with about a dozen other kiters and several windsurfers .

I headed out the the marina sea wall and caught some of the waves breaking around it and then headed in on the flat water.  I did a couple of jumps nice jumps then surfed the sell back past the first groyne to the beach section.

There were some good swells coming in there - I caught a couple of nice waves, then headed on along the beach following the reef breaks.  There were good waves at Green Point and only a couple of kiters there.  

I then worked by way back to Hampton, getting some nice waves on the return trip too.

25 knots produces quite a reasonable swell with some good surf. There was even a couple of surfers out off Middle Brighton.

My back (right side, near top of pelvis) is giving me some grief but this session was too good to miss.  I might have to rest up for a couple of days now though.

GPS log