got it to work at last. i did the deed on saturday afternoon what a great feeling.though i have a few war wounds from it. lost control of the kite, catapulted forward, forgot board was still attached to me, turned round and board hit me in the face leaving me with a numb bleeding lip. not a massive wound but i guess this is the first of many. and it was i had a similar thing later that day where the board hit the back of my leg behind my knee big big bruise. im proud of it something to talk about in local shop on monday.

hopefully i will be down next weekend with a few pond pussies from our local club.

see you all later

lifes a beach

Nice one Darren.
I went around to the estuary and flew my Blade for a bit, but could see your kite so guessed you'd gone back out.
So you got going OK in the end..Pretty cool isn't it.
I remember the first time I ever tried kite-surfing, I had one or two swoops with the kite that didn't result in much, then on about the third attempt I was up on my feet and planing along pretty much in control. I lost lots of ground downwind that day, but by the end of it was even going for gybes.
Mind you, I'm still pretty much at that same stage now! I need to get out more, but the temptation to windsurf instead usually overwhelms me.

My 2nd or 3rd session resulted in injury though. I was using a 5.7m Waterfoil (which sounds small by todays standards, but it had MUCH more power than my 11m Wipika that I currently have). Depower systems and safety leashes etc. hadn't really been developed back then, so I had a home made system that worked really well. The only trouble was that I had under-engineered it and after a wipe out the safety leash snapped and the kite (which stays inflated) started blowing away down the beach. I chased after it and as I caught it, dived to grab the bar, which hit a pebble as I did so, smacking me in the face and knocking me out!
Anna was in the van on the phone, and as I lay there blacked out, she was saying "Its OK, he's caught it now and is just lying on the floor having a little rest!".
Needless to say I was OK in the end and made sure the safety leash was made from stronger rope next time.

Al.

I was just thinking of your image!!...you wouldn't want a girl running down the beach to rescue you all the time would you!

I too thought you were taking a rest after your long chase, an easy mistake. Didn't you chase your waterfoil into the dunes when out at the golfcourse once too, it was alive and trying to escape?

Looks a great sport but I have enough trouble windsurfing so will stick to that for now. Plus I don't think you can kitesurf inland?

i was after a light wind option for wind surfing so i brought a formula board ahd95 and a 10.5 m sail. yes it works in light winds but it isnt so nice in the waves ( its a big board to have in the air ). i was out at rosniger the one day on it really blasting, when a chap on a kite jumped clean out the water in front of me went 15 foot or so in the air and i thought to my self what am i doing? i should be doing THAT.so i took the plunge and brought the kit.the only problem is that there is no where local to do it.so i guess it means lots of trips to the coast
this is the light wind option when its 8 to 9 m weather its time to kite flying.

enough for now time for a bath

later

daz