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shawn
A Force-of-Nature *  
Member #: 403 Posts 255
Registered: 15-10-2003 Member Is Offline Mood: Chilled
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| posted on 15-3-2004 at 17:07 |
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Extreme Holidays
I'm not sure how to spell kiteing/ kiting, so please excuse the variety of spellings I have opted for.
I went away with a pal to FuerteV for a week (25 feb) with Extreme Holidays intending to get to grips with kitesurfing. The kiteing
operation is based in corralejo (accomodation was excellent until a mid week party turned it into a scene of carnage that we never
recovered from)but the instructors pick you up daily and take you (supposedly) to wherever is most suitable that day. It was massively
windy all week (25kts - 35kts) with big surf and would have been the best windsurfing holiday I'd ever had, but unfortunately not ideal
for kiting it seems.
A good deal of time (a bit too much really) was spent in the dunes behind flag beach, practicing flying in relative safety. I feel this
was a good place to start. However, after a couple of days of this we were taken down to Sotavento, which appears to be the only place
extreme holidays use for kiteing in the water due to the rescue facilities there. As i'm sure most of you know, sotavento is reknowned
for having thermonuclear winds blowing off-shore & unsurprisingly this week was no exception (it's also about an hour away from
where we were based, which seems a bit of a long way to go every day). We had to call it a day after about 30 mins (i had 1 x 15 min
go) as it was too windy. On the 2nd day the jeep packed up en-route resulting in a considerable delay. When we finally made it to the
water the leash to the board snapped on my mates 1st run, resulting in the longest body drag in the world. On my 1st run the leash to
the kite snapped, resulting in a bl00dy long upwind swim, £30 cost to extreme hols for having a jet ski rescue guy go and retrieve
the kite, and a pile of knotted lines from your very worst nightmares.
Halfway through the trip there was a non-windy morning so we were taken surfing - it was great fun and filled in the gap well. Also, on
the day we had to stop due to too much wind, the guys from extreme took us for an expenses paid go-kart fest, which was wickedly good -
I can't really fault them for trying to fill in the time well.
Despite the fact that there were problems with the kiting lessons and kit, (I did learn a bit but not as much as hoped) I had great fun
doing it. The guys doing the lessons were great and certainly did their best, within obvious constraints. They were always on time,
were prepared for all eventualities (fortunately this included jeep breakdown, which saved quite a bit of time) and were generally good
fun and provided a high level of very thorough instruction. I met quite a few like minded people and we all got on great - it's a great
way to meet lots of people with a common interest very quickly - particularly good if you are going on a solo mission. I think the kit
problems were just unlucky - on the whole the kit was excellent and almost brand new, so i'm not sure what went wrong.
All in all - I'd recommend this trip to complete beginners / those who have had 'a bit of a go' / those going on solo missions, and /
or those who want to learn in a slow but very safe environment. However, if you want to get more time in on the water and don't mind
upping the risks a bit, you're probably best doing it off yer own back and hiring a car (if you have all the kit, that is).
http://www.extremeholidays.com/
Don't have a cow man!
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markh
Hot shot 
Member #: 42 Posts 56
Registered: 15-8-2002 Location: London Member Is Offline Mood:
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| posted on 17-3-2004 at 10:36 |
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Thanks for the post Shawn. My brother-in-law has been talking to me about finding a kite-surfing hol so this might be just the
ticket.
Was there an option to do some windsurfing with Extreme as well? I wouldn't want to spend a whole week there without getting a few
hours of WS in as well.
cheers
Mark
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shawn
A Force-of-Nature *
Member #: 403 Posts 255
Registered: 15-10-2003 Member Is Offline Mood: Chilled
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| posted on 17-3-2004 at 12:35 |
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Hiya Mark
If you let them know beforehand that you'd like to do both then I'm certain they'd accomodate you. I didn't manage to get any
windsurfing in although I did ask - I gave them about 2 minutes warning and they didn't have the kit with them, so i ended up surfing
instead.
You'll definately have a great time if you do go. While you're there i highly recommend the thai curry at 'sopranos' too - you'll find
it.
Don't have a cow man!
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