It's the middle of winter. Some crew here are getting a bit restless, and forgetting what we kite for ... getting away from work, the power of the ocean & wind. If you're not getting wind, or not a fan of winter kiting, you can forget the buzz of kitesurfing.

Write about your most rewarding day, or whatevers you floats your boat about kitesurfing, and whoever gets the most thumbs up wins their choice of a DVD .. choose from Ben Wilson's "Smack" or "The Unknown Road".

For me, summer memories of glassy conditions at spots in the North West will never be forgotten. You know .. 25 knots, water that's over a metre deep, yet it's glassy. The water is so clear and that you can see your shadow on the ocean floor. Like kiting on a pool! The landscape is wild & free of buildings. Add to that northern wave spots .. one end of summer session where I kited for 5 hours solid because conditions were so good .. and the only reason I stopped was I blew out a quadricep from exhaustion!

Bring It!

once upon a time i got a mate to film me posing with half a try hard scowl in slow motion at innumerable locations, set it to some catchy doof music and called it a kitesurf movie...

my story doesn't have the most epic wind or waves in fact it only reached 17kts and the wave height was about up to my waist, sun was shining and little white caps glittered the ocean as far as i could see. james and i are 16 and are about 65kg's so a 11m pink waroo and a 13m venom were perfect for the day, the water was that light blue green colour and i had just finished strapping my 5'10 surfboard so with the light wind conditions only the young riders in newcastle were keen enough to ride the new midday seabreeze. This was another thing that made this summer day special, usually in newcastle you see the 35+ riders shredding around and locals get the image that kitesurfing is just for the adults, but with 16-17year olds shredding the ocean and cruzing around with big grins on our faces demonstrated that kiting is infecting high schools and not just adults with money to burn. oh yeah and a super hot chick about my age in a white bikini asked me with a smile if it is possible to do double-up kiteboarding, but since i had been riding for about 4-5 hours and was having trouble walking straight i just collapsed and landed my kite.
cheers!(a DVD would be nice)

A KITE TALE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The moment I saw the bowkite gyrate thru it's third loop, I knew we had a problem.
A kitelooping frenzy deathdrag problem.
At the time, I felt a tinge of guilt because I had launched his kite.
A second later, I had overcome my feelings of wrong-doing.
I recalled my last words to him just before he stepped off the shoreline and fanged out towards the surf.
"Are you sure you are confident enough to go out here" ?
"Yeah mate, this place is safe as houses", he replied.

He was 200 metres out to sea, the cold frontal wind was straight sideshore....
and he was getting ragdolled with every thrust of the spiralling kite.
It was funny in a sick kind of way.
He truly resembled a teabag going thru the motions.
UP.....down....Dunk
UP.....down....Dunk
UP.....down....Dunk
lol.

No one kited this mysto surfspot, just the missus and myself....
my mate had come along for the ride.
But he had been hot for a wavekite session, and even though it was only his second time in the ocean....
he was keen as a grommet getting his first root.

As I held his kite for the assisted launch.....
I had figured he was fully capable because he had a full season under his belt at the flatwater spot, and besides...
he was a pretty hot surfer and ex-poley from the old days.

When he fanged out thru the smooth wavefaces and then boosted into a massive jump...
I knew instantly it had not been an intentional move.
No-way.
Up to that point in time, he had never done any real boosts, only bunny hops off the flatwater chops.
When he crashed hard from this hell-boost, the kitelooping frenzy kicked-in immediately.

The sandy beach was wide and clean, but there was a narly reefshelf about 500 metres downwind of where he had launched.
I watched him getting deathdragged downwind as I jogged along the beach, trying to keep up with his jerky mvements.
His board had long gone, it had flung off his feet during the elevator-ride,
and it was floating upwind somewhere, out-of-sight...out-of-mind.

Now this narly reefshelf got me thinking.
If my mate could hang in for a bit longer and take some more hits...
he would be downwind of the nasty stuff and out of harms way.
I suspected that at some point in time he would pull the pin and flag the kite to one line....
and swim the whole mess in.

As soon as I had mulled these thoughts over in my head....
the kite suddenly snapped into a flapping flag.
"Goddamn pussie", I cursed.
"Why couldn't he just roll with the punches and remain conscious for a few more hundred metres" ?
"Now there's going to be more fun and games on the rocks later".

I didn't need to jog along the beach in a hurry anymore.
He wasn't going anywhere fast for a while.
I ran up a high dune to get a better look.
While he was winding up his lines into a messy birdsnest so he could get to his kite,
I scanned the horizon for a sight of his board.
I knew his twin-tip was blue, and the cold cruel sea was greeny grey.
It was late afternoon and the sun was very low and the daylight was quickly dimming.
Board recovery seemed hopeless.

He finally drifted in close....right where he shouldn't have.
Straight onto the reefshelf full of cracks and holes and small breaking waves.
A resident who must have been watching the action arrived on the scene carrying a large coil of old crayrope to assist with a rescue, I guess ?
The rope was in a tangle and I foolishly helped him take out the knots and twists and loops.
It gave me something to do as I watched my mate struggle with his gear and his snagged kitelines...
which were tightly caught on the reef outcrops.

The well-meaning resident and I could not believe what we witnessed next.
In a flash and the glint of cold steel, my shipwrecked mate pulled out a 6" knife from its hiding place....
and sliced thru those fken tight strings in a heartbeat.
Ping....Ping....Ping.
It was plainly obvious that he was completely over-it.

We walked back up the beach together, heading for the vehicle....
all the time keeping our eyes peeled upwind for a hint of his kiteboard.
It was dark by the time the kite was packed away, the board was now fishermans treasure.

The next day my mate organised a barbie.
His missus asked him to fire it up and throw on the steaks.
As we walked outside to cook up the meat, he noticed his lost kiteboard leaning against the fence.
WTF
His adult son (a local hot surfer) turned to his Dad and smiled.
"Daddy-o....you silly prick".
"You gotta hit the beaches super early if you want to score".
"You never know what you'll find".
"You gay kiters sleep in too late".

i was out kiteing last week and prince phillip (royal prince of sweden not UK) came down and went out for a kite too. there were a few guys in the water takeing photos and everytime the price rode upto one of the photogaphers they all turned thier back on him and wouldnt take his photo cos he was only at an intermediate ish level and they didnt recognise him out on the water. they didnt realise it untill we came in and someone pointed out that the prince of sweden was out kitesurfing and if they had of got a good photo of him they could have sold it.

not much of a kiteing story i know but i thought it was funny and served them right for being snobs

here is a link to some of the photos
www.surfzone.se/forums/?t=59145

I wen't to Gnarloo after a cyclone had caused all the crew to leave the station .King of da point and I were the first crew back in after the cyclone. I had the whole break to myself for several hours with 2m waves and just picking off the big ones coming through. Better than drugs

Once upon a time there was a shop owner who received new stock of foot straps. The manufacturers of the foot straps insisted on calling them bindings and so the weak minded shop owner also called them bindings.

After all the kiter's got pissed off he still didn't catch the hint so they bought from other shop owners and they all lived happily ever after with their kiting gear bought from other shop owners. Except for the first shop owner because he still thinks they are bindings and nobody bought from him.

The end

Last decent session of the summer gone.

My 1st (and only sesh to date) at Yallingup, with a bit fluky wind.

Big dramas getting off the beach, past the thick beachy but once in open air it picked up and my 9m was in the perfect sweet spot zone!

Only myself, one other kiter and 2 (maybe 3) poleys out enjoying nice big boost ramps, having a fantastic sesh. No crowding, plenty of respect and even smiling and enjoying each others stoke. Ha ha - poleys aren't that bad after all..

Huge dramas when the wind dropped like flicking off a switch and one of the worst tangles in my lines ever, also nearly trashed my kite in the shallows.

One of the unfortunate poleys wrote off nearly his whole set-up getting back in through the chunderous beachy, (smashed boom and pole I believe) but still had a laugh and a chat in the carpark - it was that good a sesh.

Can't wait to get back there this summer..

Only 80 odd sleeps to go..

Nice post Loz, got any spare Prozac BTW?

Excellent for all for contributing your stories.

The winner is waveslave (who probably needs the DVD's the least?!)

waveslave .. a PM has been sent to you ..

Cheers!

laurie said...

Excellent for all for contributing your stories.

The winner is waveslave (who probably needs the DVD's the least?!)

waveslave .. a PM has been sent to you ..

Cheers!

Waveslave = Tim Winton's love child
LOL