Hey Jim. Good to hear you got out today. I had a good session @ Parham yesterday but nobody else was out. Was pretty strong and gusty at times; perhaps 22-28+ or so with some clumps of seaweed blowing down the beach. Felt a bit strong on the walk out at times but the kiting was pretty good. Might carry my kite out inflated and set up at the pole when it's that strong again though.
I wonder if the issue could be related to kite size/ wind speed/ tidal flow at Parham? Have you measured the windspeed? I reakon I often overestimate; I wonder if others do too. If the kite you put up is just ok for the real windspeed, maybe things work ok for the first bit (after the big walk out when the tide's low), as the tide is running slow at that point. Then as the tide picks up, maybe your kite size becomes more marginal, as the incoming tide is probably taking a few knots off your windspeed. Often the sea breeze picks up significantly with the tide (cancelling the negative effect of the tide), but it doesn't look like this happened to such a great extent today and the metro winds look like they stayed on the lower side. That's my guess anyway: maybe underestimating kite size for wind + tide?
I notice this sometimes at Parham; some days the whole gulf is your playground and others it's all you can do to hold ground. But with just one kite I'd still choose the out and backs than nothing!
Hopefully see you out there soon.
ps did you see the dead dolphin?
yum. It smelled yesterday.
