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Mud Story

 

Good thing I had professional training to deal with quick sand (see picture below), as the tide was very low while the wind was whispering.

The tide was so low that I hit the upper launch sand bar with those mini fins.  Although it was a short session, but it turned out to be very informative and comforting   for testing the very low end of the 12 m XBow.

 

 

If you wonder where the training took place, it was very near Mont Saint Michel in Bretagne, France, where the bay exhibit huge tides as bit as 36 feet differential.

 

 

 

A lunch date with Lolita

 

For her first time out this season, she got a wild ride;  very bouncy, although, it was very steady around 12am at 30 MpH average!!

Even the gusts were steady, all at 34.   We tried surfing a little and it was fun but EEE ticket

No, that’s not Lolita in the picture above, but Fred who tried to feel again what a real man sport feels like. He was not sorry...

 

A winged migration?..

....to ‘East’ Palo Alto, Alameda that is; the refuge for kiters on SW winds.

Like Palo Alto is for windsurfers descending from 3rd Av when the fog is too low. A large contention of ‘Third’ regulars invaded the very crowded gloomy sandy beach of Alameda.

It looked like winter (not like in this nice picture borrowed from Slowburn), and the flood was not helping, but at least we got wet. And that all it counts for our type species.

2007 Walk of shame # 1

 

If you report the good, you’ve got to say the bad!

Kitemare # 1 with my12m XBow: after a small jump followed by a bigger attempt, I lost my back foot grip and landed awkwardly.  The kite may have crashed; it’s all blurry in my mind.  I remember the kite flipped and then I had one outside line tangled through the brake lines; a sure invitation for kite loops.  No need to RSVP, it happened, I was bouncing left and right.  Seeing me being tossed, Brent stopped by and offer help.  He was nice to take my board to shore.  One thing I observed is that the bow kites do not perform as well as C kites for rescue. 

  The lack of beaches to land and the high tide did not help my confidence, so I can’t wait to go back out to chase this bad long swimming experience out of my mind.

Good enough to kite

 

Wednesday was a surprise since the forecast had downgraded. It looked pitiful early then showed sign of life.
It turned out to be a great day for kiting.

I was more plowing than riding toe side but at least I tried and I had a lot of fun making long seeping turns.
A few windsurfers went out later.
The beach sensor seems to be totally confused about the direction.

That little bit of rope that saved the day.

 

I realized hooking in after a jibe, that I was really loose.  When I looked down and saw my harness bar it made instant sense. 

 

The bar broke from old age and hibernation (read corrosion during inactivity), it took one ‘good landing’ and it bent.

I had that tiny loop attached from the hook to the lower belt of my harness to keep the bar and the harness to become a bra

When it happened, of course I was on the other side of the channel, but with that little rope, I was still able to be hooked in and had limited tension through my ‘young’ arms (read beginning of the season).

Thanks to Doctor Steve ( Hammond? ) a spare harness was loaned to me during a quick pit stop and out again I went.

Season opening?.....

 

...............I was asked by many sailing buddies; a more difficult answer than you think!

    _First day sailing: No, I have been kiting.

    _First day windsurfing: No, I did it in Hawaii last week.

    _First day windsurfing in the Bay: Yes but 7^th day in the water overall.

82L 5.0m2 gave good results. The constant wind and the strong ebb produced good ramps to jump and enough swells to get back in the carving and surfing groove.

 

 

 

Calm before the storm

 

All good things comes to an end, I had to say good bye to my new crawling friend (no, not you Jerry

Here are some pictures of kihei where I kited 3 days ago.

A beautiful sunrise on Wailuku Height from 'my' kitchen window

Even the wind gave me a wink while I was on the Kahului tarmac at 10:30 and everyone felt it.

.

Mahalo

Kihei rocks !!

 

Well it did.

On Kona winds I had everything:

a challenge to get out on weak wind and huge shore break,

 a good wind spike (12pm)to warm up my forearms,

a chance to play with the waves

and a bottom turn where I found the Kihei rocks at the bottom (hidden

Did I mention there is a reef there? Look at my toe.

Happy times though and good timing as it did not last.

Have kite, will travel.....

next stop Maui.

From the most taped rocks on instructional videos here is the prime view of the action on Sunday March11.

For my part, I had my first jump on a real wave.....And guess what?  I landed it

Just for pleasure, here is another kite beach shot where you can hear the wind

A cup of Kona?

 

Why not, but let’s find a good place.

This one is too foamy...........

and the floor is not impeccable

.Although the waitress.....

Now that’s more like it. 

 

Kona wind on Oahu south shore at Maunalua Bay  Beach  Park.

 

What a taste...

Best parking ever.

 

I thought the O’Neil Forebay near San Luis reservoir was pretty cool. Especially to test gear, swapping equipment was painless since the van was parked about 20 feet from the water.

What was my surprise when I saw SUV’s on the beach at Oceano near Pismo.

 

 Not quite the latest model on the picture above, but it was very cool to drive to the parked kite after a down rider (not planned). Give me a break; it’s my first time on the coast kiting. And I don’t even have my camera to prove it! Thanks to Flo who lended me this updated view so you can see the parking lot.

 

Empty there but pretty cool hey?