... and I am so thankful to be back on the water
again. 5 sessions since my last post. Not ground breaking numbers
of hours on the water, but just the right amount to stop me from getting ahead
of myself.
The first three sessions back here in Hong Kong were all
hard work - yeah work - testing. In reality I was just the extra board on
the water so that the guys did not need to go back to the shore to change the
big boards over. Yes big boards –
probably not the ideal type for a new knee, as they have big fins and need to
be gybed or tacked, but they didn’t require a big kite up and they were
amazingly easy to use. So if anyone is thinking
of getting into racing then grabbing a Freerace board as ‘training wheels’ is an idea, but it is also such an easy to
use light wind option. One of the days
we were the only ones out and way upwind too, playing for hours on 13 and 12m
kites. Another day we headed 2.5km
straight up wind to round an island off Cheung Sha beach. Even with a dodgy knee I was confident enough
to try my tacks again and got a decent percentage right – just more proof of how
easy the boards are to use… and man you can go fast on a reach! It did mean that I stuck to my rule of not
leaving the water very well too. So even
if you don’t leave the water kiting is fun – a point proven again this weekend.
Now even though it has been windy I have not been at the
beach, as I have some contract work happening, which has turned me into a
weekend warrior, but what a weekend it has been – just perfect. Yesterday started with a brunch with friends,
then purchasing of essentials to sort out some toys which needed modifications
(more testing stuff) and once that was done the wind came in and the tide was
perfect for a glassy ‘freestyle’ session.
The reason I say ‘freestyle’ is because the rule of not leaving the
water still applies, as I do not think my knee (specifically meniscus) could
handle the impact of a hard landing, so it was all surface freestyling.
I feel like a real beginner kiter again, because it seems
that most people call themselves intermediate once they leave the water, but
you know what, the surface stuff teaches you so much kite and board control it
will help you in the future for those more advanced tricks. It is amazing how many things you can do and
learn without leaving the water… so over my next few blog posts I will post
suggestions as to what the tricks are you should be trying and how about you
check them off and see how beginner, intermediate or advanced you really are. How about we start at the first and make a
list – you are welcome to comment with suggestions to add and I will add more
as I blog – till I decide to leave the water again. Here goes: -
Riding upwind
Transition without sitting in the water
Switch to toeside with carve transition
Carving up and down wind (on flatwater or wave face) – feeling your board edges
Going very fast – slightly downwind
Going real slow, but still planing on the water
Riding toeside
Riding toeside upwind
Stopping in a hurry
Heelside to toeside carve transition
Underloop transition combined with some of above
AND doing all of these both ways!
Riding upwind
Transition without sitting in the water
Switch to toeside with carve transition
Carving up and down wind (on flatwater or wave face) – feeling your board edges
Going very fast – slightly downwind
Going real slow, but still planing on the water
Riding toeside
Riding toeside upwind
Stopping in a hurry
Heelside to toeside carve transition
Underloop transition combined with some of above
AND doing all of these both ways!
Many of these may seem simple to those who have done it
before, but unless you have the kite in just the right place and the board
resisting just the right amount you can either end up going to fast or sink in
when not wanted. So go out and check if
you can still do it (with style) or go out and try it on the other tack, or try
it full stop – it’s fun, even in light winds.
Today the wind came in much stronger and there was a crowd
out at my local – loving the company on the water and watching everyone progress
(all 50 plus kites up). Once again
however I noticed that many people seem to get so excited that they forget the
basics – or is it that they did not know them to start with? It also brought home that no matter how
experienced you are you need to remember to leave yourself a buffer in case
something doesn’t go as planned. One of
the better more experienced kiters came in after his session and when he went
to hop out of his straps close to the shore he couldn’t get out smoothly. He tripped up and ended up on the rocks,
accidently looping the kite and being bounced onto the shore and ending up with
heaps of lacerations and potential back and hip injuries.
So guys head out and have fun in the light and strong winds,
even if you are not leaving the water yet, but remember to check for obstacles
and keep safe distances from the hard stuff.
Good winds and happy kiting!
How about riding blind? Hopping from toeside to blind to heelside?
ReplyDeletemust be nice to have easy access to flatwater.. :)
Thanks for writing this! It has totally inspired me to polish up the basics next session! Looking forward to reading your next post :)
ReplyDeleteHow about a butterslide, backside butterslide, and surface 360 :)
ReplyDeleteHi Blaise - yup riding blind hooked in is a good way to enjoy flat water as long as it is not too crowded. Hopping to blind kinda implies leaving the water, which I am not 'allowed' to do yet. So what I did in my session was slide to blind, like I do to heelside. A challenge to get right without catching a fin - so give that a go as well as your hops to blind. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd yup Megan definitely surface passes both into the wind and downwind. You can even go as far as rotate to blind unhooked, ride along and then pass, or go toeside and then do the pass. both of these are challenging to keep the power in the kite at the same time, so it is a balance of board speed and angle to the wind. :)
ReplyDelete