Surface sessions

Friday was another superb day at my local – Shui Hau.  This time well powered to just powered on a 10m Switchblade and using my trusty Spectrum 140 prototype with 25mm fins.  You may think that this equipment is a strange choice for a 70kg (yes – Christmas in SA and 9 months off the water have not been that flattering) women who is a competent freestyler, confident with unhooking and kitelooping.  You may be right, but every person is subtly different – my big difference is that I am recovering from knee surgery and probably should not be out there yet at all.

Equipment choice is such an individual thing and depends not only on your size, sex and riding style, but also on your location and what you are trying to achieve right now with your riding.  The equipment you choose is also not only restricted to what kite and board you are using, but also what harness, wetsuit (or not), booties, pads and straps, handle and if you are going to be wearing that safety gear too.

So back to Friday – 10m Kite, 140 board and my kite shorts harness.  Nice low pull, no restriction of movement in my waist and just very little restriction in my hips. Helmet on – I always wear my helmet, just in case… not necessarily me being stupid (that’s always a possibility), but also because there are heaps of inconsiderate / uneducated individuals in our sport.  It was nice and windy – five kiters out in the morning thanks to Chinese New Year (CNY) and flat water – super fun session!

So what did I do?  Off course there was the list from my last blog, plus the surface 360’s mentioned by Megan and Blaise both toeside and blindside and the long blind runs – thanks to it being so quiet.  I also added in a couple of new ‘tricks’ I have never consistently done before.   The surface 360 with an Ole – that is holding the bar above your head instead of passing it.  The other is the surface one foot, taking the back foot out of the binding while riding along and kicking it up and grabbing it with the front hand.  What fun you can have inventing stuff – now I know what Toby (kiteforum.com) has been up to for over a year and why we waited so long for  those ’Airstyle” DVDs.

Other ‘tricks’ you could consider to improve your kite and board control skills are:
Carving transitions from heelside to toeside,
Carve transition with an underloop,
Riding blind,
Riding along unhooked,
Surface 360 both ways and do one after the other without hooking back in in between,
Rotating to wrapped hooked and unhooked and riding along,
Butterslide or board wheelie,
Backroll transition, but without the board leaving the water.

The last of these is actually a great one to learn, because if you go into it too fast or edge too hard before you roll, or if you move the kite too quickly over 12 o’clock you will leave the water.  This is especially important for somebody who is keen to learn roll tacks for kite-racing to master, as this basic kite and board control teaches you the timing subtleties required.

I am sure there were many more things I got up to and tried, but towards the end of my session I started being silly and had my first kiteloop lifted off the water crashes since my op and even those were fun – I so love kiting!

Now I am in Taiwan – having a ball in the waves – will let you know how my not leaving the water challenge goes before I head back to HK at the end of the week.

Good winds and happy kiting!

:)

6 and a half months....

... 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!

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!

10 years and time to share all I have learnt not to do…

Yes this week 10 years ago I got up and going properly on a kiteboard for the first time and today I had that same thrill after being off the water since April 2012.  Learning to kite was daunting yet exhilarating and every step of the way you knew you were getting better and your body was getting stronger and your mind wiser.  Here I am nearly 6 months post ACL, Meniscus and Cartilage surgery and I have to remember those lessons I had learnt and the feelings that kept me going back for more,  so that I take it slow and take this recovery serious.

2013 started with crazy winds here in Cape Town and so on the 2^nd of January DK and I legged it up to Langebaan for a light wind flat water session.  I got 45 minutes of riding, first on the 13m and then the 11m Chaos and 136 XCaliber.  If only I was fit and healthy I would have been lapping up the conditions, but as soon as the wind and current started disturbing the water too much I could feel the knee telling me to take a break.  I was not disappointed with my session at all; in fact I was over the moon happy.  

Today the 4^th day of the year I remember why kiting is so important to me.  Another 45minutes or more on the water, this time down in Big Bay - flat water between the waves and an occasional slashable swell and that sensation of happiness and fulfilment returned.  The 13m Chaos and 140 Tronic were the perfect tools to get me out on my own on this beautiful sunny day with Table Mountain as a backdrop.  I can see why this spot is so popular in the northern hemisphere winter – there were really nice little ramps for flat 3’s on the inside and I had to hold myself back from trying anything with all my might.  We are flying out tonight, so I could not stay out long enough to re-injure myself as the wind filled in - someone is keeping an eye on me. 

I felt this again when I was refuelling at Callici’s after and bumped into Aaron Hadlow (5 times PKRA world champ) who is 10 months post his ACL /meniscus surgery.  He said he had a sweet little session today, but did warn me that to get ahead with my return to riding hard I need to take it very slow and not be tempted to trick too much too early.

This brings me to why I am starting this blog.  Inspired a bit by a friend, Kitey, who blogged to keep herself on track to a healthier self and who’s heading to do her first Iron Man event in Cairns later this year.  I am going to steel the idea and use this blog to make sure I do not get ahead of myself on this return to kiting.  It is going to be a while before I get to those back mobe, blind judge and S to blind attempts again, but I plan to get there… and a lot further.

Another reason to blog is to give back to kiting.  Often I see people out doing silly things because they do not know better or getting stuck in a rut because they do not know what to do next.  So as I go through my sessions on track to my future kiting self I will also delve into past sessions that taught me lessons as well as lessons I learnt from others.  This will hopefully help these people and maybe even you to be a better kiter.  I do not claim to know all and expect debate on many of the matters I mention – all of which will make us better kiters.

So please join me on my journey, challenge me and keep me on track and I will join you on yours too.

Good winds!