I waited patiently for today. I had booked a lesson on Friday afternoon, and took off work a bit early, but there was no wind. Then yesterday I waited patiently at Belmont Shore beach, but again, all day, there was no wind. I got up this morning really not expecting anything, but by the time I got to Belmont it was picking up nicely, a 10-12 mph wind was blowing.
I called Nudge, and he met up with me, and we took to the water.
I knew this would be difficult, but after spending almost 3 hours on the water I only made it sort of up, maybe twice. In my mind there were several factors in this:
1) I still can't fly the kite well enough (this is the main one)
2) Everytime I was ready to get up there were huge waves washing over me. I think I swallowed enough sea to avoid eating salt for 4 years.
3) Sting rays [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingray] - apparently there are normally some lurking in the sand below the shallow water. They were on my mind.
4) Apparently it takes everyone a few attempts to learn :)
Having said all of that it was valuable time; having someone standing on the shore shouting encouragement, re-launching the crashed kite, and telling me where I was going wrong was all worthwhile. I will be much more confident at trying it at home now.
