Benone Tuesday 19th July - Evening

Headed back down to Benone after we got tidied up, didn't make it there until 7, which was too late. It just wasn't windy enough.

Bad news is that my pump broke while I was pumping up, so need to go shopping.

Benone Tuesday 19th July - Lunchtime

Worked from home today, and made sure I got a long lunch. Had a bit of a saga with my half working kite quiver.

I went to Benone, got set up and went out on the 9, the only kite I have. It was ok sometimes, but mainly underpowered, so I decided to cut my losses and head to Castlerock where there is usually more wind. Not today. And there was that horrible foam everywhere too.

So, back to Benone, got the two kites out, and managed to replace the broken pulley on the 12 with one of the working ones from the 9.

Headed out, and the kite was steering to the side, had to immediately come back in and change the knot on the blue line that I shortened last night.

By this time my lunchtime was almost gone, so a quick scoot out on the water, few jumps, some toeside, nice carving turns and packed up.

Long time at the beach(es) short time on the water. Perfect conditions again. Was wondering half way through if they would sack me if I just didn't turn in for the afternoon. Decided not to find out.

Benone Monday 18th July

What a great evening. Home early from work, straight to the beach for just after 5pm, in the water around 6. Steven was there too, so had to chat to him for a while :)

It wasn't blowing hard when we got there, below 20mph, so I set up the 12, and to be honest I was well powered all night. Going nicely perfect conditions, quite steady wind, very long flats between reasonable sized waves. Only thing wrong was it wasn't sunny, but that was ok. Gerry called down to spectate too, so had to chat with him for a while. Going well, some small jumps, getting better, didn't do a lot of kite powered jumps, mainly waves. With all the flat water I did more toeside riding in than normal, getting a bit better. Some nice carving turns; Others werent so nice, still all on the left to right tack.

After 8pm I had a problem where the kite wouldn't steer properly, so I came in and landed. After a couple of attempts we noticed that the pulley on the leading edge of the kite was broken. Well, the wee wheel had one broken side meaning the bridle line could slide down between the pulley and the block, snagging the line. Once I'd figured that out it was game over for the night.

A good session, nice and long, quite consistant, and progressed a little. Can't ask for more than that, well, maybe just no equipment failures!

7th July 2011 - Famara

While on holiday in Lanzarote I decided to check out the local kitesurfing. I didn't bring my own gear, as we intended to spend most of our time around the resort. Instead I decided to get some coaching, and signed up to an IKO school for the morning. They are a Naish outfit, so I got the chance to fly a 2009 (I think) helix and a 2011 bolt. Not a lot of difference to my 2008 code, apart from the nice one pump system.

The wind was surprisingly variable and sometimes the 12m bolt was underpowered. The waves varied too, from infrequent with lots of nice flat water in between, to all on top of each other, huge waves. The board was smaller than I was used to as well, but it seems ok.

As for the lesson I may as well not have bothered, there were three other beginners there who were trying to master the board start, and the instructor spent most time with them.

He did call me out of the water to show the correct kite motion for some jumps I was attempting, but it wasn't really anything I didn't already know. I just need practice. And a beach with shallow water full of learners isn't the place to do it.

Another surprise was being kitted out in a full length wetsuit - I was expecting a shorty and warm water. Not so, in fact I would say the whole thing felt colder than my normal session at home. I suppose it was overcast, maybe if the sun had been out it would have felt a lot warmer.

It was a worthwhile morning, didn't learn a lot, got to fly some new kites, got to see that other people have trouble learning too; good to see I wasn't the only one. It's always nice to spend time on the water.