Kitesurfing - Downhill - Sunday 19th July 2020

Short session today at Downhill, perfect wind on the 9, big to huge waves, at least 10 ft at the outside. Short session as the tide was coming in. No problem staying upwind today. Huge flats between the waves, but very deep very quickly today.

Kitesurfing - Ball's Point - Thursday 16th July 2020

I drive past Lough Foyle every day, and every day I wonder if there isn't some really nice flat water spot on it. Well, it turns out there is.

A couple of the local guys invited me for a session out here today, and it turned out to be pretty epic. This is a high tide spot, and when I arrived there was still some sand exposed, although the tide was coming in quickly.

I got set up, it was a bit marginal for the 12, but after a while it picked up. The amazing thing about this spot is how far out the water is shallow, you could go out for ages and fall, and still only be waist deep.

There are a few post stumps very close to the launch spot, and you need a sand anchor to launch, which was exposed when I got there, and submerged when we left.

Did an accidental kiteloop jump today. Oops.

Kitesurfing - Downhill - Monday 13th July 2020

What a lovely evening - with the bank holiday the beach was crowded at the entrances, I had trouble finding a quiet area on the beach today!

The wind was cross, blowing nicely, sometimes too much for the 12 sometimes too little, but I was going fine for around 2 hours on the water with some trim.

Didn't get to try much today, the chop was unreal, it actually reminded me of Fuerteventura (without the razor sharp rocks :) ) but it was very difficult sometimes just to ride. There was also a weird wave pattern, where waves all came in twos, and it was the second one that was the good ramp, but it wasn't possible to get to it because of the first one.

Very little flat water today, even in the shallows, although the flats came and went a bit. Upwind was fine today, even with big jumps I was staying in the same spot - maybe something to do with the currents?

I had one incident today, the kite went down (a few times today!) and as I was steering to get it back up, it suddenly powered up, but the centre lines were wrapped around the bar, or more accurately wrapped around my hand. It powered up, trapping my hand on the bar; couldn't pull it out at all, very painful. I got it freed, got the lines round the side, and was able to sail on. I was a bit concerned that I'd done something, but the pain quickly subsided, and I kept going. When I got home, I see a little swelling and a couple of small bruises - not too bad!

Anyway, it was a great session out on the water, and I came in just before it looked like it was going to rain (although I'm not sure it ever came)

Kitesurfing - Downhill - Friday 10th July 2020

Another after work session today, I was determined to try to improve some skills today, so I spent a lot of time standing and falling. I decided to work on a non-sitting waterstart, but that turned out to be a disaster in the fast moving shallow water. The board is moving too much, the sea is travelling too fast. If you stand on it, it sticks to the sand etc etc. It didn't work. Or more accurately, I couldn't make it work.

The second thing was backrolls. It is quite some time since I tried this stuff, and I haven't tried it since I got my new kites last year. This was a lot more successful, nice flats, nice ramps, and I was able to land a couple sometimes plopping into the water, sometimes riding on. 

It was really enjoyable, the next time the conditions are right, I'll be doing that again!

Kitesurfing - Downhill - 6th July 2020

A little bit of North Coast gold :)

Quick session today after work, wind was blowing well, had a driver with me to make it easier with a couple of short downwinders. Great.