North Korea

I stumbled on this ages ago, and thought it was quite amazing. The barbed wire on the beaches stood out most to me. I recently spent ages looking for the article, and couldn't find it, but I managed to find it quite easily last night while watching an amazing documentary about the "Mass Games" which is a spectacle that IMO makes most Olympic opening ceremonies look amateur. (see video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3cLAMbWq54)

http://web.archive.org/web/20090616060613/http://www.mrlevek.com/northkorea.htm

SSH login with no password

I'm putting this here as I spend time looking for it regularly.


This is the important line:

cat .ssh/id_rsa.pub | ssh user@remote_host 'cat >> .ssh/authorized_keys'

Full article here
http://www.linuxproblem.org/art_9.html

Lent 2013 - A little different

I'm not religious about lent, but sometimes I like to do something. I had toyed with different ideas this year but not settled on any. My favourite was replacing my "smart" phone with a normal one, like a Nokia 8210 or similar for the time, to see how I would do without this appendage. I decided not to bother.

However, I stumbled on www.40acts.org.uk which is a website whose tagline is "Do Lent Generously". Basically you sign up with your email (or facebook) and they post details of an act of generosity to attempt to perform each day. Something to make you think.

You can see the details of each day at http://www.40acts.org.uk/blog but it only shows up to the present day. You have to wait in eager anticipation for the next day.

Today is day 7, and so far for me it has been thought provoking, but not very practical. Maybe that'll come. I think I'm the kind of person who isn't particularly practical by nature, but hope to work on that. We'll see how it goes :)

Friday 1st February - Kitesurfing - Benone

After quite a long break I was back in the water today. There was no real reason for the break, other than just a lack of good conditions, and lots of other things to do.

It was only a short session today, about an hour in the water at lunchtime, but with the temperature, I think that was quite long enough!

It was very windy, really at the upper end of the scale for my 9M kite, so it wasn't the most pleasant. The wind was almost straight on, but there was a slight cross in it, which meant I was able to ramp over the waves as opposed to riding along them.

I didn't get up to much, just trying to hold onto the kite, few small jumps over the waves, a bit of toeside and a few big carving turns. There were lovely big flats between the waves, but it was so windy that sometimes they were quite choppy.

Anyway, it was good to get out, I'm looking forward to getting out again in slightly less wind, and more cross shore.

Christmas 2012 - Step away from the cash register.....

This has been something of a different year for me than normal, for a variety of reasons. One aspect is that I have become increasingly concious of the billions of people in the world who are living in poverty, and the millions who are living in abject poverty. My recent business trip to Jakarta cemented this view.

I am also aware that, tight as things are for us, we have enough, and much more than enough. There are bills to be paid, we've had to seriously tighten our belts over the past year, but we still live in a land of plenty. As a household we have made a concious effort to reduce waste, and try not to buy food which we end up throwing away.

My express wish this year is to receive no presents at all*. My wish is that no one will spend any money on me, not even a penny. If you want to give me something, give me an hour of your time, pop round some evening for a cuppa and a chat. If you really feel the need to spend money get your card out and put the details in here: https://www.standby.me/ [that's the charity we sponsor a kid through].

* if you've already got me something well done for being so organised, and don't worry, I'll not break it in pieces on the floor and tramp all over it, I'll be gracefully grateful.

Wednesday 26th September - Kitesurfing - Benone

I took today off work, as I had a couple of days to take off in lieu of travel. The forecast looked good, steady 15-20 knots onshore all day. I'm not totally fussed on onshore now, as it can be a bit boring, with no ramps to play on.

I got the kids off to school and was at the beach shortly after 8:30, so I was set up and on the water before 9. However there was some sort of problem with the kite; it was flying fine in one direction, but in the other direction the bar had to be held at a big angle. It seemed like there was a line caught, or short or something. As there was noone there to land me, I decided to make the best of it for a while. After 15-20 minutes I came in, as it was basically no fun at all, and just as I got to the car George arrived to land me.

I took the lines off and inspected everything, but couldn't see anything wrong. I launched and it seemed to be flying better. So I headed out again, and it was fine. We must have been out for 2-3 hours in the morning, it was a long session.

After a break for lunch we went back out again. I was a bit cold, but did some excercises to warm up, and was fine once I got on the water. Not sure how long I was out for this time, 1-2 hours.

Today I mostly worked on toeside, I was sailing nicely in my good direction, struggling a bit in the bad direction. Sailing cross-shore also enabled me to work on riding pretty parallel to the waves, which is always quite a challenge. The other thing was that any hint of cross direction in the wind was from the East, which isn't my usual direction. So there was a lot more practice going in my bad direction across the breaking waves too. Some good training, important, but not as satisfying as a good wave session.

Still, it's a long time since I've spent a whole day at the beach, and it was great!

Saturday 25th August 2012 - kitesurfing(?) Benone/Castlerock

Got the kite fixed, thanks Patrick for a great job!

Another of those marginal forecasts for today, it was a bit of a let down. I went to Benone, and there were a couple of others there, struggling to get going on their 17m Zephyrs.

After waiting a good while we decided to go around to Castlerock. There were more people there, they reported having a great time for the afternoon, but the wind died when we arrived.

Didn't get out at all today.

After tea I headed down to Castlerock again where the lads had had a fantastic two hours. I took some photos and left.

Saturday 28th July 2012 - Kitesurfing Benone

Got to the beach in the afternoon, wind not fantastic, but I set up and went out anyway. There were two other guys there flying a kite on the beach, not at the water stage yet. They disappeared after a while, and George showed up.

The wind wasn't great so we decided to do a downwinder. It was a bit tricky getting the cars sorted as there was a lot of soft sand, and it was it big ruts - 15mph on the beach max!

The downwinders were great. Plenty of power, and nice waves. I was working again on a backroll, and almost landed a couple, getting on really well.

On the second downwinder, after a backroll, I crashed the kite and looked at it to see that it was transparent! I could see through where the canvas was supposed to be. A huge rip, and I had to pack up.

That was the end of a fantastic session for me.

Friday 27th July 2012 - Kitesurfing Benone

I didn't get to the beach until late tonight, I thought there was going to be no one else there, and I also thought the wind mightn't be great.

When I arrived ST and some guy from Sligo were out, having a great time, doing a fair bit of walking. The waves were huge, even for Benone, it was really a case of staying out of their way when they are breaking. Short session.

Kitesurfing - Benone - Wed 18th July

This evening was horrible and miserable, but with the right wind conditions beggars cant be choosers.

I got to the beach after 8, and was on the water for 8:30, and out for about an hour. The wind was mostly good, although it dropped off badly towards the end. There were small waves, which were perfect ramps for me.

I was working a bit on my toeside riding, and switched to toeside much earlier than usual, riding in over some small waves. Not brilliant yet, but getting better.

The other thing I was trying was a back-roll. I think I tried about a dozen times, and some of the failures were more spectacular than others. I almost landed two of them, but I'm still a while away from having it nailed. The other times I under-rotated or my board fell off, etc. Only one really hard neck-jerking fall. Much better than the last time I tried. I feel like I'm getting closer, so I'll have to keep trying :)

Kitesurfing Benone Saturday 14th July 2012

I was out at Benone today for a few hours in the afternoon, almost perfect conditions, sunshine, and waves. The wind was a bit light, which meant a bit of walking, but it was well worth it. I would say it was the best time I have been out recently, but it is the only time!

It was great to get out again, I got a couple of really nice jumps in, and lots of smaller ones too. Toeside riding is coming on really well too, starting to feel a bit more controlled, and all but one of my carving turns went well; aiming the board at the kite on the way round is the best tip.

The usual summertime problems abound however, with car loads of children coming to play right in my way, ready to get sliced by my lines. Managed to miss most of them.

Kitesurfing Benone Monday 30th April

What a great country we live in. Got to Benone last night and it was blowing nice cross shore, quite steady, and big waves as usual. Not a person on the beach, should have been great.

Unfortunately with my limited time I decided to set up the 12 and was overpowered all the time. Also there was a really strong current going the same direction as the wind, which made it hard to stay upwind.

Also with the wind coming from the East, thats me heading out into the waves in the opposite direction to 99% of normal, and its like learning to ride through the waves all over again, really weird. Also had to pull the safety to land the kite, which resulted in the standard Naish BigLineMess ™

All in all not a great night, but could have been excellent :|

Saturday 14th April 2012 - Kitesurfing Benone

There was beautiful sunshine all day today accompanied by an air temperature of around 6 degrees. The wind was almost direct onshore, and so were the waves and the wind was relatively light, so it was difficult to stay upwind. However, when the wind had a bit of a swing it was possible to get a few ramps.

I tried a few backrolls today. First couple went not too bad, about 3/4 rotation, and wipe out. On the third attempt I landed hard directly 180 on my back against the water, it was like a snowboarding fall when the heelside of the board catches the snow! Then the wind was really too light to jump so I gave that up.

The wind swung around a little to the West, and as Susan had arrived I arranged to do a downwinder to the river on the middle of the beach. This was great, there actually seemed to be better wind down there. I did quite a few toe to heel carves, seem to be getting it better now. Also tried some toeside in the left to right direction and fell spectacularly a couple of times. However after a few attempts it was going better.

When I got to the stopping point the wind was stronger and I was doing some more carving turn practice, it was really nice, where you could basically do a figure of 8, really nice for practice. At that point my driver began to flash the headlights and at first I thought it was in appreciation of my great work, but then I realized it was time to stop...

Saturday 7th April - Kitesurfing Benone

It was windy all day today, killing me to stay away from the beach, so I finally made it down in the late afternoon.

I went to Benone, wind was marginal at best, but I began to set up anyway. By the time I was all ready the wind looked really poor, but I launched, and knew straight away that while there was plenty of wind to fly there was nowhere near enough to sail.

I quickly packed the half inflated kite into the car and headed down the beach towards the river, and when I got out down there it was blowing nicely. Within 15 minutes I was on the water.

It was a great couple of hours on the water, working on all sorts of things. Again the wind was good, maybe a little weak, but still fine, some walking required. I practised my jumping over waves, some toeside on the flats, carving turns and whatever else I could think of. On my last few runs I was trying some bigger boosts, and was managing not too bad, although as they say, it always looks huge to you, not so huge from land! This is the absolute best session I have had as long as I can remember.

Friday 6th April - Kitesurfing

Went for a session at lunchtime today, took Kate in the car with me so she could spectate. Went to Downhill, well over to the Benone side, enjoyed about an hour of perfect wind and flat water with nice ramps.

Tuesday 3rd April - Kitesurfing Benone

Headed to Benone on the way home from work today, nice hour on the sea before tea.

Castlerock - Friday 30th March

The forecast wasn't great for today, but it was North, so I decided I'd better check it out. I went to Benone and it was almost completely calm and the beach was empty. I headed for Castlerock and it was blowing steadily, showing about 25mph on the meter, so I got set up. This was my first outing for quite a while, so I hoped I hadn't forgotten the basics.

There were only a few people on the beach, a coupld of walkers and some RNLI folks getting some training.

I got set up and headed out, full power on the 12 was a little underpowered and I struggled to stay upwind. I was also keeping my tack quite short so that I was never too far out (although I suppose RNLI could have come to my rescue :) )

I started off doing a few small jumps over waves, practiced a little bit of toeside, and just enjoyed a bit of cruising.

I stayed out for about an hour, seems to be a good session length for my fitness level. Towards the end the wind picked up, I fell hard on small jumps a couple of times, which means I'm getting tired.

Nice wee after work session.

Weird virus on hosted site

Over the past couple of months I have been chasing a virus that has been infecting some computers visiting the church website  www.1st-dunboe.co.uk

The actual cause, which I just found today, was a modified .htaccess file, which contained a lot of empty lines, designed to hide the last line which was:
php_value auto_append_file /home/www/[username]/files/Thumbs.db

The Thumbs.db file, obviously meant to be hidden in plain sight, contains php code like this:



So, as I understand it, this php code gets executed at the end of every php file, which when using a CMS system like drupal, means for every page.

This evaluated to including a file from some random site jdfhjd.nl.ai - and a file called showthread.php, which included some more obfuscated code, which ended up loading a java applet. The clever thing is that this only happened periodically, which means it may or may not happen on a given visit to the site. Every once in a while I'd get a 'this applet needs your permission to run' dialog from the browser, but I knew there were no applets required for the running of the site. As it only happened periodically I never managed to get a browser with tools to show up where the issue was, until today. I got the dialog, and used chromes developer tools to see that the extra php page was included. From this I googled, and eventually found that the htaccess file could be the source of the problem. More info here : http://wewatchyourwebsite.com/wordpress/

I had also been receiving a Exploit Script Injection (Type 1702) error, which points to this type of problem.

Googling about it revealed that it seems to be a wordpress or wp plugin problem. I had tried out wordpress on the site a couple of months ago, so perhaps this is the cause.

Anyway, its all gone now, and I know what to look out for, so I'll be keeping an eye for the future. Anyone with a similar problem, post a comment.

Dooey Sat 29th Oct

Arrived at Dooey just after 10 this morning, and the wind was quite variable. At first I was tempted to try the 9, but after checking the wind for a few minutes I set up the 12.

Out on the water things were going much better today. I now feel like I'm back to the standard I was at a couple of months ago, which I had regressed from last time I was out.

The accidental rolling and board nose problems with jumps are almost gone, and I was riding out over the waves well. The wind started off cross, and moved around to cross on, so perfect conditions. Waves were good, quite frothy, but with long flats in between. Still haven't got a proper handle on the jumps, but getting a lot better; today I was able to consistently jump two waves that came in doubles - never managed that before.

My toeside riding right to left is coming on, usually I just carve around to heelside again, but sometimes I tried a flip back to heelside before turning, managed it not too bad, although I'm sure it wasn't that beautiful.

Not sure how long I was out, but I think after somewhere between one and two hours on the water I started to mess up some simple stuff, so I knew I was getting tired and lazy - time for a break.  During my break I helped launch/land the other four guys, and also took some GoPro footage of Jonny. It was a warm (~14 degrees) and sunny day, so that was perfect.

During my break the wind had picked up, so I set up the 9 before heading back out. Just as I was preparing to launch the wind seemed to drop, but I though the 9 would be ok. I walked to the water, and had a few runs out and in, but the wind was really for nothing, so I came back in.

I had a few good falls today, drank a fair bit of the sea, some through my nose, and also I think in my ears. Oh, and when I was setting up my new trim line I forgot to add the wee black stopper, so that was a bit of a hinderence, although it didn't cause me as much trouble as I originally thought, I just couldn't let go of the bar.

All in all it was a superb day, I think I'm more suited to short sessions than long ones; my fitness level can let me down.

Data Recovery - TestDisk

I was asked by a friend to help set up their 'new computer' and while I was doing so I discovered that they had taken the computer to a local (reputable) PC shop, and they had said the hard disk was done, and replaced it. They also said that there was no data left on the disk to recover, so all was lost.

I got the disk, and got to work on it. Sure enough, plugging the disk in showed an empty, newly formatted volume. I spent an evening downloading quite a few free data recovery tools, and ended up getting the best results from "TestDisk".

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

After a couple of tries, I was able to set the software to only bother about image files (otherwise you recover txt, dll etc that I really don't care about)

You could see it stall as it got to the bad sectors on the disk, but it kept spitting out files, thousands of them, mostly internet explorer cache images. It ran for a good few hours, I let it run overnight. I then filtered the images by dimensions (most of the cache images were thumbnail size). This left me with 700 image files, some of which I knew were of interest, others obviously came with the PC.

I used the unix (cygwin) exif command in a script to move all the files into folders based on the camera that took them, and subfolders named by the date taken. This should help the user to reorganise them, when they get them back.

I would heartily recommend this tool, its not very beautiful looking, but it is quite easy to use, and very effective.

Benone Friday 7th Oct

Today I had planned to have an extra long lunchtime session at the beach while working from home. I had already more than done my hours for the week, so had agreed to take some time off today. However plans changed, and it was after midday before I got to the beach.

It was sunny with showers today, as I got to the beach I could see the rain blowing in from the distance. I knew I could get set up in the meantime, and so I got the bar and lines out and got the kite pumped before the rain arrived. The rain was over in a few minutes, but it was so heavy that there were puddles on the kite.

When I went to get my harness out of the boot it had locked itself shut, but I managed to prize my way into it from the back seat (to repair later)

On the water with the 12 it was blowing great, although quite up and down, but some trim adjustments meant I was powered nicely, having a great session. The waves when breaking were huge, over 6ft, and it was a frothy break, but really long flats in between, just how I like it.

However, with it being almost two months since I had a proper run out I noticed I had lost a lot of progress. When jumping out over waves I was rotating a bit, meaning I had a tendency to miss the landing, and end up on my side. Once I did this and smashed straight into an oncoming wave, boy that was sore.

Apart from that I was getting on grand, lost the board a couple of times, bodydragged back and picked it up no problem. Still working on the toeside on the way in and the jumps on the way out.

I was sailing in, ready to turn in the shallow water and suddenly the bar disappeared away up the lines. I thought my chicken loop had come out, but when I looked it was still in! My trim line connecting the chicken loop to the front lines had broken!

Fortunately it was in the shallow water, so I could walk to my kite and gather it up. If it had been out in the deep water it would have taken longer. That's why its nice to have a big beach :)

automating ssh login

ssh instructions

http://linuxproblem.org/art_9.html

Linux secure disk erase

shred -vfz -n 100 /dev/hda

http://linuxhelp.blogspot.com/2006/06/how-to-securely-erase-hard-disk-before.html

Castlerock Sunday 28th August

From early this morning the wind was blowing well from the North, the water was visibly choppy from miles away. However we had a big family lunch, and it was big, so that took up a fair bit of the day, and it was after 4 before I arrived at Benone.

I was glad to see a few kites in the air, always a good sign, but on closer inspection they were all struggling. The wind was quite low, so I had a chat to a few of the guys and decided to head for Castlerock.

At Castlerock the beach was almost empty and the wind was howling. I set up the 12 and went out, and had a good wee session, it was up and down a bit, and at one stage I could hardly hold onto the 12. I set up my 9, but of course by the time I had it up the wind had dropped, and even the 12 wouldn't pull me.

Unfortunately some of my family had decided to spectate during the lull, which was pretty poor timing for them. Just after they left it picked up again.

Once it picked up I was out again for another reasonable session, although the wind shifted a lot more onshore, and it meant there were limited chances for riding over the waves.

Around that time lots of cars turned up and decided to park close to me too, so that didn't help, especially swimmers in my path and little kiddies in my crash zone. When that happens its time to pack up.

Not a bad session, felt a bit rushed, bit crammed, but it was nice to get out. My legs were still a bit tired from the cycle this morning, maybe not such a good idea. It will be nice when all the tourists go home and leave the beaches empty again ;)

Holiday Day 7 - Friday

After another poor nights sleep we had breakfast and checked out of the hotel. We also got a drive through the shipyard, as the main road was closed and the diversion went right through the H&W yard.

We went into the city center this morning and browsed many, many shops.

After a snack lunch we went to visit Lisburn pool, which was a lot of fun as always, it always goes down well with the kids.

Tonight we came home and cooked tea; it's nice to get back to normal food.

I got back to the steps, did a bit more, a little more progress.

Holiday Day 6 - Thursday

Didn't sleep that great last night, but sure that's hotels for you.

The entertainment for this morning was provided by W5. Its a great science exhibition in the Odyssey which can provide many hours of entertainment. We'd visited a few times before, but it changes each time with the kids getting older. We built an aluminium bridge, a remote control car, few a helicopter, landed a plane, made stop motion films, presented a weather forecast, and saw a liquid nitrogen demonstration, to name but a few of the things we got up to.

In the afternoon we went to the cinema to see Mr Poppers Penguins, which is a reasonable film, carried by Careys humour, which I can't help enjoying.

In the evening after some shopping (Decathlon) we went to Andrew's house and had chinese for tea. Back to the hotel.

Holiday Day 5 - Wednesday

As a treat for the kids we decided to book a hotel for a couple of nights, and tonight is the first.

We spent some time figuring out what to spend the days doing, and decided to go to the Exploris Aquarium in Portaferry. It is a small aquarium, but still well worth a visit, the kids were well amused by all the wonderful creatures.

At teatime we made our way to the

hotel, where we got checked in. Its in a handy location beside the Odyssey, so we went to pizza hut to get tea. We had got a voucher for pizza for a fiver, but due to some weird "we are but we aren't" pizza hut wouldn't quite honour the deal. However, we got more than we could eat for less than thirty quid.

Holiday Day 4 - Tuesday

Another lovely day today, sometimes sunny sometimes overcast, but perfect weather for working.

I started work on the steps at the end of the wall. I spent a good while at it, a lot of time on planning as it is pretty tricky.

Picked the car up from Ryan tonight, its like a different car, the clutch has never felt like that in the last four years.

On the way back from Magherafelt we called in to see granny - nice way to end the evening.

Holiday Day 3 - Monday

Had a nice lie in this morning - its nice not to have to get up.

We went to pay for the rockery plants this afternoon but there was no one there. We did something I wanted to try for a long time and walked from the barmouth road towards castlerock which was really nice.

This evening I strimmed up the side of the grass. The new strimmer is a super job.

Holiday Day 2 - Sunday

Sunday. We had a visiting minister today, I have to say I just couldn't get tuned in at all, although everyone else seemed to rave about him. Mum and Dad were over for dinner; Dad took the kids for an epic cycle (to Castlerock & back).

After Benone tonight we went to Normas for a very enjoyable evening, and some very nice buns. Good not to have to go to work tomorrow.

Holiday Day 1 - Saturday - Silage

Got a phone call this morning to come help lift tyres to prepare for the silage. Well, one thing led to another, and Matthew and I ended up staying all day.

It was good fun, its nice to help out, but especially on a day like today, blue skies and fresh cut grass.....

Holiday Day 0 - Friday

Today is sort of the first day of my holidays. Well, holidays started at 4pm after work finished, but during the day 19 tonnes of stones had been delivered to the front of the house.

Matthew and I set about levelling them, which was a considerable task, and worked for a good few hours. By 10pm they were all levelled.

Benone Tuesday 16th August

I went straight to the beach today after work, and it was blowing nicely. I got set up and was on the water for around 5:30.

I was working a lot on some small jumps. Speed is key, more speed for a higher jump. That was on the way out, on the way in I worked a little on my load and pop with the kite at a solid 45. Making good progress, its all about practice, just need more time.

The session was really good, came in about 6:30 to call home, and went out again for about another hour. During this hour the wind dropped from 20mph to around 10mph. Time to quit.

How great to have a session in the sunshine

Benone Monday 8th August

For about a week now the forecast for today was to be solid NW wind all day. In anticipation I had booked a short notice day off work. I had hoped to spend the whole working day at the beach, but I had to work for a while in the morning. Still, I managed to be at the beach for just after 11.

It was blowing nicely when I got there, so I set up the 12 and went out. It was super up and down; must have ranged from 10-25+ mph, sometimes the kite wanted to drop, other times I couldn't hold the kite. The waves were big too, and fairly messy, although with the wind direction it was still possible to ride in a long distance without getting into the foam.

Met some new people today, a girl whose name I didn't get, who is a youth worker locally, she was out on the sand, and I met Mark from NIKF. Mark is up and riding, but still finding his feet, and was a bit daunted by the waves. Still, he looked to be getting on well.

After lunch it was back out again for another while, and during the afternoon the waves got bigger, but further apart, leaving huge areas of flat water in between breaks.

ST was there working with Pete to get him up and riding, but unfortunately his 9 burst its leading edge. Apparently they got on grand on Petes 11 later on.

As for me, I had a great day 'mowing the lawn' as ST talks about. Its good fun riding out over the break, and riding in along with it. I worked harder today than I have in a long time. I worked quite a bit on my toeside riding, and my toeside to heelside carving turns (going towards my left). The toeside riding is still quite flakey, sometimes when I think I've got it, I can't hold the kite, or mess up the board. I managed to control it pretty well today though, didn't have to ditch it once. Some of the turns are epic, others are embarrassing. Really nice when it works well, but you can go quite a distance downwind on a large circle turn.

On the jumps, I felt like I was actually making some progress just before I left, mainly on the way out, using the waves as a ramp. ST says I'm still not agressive enough with my kite motion, so I will continue to work on that.

Benone Yesterday

I have never seen glass flat water at Benone. Zero wind. Funny thing it was blowing 15-20mph at Magilligan, 5 miles away

Kitesurfing Castlerock 4th August 2011

Talk about wind chasing, on my way home I went to Magilligan, blowing 20+mph, then Benone, 0mph, then downhill, 0mph, then Castlerock 6mph, then home for tea.

Water at Benone was glass, I've never seen it like that before.

After tea it was back to Castlerock for a walk with the family 15-20mph, then back to Benone, still nothing, Magilligan, which had dropped to 10-15mph, back to Castlerock where I thought I may as well try.

As I set up it blew harder, and I had a good wee session out on the water. Nice and flat, well enough powered on the 12. After 9pm it started to drop a bit, so I packed up.

With the flat water I worked a bit on toeside riding, and my toeside to heelside carving turns. Getting better, still not very beautiful sometimes. I also worked a little on my jumps, although most times I think I was a little underpowered, but still cant get a good take off.

Nice to get out.

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.

Benone Thursday 30th June

Took a half day from work today, although buy the time I got to the beach it was about 4pm. Wind was a bit sketchy, but I rigged up anyway.

I spent a fair bit of time on the beach practicing kite manouvres. When the wind was really low I also practiced a little unhooked flying.

I was out on the water for about 30 minutes in total the whole afternoon, but it was really good time, I did quite a bit of jumping practice, landed a couple of tiny jumps. Also managed to get a bit of toeside in, and toeside turns. Tried a wee bit of unhooked when the wind dropped a bit too, but couldn't get the angles right, and couldn't keep hold of the kite. Good practice, a good, if very short session.

Saturday 25th June 2011 Location 'X'

Hadn't planned on going out today at all, but got a phone call as I finished lunch, so I headed to the beach, at the mysterious location 'X'.

After being convinced that it was safe, and that I was at a good enough level to kite there I got set up, and headed out.

It was a middling session, good to get out, nice steady wind (mostly) and sunny with quite flat water! It wasn't a bad session, sometimes you think you shouldn't have bothered, but because of the new location I was a little unsure about trying stuff, so I was quite tame. I spent most time just riding around, which was fine.

I'm at the stage now where I like to try some stuff, but usually only where I know it can be quite easily recovered. I probably would have been OK trying stuff as kite relaunch and board retrieval would have been easy in the flat water.

Will definitely be there again, don't press me on the exact location be cause I could tell you, but then I'd have to....

Benone / Castlerock 22 June 2011

Its midsummer time, so I donned my winter wetsuit and gloves and headed to Benone tonight after tea. I was hoping to finish up work early and be at the beach just after 4pm, but the forecast dropped off a lot, so I knew if there was going to be wind it would be later.

When I arrived at Benone the wind was reading 13-16mph, but it was steady so I rigged up the 12 and went out. It was pretty difficult to stay upwind, especially as the wind was quite onshore.

I persevered for about an hour, and then decided to give up, it was working, but only just - very disappointing. On the way home I called into Castlerock when the wind was reading around 20mph! So I set up and went out for about another hour and a half. This was a much better session, staying upwind was no problem, and I got a bit of toeside riding in on the flat water too.

The combination of wind and wave direction made it a little tricky, but it was all good practice.

On both beaches there were only a few people, sometimes none, just the occasional walker out with a dog.

It certainly was a pleasant evening, should have went to Castlerock first!

Benone Sat 4th June

Had a short session out at Benone today, the forecast was marginal, but for almost straight onshore wind. I used to like straight onshore wind, because its very safe, no chance of falling in deep water, and you can ride for miles too. However, today the wind was just a bit light, making it difficult to get out into the sea at all.

I persevered for about an hour, it was nice to get out, but it was far from spectacular, although I still think I was having more fun than most of the others on the beach, including the guys in their buggies.

Even better, because of my super wetsuit, and the few times I was actually in the water, I didn't even get properly wet :)

Scale of the universe

http://www.primaxstudio.com/stuff/scale_of_universe/

In car CCTV

http://www.pakatak.co.uk/shop/product.asp?P_ID=456

Some interesting recent Bible studies

Thought life:

http://www.dougbrittonbooks.com/onlinebiblestudies-temptationandovercomingsin/purelife-guardyourthoughtlife.php

Marriage:

http://www.dougbrittonbooks.com/onlinebiblestudies-marriageinformationandadvice/eightkeystoagreatmarriage.php

Parenting:

http://www.biblebb.com/files/ryle/PARENTSJC.HTM

Castlerock - 14th May 2011

Today was planned to be a busy day, but also a good wind day, so I decided to make an early start and headed off to the beach around 7.

When I arrived at Benone there was almost no wind. The anemometer was reading 7-10 mph! It was also cross-off.

I waited a while and then left. Randomly I decided to pop into Castlerock to see the beach there, and unbelievably it was blowing 20-30 mph! I stalled a bit as I haven't been out at Castlerock since I've been riding, it's a smaller beach, and there is a horrible pier at the end.

However, I did get set up, but as I finished setting up I noticed a big rain shower coming in. So I sat in the car(see pic at top) and watched the puddles form in the kite. After the rain finished (only a few minutes) I ended up having a great wee session out on the water in the sunshine. I was probably out for about an hour, the waves were choppy, big, flat, frothy, not frothy and then choppy again in that time - quite a variety.

Didn't really learn much, was trying a bit of toeside, some carving turns, and some small jumps. Just having fun mainly :)

What are the cameras for?

There are a lot of questions around the new cameras springing up all round the country. Don't worry folks, they aren't trying to catch you speeding, they just want to build a 5 year database of your movements...

http://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/National_Vehicle_Tracking_Database

Benone Kitesurfing - Sun 1st May

Today was another sunny, windy day. I managed to make it down to Benone for a couple of hours in the afternoon.

Again it was a pretty good day, wind was quite good, water was a bit too choppy though, but still very good.

I was trying a bit of jumping, but not getting on very well. I can do nice wee jumps on the way out, using the waves as a ramp, only a few feet, but still nice. I was trying to boost on the way in, but with limited success. I managed to just about land one of the million tries, but all the rest resulted in a static landing, or even landing with the kite facing the opposite direction.

Will keep working. This is my target for this year, simple boosts.

Benone Kitesurfing - Sat 30 April

The recent spell of weather has been quite unbelievable, although it's not uncommon to get a few hot days in April, it is uncommon to get a few good weeks! However the "good" weather didn't come with wind... until this weekend.

Easterlies had been forecast, sometimes slightly North, sometimes slightly South, but the forecast looked good for Benone.

I actually went down yesterday after work, Alan was out, but there was barely enough wind to fly, and it wasn't even worth a try. Today however the wind was blowing hard, well worth it.

I was out for about 2 hrs. It's unusual for me riding in an Easterly; going out across the waves with the right foot first is difficult to get used to. However once I got over my initial wobbles I was fine.

It was a really good session, a bit up and down. I also learned something about my confidence - normally I can turn really well at the shore side, and am more cautious and reluctant at the deep end. Well, changing the direction of the run didn't make any difference to that. I should have been able to make good turns, even ride toeside on the way out. No chance. It's clearly a confidence thing, and when the direction is changed the problem stays the same.

Looking forward to more sunshine riding tomorrow :)

Kate's first public performance

Tonight Kate played at the Spring Concert for the Causeway School of Music. When she was asked to play we didn't think an awful lot about it, we'd never been before and it was probably something like a school concert.

We were wrong. Kate was about half way though the program, and we sat and watched lots of brilliant acts come before her. By the time she was walking to the grand piano right at the other side of the packed theatre I think I was significantly more nervous than her. Most of the kids were some sort of child prodigy, there were some who were so young that they were just cute regardless of talent, but the standard was very high.

Kate took a few moments to compose herself, and began to play her grade 3 exam piece, which she played very well.

It was a great evening, really nice to hear such a variety of music and talent, from young and old.

Dooey, Sat 2nd April

The wind has been from steady S/SW direction all week, although some times very strong and others weak, but the forecast was showing reasonably good for Dooey for today.

I just got up at my usual time, got breakfast and set out on the road. I arrived at the beach just after 9am, and there was only a gentle breeze. After hanging around for a few minutes the breeze changed to wind, so I got the gear, and began setting up. At one stage the kite was hard to hold as I was pumping it, but when I finished setting up there was no wind!

At around 10am a couple of others landed, and decided to set up, and sure enough, by the time they were set up the wind had started.

We all went out onto the water, after a short time I had a big fall and lost my board. The waves were huge and frequent, and the body-dragging to get the board was really difficult; each time I took a breath another huge wave hit me, and it was hard to see where the board was. I was exhausted by the time I found the board, and came in for a short rest. Apart from that time I had a fantastic time on the water. My riding continues to improve, now easily recovering from little mistakes that would have tumbled me last year.

My jumping over waves is also improving and obviously I don't even attempt any jumps when further out - its just too risky for me at the moment. I haven't mastered the kite action for non-wave jumps yet, was practising a little, but I just enjoy riding back and forward too much (and don't like falling in :) )

I did one huge jump, seemed like 15-20 feet, probably more like 6, although it was a shock how far away the water was. I was going over a huge wave, and concentrating so much on getting up the front and down the back that I lost the kite, and it went into floaty jump position, so up I went. It was actually quite easy to control (once I noticed it) and I floated down to a nice soft landing in the water, without my board unfortunately. A good experience though - can't wait 'til I can do it under control.

After about 1.5-2 hrs on the water the wind started to pick up and it was time to come in for a kite change, and lunch - I could hardly hold the kite on full depower to get landed!

After lunch I pumped up the 9 and went out again. It began to rain, really the only proper rain we saw all day, but the wind was really steady during and after the rain. Otherwise the wind was very up and down, sometimes badly underpowered, and sometimes a little overpowered. But, it was another great session, although I was tired I still felt I was learning. Another 1.5-2 hrs on the water in the afternoon, and I was wrecked. It was pack up and home time.

A fantastic day, and helped by the fact the air temperature was 10-15 degrees, and the sun was out, really nice. A great mix of big waves, small waves, broken and unbroken waves, sunshine and showers.

Visual C# error - Unable to copy file .. because it is being used by another process

Since I downloaded Visual C# Express 2010 and migrated all my heating control projects to it, each time I build my main client application I get a really annoying error about the exe file being in use:

Unable to copy file "obj\Debug\MyProjectXXX.dll" to "bin\Debug\MyProjectXXX.dll". The process cannot access the file 'bin\Debug\MyProjectXXX.dll' because it is being used by another process.

It seems that the solution to this problem is to add a pre-build event that works some unlocking spell on the exe, found the answer here (which curiously says MS fixed it in 2003)

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/csharpide/thread/68648642-08d8-4cff-b0c3-c2782f010589

Benone Sunday 27th Feb

I made it down to Benone shortly after 1pm today, and its always great to be driving down and see the kites flying in the distance. When I got there a lot of kites were parked firmly on the beach, and people were holding wind meters up, never a good sign. The general consensus is that the wind was a bit light, but it felt surfable to me, so I got set up.

It was a beautiful day, sun shining, and nice long flats between the (sometimes huge) waves.

I probably only spent about an hour actually on the water, and it was a mixture of being nicely powered up, and sometimes just not having enough.

It was a good day, I think I am making some progress, feeling a lot steadier, and a lot more confident over the waves, and I didn't catch the nose of the board on a landing at all.

Still need a lot of work on a lot of things. Sean was trying to persuade me to try a back roll, so maybe I'll give that a go next time. I think I need to work on a bit of basic jumping etc first, but we'll see. Can't wait to get out again!

Benone, 1st Jan 2011

The forecast was looking marginal for today, but I took a drive down to the beach anyway. When I got there there were loads of people, and not loads of wind.

After standing for a while I decided to give it a try, so got all geared up and headed out. It was well worth it, although very straight on the waves were such that riding over them wasn't really a problem.

Spent only about an hour out, and then the wind dropped, so I came in for a rest. Wasn't cold apart from the tips of my fingers, which were freezing!! I should have worn my gloves to get set up.

I was going to go out again, but I felt a little cold and chickened out. Still, nice to get out after a long break.

Snow season

Second set of snow this season so far and it's only December!

Since the return of the snow last Friday I've been out on the snowboard either in the garden or on the hills every day at least twice. Due to the travel chaos I haven't been attempting to make the trip to work, so I've had early starts working from home which facilitate two hour long lunches. My father-in-law has very graciously lent us the quad, so the kids and I load it up with snowboard and sleds and head out to the fields each lunchtime.

We also went out for a couple of hours one evening when the light of the full moon was like daylight.

As for progress, I have been steadily improving, still sometimes struggling with basic stuff, but riding pretty solid now.

Got my regular riding going well, and linked turns no problem. Still scared like mad of any jumps though - they're a lot higher when you're going over them!! As for my switch side, I can ride ok, as long as nothing out of the ordinary happens, getting good enough to ride sections and do a sliding turn.

I have also been working on my 180s, but I think I'm just a bit too lazy to jump around. I started working on them on a small kicker in the garden, and managed to pull one off. However after watching youtube videos it seems that the best thing to do is learn gradually, and work up to jumps, so I have been practising the sliding change from regular to switch and back. Sometimes frontside and sometimes back.

Its all coming together, the biggest problem I have now is the short length of any run, they are just not long enough to get any real practice in. Need to head to the proper slopes. Penny saving has started :)

Now Christmas is upon us, which means no boarding tomorrow, or Boxing day, and then the forecast is for thaw :(

Linking turns

Tonight I got another chance to use my own private nursery slope. I first of all started to work on my toeside falling leaf, which I have to say went surprisingly well!

After this I spent the rest of the evening trying to link my turns, and sometimes was more successful than others. However, by the end of my time I was doing not too bad, maybe not very beautiful, but not too bad :)

Heelside falling leaf

More practice, about another hour tonight. Have my heelside falling leaf working out well for me now, still no idea about toeside, will need to work more on that.

Also, no new snow, so the snow that is there is getting icy, and not that great for control, but still better than wet sticky, or even worse - none!

First Snowboarding Winter 2010

I was really surprised when I arrived home from work to see that there was a good coating of snow all over our grass. We have not had as much snow as lots of other places. The best thing was that it was all really good grainy powder.

After we had tea I headed out to my very own private nursery slope :)

I pretty much started off from where I had left off last season, I was riding reasonably well, but couldn't ride switch at all. So after a few full length, normal runs, I decided to work on the switch. After a good few slow short runs I was starting to get it, and ventured to the top. From there I would start off switch, ride across the slope to the edge and change to regular. Then zig-zagging down the hill I got lots of practice in, including stopping and changing directions.

By the end of the evenings, after a few quite hard falls, I was doing pretty well, riding fast in switch, and flipping round to toeside, then carving (a little) round to regular, and flipping back to switch at the other side. Some of the runs felt really fluid, and quick. Other times I just fell. I think its like the kitesurfing - what I need is just more practice. Oh, and a ski lift :)

Another lunchtime session

Today I was working from home, so took advantage of the moderate NE winds. Curiously the road from Downhill to Benone is currently closed due to a rock fall, so rather that going the mad round trip I just went a few miles along the beach :)

Got there, got set up, strong wind, so pumped up the 9, and got into the water. The winter gear is fantastic, today I was booted, gloved, and hooded, and roasting! It was about 6 or7 degrees outside, and I was quite cold on the beach while setting up.

When I got into the water it was one disaster after another. First I wasn't well enough powered up, and was letting it out little by little. I should just have let it the whole way out to start. Next on a right to left turn I think I turned too far downwind and went towards the kite, it dropped into the water and inverted. I could have pulled the safety straight away, but with the reride that can take about 1/2 hr to get untangled, so I fought with it for a while. After a few minutes I had it flying again, but the lines were inverted, so it flew ok, but not great. I tried a few tacks to work upwind to get back to the car, but it wasn't working, so I got out and walked.

Landed, untangled, and out again. Going a bit better, still struggling on the right to left turns, and on the left to right into the waves. Sort of stalling when I go over a wave, I think I need to go downwind more as I go over the wave to keep speed. Also suspect the line lengths aren't the same for both sides of the kite, seems to fly a bit better one way than the other. Blue is too long.

Came back in to meet Maris, who I had bumped into at the start of the summer. Had a chat and gave him a launch before heading out for a last quick 5 minutes. This last run was the best of the day, in fact it turned a pretty bad session into a pretty worthwhile one. Fully powered up, I seemed to be doing a lot better, and staying upwind too.

I really don't enjoy the East wind. More NW please.

Ice Skating

Ever since Kate got her inline skates she always rhymes about going to the ice rink. The nearest to us is over an hour away, so it's a bit of a project just visiting the place.

We went at the start of the year as a family, and we each had varying degrees of success, Kate of course walked out onto the ice as if it was as easy as walking, and I struggled a bit, but got on reasonably by the end.

Today we decided to go again, just the two of us. Kate again had no problems from the outset, but I took a few circuits to get going. By the end of 3 1/2 hours I was getting on pretty well, although I'm sure like the kitesurfing it looks a lot better to me than any spectators.

I can go pretty well in a straight line, striding nicely, and round the corners still could do with a bit of work, but getting there. No way of coming to an unplanned stop yet, just aim for the side. Getting a bit better at skating around obstacles, but still able to crash into them if they are completely unexpected.

Clothing - couldn't quite remember from the last time, but my recommended clothing would be jeans, tshirt, light top, gloves and a hat. It's a pretty warm activity, but its cold on the hands and head.

Felt it in my legs today too, although not too bad now, sore ankles where the skates were rubbing a bit, and my Achilles on my left is really sore, a super workout for the legs. Also, not nearly as risky injury-wise as I would expect. I saw some people falling pretty hard, and nothing bad to report. Far more likely to get far worse injuries on the water :)

Lunchtime Kitesurf - new wetsuit

Today the forecast looked good, so I arranged to work from home.

About 12 I set out to the beach, and was pleased to see the wind was blowing nicely, cross on, which is perfect for me.

Today was a bit different to any time before as I got a new wetsuit at the weekend. I bought an O'Neill Psycho 2 winter suit from Troggs. It certainly seemed snug in the shop, it was time to see if it made much of a difference at the beach.

Set up the 9 and went out and the difference in the wetsuit was immediately noticeable. Much warmer straight away. After a while I switched to the 12 as I was a little underpowered on the 12.

Didn't really do much today, just back and forth, trying to jump a little over the waves, and trying not to let the waves on the way in put me down. Only fell a couple of times in about 2 hours.

Definitely a worthwhile trip.

Benone Thursday 16th Sept

As the nights draw in this evening was probably one of the last chances to have an after work session. A short, but good session with Alan, although when I got there he had already broken a line, and spent quite a while swimming - not ideal.

Wind was good, quite nicely cross-on (NW), and the waves were huge and white with long flats in between, just how I like it.

I was working on little jumps over the waves on the way out, some toeside on the way in with a toeside to heelside carve to turn. Still struggling to do nice turns on the way out, especially with the approaching wall of water if I miss.

Alan was trying to get me to do a grab when I jump to keep my arms under control, I was trying but wasn't getting on very well, judging by Alan's incessant shouting at me :) Like my teachers said "could do better". More practice required.

Dooey, Sat 11th Sept

I decided to make a day of it today, and head to the west coast, over to Dooey in Co Donegal.

When I got there I found I was on my own, so for safety I decided to go with the 9. It was good decision as the wind picked up considerably, although I was a little underpowered for most of the time. I was out for about an hour.

Today I was trying to work on riding toe-side, but I just kept sinking as I was underpowered.

Just as some of the others arrived the wind dropped off, so I had my lunch.

I changed to the 12 and was nicely powered. I had mixed success on the toeside, sometimes going really far downwind, and other times just crashing. It's like learning all over again, falling over waves etc, but after a bit of practice I was doing much better. Still shaky, but then so is my normal riding. Oh, and it's worth mentioning that I can only do it in one direction, no hope in the other way at all. That'll be for another day :) stayed out for just over two hours in the afternoon

Sunday 29th August

As always with Sunday kitesurfing is not a priority, but will get fitted in around the important stuff if possible. We managed to get to the beach in the late afternoon. Today there were a couple of kids out, apparently around 10-11, and they were fantastic, even doing kiteloops etc.

After messing around with the 9 I set up the 12 and had a really good session, the wind was a perfect direction, nicely cross-on (more on) and the waves had huge flats in between. Actually got some useful practice in, working on my carving turn, managed a couple, probably didn't look very beautiful, but just need more practice. It's amazing how much difference it makes carrying a bit of speed out of the turn.

Saturday 28th August

I intended to get to the beach early today as the forcast was showing good cross-on all day, but didn't manage to get there until after lunch. I called at the White Rocks in Portrush where some of the forum guys said they'd be, and there were two there, and another couple setting up. I really didn't like the look of the beach, and told the guys it didn't look safe enough to please me; obviously they are more expericenced and were having a great time. I called at the East Strand on the way past and there were two guys out there too, having a great time, getting some big floaty air. Again this is a dangerous location, no place for a beginner like me.

I travelled on around the coast to Benone where I was glad to see a number of kites already on the water. I got set up, it was very gusty, and quite a lot of surf, very hard to stay upwind, so some of the lads decided to do a downwinder, which was great.

Good practice riding some big waves, learning how to ride over waves at different stages of the break, all good experience. I did fall in more than I would have liked, I fell really hard a couple of times and its a real pain in the face when that happens. Quite a short session, but I was completely done after it.

First Downwinder (on purpose)

I made an early escape from work today, was at the beach and ready to fly before 5:30, but although the wind cross - cross-on, it was poor strength wise. To top that out where the waves were breaking they were huge, like about 6-8 feet - so big that a proper jump was inevitable. I wasn't having a good run at all, it was too difficult to stay upwind with the waves and the light wind.

However all was not lost. Sean turned up, and suggested we use his jeep to do a downwinder, so off we set. It was quite a strange experience to not be worried about losing ground to the wind as I zig-zagged down the shore. It was actually quite difficult to ride sometimes, as you get lazy and don't bother edging, which makes for much worse riding.

When we landed down the beach Sean reset the mileage and measured exactly a mile back to my car. In that mile I think I fell properly three times, each time bodydragging back to the board, and getting up on it ok. I'm getting better at it, and more confident. Hopefully get out again at the weekend.

Final visit to Benone - for the holidays

Today officially finished my time off work, back to Letterkenny on Monday.

The wind report wasn't showing great, but I decided to give it a go anyway. Arriving at the beach I saw another kite in the air, always a good sign. While I got set up it was clear the other guy was a learner, and struggling a bit in the onshore wind.

It proved to be a bit of a waste of time, the wind was very light, but I persevered knowing that the experience would do me good, and also that it was pretty safe with an empty beach and onshore wind. Short session, glad I went, but definitely not a great finish to the holiday kiting.

Benone AM

While the kids were at holiday Bible club today I took the opportunity to get to Benone. Once I got set up, and went to change into my wetsuit, I discovered it wasn't there! I had to phone for backup, and my wetsuit arrived after a short delay...

Wind was blowing ok, 12m weather, and quite onshore, probably NW to NNW, which suits me really well for now. When the wind is in this direction I don't seem to need to do any walking at all.

Today was just a relatively short session, probably on the water for about 1.5 hrs.

Once again I was working on my sliding turns and my upwind riding. I was also having a bit of fun using the waves for ramps to do some small jumps when riding towards the sea. I am also reliably informed that it looked a lot better from my perspective than from the bystanders perspective.

A good, short session, riding for good long distances in both directions. I'm making about 95% of turns, but probably only 25% (or less) are really good turns where I manage to keep the speed up through it. Lots of times I struggle to get up to speed coming out of the turn.

Once or twice I tried to turn toe-side and carve around the turn, but it was very shaky. I think I need to work on my general balance before going much further down that road.

My one handed riding is also coming along quite nicely. Struggling a bit with some wave landings, sometimes landing on the nose, and going under. Getting a bit better every time out.

Benone Kitesurfing

Today was another cross-on day for Benone beach. I went and got set up, the launch area was completely vacant, although I was joined by another kiter before I started in the water. The sea was really nice, with long stretches of flat water between the waves, and the waves weren't powerful.

It was another day of walking back up the beach, but that's all part of it.

I was riding well again, until my usual problem occurred, in the deep water I lost my board and really struggled to get back to it. This time I had fallen and the kite had went into the water. By the time I got the kite relaunched I was far away from the board. Fortunately one of the other guys there was able to recover my board, and we were able to sail safely into the beach. After that I took a break. I really need to practice my body-dragging!

I went back out determined not to get into that difficulty again, so I decided to practice my turns. I am just doing sliding turns, but on my left to right I struggle in general, and right to left sometimes I have trouble gaining speed out of the turn.

I ended up working on these turns and also good up-wind riding for the rest of the time, which turned out to be about another two hours. I completely lost track of time, left home just after 1pm, and stayed at the beach until almost 7pm.

Once again I feel I made a significant improvement today, riding quite consistently in both directions, and with reasonable turns at each end. Maybe more practice tomorrow, if all my aches go away!

Afternoon at Benone

The forecast for today was showing marginal wind, and that is what actually happened. When I got to the beach the water was cresting, and there were a couple of other guys already set up, but not on the water.

I went a bit further up and got all set up. The biggest problem was the number of other people there on the beach, I stood for a few minutes trying to find a safe spot to enter the water.

There were too many bathers, surfers etc, all because of the sunshine. Also, the waves were quite big, and my first hour was disappointing and very off-putting. I also lost the board a couple of times, and really struggled to get back to it. I just can't do a left to right turn consistently enough yet.

However as the afternoon wore on I started to get on really well. I stopped doing left to right turns, just dipping into the water, stopping and restarting instead. I also picked my turn spot carefully, so it wasn't in the breaking waves, either first break or second break.

By my third hour in the water I was having a fantastic time, riding really well over the waves, and the best thing was that there were very few other people in the water.

Lots of good practice, another great day. Managed to keep the kite dry too, until just close to the end when I was practising my turns, the wind dropped and the kite flagged and flopped into the water. I knew it was going too well before that :)

Benone, second choice

I had planned to go to Dooey beach again today, but unfortunately couldn't make the trip to Donegal. So I had to settle for second best, our local beach at Benone.

After arriving and setting up around 3pm I was on the water pretty much until about 6pm. Still progressing well, struggling to stay consistently upwind, but that is mainly because of losing ground while falling or turning rather than riding. I need to work on my turns, although I was turning quite well right to left, and reasonably well in the other direction, but I think that was due to confidence in the deep water. It's a bit scary losing your board way out there, where the beach people look so small.

The other thing I really need to work on is riding over waves. As one of the other guys put it I was more going through them than over them.

The best thing today was also the worst thing - the waves. Every once in a while they were huge (for me) and this caused all sorts of problems, like trying to get back on the board, out of my depth while these things were breaking over me. On the other hand the best ride of the day was when I just launched in front of one, and managed to ride it the whole way in, that was great!

Dooey Beach, Donegal

Today the guys from NI Kite Forum were travelling to Dooey Beach as the wind was forecast from the West or South-West. I got my sat nav out and put in the nearest location I could find and set off. I was curious as to why it was estimating such a long time for the last few miles, but I found out when I got there. The roads there made our road look like a motorway!

Descending from the hills into the beach area I could already see a few kites in the air, which is always a welcome sight.

I arrived, and got set up, and just as I was ready to go the wind dropped and people started coming in from the water! After a while it picked up again and we were out again, although it was a bit busy for my liking. I hadn't been out for long when my kite flopped down - a burst bladder. What a pain. That was my day over. I packed it up, but some of the other guys suggested that I should try my smaller kite.

What a great suggestion it was! It was definitely underpowered for the day, took a bit of work to get it going, but when up to speed it was pulling nicely. I spent over another hour on the water before it was time to stop.

All in all a great day. Now I just need to dry and fix my big kite...

Another visit to the beach

The forecast for today was a bit marginal, but we hoped it would be surfable, so I made the usual detour to Benone on the way home from work.

The wind was pretty bad when I arrived, but I set up and had a bit of a fly on the beach. I was joined on the beach by Stephen, another learner, and we noticed a bit of rain about to blow in. Rain usually brings wind, so by the time we were suited up the wind was blowing strong.

Headed out into the water, and it was easy to get going. On my first run out I was just about to turn when I noticed a porpoise in the water - well I assume thats what it was, I just saw the fin about 20ft in front of me.

It turned out to be a good evening, got a good few runs in, spent less windy time bodyboarding and flying on the beach. Lost the board a couple of times, thats when I'm glad it is bright yellow. First time I was able to very easily bodydrag back to get it. Second time the wind had dropped, the kite was pulling me downwind, and I was scared of the kite landing in the water, and so I went to the beach, landed it, took off the harness, and swam back out for the board. Thats a bit scary, swimming directly out into the sea. At least when I got out to the board and turned I discovered I could still stand on the sand. It's just a cautionary note about the potential danger of going out when there is not quite enough wind.

Also managed a couple of turns tonight, that's the first time I've done that without dunking.

Cant wait for next time.

DIY car service

http://www.mobiloil.com/USA-English/MotorOil/Car_Care/DIY/Do_It_Yourself_Archive.aspx

Fantastic Benone wind

This evening I was out for a couple of hours on the 9m at Benone. It was blowing somewhere between 20-30mph, which is really nice power on the 9. It was a bit gusty, but pleasantly it was almost straight onshore. I am still struggling a bit with the water start, and in an onshore this means a lot of walking backwards into the sea, trying, failing, drifting in and repeat.

I did have a few really good runs, working hard on stance to try to improve the balance, and my upwind tack. Another thing I was working on was riding over waves, previously I was surviving about 25% of big waves, today I probably managed 75%. Using your legs as suspension is key, and also rising the kite a bit to pull up over them is helpful too.

One thing that was unusual for me today was the fact that there were a few other people on the water. Most of the time they turned before they got to me, but a couple of times I managed to pass safely, I hope, both with the other rider upwind, and sometimes downwind, pretty scary the first time.

It was an excellent evenings riding, and has shown me that what I really need is time on the water. It's really nice to be at the stage where I can see quite a bit of progress each time I'm out. All we need now is more North wind....

Benone

I have just had a great day kitesurfing at benone beach. Best day yet, riding reasonable distances in both directions, although still quite inconsistent. Just need more practice. More north winds please. And strong :)

Google streetview

Just noticed the streetview has been updated for the local area. Not completed yet, but a good coverage of the Magilligan area

Mussenden Temple

XBMC

For years we enjoyed XBMC running on several networked softmodded XBOX consoles around the house, delivering SD and HD content to our televisions.

Since then the TiVo/XBMC solution was retired in favour of Vista Media Center, which provides a simple solution for media to TV, including dual tuners, and playing divx and xvid etc. It also acts as a server to the very clever media center extenders, which provide the same functionality to other TVs around the house.

Recently I upgraded to Windows 7, which adds some functionality, but is altogether nicer and a more modern experience. Also includes xvid and divx out of the box. However, it doesn't support MKV files, and although a codec can be obtained I fought for several hours to get it to pass Dolby directly to the optical output.

I gave up, and decided to try the XBMC for windows download. Fantastic piece of software, runs straight out of the box, easy to add media folders, and plays everything! The people at microsoft could learn a bit from XBMC - the options to change to digital audio output and other simple changes are right on the screen. There is a slider to correct audio/video sync issues. There is also the option to automatically set the display to 50 or 60 Hz depending on the source. Very clever stuff. And simple. Pay attention Microsoft.

No fuel

Went out to start the car, but it just turned and turned, without a kick. I hadn't noticed the whirr of the fuel pump, so I decided to check to see if there was petrol getting to the front, and when I disconnected the hose, there was none.

As this happened before, just a few months ago, I knew exactly where to look. Jobs are always easier the second time.

This meant I couldn't make the journey to work, so I split the day between working from home, and car maintenance.

A quick post to the scoobyireland.com forum told me I could pick up a brand new one in Magherafelt, so I set off before lunchtime. Of course this journey was made much more difficult by last nights snow - although there was only a few centimetres it was freezing hard, and it lay, making even main roads treacherous.

I picked up the pump, and later on got it fitted. It is quite a relief when you turn the key and the engine starts.

Later on this evening I tidied everything up, screwed the seats back in etc, and that's the job done. Wonder what the next component to fail will be.....