Kitesurfing - Benone - 19th August 2020

 Great wee session, there has been no wind at all for weeks (which is quite nice) but tonight we were getting the start of a storm. The forecast was for E or SE, but I thought I'd chance Benone, to see if the wind was strong enough, and had come round far enough - and it had.

It was cross, sometimes very slightly cross off, but at Benone that's ok, as with the curve towards Magilligan you'd always blow back to shore.

It was 9m weather, on the meter blowing between 15mph and 21mph, although on the water I never felt underpowered, if anything a bit overpowered sometimes.

It was my bad direction, I dont like it, but I used it as practice. The wave frequency was high, it was one after another, relentless on the way out, but on the way in it was great. I did some toeside riding, which is the first time I tried it to that side, and it seemed ok, better than I thought, I also tried some jumps on the way in (my good direction) and I also *almost* pulled off some jump transitions. I say 'almost' because it wasnt that beautiful.

Short but super session.

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.

Kitesurfing - Downhill - 29 June 2020

Nice surprise today, it seemed the forecast was a bit strong and also a bit too much south, but it came through! The direction of the windmills looked good, so I took a look, and it was perfect cross (normally that forecast would be cross off)

It was messy, I have never seen as much chop in the shallow water, or the wind rise and drop so much. There were also huge waves further out, and lovely flats in between. A complete mixed bag.

It was good to get out, I didn't ride well at all, I dont know what it was but I didnt land many jumps etc. 

Anyway, it was still great :)

Kitesurfing - Benone - Thursday 11th June

Bit of a rollercoaster of a day/evening today. This was the only forecast day for this week, and so I wanted to make the best, hitting the beach at 6am I spent an hour on the water before work. By the end I was completely juiced on the 9, it was actually a bit too strong.

I was expecting the wind to drop completely by the time I finished work, but it turned into a beautiful sunshine day, and the wind seemed to stay, so I headed back to the beach after work. However it did seem a lot lighter, I tried a couple of places on the 12m from Downhill to Benone, but it didn't work well at all.

A nice surprise, I was chatting to one of the guys I used to kite with, and he said he was going to try. I watched him struggling to get going in a light direct onshore wind, and it wasn't going too well.

Just as I was about to pack up, I thought since it was so nice with sunshine, warm sand, and gentle wind, and since I had the kite ready, I thought I'd have a quick fly on the beach before I went home. When I launched, it seemed to pick up, and I ended up out on the water for about 45 minutes. Direct onshore meant no deep water, and no real opportunity to jump, but it did mean you could cruise as far as you wanted, and it ended up being a lot of fun (and good exercise!)

Kitesurfing - Downhill - 7th June 2020

A real quick one today, with a driver. Started off at the main river, and got picked up at the next wee river. There seems to be a choppy spot between the two, and a quiet flat spot at the wee river.

Kitesurfing - Downhill - Friday 5th June 2020

Third day in a row, wind great again. Brought a driver for some downwind action today.

Also made a video.

Kitesurfing - Downhill - 4th June 2020

Bit more grey today, a little mist, but still epic conditions. Wind a bit further around to the west, so better for waves, and nice ramps.

Kitesurfing - Downhill - 3 June 2020

What great weather! Twice to the beach today, morning and evening, very straight onshore wind, but great. Out on both kites today. In the morning it was so straight you could have sailed from Benone the whole way to Downhill!

Immersun MyImmersun ImmerLINK now working!

We had a power cut this morning, and when I got home my Immersun unit was not working. It displayed "Radio Resets xxx" where xxx was a slowly incrementing number. No problem, I'll turn it off and on again.... nope, that didnt work.

I thought that someone has surely had this issue before, and began googling, but to no avail. People had had it, but no one offered any great solutions.

Long story short, I figured out that if I powered the unit on while holding the 'x' button, it did a soft reset, and powered up properly.

I had bought a second hand MyImmersun unit a while back, but was unsuccessful at getting it connected up. However, as part of my googling I found this page (https://www.marshflattsfarm.org.uk/wordpress/?page_id=4154) which filled the missing piece of the puzzle, the cloud IP, which had to be set to 62.30.9.158

I had actually completely given up at getting it connected, and even put it away, but I got it out again, and set the cloud IP. The next step was to try to log on, I'd been unsuccessful at that too, as the "register" page on http://www.myimmersun.co.uk/ seems broken. So I downloaded the android app, and managed to sign up on there, and all of a sudden I can see how my house is performing, solar, hot water tank, import and export. Now I just need to wait for some actual sunshine to see it really performing.

Power cut, and broken Immersun unit prompted the best thing that happened today!

Kitesurfing - Downhill - 4th Nov 2019

Sunset session at 5pm :)

The nights are getting shorter, and the winter is on its way. However, it was really nice to get out in this easterly wind, even though that's not my favourite direction. It was unseasonably warm at 11 degrees too!

It was a good session, still my bad direction, getting a bit better, slowly.

The wind was quite consistent, a little more cross than I was expecting, but that only made it better. Upwind was no problem today. It was pretty dark about 5:15pm when I was packing up!

Kitesurfing - Benone - 9th Sept 2019

Back out again tonight on the new kites, arrived at the beach after work at about 5:30pm, and was glad to see another couple of kites already there. The wind was quite up and down, but I set up the 12. This is the first time this 12 had ever been on the water.

The wind was quite onshore, which is not my favourite, and it was also quite weak, even on the 12, and so I did a couple of runs and then came in. Tried again a little later and it was the same. One of the other lads was going home so I asked if he'd help me leave my car downwind, and do a downwinder, and he obliged :)

What ensued was a fantastic hour of travelling about a mile downwind, sometimes lit, sometimes underpowered, some big waves, some big flats.


With the lighter wind I tried a couple of bigger boosts in the quite shallow water on my 12, and it is definitely a lot more boosty than my old kites.

With the lighter winds I also managed to do a few downloop transitions, both sliding and toe to heel, all sketchy, but fun, and definitely something to have in the toolbox for these lighter winds.

Kitesurfing - Downhill - 6th Sept 2019

First opportunity to try the new kites on the water tonight, went to Downhill as usual, and it was blowing well.

I was going to self launch by pulling the kite around, but the wind felt a bit uncertain, so I used the car as an anchor to launch, and that worked very well.

The session was epic, the waves were nice, the conditions were almost directly cross shore, and there were nice flats between the waves. With the shifting of the sand this year, it is almost like there is a lagoon in the shallow water, with knee deep water for quite a distance out before it gets deeper.

Staying upwind no problem tonight on this kite, not sure if it is the kite or the current or other conditions, but it was pretty good to be able to jump etc and still make it back easily to the same place.

Kite is fast, light, and easy to fly. Didn't do too many exciting things, as I don't want to tempt injuries; I'll go out a few times before getting too overexcited :)

Kitesurfing - New Kites - 5th Sept 2019

New kites arrived yesterday, second hand Naish Pivots, 9 and 12, 2019 model. It was a bit dark when I got to the beach, but I took the opportunity to blow them up and have a quick fly to make sure everything was ok.

And it was.

The 12 had literally never been out of the plastic, it was still folded in the factory fold, I've never seen a brand new kite before!

The kites only have 3 struts, which is a bit handier, but even nicer is the one pump system, which makes inflating the kites a lot easier.

I pumped them up, flew them for a short time on the beach, and packed up again. Can't wait to try them on the water!

Wakeboarding - 1st August 2019

What a great day! Nice flat, warm water, and a great boat with a great driver, and great company. Pity the guy out behind wasn't a bit more capable or experienced.. but that'll maybe come :)

I got up and riding quite well, although I'm sure I'm still not doing it right, and pulling too much against the boat. I was able to carve out to the sides and go from one side to the other with tiny jumps over the wake.

I tried to switch to the other foot forward once, faceplanted, and then got too scared to try again. I'm not sure whether we were going too fast, or the board had too much grip, or just my bad technique, but I was too sore to make any more attempts.

I also got to drive (pilot?) for my friend as he barefooted out the side of the boat! That was quite the experience, and after he trained me in what to do, and we had a few practice attempts, it was only when he was barefooting that I realised he hadn't discussed how we should end the barefooting. It turned out he just let go in the end, which was a relief to me! I didn't know what I was going to do!

Anyway, I enjoyed a day in the boat, riding, driving, and riding again until my arms felt like they were pulled out of me! What an epic day - can't wait for the next time...

Kitesurfing - Flag Beach Feurteventura - 29th July 2019

After my previous disastrous attempt to get kiting at this beach the guys on the desk suggested that I might enjoy their boat trip, where they take you out in a boat, and dump you in the water far from shore, you kite, and they keep an eye. Sounds like a great idea.

Again, the reality turned out different from the ideal.

Firstly, we had to swim out to the boat from the shore, which was not a long distance, but carrying a packed kite, board and bottle of water while swimming turned out as tricky as you might imagine.

Anyway, in the boat and we set off out to sea. Over the waves. And they were waves. Good grief, musch everywhere, and a 2m constant swell, the boat driver was constantly on and off the power just to keep us in the water. It was a tough 5 minutes, clinging on for dear life.

We made it to our destination, got briefed on the conditions and location, and got set up, and dumped into the water. I went second, so I had been in this horrible rocky boat for about 30 minutes before getting on the water. That was grand, as I got to watch the process of inflating, rigging and launching a kite from a boat, which was quite intriguing.

When it was my turn I jumped into the idyllic turquoise water, and got up and going in no time. However, it was horrible. The swell was so big, and there was so much chop that just riding was quite tricky. And it was no fun. All the time was spent trying not to fall, there was no possibility to try anything or learn anything.

After a while I lost the board, and with the swell and chop it was unusually difficult to get going again in the deep water. I suppose I wasn't familiar with the kite etc, and I'm not used to so much deep water either.

I struggled so much that it wasn't any fun. And when it's no fun, it is time to stop. So I got picked up by the boat and stayed there. I didn't even take my second go, especially as I was feeling a bit queasy with the constant undulations of the boat in the huge swell. I don't often or really ever feel seasick, but I definitely did today.

I've never been so glad to get back to land.

In one way it was good to try it. In another way it was a waste of 60 euro. In yet another way, it made me appreciate what we've got back home, miles of golden sand, hardly any rocks, excellent surf, really magical conditions, if a little cold. But I'd take the cold anyday!

Kitesurfing - Flag Beach Feurteventura - 28th July 2019

Kites everywhere! This beach looked great, a load of kites in the air, a kite school who offered hire and a rescue service, and lots of wind. What could be wrong?

Well, it turns out, plenty. First of all the only 'safe' place to enter the water was about 100m or so upwind, so they launched me and the first thing is you have to walk backwards up the beach against the wind.

Then I went into the water at the spot I thought I was supposed to, but it turned out still to be rocky underfoot - I hadn't gone far enough. Kite in one hand, board in the other, jagged rocks underfoot and big waves are a recipe for falling - and so I did. I ended up with a pretty nasty cut on my foot and a few on my hands.

Then when I got out into the water, somehow I lost my board, got it back, and then lost it again, as I came onto the rocks. I had to come in, I couldn't get to my board, and had to come back in across the jagged rocks again. What a horrible disastrous start to kitesurfing in Fuerteventura.