The Impact Zone - Kitesurfing Log

Kitesurfing Log

1st February - Got out for a session at Broughty Ferry, forecast was for force 7-9 possibly 10, and started off with 20 knots, thought we'd need the small kites but it wasn't quite enough for the 9m's so I put up my 14 as per usual, and boosted some good jumps! Grant was on his 9.5m Co2 and was going alright, the wind did eventually pick up to 25-27 knots, lots of sand moving down the beach, and I came in after another 1/2 hour hanging on, Grant was rapidly going downwind at this stage getting too overpowered on his 9.5. Had a break after running down the beach to catch Grants kite for him, and got back up and set up his Nexus. Really windy, even for the Nexus, but just not enough lift. Grant was getting back into it, managing a few double front spins. Eventually ditched his kite in the water and had to come in. Very windy day, but not as much as forecast. Good day, tested new limits for my 14 x2!

21 January - No kitesurfing, but have decided to travel back to NZ, as the job market is pretty thin here, and my contract has ended. Very unfit now, the last time I went out I was very sore the next day, and it wasn't even a long session or a very hard one!

12 January - Nothing new here, haven't been kiting for a while, but I have compiled a video of our Scotland kitesurfing.

31st December - It snowed again, and this time its a real good snow storm, a couple of inches in the last hour alone!

30th December - It snowed today, and its freakin cold, that's the end of my kiteboarding season, bring on the snowboarding!

27th December - , Today Broughty Ferry was putting it on again, sunny (in a Scotland way) and 15 -18 knots WSW and flat water, 4 degrees air temperature. Grant didn't go out unfortunately, as they cut his kite lines during the rescue, and his kite was also damaged.
Good session, practised my nosegrab front rolls, toeside jumps. Also invented some new moves, the toeside backroll to head dunk, and the toeside transition to head dunk.

26th December - Arrived back from Lanzarote yesterday.
While I was away, Grant managed to hit the front page news, after he lost his 12 x2 in the Tay by Broughty ferry after he safetyed the kite when the wind picked up. He called the coast guard to let them know a kite was powered up and blowing around the Tay, but they didn't want to go out and pick it up. They received heaps of calls to 911 about his red kite, and had to go out, Grant swum out when the kite came in close to shore in a lull of the wind, then it picked up again! He was picked up by the coastguard, and they collected his kite! The news was moaning about the waste of coastguard time and resources!

19th - 25th December - Went on a last minute cheap trip to a island in the canary islands group, off the west coast of North Africa, called Lanzarote, very dry,arid island, you can drive around it in a day. A lot of the island is sand, and has an active volcano. Didn't kitesurf, as the wind was strange, the east coast of the island had 5 knot easterlies, the middle of the island had 20 knots, and the west side of the island had oer 35 knots of easterly wind! Some sort of weird phomonen on these islands! This happened for 3 days! This island was set up great for surfing, many many point breaks, all over the island! Nice and warm 20-25 degrees, not bad for winter on these islands. Still had a great time.

End of November - Started work again, I landed a 3 month contract doing Network desktop support or a local company.

19th November - Had to wait for a session today, there was 20 knots first thing in the morning, then later there was nothing, complete glass, but I had lunch, came back and Broughty Ferry had a puffy 5-10 knots, which increased to 12-15 every 10 minutes or so. I waited till it stopped puffing, and then got out and had a good time on my 14, got a couple of hours in before the wind tailed off again. Managed some nose grab forward loops landed toeside!

15 November - Session at Broughty ferry with Grant, we had 15 knots from 9am, by the time we got out on 14 & 16m X2's, it was 15 going on 20, with some big gusts coming through, lots of ass planting...lots of huge boosts, and big wipeouts, deadmans, double loops, great day, 5 hour session.

9th November - Session at the monifeith end of Broughty Ferry, 10-15 knots, and 2 foot waves, frustrating session with not quite enough wind, kept losing my board, and had some nasty wipeouts, feeling sore today. Wind dropped to 5 knots at end of the day.

8th November - Went out at 2pm to Broughty Ferry, the wind was dead SE 25 knots, maybe a bit shifty due to this not being the most exposed spot, but good flat water, set up the Nexus, as it was looking a bit too windy for the 14, but once I did a run out to the bouy and back, I realised it wasn't that windy, accidently dropped the kite on one tip, couldn't relaunch it, the bridle tangled and one of the carbon rods popped out. The valves seem very loose now too, and I think they are leaking air.
The wind dropped back so I set up the 14, (it was raining a bit now :-( ) and found I was perfectly powered, and just like yesterday, the wind had a tendency to shift to a easterly then back to SE, when it shifted E, the wind was much lighter closer to shore, and out in the main channel was still 25 knots. Tried a few unsucessfull toeside jumps, and bombed even my backloops, trasnsitions weren't working either. Really out of practise! No board off moves or anything like that, my wavetray is not small enough or light enough, and I have found I just can't hold enough power with it, and can't get the board back on my feet if I take it off! Desparately need a 137 WT or something like that to progress any further on these moves, but seeing as I have no money, and no place to even make a board (and all materials and resin etc is very expensive), I'll have to make do until next year sometime.

7th November - Borrowed Ali's car for the day, Was windy in the north, I went to Carnoustie, but it wasn't particularly windy, only 10-15 knots, and then it shifted offshore after 45 mins. failed backloops and frontloops, not much working today..end of session.

23 October - Had a ok session at Broughty Ferry on a SE wind with the 14, bombing a lot of my jumps, but managed a frontside judoair at one point. Wind was a bit up and down, mostly around 15 knots.

19 October - Was hoping the wind would be up today, and yep it didn't disappoint!
Ali drove me out to St Andrews, a little town south of Dundee, and the kitesports capital of NE Scotland! First time out here, huge wideopen sandy beach, shallow profile, and 2-3 foot surf, and a inside flat section. The wind was 20 knots, but got up to 25 at times, and down to 15 after a lull from a squall. Was quite happy to go out and strut my stuff today, armed with gloves, booties, nylon pants to stop the windchill and a different wooley polar fleece hat, I confidently pulled some huge air out of the bag, huge backloops, frontloops, frontside judoairs, and managed some blindside riding, frontside transitions with nosegrabs, but when 25 knots came along, I was almost blown out of the water, my kite was trembling with the gusts, never seen a X2 jellyfish, but it started to a bit as I was trying to get as much depower as possible, to retreive my board, after I wiped out going at warp speed over a wave. kite low and slowly does it, managed to ride the increase of wind out till it backed off a bit. Came out of the water, short session, but if it was only 9 degrees and 25 knots of wind chill, 11-12 degree water, you'd be having short sessions too!! Air temp today didn't get above 9 degrees. Plenty of other kiters, maybe 10, thats crowded for Scotland!! But all learners, no inspirational kiting here. Grant is back after the weekend, he's in Sweden at the moment. After I finished my session, I noticed I was missing a toeside fin, damn it, hmm the bolt is still there, and so is the thing the bolt screwed into! Actually broke the fin. Damn, don't have another 45mm carbon Naish fin lying around.

17 October - Managed to get my girlfriends car for the day today, ended up in Carnoustie, the weather is currently edging into a high, so the wind was not as strong as yesterday, 10-15 knots. The waves were 3-4 foot, and good for waveriding, but I just wasn't powered enough most of the time. Good to get out, but so cold! 10-12 degrees at the moment. Tried wearing a beanie today to keep my head warm, and plugged my ear again with a earplug, cotton wool, and vasaline and coved it with tape to stop the water causing my ear havoc. Managed a few good boosts, I have some weird backloop thing I do, when I jump real big, causing a big jump with a single rotation, in control, with a smooth landing to heelside or toeside, depending on the height of the rotation. Really cold. Tried so toeside backloops, but failed with big splashes. no joy.

16 October - Wasn't even planning to go for a kitesurf today, but the forecast changed to force 5-6, and it was a sunny day so why not! I plugged my ear with a ear plug and cotton wool, and vasaline and tape, and as this was unplanned, I biked down to Broughty Ferry with my gear, and proceeded to have a nice session, plenty of spectators, and 15-20 knots, making me nicely powered! Actually managed some blindside riding in one direction, but in the other, I always eat it! Ate it on some double fronts today, pulling on the end of the bar(dumbass) causing the kite to do a unrecoverable death dive! Took it easy today, as I didn't want to damage my ear any further, wore my wooley hat out there as well for extra protection and it was pretty cold (well this is the warm wind) 12 degree air, 12 degree water! Managed to pull a rotating judoair, (there must be a better name for it!) , tried some toeside jumps but failed miserably, I just can't work out how to backloop from toeside! (very fustrating, as everything else has come with practise!)

12 October - It's my birthday! Grant and his girlfriend came down from Aberdeen, and we had lunch with them, after a early morning call from Grant to tell me the wind was already up! Not bad for a day when I was pessimistic about the chances of any wind! Had a short session, then back to our place for lunch. Decided the SE wind would probably be stonger 1/2 hour up the coast, so took a drive north to Lunan bay, lots of waves, and much windy than this morning, we had 15 knots with the ocassional bit more. Bit gusty at times and the chop from this wind/swell combo was knocking me for a six! The session did get better, slightly more conistent wind, and a dropping tide, gave us slighty smoother water, and I was practicing doing some frontside rotations with a nosegrab, using my powerlock on my Cabrinha bar, partly successful, but they ended up being transitions! As the light faded Grant and I were just starting to catch up on our skills, Grant started pulling double fronts nicely, and I managed a frontside spin boost with a judo air thrown in for good measure, and landed planing cleanly! Also new for me was blindside riding, I ate it badly a few times today, but did manage a ride successfully in the flat water.

5 October - Well, after another 3 weeks off the water after bursting my eardrum on our last session in the isle of Harris I decided to get back on the water, I had to bike down to Broughty Ferry ( 4 miles (6km)) with all my gear and wearing my wetsuit to go for a session in the rising SW wind, which often comes up late in the day here in Dundee. 13-18 knots of mellow wind was the call, fine for my 14 and wavetray, and had a bit of fun, just getting back into it. Only one other guy kitesurfing, about a km downwind at the other beach.

17 September - we have had lots of windy, sunny days, it's late summer now, but still getting 20 degree days. 14-17 september Grant and I did a trip with the girlfriends out to the Outer Hebrides, to the Isle of Lewis and Isle of Harris. First day was 35 + knots of wind, a little too blown out, even for the small kites, but the next 2 days were windy perfection with 25-30 knots, waveriding and flat water, lots of great lake setups everywhere you looked, with mostly flat land. On the last full day we did a downwind run, Launching on the offshore side of Horgabost beach (suprisingly clean wind flowing off the hills with no buildings on them) and got a few pics, and ended up waveriding off the beach of Seilebost, before heading further downwind to the estuary which joins Luskentyre beach, for some flat water speed runs and big airs! perfect setup on a SW-W and the wind delivered 20+ knots. Forget going to tropical locations, this is the best kitesurfing place I have ever found! outstandingly beautiful, choose the type of session you want, and I shouldn't need to tell you that the NW at this latitude gets wind all the time, none of this farty trade wind stuff, this is a garanteed wind spot!

10 September - Lone session at Broughty Ferry(see pics), pumping pumping wind of 25 knots, maxed to the limit on my 14, just barely hanging on, few big launches, and one squall just as I had come in to change a setting which must have been 26-27 kts or more! Went out again, nailing all my double backs with grab to transition, but fronts with nose grab are flukey!!

31 August - crosshore at Aberdeen beach, windy from sunrise, so we hurried out to the beach, greeted with what looked like 25 kts, so we set up, 3 foot waves coming in . The wind kept swinging offshore but after a hour or so it swung in to full strength, gusty by Aberdeen standards, with some real solid gusts coming in, I was holding the 14 fine, seemed to be the size to have! ok session bit start stop as the wind got puffy when turning offshore.

30th August - Did a roadtrip up to Fraserburgh, 1 hr north of Aberdeen, slightly squally with 10 knots after a shower of rain,
then after half an hour the wind would build up to 20-25 knots, and we were going silly with huge front loops off the backs of waves, and generally trying to get ourselves killed!! I was hooking it bigtime and a couple of jumps sent me about as high as I ever want to go, and about 200m downwind, and I wanted absolutely nothing to do with my board when I hit the water at that speed!! We had 4-5 foot waves and long flat whitewash sections, and a steady cross onshore wind, crosshore is generally much smoother than NZ conditions. Unfortunately we haven't been getting out that often, there was a period of no wind for almost a week, and a week of uncharacteristic NW/NE winds which are offshore here.

20 August - Evening session after work (yep found a job to get me by!) , I'm in Dundee at the moment, so Broughty Ferry is just down the road, good on a SW, S, SE and maybe even easterly. Turned up a 7pm, the wind was crosshore perfection, and didn't look too much for my 14, so up it went! Perfectly powered, and the wind was 20 kts I guess, not sure, but it wasn't gusty at all, very manageable, but I was able to boost pretty big today, and get the sweetest, the sweetest hangtime by cranking up to the castle in the corner, and boost from about 30m away, land and carve back in the opposite direction!
Did I mention the castle? Broughty Ferry Castle sits on the upwind most corner of the sandy bay of Broughty Ferry. It makes the launch a bit gusty, but out on the water, its sweet! Didn't try anything too adventurous today, although I seem to be able to land double back transitions, and double front jumps sweet now. Got dark after a couple of hours so packed up and went back to the flat for dinner, a happy man :-)

18/19 August - Dying to go kiting, but the wind has been nuking 30 - 35 knots for a couple of days, SW, and I didn't grab the Nexus 5.6 from Grant before heading down to Dundee after the weekend.

16/17 August - Went out kitesurfing for the first time in a while, on Sunday at Balmedie beach, Aberdeen, bought some new gear, a Naish 14 x2 is now my weapon of choice! Unfortunately we only got 10 knots so I had a quick fly of it, but underpowered. Grant was out on his 16 Mastair and charging! I had a go of it later on in the afternoon, and was mega powered on this beast in 10 knots on my wavetray! Hug power, and very easy to get too much apparent wind, and get hauled off downwind on a death run! No whitecaps, as it was mostly 8 knots, but when it increased to 10 you had to dig the rail in hard and hang on!

28 July - Injured my ankle badly, tore my anterior talofibular ligament, still swollen from over a month ago from trying a jump while kite-mountain boarding on a gold course. I decided to sell my kites in the meantime, as my injury will take a while to heal. Grant has been landing plenty of varials and double frontside rotating judoairs, and has a new move, the lazyboy, pulling them off with a double rotation to a transition, a seriously tricky move that no-one else has done !!!

He's perfected it on his 16 mastair, which gives him super hangtime in 15 knots! The weather is significantly warmer now, and we see other kiters at the beach, all in the very early learning stages. The weather pattern is pretty consistent, with the wind almost always cross onshore, between 12 and 25 knots smooth as.

June - Injured my ankle when I was mountain boarding on a gold course down in Carnoustie, and it was quite painful and the time, then a few weeks later I was kitesurfing, and came in, and rolled my ankle on a rock, and redid the injury again, but more painful. Need at least a month or two rest.

29 May - Wasn't supposed to be much wind today, but again we had 15-20 knots, powered on the big kites, today Grant landed a varial, and I was trying them! Playing around with no handed backloops and stuff today, landed a high double front, and a few double backs to transition. Almost landed a triple back to trans, but the kite wouldn't turn after that many twists! Front looping of the wavetops on the 2-3 ft surf. 5 hour session, excellent

28 May - Went out to Balmedie, and found 16-18 knots pumping cross-onshore SSW, perfect for the big kites! Grant used his 16 x2 and I used my 18. Epic session, totalling 6 hours, the wind increased to over 20 knots, I swapped my 18 for my 12, and was powered! Grant stayed on his 16, and was going crazy doing double fronts with grabs, and going for varials( board off, 360 degree board rotation, board back on, land!), and just about landing them!

27 May - The wind didn't co-operate, but there was enough wind for us to play with Grant's 16m flysurfer mastair. Even though the water was glassy, and no wind at ground level, we managed to inflate it by pumping it up and down in a rocking motion and then get it flying. The wind on top of the sand dunes was 4 knots, and at the beach it read 2-2.8 knots, but the kite still flys very nicely and hovers overhead in that much wind. It still had enough power to drag us down the beach 4 metres or so with each sweep! We went back to Aberdeen today, and checked the weather forecast. Wind tomorrow.

26 May - Not much wind, but we went for a drive, checked out some spots, ended up on the east coast by a lighthouse, near Fraserburgh, on a big beach backed by sand dunes. A little bit of wind, 10-15 knots cross-shore, Grant thought it would be a great idea to put up his 16m Mastair! It proved to be a bit windy for it, as I was holding on to the back of Grants harness and he was levitating! I let go (by accident) , and that shot Grant another 2 or 3 metres in the air, and then he drifted 20m downwind, before I grabbed him!

24 May - job hunting this week, but we are going away for a 5 day kitesurfing mission around Scotland, camping along the way! Weather has been good, a few showers, but mostly windy every day this week, but I have been busy, and Grant has been working.

17 May - Not so much wind today, and we had plenty of things to do before we could get to the beach and when we did, we only got half an hour, then the wind had dropped to 10 knots by 4pm.
In general we have had wind at some point in the day every day.

16 May - We went kiting at Balmedie, a 20 min drive from Grant's flat, which is down the road from Aberdeen beach.
The wind this time was serious, reading 22.5 knots on the gusts on the wind meter, which means 30 knots at kite level. and with only 10 degrees air temp, we were going to be powered on 12 x2's!!! Nice huge sandy beach, with big sand dunes. Grant used his Nexus 5.6m, but was a little underpowered, but I was maxxed on the 12x2, just handling it in the 3ft surf. Was getting some nice boosts. Later we swapped, and I flew the Flexifoil Nexus, very nice kite, stable, smooth power and quick, and good lift, but not as much hangtime or height as the X2, but overall better than any other small kite I have tried, and must have huge range, as Grant has had the 5.6 out in 30 knots on his windmeter, which translates to just over 45 knots at kite level!! Swears by these kites for gusty wind. He has a 7.2 as well but it's not the sweetest size of the Nexus. They fly great on the normal X2 bar too!

15 May - First session ever in Scotland, in Carnoustie, at the local beach, nice all tide beach(all the beaches are good on any tide), 1 ft surf, and 12-15 knots. Grant and I were powered ok and considering I didn't think there was enough wind, it was great! A bit fresh, I was wearing gloves and my 2mm vest under my 4-3 but stayed warm for our 4 hour session! One thing I have just found out, is that Scotlands daylight hours are quite different. In the middle of summer, it stays light till 11pm at night, and gets light again at 2am in the morning! In winter, its the other extreme, with daylight hours 9-4pm. Tried Grant's 16m Mastair foil today too, but very scary in 15 knots, especially since it was having problems flying, and kept folding up the opening in the power zone, dragging both me and Grant way downwind. The waterfront in Carnoustie and Aberdeen is short flat grass park, and is very popular for kite buggying, big wide open spaces with no obstructions. The wind here is butter smooth, yet to have a gusty day, unless we get a very cross-shore day. Finished kiting by 8pm.

27th March - cruised down to Eastern beach, at 10.30, looked sweet, but not really windy, so ummed and arred about wether to take the 16 C02 out or my 12 X2. The 12 turned out to be perfect, not hugely powered, but good enough, and Bluey set up too, he used his 20 no problem but by 1pm it was getting too windy for his 20, so he borrowed his old 12! I only had a quick session as I will probably go out late this arvo for the lower tide again! Joel also came out, sporting his new Slingshot 11m kite, along with a learner dude who bought Blueys 12 x2. Couple of times Bluey landed on the beach due to extra hangtime!, and I was getting some ok 5 or 6m jumps, see the pics of bluey in action, posting them soon.(new pics).

Got a second session in at Eastern beach in the evening, got a ride with Hamish down there, and we set up at 6.30pm, perfect half tide, 20-22 knots of strong easterly, well powered again on my X2, Hamish was on his 8.4, and we kited till well after it got dark!! kiting in complete darkness is a new experience! Being able to see when you are kiting is highly over-rated! I was pulling big floaty jumps, front loops, backs, transitions, all with barely any street light! Hamishes kite was hard to see at all, being mostly black! We kept yelling occasionally so we both knew where each of us was, so we didn't clash! Hamish was getting some good jumps, (when I could see him!) and I was getting some new backspin tweaked transitions in! I was getting a lot of float on jumps, sometimes drifting downwind over 50m, while coming down from jumps!!! Some glow sticks attached to us would have been good, anything other than black wetsuits, but it's not hard at all! Came in around 8.30pm just before a squall, you could tell cause when the lights on Waiheki couldn't be seen in the darkness, you know there's some rain coming!

26th March - short 1 1/2 hour session at Eastern beach, perfect half tide, only the slignshot dude out, so perfect 16m wind, well powered on the 16 C02, 15-18 knots! got some big judo airs in, new tweaked transitions, very high double backloops to toeside, and general big aerial moves! almost at the end of my stint as a full time kiter/kitesurf instructor. Well this was my last opportunity to take a summer off, and do what I wanted, before other commitments take over, so I wanted to see how good I could get, in 2 years of kitesurfing. We've had a pretty crap summer for wind, but I have managed to get out twice a week. My list of tricks I am regularly pulling off, landing planing, and going big doing them as long as I am well powered and in clean wind is :
back loops
front loops
front loop tail grab
frontloop indygrab
front loops to toeside
front loop indy grab to toeside
double backloops
540 frontside transitions (landing heelside)
360 frontside transitions (landing toeside)
540 frontside transition with indy grab
360 backside transition with rail grab
single backspin to transition
double backspin to transition
single backloop hand drag to transition
inverts
inverts with tailgrab
inverts with indy grab
judo airs

tricks I have pulled off but not consistently:
double backspin to transition
frontside spin judo airs
tail grabbed 540 frontside transitions
toeside frontside rotation to transition
deadman ( old school move now anyway!)
judo air transitions

tricks I never got around to trying or failed miserably at::
Varial : takin the board off, spin it 360 degrees, put it back on and land..
toeside backloops
double fronts to transition

25th March - Had the best waveriding session ever at Orewa, in 20 -25 knots with my 12 X2. No one else out, and 3ft waves, so almost head high, and I was surfing them like I would with a surfboard, drop in, bottom turn toeside, carve off the top, popping the fins out off the top, then ride down the wave again, and ride down the line! brilliant fun! A squall of 30 knots came throught with some rain, but then it went back to 20-25 again. Tide was high now, but I came in before the squall and packed up. Went to Eastern beach later, but only 10-15 knots, quite disappointing, but still got a good session in with Lance till 6pm, but the wind dropped to 10 knots, no fun...

23rd March - Road trip with Lance and Hamish up north, we checked out Parkari beach, but there was only 8-10 knots so we didn't try and go out, so to amuse ourselves, we used the fast flowing river mouth going out to the beach to wakeboard in with a bit of leader line, hilarious fun! see pics! Thw water wasn't quite flowing strong enough as the tide had been out for a while, so we took turns pulling each other up the river, we had much more success with two pulling the other on Hamishes board. We drove back at 3pm, and when we got to Orewa there were over 30 kites out! The wind had picked up while we were driving back, but still only looked 10 knots. Setup anyway, and actually had a lot of fun, Lance and I were trying blindside, and I was doing unhooked backloops and backloops to toeside, and unhooked indygrabs! even did my transitions unhooked! Lance was doing handlepasses, and had two successful passes, and on one his board dug in on the shallows and he let go of the kite, bye bye kite :-) luckily it was low tide so no obstacles or sharp stuff on the beach, and such low wind it didn't go far, Hamish was backlooping and crusing on his new lightwind tray.

21st March - appalling 10 knots at Eastern beach, enough to almost have fun, got 15 knots, but onlu for half an hour, most of the crew were out today. A 20 knot squall came through after 3pm, which was fun for 10 mins..

19th March - Lance and I decided to hunt for wind today, very light easterly on the north shore, but as we drove up the wind got better, Orewa had 8 knots, Omaha had 10-12! Wind picked up during the afternoon, ended up being 16-18 knots, pumping! Good sess, considering the wind was so light everywhere else. Passed Orewa on the way back, and only 10 knots there, couple of guys grovelling, so sucessful trip for us!

15th March - Well the SE turned up but not till around 4.30pm, but it was a nice smooth 12-15 knots, and I noticed Mark and Joel out at Bramley, what were they thinking? it's offshore there! saw kites go down a bit, so they must have had trouble, but it was much better over this side! Wind only lasted till 7pm, but fine little session.

14th March - Went to Shoal bay, but it was quite southerly, could have done sandspit, but the wind from the south was really smooth, once you got past the point. Out on the 16 Co2, and boosting, loads of fun, a few other game kiters were out too, quite cool cruising right up to the motorway and boosting! 2 hour session 10-18 knots, then it dropped off about the time that Lance arrived!

13th March - it was SW today, and quite strong, 25 knots, so I went up to Shakespeare bay, and it was pumping. I put up my 12 X2 but it was too windy for me, I wasn't able to hold my edge too well, I needed a 137 WT really, so I came in and put up the 9.5m C02 and that was much more fun. A guy was out on a 14m 2003 Cabrinha blacktip, and I was still able to get better hangtime and height than he was as I was able to kite heaps faster. A few guys tried 12's but they all went in as it was too windy. The 9.5 was ok, but there isn't much overlap between my 12 and a 9.5, I had to work the kite sometimes, as it was going 20-27 knots. 30-35 would be a better windrange to use the 9.5 in...

12 March - Nice southerly predicted today, and in typical sandspit fashion, the wind started off light and fickle 5-15 knots, but filled in later to 20-22 knots, and on my 18 X2 I was super lit!! Great session with Hamish on his 11.8 and Joel on his 16m Aero, all having a absolute blast!! trucked back upwind afterwards, very well powered! No sign of Mark, odd, considering it was a perfect southerly and 2pm high tide!!

8th March - Had a period of no wind for the last few days, but a good E-ESE 20 knots came through today, went to Orewa, pumping session, couple of squalls, and headhigh clean surf at Orewa, great waveriding! Lance was the only familar face out here today! Plenty of other kiters, approx 15 at any one time. The wind picked up towards 5pm, 25 knots solid, just hanging on to my 12x2. Primo session!

4th March - Was going to go out to Pine harbour, but ended up doing an errand out at Takapuna, so ended up at Shakespeare in the afternoon, 20 knots all afternoon, quite southerly, so I don't know if Pine harbour would have been good, but Shakes was going off. I was on a Co2 16 well powered, for ages, but no jump performance or hangtime, so I tried my new setup on my 12 X2, much better, getting more hangtime from my 12 in 15 knots than the C02 16 in 20 !! Wind started going screwey around 3pm, dropped off, but still whitecapping out in the gulf, sea breeze affected it I think.

3 March - Was pretty slow to get out this morning, it had been raining, but the sun came out, and the wind came up around 9am, and WSW, so I cruised out to Pine harbour, got there around quarter to 11, but the tide was still fairly close in so I put up the 16 C02 again in 18-22 knots (way more than I could handle with the 18 X2, good 12 X2 weather, lots of whitecaps) , and went out and charged, my goal for this session was to do some front loops with judo airs, and I'm just starting to pull them off. Had a few nasty wipeouts, and only just hanging onto the grunty Cabrinha, but all good fun. No sign of Mark again, was really expecting to see him out here in the mint Pine Harbour conditions, so maybe he's taking a break. Primo session.

2nd March - Out at Orewa, wind was pumping all day 10-13 then later in the afternoon, it got up to 20 knots, very powered on the 16 Co2, fun waveriding, and lots of people out, the wind shifted more northerly towards the evening, but still pretty smooth wind. Lance was out charging along with Squid and Gavin Broadbent, just to name a few, Lance was pulling judo airs like there's no tomorrow!

28th February - When out to Eastern beach today around 1.30pm, after the forecast rain cleared, I was pleasantly suprised to find 10-15 knots easterly and only a couple of hours off low tide, perfect conditions, and the sun was out, good 16m weather. The odd thing was I didn't see Mark anywhere, despite the nice conditions. Thought he must be at Bramley now. So I set up and had a wicked as session, the wind picked up to a smooth as 15-18 knots, and I was boosting big, and having fun. The tide got too high by 3pm and the wind swung NE so relocated to Bramley! Still no Mark! Here the tide was just getting good, and the wind was now getting up to 18-25 knots, very powered 12m conditions! whitecapping furiously, and blowing right down the channel! Seshed it up big time,but by 5pm it switched back to easterly coming off the cliffs, so I called it a day. Lance and Joel were out at Eastern beach on high tide, but a rain front was coming so I just watched, the wind was obviously quite gusty and up and down compared to earlier, so I was quite happy to watch from Susans place. Rescued Lances kite before it when up the beach on on the road, after he dropped it, and couldn't relaunch it!

27th February - Drove out Pakuranga way today, but damn it, it was still SE, so I didn't even look at Eastern, and went out to Devonport and set up at Cheltenham beach around 11am. Never been here before, but the wind was blowing straight in at about 25 knots steady, and the water was like eastern beach on low tide, flat as, and knee deep for ages!. A guy with a 8m Aero II was just launching, but soon let it go on the safety, must have been too much wind for him.

Even Takapuna beach was working today, the wind is has more east in it the further north you go, just like yesterday (Takapuna was good, eastern was crap, even though they face the same direction.). Put up the 2002 C02 Cabrinha 12, very powered, doing some big jumps, real floaty, working through my bag of tricks! A guy with a 14m Aero II set up and went out, but he was just learning, and couldn't get on his board, and when the wind started to gust harder he ditched it. The dude who put up the 8m AeroII pumped up his kite again, then actually went out this time, and did a few runs back and forth but ditched his kite a second time and quit.
I was having a ball, best session for ages, then after a few lofty jumps which didn't let me come down for ages, the wind picked up and I decided to ditch my kite, and go in.
End of session? Hell no! Time for the 8m !! Set up that, and without a single other kiter, and 2 windsurfers out with me, I proceeded to charge and boost, and try some tricks with this very fast kite. New for me today, I pulled a front loop and landed it toeside! happened so quick and naturally I don't know if I can do it again, but very nice! I was getting powered on the 8m, with the odd gust enough to make me edge hard on full depower, but very tame overall. Came in around 2.30pm, as I was getting hungry, and the tide was getting too high. 9/10 session rating!

26th February - Split session today, the wind had swung completely ESE so Eastern beach was working much better than yesterday, and blowing its ass off, me and Lance both went out, there was a 3 foot shore dump, and a little tricky to start, but as it was cross onshore it was much easier than usual on high tide. Got a few inverts in, and little transitions, and the swell out there was big enough to really ride! cruising out from the beach, I was launching off every wave top, (3 foot waves) , good fun. It only lasted 20 mins before the wind swung again and had to come back in. Lucky we did, as the rain killed the wind and the windsurfers were left floundering in 5 knots of breeze! The wind did come back but too southerly, then Hamish turned up, so we decided to go to West Tamaki. Not much wind when we got there, 12m kite stuff, barely 15-20 knots, but I still set up the small kite just in case. Hamish was still working his 8.4 heaps and I was just plain underpowered, but still had a good session, in a sick kind of way. My skills on the high wind kites are improving, I was still getting caught out when carving turns and the kite would be so low it hit the water then relaunched several times, but transitions were fun, I was pulling 540's and looping the kite very very quickly coming out of the transition. Hamish was getting some very big jumps although I didn't see them. West Tamaki wasn't any better than Eastern in this wind direction, but gave me a taste of what wind will be like with a small kite... 8m is too small, a 9.5 or 10 is the smallest you need, otherwise you have to work the kite all the time except in gusts. You still want to be powered, and 12 - 8 is too big a jump, you are only properly powered in squalls on a 8, or solidly powered twice a year!

25th Feb - The fine windless weather breaks ! Me and Mark when out to Eastern, it looked almost easterly enough for it, so Mark went to get his gear and I set up. The windline was out at the 200m bouys, but plenty of wind closer in. I ended up hiding in the wind shadow of the cliffs a lot of the time as the wind was too strong for me to hold out past the bouys. Mark didn't go out, the piker. Hamish showed up later but the wind died with the rain.

24th February - Doldrums at the moment, haven't been out, but was down in Hamilton for the weekend and got some surfing in.

17th Feb - Drove up to Orewa around 3pm, thought there might be 10 knots, but was pleasantly suprised to find 15-18 knots of northerly, with good glassy 2 ft surf !! One one guy out, Shane Bright I think, he was going off with real nice high backloops! It was almost looking like 12 X2 weather, but I didn't bring it with me, so I set up the 16m C02, and went out for a blast! Primo smooth wind, good wave riding as the wind was blowing cross onshore! I was very very powered, and was working hard to not get taken off downwind...Heaps of others turned up after 5pm, and soon it was getting crowded! after 6pm the wind started to back off quite a bit, and suprise - Andrew Blewitt (aka Bluey) showed up and managed to borrow Peter Boots 20 X2, and go out for a blast in the dying wind, but I think he's a bit rusty, he managed to drop the kite in the surf real close to someone learning. The wind backed off to 10 knots by 7pm, and everyone when home. I left but forgot one thing, my cellphone, which I left on the roof of my car, and the first fast corner (motorway onramp) I saw a explosion of plastic peices in my rear view mirror, and I instantly clicked, oh crap that was my phone! I drove back and found peices of it scattered over a 20 m distance, and managed to find the SIM card (most important)! The phone had almost had it anyway, but bugger.

15th Feb - Thought after yesterday, it couldn't get much better, but from 9.30 in the morning, it was blowing over 20 knots southerly, and got up to 25 sometimes! Went up to Shakespeare bay, and there were already a couple of people out, and more arriving! Very powered 12m conditions for me, I went out and went big! Took some nasty wipeouts, and was landing a few double backloops to toeside, but only in one direction consistently. A few judo airs, and one that I didn't get my foot on the board when I landed, very painful! By 1pm there were heaps of people out, about 15 kites, no more, as a few guys would come in for a break and a few would go out. Gavin Broadbent was out there pulling some nice judo airs while spinning, and landing some of them! Kiters everywhere, Lance turned up around 1pm and went out, powered, and boosted some nice double backs, and judo airs, and landed on top of a learner dude! Few close calls, almost had a few kite collisions! Wind backed off after 2pm, few 16m kites out, Peter Boot put up his 20 X2, and was doing ok! Wind kept pumping till after 5pm when I left. Had 2 hrs of a session in the morning, and 2 hours out with Lance in the arvo. Epic day, and got heaps of photos of Lance, new page added today!

14th Feb - Went out to Shoal bay in the afternoon, wind came up after a bit of rain at 2pm. WSW of 10-15, but it filled in to 15-18, maybe the odd 20 kt gust, I was on a 16m Cabrinha Co2, and wavetray, plenty of people showed up soon after, had about 10 kites on the water at one point. Lots of fun, during the first half hour, I hooked an huge jump timed with a gust, and when way high, then got another gust which hiked me up again, and sustained the lift for longer, huge hangtime! Bombed the landing though, was going downwind at quite a rate! Lots of front loops, and transitions, am landing a few double backloop to transitions now, but mostly in one direction, I was landing some to toeside. Kent and Perrin, and a few other regulars showed up after 6pm, after battling through traffic, and scored the 10-15 knots of evening breeze as the sun went down. Still windy when I left.

12th February - Did some work this morning, before heading out to Shakespeare bay, got 10-12 knots initially, and managed to sail completely out of Shakespeare bay, and on out to where a regatta of 40 foot superyachts were going past the peninsula. Starting getting a bit close as I could fell large lulls in the wind from their huge spinnakers. Did long downwind runs, took me 20 mins to get back to the beach. Had a break, then went out again, this time on my wavetray, and powered, with 15-16 knots, good fun. Mike the flexifoil man was there, but struggling on his 9m foil, then brought out his 12m C02 Cabrinha, but still struggled. After a while a few more people turned up, and went for a grovell after the wind dropped to 8-10. I was still able to stay upwind on my 18 /alien board combo, when guys on 16m Rhinos and directional boards were struggling to hold their ground.

11th Feb - Bit of a session at West Tamaki rd, wasn't looking great, but the wind was strong enough for my 12, and wavetray, but it was gusty and patchy, 10-20, then it dropped of at 6.30, then when Hamish set up, it picked up to a nicely filled in 15-18 knots! I left just after 7pm and it was still pumping. Watched Hamish doing backspins like a pro, he's now completely surpassed Alan with his kiting ability!!! Hamish has been working heaps over the summer, so he hasn't had much time to get out, as he finishes at 6pm, and often doesn't get out of the traffic till 7pm, but still improving heaps!!

9th February - We had 10-15 knots by 3pm at Tamaki estuary, and by 6pm it had filled in to 20 knots! Had a ok session.

7th February - Didn't think there would be wind today, Mark called at 11am, reckoned sandspitt was on, but looked flukey to me, but at 2pm it was already gusting to S-SE 20 kts, got down there around 3pm, the wind hadn't quite filled in but used the 16m C02 and had a well powered session, maxed out, 10-20 knots. fun, but a bit gusty. Did a lesson at 4pm, and the wind had filled in to a solid 20 knots! not bad for a SW 10 knot day!

5th February - there was 15 knots in the morning, but slept in and missed it, the rest of the day was only 0-5 kts, but it picked up to 8 kts by 4pm (Mark texted me after he came in and packed up for work), and when I arrived at 5.30, it was 8-10, not quite whitecapping in the lulls but the odd whitecap every ten minutes or so. 18 and my 'Alien' lightwind board and I was having fun, staying upwind (even in the lulls of 8 -9 knots- how could I tell? the kite drifts backwards if I'm not moving on the board!!) ), pulling nice front loops and backs and transitions. In smooth wind the 18 X2 really excels, you actually see its true low end, and good lift in light wind! (In gusty stuff I think even the 12 works better) It did get up to 12 -13 knots on occasions, which meant I was well powered and flying along, and getting nice transitions and some air time, but only a few whitecaps. Staying upwind easy as despite all my jumps. Not enough wind to draw anyone else down to the beach! Hamish and Alan showed up after 6.30pm, when it was getting 12-13 kts but still lulls to under 10, and looks like the wind hung around till after dark, like it often does on a day like that. Will find out how Alan and Hamish got on later. (I made it look windy!)

4th February - Wind came up early today 20 knots by 7am, went out to Shakespeare bay, empty, and 25 knots. Mark turned up soon after, had a blast, using the 9.5m C02, big jumps, and fun waveriding. Had a few front loops go horribly wrong when I got caught by a gust, hit the water very hard sideways, lost my water goggles :-( had one straight jump go into a big single back spin, muffed the landing but didn't hurt myself, even though I went fricken high!. Dropped off to 20 knots around 3pm, left to do other things. Mark was getting some big jumps (check the pics) , and initially tried his 7.5 AR5 but it was misbehaving so he packed it up and went out on his 12 X2 and handled the 25 knots very well! it lulled to under 20 knots sometimes, so I was a little underpowered, but Mark was charging.

3rd February - Went out at sandspit in the morning with Mark, 10-15 knots big kite, flat water.. picked up to 20 knots by midday, but I had to leave. good sess.

2nd February - mark called me in the morning to say Pine harbour was 15 knots, almost didn't believe him as it was almost still at One tree hill, but I had other things to do this morning. WSP were having a barbeque up at shakespeare bay, so went up there, hung out for a while, there was definately wind around but way too westerly for Shakespeare. It barely got to 10 knots all day but wasn't at all gusty despite the direction. Did a lesson out there anyway which was good. Plenty of people wanting to get out on the water today, some even tried big 21m kites but not much sucess. The wind dropped off to 3-4 kts by 6pm.

31st January - Out at Bramley at 3pm, bit of a northerly sea breeze, got in 20 mins of powered riding. Wind dropped off to 10 knots later. Mark was grovelling away on his 20m but powered some of the time.

29th January - Excellent session out at Shakespeare bay, was pumping when Mark and I got there, with 20-22 kts, 12 X2 weather, perfect. Well lit on our 12's Mark was boosting some decent jumps but those landings are pretty elusive for him from those heights, he landed a few few judo airs, and was managing the gusts way better than me, handling them like a pro, where I lost grip and slid downwind. Everything came together today, I nailed my toeside landings today, going way big on jumps, tweaking them, then riding out of them toeside. Quite often I'd land going down a wave, dropping in nicely to a bit of a waveride. New for me today was double backs into a transition. Very tricky, and you have to spin fast, but I was doing them half a metre off the water, with big hangtime. Also dialed in my 540 transitions sweet as now, and landing them toeside for extra flavour! (that makes a 720 I think) In the end I was getting way too powered and was sliding downwind, unable to keep a edge, no matter how slow I went, everyone else on 12's seemed fine, and Mark was dealing to it ok on his Lunchtray, but I decided enough was enough, and ditched the kite in the water on the leash, and came in. Then the wind backed off again, and everyone was working their kites up and down again.

28th January - Met mark out at Shakespeare for a session, Mark was out there an hour or two earlier than me, but the wind was picking up, and it was not at all gusty. haven't been to Shakespeare for a month or so, but it didn't disappoint. Mark was doing nice front loops and backs, landing them nicely. Also saw a few double attempts but none landed yet. I was getting some judo airs in, and charging around, and landing a few moves toeside, had a ball, best sess for ages! Tried some double backloops, but not landing them properly. Doing indy grabs on some of my jumps, nicely controlled. The wind really picked up by 3pm and was too much for us, so we came in. Some guys on Cabrinha 9m C02s went out looking well powered.

26 January - Did lessons at West Tamaki rd, then joined Mark down at the sandspit aka the great playground, Didn't see much of Mark, he was cruising back and forth, but lost his board at one point and let his kite go on the safety and went back to the spit to set up. I was on the 9.5m CO2 again, and getting some good jumps behind the spit, not huge hangtime like the X2 but still pretty good, and popped a couple of judo airs, and general charging up to the spit and hooking it. Wasn't really on with my tricks, not quite used to the kite, but still good day overall.

24th January - Was going to do lessons at Shoal bay on the strong WSW, but the wind was gusting 10-27 or something knots, so I flagged it, drove to Pine harbour where it was much better, see photos at bottom of page (just in case some of you don't know it) , no sign of Mark T at 1pm, but local guy Mike was there, with his 9.3 Rhino, but was struggling to hold it and dropped it soo after it gusted too hard.I thought I'd see what the top end of my 12 X2 is so I put it up and went charging, boosting huge 10m airs..ha got you, I'm crazy but not that crazy! I would have landed in the middle of the golf course!, I thought this would be a good day to test the 9.5m C02 Cabrinha, with lulls of 25 and gusts to over 30, I was well powered, getting some big height and floaty air time on some jumps, there was even a decent swell worth wave riding out here today. Some gusts were lifting me a bit if I had the kite high, but otherwise fine. All by myself, charging around on my WT.... good day..

22nd January - Drove out to Pt Chev around 11am, greeted with 10 knots, some people had just come from kiting, saying it was crap, but it was now blowing 10-15, and looking good, so I went out and had a blast, only on my 12, as the wind looked very unsettled, so underpowered for a while until it became a solid 15. About a hour of playing then I did a lesson.

21st January - Lesson at 11am, ok wind 10-12 knots, Mark T turned up! Never seen him at Pt Chev before, and he seemed to do ok on his 12 and wakeboard in the light wind. The rain was closing in, so I didn't go out, and the tide had dropped a long way.

20th January - Barely worth typing this, had a crap go out at Pine harbour, the wind looked like 10-12 but kept dropping out to nothing, my kite kept falling, and then never got above 5 kts. Plenty of practise relaunching the 18 though. Worst session ever.

18th January - Thought it was really going to be a no wind day today, but after I had done everything else I thought I'd go for a drive out to Pine harbour, as Shoal bay was showing no sign of wind. When I got there there was only 6 knots NW but within half an hour the wind filled in to 10 -12 knots WSW! Lance and I both went out, Lance was underpowered, but I was cruising, pulling doubles and not landing them, transitions, and getting upwind nicely. By 8pm the wind was still 8-10 and I could still go upwind, and jump, pull fronts etc, this new board kicks ass! (there were no whitecaps by now)..packed up as it was getting dark, still 6-8 knots of wind out there.

17th January - The wind came up early today, 10 knots by lunch time, Mark went out around lunchtime, and was gone before I got out to Pine harbour in the afternoon around 4pm. The wind was 12-18 knots, intervals of 10 minutes, so I used the full range of my 18 on the front line attachment, and my wavetray, boosting huge, and tricking as per normal, maxing out on the gusts, just holding it.. A dude called Mike was out on his pink 16m Rhino, and he was getting pretty cleaned up by the gusts! Anyway I had a lesson to do at 6.30 so I had to come in, then Alan and Susan turned up around 6.45, and they both got a few runs back and forth in before the wind dropped at 7.30pm. Excellent session..

16th January - Hell a whole week without wind, anyway, Mark and I decided that today had potential so we drove out to Pine Harbour, as Pakuranga was showing 8 knots but lulling quite a bit. When I got there, Mark was not just going, he was on his 12 and wakeboard!! The intervals were dropping to 5 knots then to 15, but after Mark left, the wind slowly filled in. By 6pm, the wind was up to 15-16 knots with intervals of 12 knots, I was well powered and boosting on my 18, transitions and looping, having fun on my new board! I managed to break a tip by landing in not quite enough water, and bombed some big jumps, really putting the board through its paces. It is quite flexible, so gives a comfy ride, but I stressed the fibreglass in places. Needs a few reinforcements. Great session, a new guy Grant and some other dude were out too, but just flying kites. Tonight the wind was still picking up as I left at 7pm, and even at 10pm there was still a little SW breeze. Hope it happens again tomorrow!!

12 January - Wind report only :-( Did lessons all day(didn't get out) at long bay, had 15 kts in the morning, but at 12pm is died off completely.

11 January - After yesterday getting too windy, I got up early and was down at Eastern beach at 7.30 all ready to go! Low tide perfection! 15 kts, with the occasional bit more, so out I went on my 12, the wind picked up to 20 and was having heaps of fun, transitions etc, bit of wave ridin. After about an hour Mark showed up, and quickly set up his kite, by now there were some stronger bits of wind coming through but smooth as wind, so nice, so we had it all to ourselves in the early morning. Once the tide came in the wind started oicking up more, 25 kts? anyway maxed out, Mark was handling it ok, but I was getting my ass kicked, tried my 136cm board but still could hold it very well in the chop but got 1 or 2 really high jumps, and a whole lot of mediocre 3-4m jumps due to loosing my edge. Foot pads weren't very grippy on my homemade job, so I kept wiping out or losing my board in the air..
Mark was doing well, consistent 4m jumps, and landing most, and even did a few aerial transitions. Was getting the odd 5-6m jump(pretty high, looking good) with plenty of hangtime thanks to the X2 (Thanks Robbie Naish!!)
Alan and Joel showed up and went out for a blast, Joel was very well powered on his 10 X2 and Alan was still underpowered, having to work his 8.4 quite a bit. 4 hr sess, knackered now.

10th January - Out at Eastern in the afternoon at half tide, it looked real windy, but someone was out on a 12, so why not, it wasn't raining or gusty so I put my kite up and went for a play, the wind was right on my limit, but could just hang on to it and do some wave rides on the small swell coming into Eastern, did a few jumps but too powered up to edge properly with speed before takeoff. Lance showed up and used his little pink kite, and was charging, even he was very well powered, I came in after a while, it was too windy to have much fun, dropped my kite and came in.

9th January - When to Eastern beach in the morning to check it out, Mark was out, and doing some new stuff, frontside spin to transition and nice tail grabs. Did lessons in the morning, and went to Takapuna in the afternoon. Few squalls, and and watched Easterlies Mark going big on his X2 16, getting a few 7-8m jumps and some huge hangtime. I went out on a 9m but a little underpowered, but got some good wave rides on the 3 ft surf rolling in.

7th January - Forecast was for 15 knot SE, blowing up to 25 by the end of the day, but it rained around 1pm, after a morning of no rain, so I wasn't too hopefully for the afternoon, but the wind meters showed the wind starting to get a bit more steady, so I went down to Eastern beach to check it out and hang around there for a while. Mark was down there in 6 knots with his kite in the water! Not good, but still it was forecast to come up. As Mark packed up some whitecaps started to be a bit more consistent, and everyone left, except Susan and I. I convinced Susan to go out, and she did, finding the wind just right, but getting a bit powered up. I set up and then wind steadily picked up, now we had 12-14 knots, Alan and I both finished setting up and charged out there, Hamish and Lance also turned up. Bloody brilliant session, everyone charging, the wind picked up to 15-17 knots, and getting very powered on my 18, pulling big double fronts and quite a few wipeouts!! Lance was practising judo airs and Hamish was doing good backspins.. Everyone came in once it got too dark...

5th January - Went down to Bramley early, round 10am, found 7-10 with the occasional 12 knots whitecapping nicely, so I gave it a go, quick session powered up enough to go with my 150cm board, cruising, occasional spin. Went up to Orewa in the afternoon for lessons, but there was only 4 knots of wind.

2nd January - Repeat of yesterday, wind came in as the tide did, ended up with 15-16 knots of NNE, Alan, susan, and Mark all showed up, had a great session (see pics) , and will add a video soon. Right click the quicktime icons on the right and click save target as to download the movies!. Wind was good till just after 7pm. 3 hour session!

1st January - Looked like a no wind day today, but a sea breeze kicked in at 2pm, 15 kts, NE, so went to Eastern beach, too crowded, but Alan went out, and I decided to go straight to Bramley as it was half tide at 3.30. Pumping session, the wind was slightly gusty but 12-16 knots was fine. Susan and Alan turned up soon after, and Susan had a go on Alans kiteboard. This was the day I had been waiting for for a while, nice wind, perfectly powered, I was pulling sweet front loops, grabbing, transitions, high back loops, double fronts, everything pretty much! The cool thing was that I was going full steam ahead pulling all my moves, and getting wicked hangtime off all of them, with lots of height, kick ass.. Alan also had a go on my 18 when I'd had enough, but the wind had dropped to 8-10, so not much fun... Report from Lance and Hamish up north, they are up at Keri Keri, and had 15-20 today, and had a killer session too!

30th December - Lessons in the morning, went out to Bramley for the afternoon, Mark and Andrew were there, Mark was on his 20 Aero, so I thought I'd try my stack! (Check the latest photos) , 6-8 knots, and later the wind picked up, maxed out on my stack, then dropped it, put up the 18 and was going ok on my WT. Mark and Andrew left around 4pm, I hung around and the wind was up and down, but got up to 13-14 knots at points, mostly more NE so it was blowing through the channel more than closer in. Good little sess, no sign of Susan or Alan, even at 7pm, yet another good day she missed out on..

28th December - Was going to do a lesson out at West Tamaki rd but the wind was 15-20 and building, getting too windy, so we (Me and Mark from Easterlies, and the challenger dude and his brother Adam) ended up playing in the estuary for the whole day, high tide was the perfect time, Mark T showed up after a couple of hours and we cruised down to the sandspit (the wind was a solid 25 knots with the odd gust of a little more) , and had some fun in the flat water, boosting huge at the edge of the spit, jumping the spit tail grabbing at the spit, indy grabbing at the spit, inverting at the spit, backlooping at the spit, transitioning at the spit, exploding, wiping out at the spit, you get the idea, long long session with steady wind, the stuff dreams are made of! I actually went down to the spit twice, first time just to check it out, then I came back to swap out my depower line that was looking a bit thin and straggly, don't want anything breaking out there! , and then again when Mark showed up. Made it back up wind by 4pm just after high tide, the wind was really strong, blowing me completely out of the water a couple of times. 10/10 - cause I tried new stuff today!

27th December - 15 kt southerly all day, got out for quick play in between lessons, the wind turned very southerly at lunchtime, and the wind just was gusty and just not getting into shoal bay, blowing SE sometimes, so relocated to West Tamaki rd, where the wind was blowing a steady 15 knot S-SE.

25 December - Primo little session at Eastern beach in the afternoon after christmas lunch, 15-20 knots 12m kite, boosting, and playing.. real fun, nice and sunny, warm enough for no wetsuit...

23 December - Monday, no lessons, so out to Pine harbour once I got myself a new harness, Mark was already there, and there was 10-12 knots WSW! The wind was doing it's interval thing, so 10 mins of 15 knots then 10 minutes of 5 knots! it ok when you go from well powered to just powered but the 10 min lulls of 5 knots made it hard to keep the kite in the sky! after a while the wind got stronger, not gusty at all, but the intervals of wind got stronger, hitting 16-17 knots at times. Mark is doing real nice back loops now, and his fronts aren't to shabby either, and on his 20m Aero he was having some difficulty handling the intervals of strong wind. The wind filled into be 20 knots soon after, Mark bailed his kite and I went back to the shore with him, and we put the kites away. The tide was a way out now, and neither of us could be assed pumping up our 12's to go out and play in the now 25 knot wind! No new moves apart from a no board backloop!!

22nd December - only had a small play today. This summers trend looks set, THE WESTERLY IS THE NEW NORTHEASTER! The seabreezes are most likely to be from the SW-W quarter making Pine harbour the prime spot in the afternoons, as the wind often comes up late around 4pm and stays till late. The NE lose out to the SW seabreeze all the time in Auckland.

21st December - Session out at Shakespeare bay 12-18 knots, fun on my 18x2, nailing my frontside transitions now, wanted to try some tantrum jumps but chickened out.. excellent session, see pics!

17th December - not much wind, 5 knots, watched Mark go out without a wetsuit, with his directional and his 8.5m C-quad and go downwind, then drop it in the water.. highlight of my day!!! Got to fly Marks C-quad, very easy to fly on the bar..

16th December - Went up to Shakespeare bay, met Derek up there, he had a new Cabrinha blacktip 14m which he let me demo, wow, it's really good, very tight kite, no jellyfishing, and great hangtime, very much like my X2's. Got some huge jumps, had some big wipeouts too, from screwed up transitions.My new move is frontside rotation to overwhipped divebomb drop kite move, you end up so high in the air above your kite, than letting go of the bar then diving head first into the water is the best way to avoid injury :-~ , 15-22 knots...

10 December - did some lessons out at Shoal bay, then went out for a quick session with my 12 x2, very gusty, maxing out sometimes and underpowered a lot, the wind had switched very westerly. Packed up and drove out to Pine harbour, where is was a smooth 25 knots, with 10 min intervals of 18-20. Mark had just packed up and headed in when I arrived. What can I san, Pine harbour came up with the goods, with a solid WSW wind, I was able to do big judo airs, and land them sweetly, plenty of air time. I did a bit of carving, riding toeside and carving off the wave tops and bottom turning and repeating that, heaps of fun( but you go downwind quite a bit) but no problem cause I was superlit !! Tried some tailgrab transitions, and thought I'd try a frontside transition, very gently, see what happens, but got my ass kicked cause I went at least 4m in the air, changed direction and came back down hard with the kite dragging me in the new direction.. Hamish went out for a session after I left, bit of a lonely session, prefer to be out busting moves with someone else around, only the birds saw my moves, and they probably weren't impressed cause they get much better air time ;-)

9 December - did lessons today, nasty gusty stuff, but wasn't missing out on much!

6 December - the wind came up early and I got my massage and accupuncture in the morning, and rolled up to Bramley at 10.30, 15-20 knots!! Had the school kites, and was planning on doing a couple of lessons out here, but no one called me so I went out and had a session with Mark. I used the 12.2m Cabrinha and Mark was on his 12 X2, primo conditions, smooth wind, small chop and high tide outgoing! Was boosting some real nice jumps, but this kite takes some getting used to, not quite the hangtime of the X2, but enough. I tried my normal tricks but found because of less lift I had to go into transitions with more speed to get the lift needed to plane out of moves and not do a bum plant. Just timing I think, I've only just got it dialed into the X2, so changing kite is hard.
Mark was boosting well, getting good hangtime from his jumps, just not quite going as high as he could if he edged a little more at the last second. Still he was getting really decent pop for his frontside rotations, and landed quite a few planing, he's been working hard on those, and its paying off. His change to favour the wakeboard/twintip style is helping him improve heaps.

The wind kept picking up, in the gusts I was riding completely depowered and still riding fast upwind. Seemed to stay upwind of Mark and point a bit higher all the time too, but that was probably my wavetray compared to Marks slower higher wind lunchtray. The wind picked up alot till I was out of depower. I went on a hell upwind ride, and after a while ended up by the boats up a half moon bay marina!! , thought that was far enough so rode back down, doing a hell downwind speed run, and carving around to toeside to change direction and snaking my way back down to where Mark was. Completely overtook Mark riding downwind at twice his speed, then edged back upwind once back at Bramley. I was still able to ride, but getting tired now, so ditched the kite. We had a break, then relocated to Eastern beach where the tide was now perfect, with huge flat water sections, with small chop to launch and carve off. Figured it was still really windy so set up a 9.5m instead of the 12, so I could blast along the flat water and boost higher than you can overpowered on a bigger kite. Lots of fun, carving up the small waves, huge toeside to heelside carves. The weather was still cloudy but dry, but a NW front looked like coming though so we both came in for a bit. Mark went home for lunch, and I organised a lesson for the afternoon. All was well till some rain came through and killed the wind. It came back after a hour or so, and then filled in to give us 15 knots or so. Mark was out on his directional. Joel, a newcomer, set up his 16 Aero and went out, and after I had finished the lesson, when out again on the 12, for a quick play. Susan and Alan turned up, along with Bluey and Johnnie. The wind had shifted a few more degrees north so it was a bit gusty, but noone was complaining.

5 December - 2-3 foot surf at Piha today, and the N-NW wind isn't forecast till the evening and the high tide isn't till 8pm so I might get a surf and a kitesurf in today! But I just noticed there is a NE already, when I called Mark, he said he was busy and waiting for the northerly, but what he didn't say was that there was already wind out east! Anyway, it's only 10.30am and there's already 6-10 knots.

4 December - Well I didn't go kiting today, there was less than 5 knots all day, however the surf is going off in these conditions! Went out to North Piha for a relaxing surf in 1-2 foot waves, and my back felt good after that. Probably head out to Piha tomorrow too, seeing as we have one more day of no wind, before the windy northerly comes for the weekend.

2nd December - Summer is really here! Last few days have been 25 degrees, and light winds. Today there was no wind anywhere, except for Pine harbour, which is rapidly becoming our favourite spot! SW 12-14 knots, nice and powered on my 18 and wavetray, having a blast! My back has not been good over the last week, so I have been taking it easy. I had accupuncture and a hell massage today, and felt really good so I went out! Mark was already out on his 12m X2, and lunchtray, but a bit underpowered. Lance rolled up about a hour after me, after a fruitless search for wind closer to home, and set up, and went for a blast. He's going off, saw him pull one of his first frontside rotations, and land it, and his jumps with nose grabs are real styley!.
The water was unbelievibly warm, over 30 degrees, due to the shallow water on the incoming tide. Good session, we were the only ones to get a session in Auckland today, everywhere else including the west coast had very light sea breezes, no more than 5 knots.
Haven't done many kitesurfing lessons yet, the weather has not been playing ball, and we do most lessons on the northshore, which doesn't get the same kind of wind.

26th November - Had a beaut big session out with Mark at Bramley today, we only had 5 knots, gusting to 6, but I stacked my X2s 18-12 and I was able to get going on my 150cm wakeboard, and 7 knots was going upwind on it!!

Hung around at Bramley around high tide, 5 knots northerly, but we setup anyway. Setup my 18 X2 and my 12 X2 today, as the wind was very light, and
settled weather, with high tide at Bramley.
The 18 - 12m stack pulled so well, I could get planing in much less
wind than you can acually waterstart in, like 4-5 knots with the
directional!! 6 knots with the 150cm wakeboard..
I've worked out what to do next time, I will set my 18 on fast
turning and the 12 on slow turning, as the 12 was trying to leave the
18 behind, so you could be too aggressive with turning the kites as
the would get out of sync.

It's also handy to know you can launch a stack of two inflatables
without assistance, just sand both up, and give a tug. I tried with
Mark helping but the kites get out of sync unless you have 2 helpers!
Next time I'll try it with 8-10 knots, and then the fun will begin.
In 8-10, using 20m lines to the first kite, then 10m up to the 18
would work better, as the stack is a bit closer to you, and jumps and
transitions would be feasible. 27m + 6m extensions was pretty long..

After trying the 20m Aero I would say this stack has a bit more
power, and turns about the same speed but with more speed through the sky in a straight line.

I don't think I'd try this anywhere without plenty of space spare,
and definately only in light settled conditions. A change of one
knot was enough to suddenly make me go upwind.

The sideways pull is also a lot greater than with one X2, more
similar in pull to Marks 20m Aero. I think it's probably a good
setup for the few days a year where the wind it too light be powered
up normally, and where the wind is that super steady teasing 8 knots.
Mark was on big Red, his 20m Aero, and used my 150cm wakeboard mostly but did a few runs with the directional.., was trying some little
frontside rotations, and landed a few the right way, just not
planing, but he was doing very well to do them on a 6ft directional!!

Later we had 7-10 knots, so I used my 18 with 5m extensions, and
swapped between the wakeboard and Marks 6ft directional!! I was
crusing upwind with the directional, and doing fun hands free runs
over to glendowie and back, hands free toeside is very cool!!
We barely saw any whitecaps all day, but still had
fun!! Mark was even trying a few frontside rotations!, but wasn't getting enough lift to land them planing.

24th November - Session out at Takapuna in waves, good fun, swapped between my 12 X2 and Marks 9.5m Cabrinha. Wind dropped off twice to 2 knots, and squalls to 27-30 knots. Mark was going huge on the little kite.

18 November - Good session at shakespeare bay, 10 knots picked up to 18 during the afternoon. Hamish and I were well powered, Mark left just when it was picking up again, (he was still on his 20) , and had a good session, but the chop and swell was making things difficult for boosting. The X2's really suit flat water. I tried a 2003 16m Cabrinha C02 after maxing out on my 18 X2, and found it gives nice power, plenty of lift, but you don't get the hang time of the X2 / Airblast. Quicker turning than the 18. I tried the 12 later too, but the wind was not more than 15-18, so I struggled a bit underpowered, but nice nimble kite, quicker turning than the X2, and easy to work with. Suprisingly good lift for transitions etc, still easy to over cook it, and end up way high in the air and kite low, so you have to be gentle, these kites have still got performance to kick your ass if you get it wrong, but at least they will relaunch easily. Bit more sideways pull to edge against than the X2, and the speed at which you start having to edge really hard is lower, generates a bit more low speed power, more suited to wakeboard use. The X2's work with a wakeboard, but you are really caning it with much more speed to get max power out of them, which is great in small chop conditions, as more speed = bigger boosts, but shakespeare is hideously choppy.

15th November - The kiteworks crew and some others turned up to Shoal bay for a evening session, and seeing as I was already there, and traffic was horrendous at 5pm, I decided to give it a go, but turned into a bit of a horrible session. First run out, A guy called squid hooked a jump right in front of me, and my 12 x2 ran straight through his lines, and tangled. I should know better than to go out when it's crowded! not much harm done, just ripped the larkshead on one of my lines. After I untangled and sorted everything, I went out again, but still had a tangled back line! ARRRGH... should probably have quit now, but sorted that, then had a bit of session, the wind was 10 - 20, up and down and gusty, so wasn't enjoying it that much, and needed a bigger kite, as I was underpowered mostly. Kent was getting the biggest jumps on his 14 X2, and Perrin was on his 11.8 AB, Peter Boot was on his 14 X2 and doing ok. Didn't see anyone doing many tricks, probably cause it was so gusty. Kent lost his board at one point and ended up pulled downwind to near the mangroves, Perrin rescued his board and dropped it down to him. Not the most fun ever, this session was 3/10 sucky.

14th November - Went to Pine harbour on the WSW we had, 15-25 knots, up and down a bit, but not a bad session, I was a bit tired from yesterday, so wasn't feeling the need for a big session. Mark had been out for almost 2 hours already, but I need to get a bit fitter before going out every day for hours on end. Didn't really do anything new, Mark was busy just cruising backwards and forwards, and doing the occasional jump, but I haven't seen him do any spins or loops at all, even when he's on his lunchtray which is easier to loop than a 6ft directional ! Anyway, dropped my kite after doing a frontside rotation and over rotating, and coming unhooked. This was bad cause the kite completely luffed, so when it dived with power, the bar just got ripped out of my hands, and onto the safety. Called it quits. 4/10

13 November - Had the day off, so went into Kiteworks with Mark, got my harness fixed, then we cruised out to Sandspit, they was a bit of breeze around. When we got there it was NE! It was supposed to be SE or SW, but there was a 5kt easterly! We had lunch out there, then decided to walk out to the end of the spit. There was no wind there, I mean the water was glass! Why am I bothering to write this in to my log? Well within 10 mins we saw a patch of not mirror water, and in another 10, we had 8-10 knots! We walked back and got our gear, and by the time we got back it was 10-12! Perfect tide, so Mark used his Aero 20 and I used my 18. The wind steadily picked up and by 3pm it was hitting 16-18 knots! Mark was out on his 12 and wakeboard, and I was still on my 18, doing the occasional sandbar jump!! I'm landing them after clearing the sandbar too..!. By 4.30, heaps of other kiters turned up, and the wind was pumping just over 20! I broke a footstrap and it was getting damn windy for me now. Bloody good session. 10/10

9 November - 15-20 knots W- WNW, and no rain, so we went out to Pine harbour. Hamish and I went out to meet Lance there. Lance has got himself a 14 x2, and while he was there it was 15-20, so perfect for him! Lance was going pretty big! Biggest jumps I've ever seen him do, he was battling with the lift at some points, starting to over rotate due to the hangtime!! Hamish was on his 11.8 and maxxed out, and I was on my 12, maxxed out once the wind starting picking up to 20-25. Bit gusty today, but everyone was going off! After Lance left, Hamish and I came in, Hamish changed to his 8.4, and I changed the front lines to the forward max depower setting. I am managing 60% of my front spins now, should really try and invert some, maybe next time, but the new trick I am working on is a front spin aerial transition, which turns out to be not that hard, I landed a couple out of about 10 attempts, not too bad for my first go.

4th November - Turned up to shakespeare bay at 2pm, to find 12-15 knots! Everyone said it was like a millpond 1 hour before, really nice perfect SW direction. Big kites were the order of the day, I was powered on my 18, everyone was there, even Bob, who came back in cause there was enough wind for him. It was really busy, there were over 20 kites there, and 2 groups learning to kitesurf, and one father and daughter having a bit of a mission learning, and a few learners who could get upwind, oh and a couple of guys playing with a stunt powerkite half way down the beach. Really crowded, but I was on my biggie, so just powered upwind, out of the crowd. Had a good session, hard work in the chop and swell, but good fun. After a couple of hours the wind picked up to 16-18 knots, I was super lit on the 18, and getting pretty damn big airs, and doing some big front spins and even bigger backloops (high single loops 4m! landed!) I's interesting actually, I can get the same height jumps when powered with my 18 x2 as I do when powered with my 12!

Perrin was the star of the day, pulling sweet front loops, and then went ballistic doing high double front loop nose grabs into a transition!
Lance had just sold his 13.5Ar5, so only had his little pink kite, so I loaned him my 18, and he went out and charged! Looked good, he was getting heaps of hangtime, on some good height jumps. Later I loaned him my 12 as the wind was 20 knots now, and he had a blast! His first comments when he came in were that he was getting too much hangtime, and starting to rotate too much, and he said the 12 felt just like the 18, proving how good the design is through the sizes, matching handling throughout the sizes (would like to try a 8m).

I'm now 76kg, been eating too many pork pies I reckon, so my low wind limit for summer is going to suffer ;-)

2nd November - Went out to Muriwai, had a good session in 20-22 knots, some good carves off the top of waves, lost my board a few times, but no drama. No one else was out there, and it was sunny all day