New year update: It's been a long time. Far too long since I last blogged my kiting. I had rather geekily hoped to have logged and blogged every step of the way on the course to being a great kiteboarder. Well I've missed a bit, and what's more in the meantime I've discovered that the course is gonna be longer than I'd hoped as well.
But now it's a new year - and by the end of this year - 2005 - I want to have cracked this sport.
Between May and this last week there were many outings - mostly me 'n Proto to Kurnell or Brighton-le-Sands (both on Botany Bay, south of Sydney). Proto sneaked a lesson in once when he went up North but other than that we have been unguided, and left to our own rather haphazard devices. G's been along a few times too - and done some amazing air - albeit all of it totally unplanned, out of control, and raising the blood pressure of all around. The many comedy moments are too many.
Just before xmas we both got close to properly kitesurfing - by that I mean on the board and moving, though not necessarily for a long time (more than a few seconds in my case) and not with anything resembling cool or control. We've mostly been on my 12m Naish - with Proto; G's 14m and 10m occasionally coming out of the bags.
The hardest part has been the wind. The pair of us - against all conventional wisdom - battled on well beyond the summer in shitty wind berating the "fair weather" kiters who we no longer saw out on the beach. Well, we used up a lot of hours, and untangled a lot of string, and dropped kites like US military helicopters from the sky many many a time - but never really made big progress. Not til late November when the wind picked up. Remarkable what a difference it made!
Well - on to this year then.............
