#12 Just like last winter - crappy wind in Kurnell (Sun 19 Jun)
Spent the day with Cuspy. This time of year I'm being told that wind blows early in the morning, and not necessarily onshore (from the east). Which perhaps explains why my memories of last winter's kiting revolve around disappointment at Kurnell and Cronulla.
So winter's here - though to be fair winter in Sydney has temperatures of 18 degrees! But crappy wind.
So me & Cuspy were to meet early. The wind was blowing. Got in the van - - and, yes, it wouldn't be a kite-outing without some shoddy incident. I couldn't find the keys to the steering-wheel crook lock. An hour spent ransacking the van and the flat to no avail. Retracing my steps of the last week, the last time I remember having them was in Mudgee, about 3 hours from here! So no van for today.
So we went off Botany Bay way. Made that classic error of stopping at Kitepower in Sans Sousi. Wasted time. Got pure wallets prised open...I bit the bullet and decided I'd pay some more dues to safety...I bought my first helmet, and got a coil leash to replace my deadly catapulting surf-board leash. No I know all about the leashed/unleashed debate and that can be for another time. And nipped into the excellent bakery next door.
Some time later we actually got to Kurnell. Two kites up. Hoorah. The only two up in the Bay. And a third was just launching (foil kite, more on that later). So we fannied around setting up Cuspy's 16m Boxer, during which time the wind was dropping, dropping, dropping off. Cuspy got out there by the time it had dropped sub-10 knots. Crap. Bllocks. Typical. I had a brief go but there was not enough wind for us amateurs to get any board action (though a guy on a 13 with a MASSIVE board was having fun out there). I did get to use a 16m for the first time which was novelty. Heavy, difficult to manoevre. But, sorry Proto, not as difficult as the 14!
Nothing for it then but to call it a day. Had an equally miserable time trying to land-board over in Cronulla. Again 1st time for me so good to try these things at the very least.
Back to Kitepower then, for a really good discussion with one of the the employees there. Surprisingly friendly given our previous experiences with certain people in that shop. Lots of hype at the moment about the impending launch of Hellfish which is Best's new kite using Cuban Fibre which is some super-light material. Had a chat about that, and me getting a bigger kite. Seems its between a 15m Best Yarga, or wait out til the Hellfish launches and get one of those. While I can go out with Cuspy and use his 16 there's no urgency so might wait a month.
