waitingforthewind.com ... Note to self (while sat on the deck on Waiheke watching 9m wind): Always take kite gear, especially when staying at a beachhouse, regardless of complaints about space in the car.

Nice pic from Muriwai - this was epic. It's 45mins from Auckland on the wild west coast. I keep on reminding myself, you just gottta ring people ... you can spend 3hrs piss-arsing around on the internet, or call the local kiteshop and they'll tell you in two minutes where's good to go and what the issues are. Souwester, Muriwai's the go, will be gnarly out there but likely to be a few locals, kit up 2km south of the surf club, just past the golf course. I got that tingly feeling as I arrived, not from the customary double caffeine shot ahead of a cold session, but just from the sight of kites in the distance. 6m and 7m kites against my smallest which was a 9m. 50km long beach. Kite it  a couple hours either side of LOW tide - - it's got a gentle sand slope so that way you get the MASSIVE waves out the back but there ends up being this nice flatwater close to shore. Weird to kite as the space was moving so rapidly, sometimes there was hundreds of meters of butter flat 1ft deep water, then the waves would come in and smash it all up. I got dumped on numerous times by misjudging breaking waves, and misjudging the depth of the water I was in. Really black sand so the water visability was pretty low. Friendly crowd out there on the water. I had a ball for my allocated 1hrs water time before we took the nephew & niece back home. All twimtips out there til one surfboard as I was leaving. 8 kiters at rush hour (5pm). 9m did me proud.

Pt Chev - "Got a nice little session in yesterday at Pt Chev (Point Chevalier) - logistics always a problem when staying with people and trying to go off for a kite - but KT was headed to the zoo so I got dropped & left which was good. Main spot is the motorway end. Two guys flailing with a 10m on the massive beach in almost no wind. And two blokes sat in their cars waiting for the wind. But oh yeah - in the distance - at the tip of the Point - I could see a kite flying, so I got my lift to there. Classic situation, wind far from ideal and people waiting around. Argentinian blooke was reading his book and only had a 9m. The German had a 12 but wanted to wait n see. I didn't have the luxury of time on my side, my lift returning in an hour or so, so I pumped up and off I went - impressing the "locals" with my 10kt wonders. That 12m Switchblade is such a good kite, even in light winds it stays upwind nicely.


The spot is shallow, slimy (slippy) but hard sandy bottom. There's really nice changing rooms. And a bus stop with direct buses to the city - this is a great spot to come if you are passing through Auckland. Wind was 10kt ish souwest gusty, off and on. I had 5 whole minutes powered properly though. Got a little cruise about round to see the sights of the city - Sky Tower and the bridge. And managed loads of backloop kiteloop things, and little jump with kiteloops, and downlooping and popping around. Nice little fun session. Two blokes teaching two a piece. This is a great spot to teach and to be a beginner."

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waitingforthewind.com We took another 5 students up the coast to some of our super spots for an awesome weekend of kitesurfing. Pure rock n roll, we forced sickies on the punters and took off at Friday lunchtime to catch the forecast Noreaster before night fall - that worked out great and we got our intermediate (Thomas) out on the water at Blacksmiths, while our two newbies (Neil & Joris) got to practice kite skills on the 6m foil on the large empty sandy beach. The instructors also managed a quick session into a stunning sunset. Margot stuck at work arrived Sat am as did Gen.

Saturday was hard to call, the forecast for a very light southerly early came true early and unfortunately kept the promised noreaster at bay most of the day. We played around at a beautiful spot though - just at the tip of "Penis Point" [you gotta see it on google maps, Map view, to see what we mean]. Light breeze and perfect shallow tranquil water for practicing water relaunch, deep water packdown and self rescue - - and some body dragging for the newbies. Good to get that stuff outta the way before we get the real winds. Tried for a late dash to the ocean side to catch some noreast knots before dark but to no avail. Classic - running up the dunes, like a movie, everyone rushing, then, at the top. Stop. No wind. Amble back down - to the great house - and the lamb chops, snags and pasta salad - washed down with plenty of red and a game of Articulate.

Sunday was epic. That noreaster came in early and we spent the morning body dragging and doing serious kite practice on the large sandy ocean-side beach at Blacksmiths. Was really good to get the guys to practice landing and launching over & over again - partly as you can't reinforce enough good technique for both - and also it teaches good control skills. Then messing around in the water, bodydragging - low tide made it nice.


And of course the moment Neil lost my camera - what! Yep - in the water, loosly attached, he legged it to help Joris and lost the Pentax in the shallows. Waterproof but still no where to be seen. Fortunately for all of us the local swimmer had more patience and nouse than us lot put together and went a good 300m south following the cross current and found it! Phew, Neil looked like he was gonna kiss the man. Nick taught Thomas out the back. Next stage was water starts and the shore break was not suitable, so Divine style, we got the crew to agree to a SUPER FAST pack down and jump in the van and head to our flatwater shallow noreaster spot in the Swansea Channel.

The big boys - Thomas included - went on a downwinder mission from 'smiths through the Channel to meet them there the carbon neutral way. Nick led and I followed tightly behind our hero Thomas - I lost a few years! Exceedingly gnarly in there, he lost the board 4 times and downed his kite once, but survived to tell the tale and vow "never again". Over in the Paradise spot, it was shallow (low tide) and flat as a pancake and 15-20kts. Absolutely perfect for teaching water starts. The instructors got some fun too, and Thomas got a few backloops in top finish a fine but exhausting day. Home James. I was driving alone and was so utterly utterly exhausted I had to stop for a sleep when I got to the Pacific Highway.

Another Divine weekend!

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waitingforthewind.com

A nice afternoon session down at Boat Harbour with Cuspy - sweet 18kt southerly, not gusty, reasonably protected behind the reef, nice crowd down there. I gave Cuspy 10 mins of coaching and got him landing his backloops. My trick o' the day was backloop transitions with my hand in the water - totally gay sort of spinning around upside down - sort of got there with that. Got the van (AWD) on the sand as well, not hardcore but at least it didn't fail at the 1st hurdle. Boat Harbour is in Sydney, $20 entry for 4wd, 45 mins from home ... what an amazing city this is!

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