00122 New F-one 120

New F-one 120

She's here!

£270 bought me this nice little board which I hope will see me taking to the air very soon.

Pity it's brutally cold out there. Guess I'll just have to stop whinging and get out as soon as the wind shifts - so far it's predicted to be Easterlies, no good for me.

00121 Thingy

Thingy

Catching up with the blog.

Went to the beach on Sunday (I think) and decided to do a big doodle. Didn't come out too bad, although next time I've promised myself that I'll be doing something a bit diffrent. I'm thinking fish.

00120 Three days on the trot

I won't draw it out, but I've been out kiteboarding three days in a row. Two short stints on Monday and Tuesday with not really enough wind and one decent session at Ladies Bay today (the first there for a long, long time).
Mike reckons I should start jumping. I told him that I'd been popping off the water without any kite movement and his reaction was "move the kite" - scary, but exciting.
In other closely related news I get my new board in the post soon (allegedly). Ieeeeeee!

00119 Birthday KAP

Tendrils

With all this Southerly and Easterly wind there's no kitesurfing, so I'm out KAPing more. Today was my Birthday, so I got special dispensation to go out and do a bit of raking.
I always wish I'd spent more time filling up the sand - there's an element of "less is more", but at the same time a really voluminous and intricate piece feels like it would look really good. One day...

00118 KAP surfers

Surfer

Put on the wetsuit this afternoon and headed into the surf with the kite. Must remember to put the camera over the place where the surfers are going to be - not where they sit waiting for the sets. I'll nail it next time.

Still, that wetsuit is unreal. It's cold out there, but I was well toasty. Bonzer.

00117 First sail of the New Year

Went out to Pembroke on Wednesday (4th) and the conditions were as good as they get there. Tried to do a couple of gybes to toeside - man, there's a fair amount of acceleration when you whip the kite through the window in the opposite direction. I'm going to need alot more practice.

No more wind for kitesurfing for at leat a week. I'll turn my attention to KAP.

0116 Back again

I think I'm finally back up to strength now after having had some unholy virus which first fills the lungs with hacking mucus and then empties the body of nutrients over a period of days using the lower exit . To administer a killer blow, I ensured an intake of alcohol and rich food kept my ebb low over the festive season. You can never be sure about these things, though, so just to be sure I limited sleep and eventually my success was assured. I was fucked.

So what's on the cards after the return to form? Well, I've considered a few options.

KAP? No wind, plus I'm pining after a D50 with a Sigma 10-20mm (at a cool £700 this should be safely beyond my grasp)
Kitesurfing? No wind and no time. Plus I'm moaning about needing this shorter board for high wind and to help initiate me into the awesome world of the jump (£400 plus p&p means I won't be seeing that one any time soon).
Board building? Although the 138x36 proved to be a great board for upwind and chop, it's definately too heavy for getting off the water. I need access to glassfibre, vaccum bags & pumps and perhaps the thing I most require, a working knowledge of board engineering and composite materials (a PhD would be dandy).
Backgammon boards? Need some more tools for this and Meriel has our alottment of woodwork evening classes shorn up (but I'm not bitter).

A new kite? Now were talking.
I may not have the D50, but I'll not be entirely happy until I've lofted a quality camera. But as is becomming painfully apparent, quality not only costs, but it weighs. So I'll be looking into a KAP Pilot:



From an original design by Peter Lynn, it's been tweaked for KAP in low winds, which is exactly what I need for lifting heavy gear in under 10 mph.

Let's just see what happens ...