NOTE: I reserve the right to delete unwanted or off-topic posts in this thread...

Sat 22/10 - New Brighton

Was out for a couple of hour this arvo, trying hard to make the most of the gentle 7-9 knot Easterly.

Only saw one other KGB'er all afternoon just as I was packing up at around 5:45pm. He was flying what looked like a red 12m GK inflateable, and a nice looking wooden deck I did not recognise.... Good styley run with a nice toeside to healside 180 turn. Was it you...?

Forecast for Sunday is upto 10 knots NE in the afternoon, with maybe 10-15 NE on Monday. Guess I'll get more practice in...

Wed 25/10 - North New Brighton - 17:30 - 19:30

A steady 10 knot SE'er was blowing in this evening, (dropping to around 8 knots later on), and even though the direction was not good for beach runs on the board, there was enough wind for a bit of powered fun. Was hooking up some nice 20-30 ft scuds up the beach in full control of the 5.0m Radsail... Nice...

Met up with another KGB'er called Jason, who was on a MBS Core and showing me how it should be done with an old orange Blade 4.9. He was keen for a get together of local KGB'ers in CHCH and we decided that on the beach north of the Waimari Surf Club would be as good a place to meet as any.

So if the wind is blowing 8 knots plus in any direction between NE & SE, expect to see us out there practicing, or going for 15km speed runs up to the mouth of the Waimak... better still come along and join us....

Spig

Sun 30/10 - North New Brighton - 10:30 - 13:10

Epic session in the fine rain & mist this morning with solid 11-13 knot East -Southeasterly winds. The 4.9m kite was well powered and moved my MBS comp 16 pro easily along the beach and over the seaweed. Beach was nice an quiet with only a few dogwalkers and runners cos of the rain.

Ran all the way from North New Birghton to the mouth of the Waimak in about 25 mins with only 2 trips into the softer sand for a fall. Wind was perfect for the northerly run but the southeastern component made the trip home a bit trickier, especially as the tide was coming in fast and the strip of hard sand diminishing quickly.

Felt much more comfortable on the board today, managing the direction & steering well in the powered conditions. I could lean a lot harder against the pull of the kite and started to get the board 'sliding' more instead of just rolling.

Great run...

Spig

Nice one bro! Sounds like a sweet session.
The beaches here are too small for long runs, and the ones that are long, are banned. Ive got a sweet longboard for kiting, the Quadrolution, sounds like jus the thing for your local.....http://www.kitedeck.com/
Youre a lucky guy. I gotta drive 1 1/2 hours and then walk a mile down the beach over the best part, to our small designated zone covered in razor shells. No room for any runs longer than about 30 seconds. :? But a sweet 20m Gap Jump over a muddy bank. Ya dont wanna get it wrong... :wink:

Keep up the good progress bro.

Che

Sat 19/11 - South Brighton (CWA Kite Meet) - 14:00 - 17:00

Good sunny afternoon session with Southie down at South Shore. Wind started out around 8-9 knots out of the East, but soon picked up to a solid 12 knots.

A slight southerly component to the wind made going south down the beach hard work, but this was well rewarded when turning back north. The ride back up the beach was "butter", just smooth, fast, and FUN FUN FUN.

Only one spill today when I ran into a hole that had been dug by some kids...! :o

Sweet ride overall, I am definately getting better at this, now if I could just feel more comfotable with the lean into the wind and directing the board.

Sat 26/11 - North Brighton - 17:00 - 19:15

Wow, what HARD WORK... The wind finally swung back to the East this afternoon and started to come in at around 7-9 knot average. Even though this is a bit underpowered on my 5.0m Radsail, I was gagging to get out and test out my new Trampa deck.

The good news is that the board worked really well, very stable and felt somewhat more controlable and easier to direct, but on the down side it was tough to keep the kite in the air in some of the lulls. I really do need 10 knots plus for the radsail... I guess it's time to break out the 7.0m advance, (that kite scares me with it's power... :shock: )

The other good news is that I saw another 3 guys out on mountainboards during my session, the most KGB'ers I have ever seen on the beach. There was a guy learning on a bright yellow/green Bullet, (5.5m..??), that I managed to chat to briefly, and he seemed to be going great guns. There was also another guy on a blue/white Sabre, (7m..?) who didn't seem to have any problems in the lighter conditions. Finally there was someone out with a white LEI around the North Beach Surf Club, so that's now six different people in total I have seen boarding here on the beach in CHCH... Looks like we have a bit of a scene developing....

Fingers crossed for some good wind after 5:30pm today...

Spig

Sun 27/11 - North Brighton - 17:00 - 19:30

What a sweet session. A solid 9-10 knots directly on shore meant good conditions for the board tonight with some great cruisy runs up and down the beach.

The combination of the new board and the 5.0m Radsail seem to be working well together, as I am now able to launch a run very easily and work the kite to get up to a nice speed. I now feel that I have a good control over the direction of the baord, using both my weight on the board and the kite to be able to go around objects comfortably.

I also switched on my GPS for a while and on a run down to the Pier I clocked what I would call a respectable 30.9 kph, even though I was still being overtaken easily by the Blokarts...!

Overall I would have to say this was the most relaxed and in control I have ever felt on the board, and consequently the most fun. Shame the tide will not be right for the rest of the week unless I skip work for a day, :idea:

Spig

Wed 7/12 - North Brighton - 17:00 - 19:30

Interesting session. The wind was finally coming in from the ENE at an average of about 12 knots for the fist time in a couple of weeks, but gusting upto 19 knots at times.

Had a good few runs up and down the beach feeling very comfortable in the slightly powered conditions. Met up with Kiter, (Paul) to give him a go with the kite and board now that we actually had some wind to play with. After a few minutes getting a feel of the kite, he was soon on the board and moving well along the beach, pretty impressive for first time out. His Kite Surfing experience was obviously paying off.

In the meantime I had a blast in a Blokart which was a lot simpler to power along the beach than I expected...

After a while we dropped the kite and discussed board options, before Kiter has one last go on the board. By this time the wind was very 'lumpy', lulling down to about 6 knots and then gusting upward of 18 knots. When it came time for me to ride the board home, I got hit with a big gust that just lifted me off the front of the board, spun me around and bum-planted at speed... Ouch..! At this point with my lines twisted the kite dived for the power zone dragging me bodily right up the beach, [must remember to let go of the bar].

I tried to sort things out but in the end I just dumped the kite in the dunes and called it a day... I'm never too proud to walk away after a good spanking....

Sun 11/12 - North Brighton - 16:30- 19:30

Wind conditions: Avg-11/Gust-16/Lull-5 Direction: Predominately Easterly

Another great Sunday evening session between North Beach and Waimari Surf Clubs with good consistant wind. It was a little tougher going south on the beach but I easily made a run to the Pier, and the run back North was 'sweet'.

Kite control was good and my ability to direct the board is now sound, even doing a few short downwind to cross-wind runs when the tide was fully out. I feel as if I have worked out the right amount of lean against the pull of the kite depending on the wind conditions, and feel far more confident leaning back at speed. I was able to slide the board slightly against the pull of kite, but that definately needs a little more practice.

On the northerly runs along the beach I was going faster than I ever have before with only slight speed wobble, mainly when changing surfaces, (hard sand to wet sand to pooled water). I didn't have my GPS with me but it felt like 50kph...! :shock:

Just need to get a couple of solid ENE wind days under my belt and practice, practice, practice. I'm looking to improve my sliding, try out a bit of toeside riding, leading eventually to healside to toeside transitions.

Baby steps....., but the grin factor is at warp 10...

Sat 24/12 (Christmas Eve) - South Brighton - 17:30- 19:00

Wind conditions: Avg-8/Gust-10/Lull-6 Direction: Predominately North Easterly

A lacklustre session that proves it's not worth going out when the wind is below 10 knots. Earlier in the session was better but after an hour I was struggling to keep the kite in the air. I was not able to practice any of the things I was hoping to, and only really has 2 or 3 runs of any note.

I must sort my 7m Advance out for days like today, but even then I'm not sure that it would have made a lot of difference, it a lot harder to turn that monster size kite.

Well, fingers crossed for Christmas Day and Boxing Day because after that I'm a way for a week down on Q-Town with NO kite..!! I bet it will be blowing just fine while I'm away... Lol

Happy Christmas everyone

Spig

Fri 6/1 - North Brighton - 15:15 - 18:00

Wind conditions: Avg-10/Gust-16/Lull-4 Direction: Predominately East North Easterly /Easterly

What a great afternoon.... I got to catch up with Southie, Kiter and Jason, and also met a couple of new guys on the beach, Greg and Guido from New Caladonia. There were also a bunch of guys on the South part of the beach too, so I reckon a new record was set of 9 KGB'ers at Brighton... Man it's taking off...

My session was good, lots of long runs down to the Pier & back, not trying anything to fancy just carving and turning. Wind was a little 'lumpy' at times but I managed to stay in control and lean ino the gusts. I did a few runs out into the surf and the standing water, watch out for the deep water, that really drags...

I was sharing my board with Kiter who is making some real progress, I can't wait until he get his own board and we can do some runs to the Waimakariri and back later in the summer.

Great summer session over all, fingers crossed for many more...

Tues 10/1 - North Brighton - 17:30 - 20:00

Wind conditions: Avg-9/Gust-13/Lull-4 Direction: Predominately Easterly (touch of SE/ESE)

Don't you just hate it when its been blowing great all day only for the wind to slowly fade away as soon as you get off work and get out there? That was the situation for this session that made it TOO MUCH HARD WORK

I should have realized it was going to be one of those sessions when I got to the beach and found I had a seized bearing in one of my hubs. Lucky I live close enough and have some spares bearings that I only lost 10 minutes sorting it out.

When I did get out there, the wind was a little difficult heading south and with the tide only just starting to recede, the sand was still soft and wet which made using the whole of the beach a tough proposition. Eventually made it down the beach to meet up with Kiter where we tried to make the most of the questionable conditions.

The wind had started to drop almost as soon as I got going so I loosened off the brake lines and I started riding unhooked to make the most of what wind there was. This was good fun for a while but soon became more of a workout session than a boarding session. It was good to see not only the Kitesurfers struggling in the conditions, but also Kiter was doing everything he could to keep it all together.

Then to cap it off, on my final run back from the pier, the kite started to luff and I dropped it into a pool of standing sea water. Now for those that dont know this, (anyone..?), trying to fly a foil kite soaked in water, with a coating of sand in light wind conditions is a recipe for a long walk home! Fortunately Im not too proud to walk-it-home when the situation arises, and I contemplated a bit of Zen Kiting on my 2km walk home.

Definitely a session to forget

yes i agree it was crap'' but good to have a go unhooked was ok got to feel the kite more.

with wind like that it is hard to keep it in the air. but what is the big problem is trying not to let it fall out of the sky around walkers.

but i guess a bad day is better than no day out.

spig zen hmm ?

Sat 14/1 - South Brighton - 12:00-15:00

Wind conditions: Avg-15/Gust-22/Lull-4 Direction: East North East

What a great day..... if you are a kitesurfer...! If on the other hand you are an intermediate landboarder with a 5.0m kite, there was a 'spanking' to be had...

Hit the beach just after low tide and chatted to a couple of guys before making a few short runs. Going south was easy, too easy..., and doing a return northerly run back up the beach was a much harder proposition. All the time the wind was picking up and it was not so much that it was gusting quite severely, but there were also some deep lulls where the kite would all but fall out of the sky, only to be come super-powered the next instant. Great fun....NOT.

Stopped for a while and chatted with some other kiters before trying to get my kite back in the air... Man, what a mistake... The wind was now maybe 5 knots stronger than before and upon launch the kite spun into the ground, twisted the lines, semi-powered up and took off. At that point I knew I was in trouble, and I called to Kiter (Paul) to help me land the kite. I pulled it down to the side of the window so that Kiter could grab it but before he made contact the wind just rolled the kite end-over-end back into the power zone and straight up, taking me with it. You know you have a problem when you can look down on the dunes... Fortunately I was not hooked in and had the sense to dump the bar quickly and prepare for landing, which was actually quite tame owing to the softness of the sand of the dune, but I did end up taking a mouthfull... yuck..!!

Anyway, we packed it in for an hour or so until the wind had filled in a bit and was much steadier... Anyway, got back on the horse and did a few more unhooked runs before calling it a day and going off to play with a trainer kite.

Golden Rule Number 1... KNOW THE CONDITIONS AND FLY THE RIGHT SIZE KITE. Nuff said...

what a hell of a windy day that was' i just hope the sabre is more user friendly and tame .

as it is i am resting a verry sore sprain but it will not keep me down for long.

if i had my way i would be into it again today but the wife has taken my gear and hidden it untill doctor has had another look on wed.

the doctors first look at it was oh might be a crack in there somewhere but no just bad brusing.

so at the end of the day keep to your limits and fly the right size kite always.

never be to proud to say NO i will not fly today :wink:

Fri 20/1 - Wiamari Beach, Brighton - 18:00-19:15

Wind conditions: Avg-11/Gust-17/Lull-8 Direction: East

Today should have been a good session but for some reason I was just not in to it. Wind was in the right range, a little lumpy maybe, and coming straight out of the East, but I just did not feel comforatable.

Best part of today was getting a nice run down & back to the Pier with no drama, but that was about it. Good to see Kiter out on his new Trampa board and Sabre kite, look like with a bit more practice he will be really busting out some tricks soon...

As the tides are good this weekend, (Sat: 13:30 - 19:30 ride time / Sunday: 14:15 - 20:15) I think I tune up my board and bearings tomorrow and keep my fingers crossed for some good wind tomorrow afternoon.

Tue 24/1 - Aborted session

Was trying out my new seat harness in a variable South Easterly, when the wind suddenly droped to almost nothing.... Just as I was about to pack the kite up and head home, a sweet NE'er came up blowing a nice 10 knots, enabling me to do a couple of short runs up and down the beach, and a few small jumps...

After about 15 mins the wind started to drop and drop and I got agressive with the kite to keep it in the air. Suddenly, and without any warning, the wind just went balistic, litterally yanking the bar out of my hands and engaging the safety. Even on the kite killers and the kite inside out, the pull was too much for me to let it go or the kite would have disappeared in to the dunes on it's way to the city...!

Fortunately, the kite wound itself around the lines and finally stopped pulling enough for me to run up the beach and dump a ton of sand on it... Phew...! For a while there it could have gotten ugly...

In the comfort of my house I can see that at 18:50pm the edge of the northern cyclone made itself felt here in CHC, going from a sedate 8.0 knots to gusting over 33 knots...

There's a lesson in here somewhere....

Thursday 26/1 - North Brighton to Spencer Park - 18:00-20:45

Wind conditions: Avg-9/Gust-13/Lull-5 Direction: East & ENE

This was the best landboarding session I have had so far Ever! The wind was almost perfect, averaging a steady 9 knots on-shore with only 1 or 2 knot gusts most of the time, just right for some long steady runs along the beach.

I hooked up with Kiter on his 5.0m Radsail and decided that we should head north to get away from the beach walkers and surf club training. Going North towards Spencer Park was a little slow going at first, with the wind turning slightly side-shore as we traveled up the bay, but it was not impossible. I was thinking of going all the way to the mouth of the Waimak, but my legs started burning when I slowed down to walking pace a km past Spencer Park, so it was time to head back. Heading South was butter, just setting the kite at 10 oclock and playing with the power for a 20 minute non-stop blast all the way back to the Pier Sweet

At the pier the wind was coming in fully on-shore so I spent some time just cruising up and down the beach to the North Brighton surf club, enjoying the great conditions and last of the sun. Spotted Jason landboarding on his old Flexifoil Blade and stopped to chat for a while, (just an excuse for a rest), and later stopped to talk with Tony who was also making the most of the sub-10 knot winds on his 15m Bomba and his MBS Comp 16 pro.

Even though I headed towards home on a couple of occasions, it was one of those sessions that I didnt want to end. Finally after almost 3 hours and once the sun had gone down behind the horizon, I called it a day, and left Tony out there throwing down a few jumps in the last hour of daylight.

An awesome session, (Grin Factor 11 ), that makes up for every other frustrating one.

YES YES YES OHHHH YES WHAT A GREAT NIGHT

Saturday 4/2 - North Brighton - 14:00-16:45

Wind conditions: Avg-7/Gust-12/Lull-3 Direction: East & ENE

Frustrating afternoon.... When will I learn that sub-9 knots is just not worth going out in...? I guess its the lure of the open beach, the fact that it's been over a week since my last session, and that I could see some tube flyers out on their boards.

I even tried out the 7m Advance, but the lulls made the damm thing stall and fall backwards into the power zone, quite a handful I can tell you... Strangely when the kite stalled and started dropping, all input seemd to be reversed, which made it even more difficult to control, but what a beast when it powered up...!! I should have just busted open one of my demo Ozone Imps and had some fun...

I did get to chat with Nathan for a while. He was out on his 17m Slingshot and having all sorts of fun. There were few other tube-flyers landboarding when I was packing up, but by then the wind was averaging around 6 knots...

Fingers crossed for tomorrow...

Tuesday 7/2 - North Brighton - 19:30-20:00

Wind conditions: Avg-21/Gust-27/Lull-15 Direction: Strong NE

Where was everyone....? I would have thought all the hardcore kitesurfers would have been out tonight, playing in the breakers and boosting super-high...?? I only saw Frenchy (Alex) I think out on the smallest GK I have ever seen.... Respect..!!

I just had a ripping great time with a 1.0m Ozone Imp which was perfect for a bit of static storm kiting. Even with this tiny beast, kite loops were generating enough pull to keep me on my toes, and flying directly along the top of the dunes was stretching my arms... Great fun, and great exersice...!!

went to a loal airport today and found an open paddock and with a rather gusty NE and only a 3.5 bullet set about getting some life out of my crappy ol board Rolled through sheep shit and god knows what else but all was good got some speed up and got caught by a gust and got totally arse kicked ...no injuries ... carried on and had a blast almost considered gettin out the 5.5 but after the arse kickin decided i was being a bit stupid......and yes Spig i was the only kite in a 10 acre paddock not to good for a town where they make kites (everyone must have been visiting there nanas or at the cricket ...boreing...) So didnt get to CHCH today but maybe 2moro look forward to actually flyin with real people and not just aeroplanes ,, there were a few flyin about while i was there
Later ,,,,,

Thursday 16/2 - North Brighton - 16:00 - 18:00

Wind conditions: Avg-8/Gust-11/Lull-3 Direction: Predominately Easterly

It feels like ages ago since I was last out, so even though the wind was a bit lacklustre I thought I would chance it. I have just re-equiped my Trampa with new bindings and trucks (Matrix lites), which I have loosened off from the very stiff setting I have previously been using, and was itching to get out there.

Over the last few weeks I have started to re-think my approach to kiting and with the new softer truck settings and some modification to the length of my brake lines, it was time to see if there was any improvement. Firstly the kite felt more stable and predictable when flying it nearer the ground which I figure was due to maybe a bit less brake line tension when the lines were tight at the bottom of downstroke. This improvement gave me a little more confidence to throw the kite around a lot more which it needed on a low wind afternoon, just to build any level of momentum. It's amazing what such a small change can do...

Jason was out on his 4.9m Blade and we swapped boards for a couple of runs. He has his board super-loose, which made it feel like I was riding on a sort of 'knife-edge', especially at low speed, but once I got going I was having some great fun carving the board along the beach. I will definately take another couple of turns out of my truck settings before my next session and try an find some middle ground between super-soft and tight-arsed rigid. It was certainly easier to get that slide feeling going on a softer set up board, and Jason reckons that if I let some air out of my tyres it might help.

So although it was not a session to revolutionise my skills I feel that it was a step in the right direction. The only downside to this afternoon was tripping over my own board when re-launching my kite, and it did not help that I had an audience for it too... But hey, I'm too old to worry about looking cool....

Saturday 18/2 - North Brighton [Pier to Wiamak] - 11:45 - 14:30

Wind conditions: Avg-12/Gust-22/Lull-5 Direction: Predominately Easterly

Landboarder Heaven

Quite often in Christchurch the wind does not really fill-in properly until mid to late afternoon, especially in the summer when the inland convection heating kicks in to help the regular breeze get up over 10-15knot mark. But today was an exception to the above rule with a steady 9 knot average coming directly on-shore all morning, which was leading to an increasing average later in the day.

I was itching to get out from about 10:00am but with the tide being mid afternoon, I was gonna have to wait for midday to roll around. I did some final mainatinance to the board, dialled another 2 turns of stiffness out of my trucks, and finally hit the beach at just before noon.

A beautiful sunny Christchurch day that coincides with a weekend can either be a landboarders dream or a nightmare..., depending on the number of people on the beach. But I guess the KGB gods must have been smiling on me as the stiff early morning breeze seemed to be keeping a lot of the Christchurch locals off of my private 22km playground...

My trusty 5.0m Radsail was perfect for the improving conditions, and it flew to the zenith with ease & predicability in the 9 knot easterly. A few adjustments to the break lines and a copule scuds later, I hopped on the board and was off with remarkable ease, heading south towards the pier. I like to get a few short & simple runs under my belt first thing, just to get a feel for the wind or gusts, and also to get the old muscle memory working in my legs working. I also wanted to see how the board felt in the turns now that I had softened the setting, and I was glad to see that it was better but soon realised that there was more scope for even softer settings, but I would save that for another session.

Warm up complete and feeling really good, I saw Southie heading towards me up the beach with his 5.5m bullet and DT board. We stopped an chatted for a little while, and I even got to try out his DT black Hawk, (I think??), on a short run down towards th Pier. His board felt very differnet to mine, it did not seem to roll as smoothly as mine but it did feel remarkably stable even with his obviously softer settings. My feet also felt a lot lower between the wheels which added to the stability, and it was easy to turn and control. Overall I liked the 'feel' of the DT board, and have to say that even though I really love the technicality of my custom Trampa, the DT was a confidence inspiring ride, and fun too... I might just have to get hold of one for some simple beach runs...

Anyway, the wind was definately building as I chatted with Southie, and it ws probably running around 12 knots by this time. Southie was keen to make the most of the conditions and get out on his kite surf rig, and headed for home, leaving the beach entirely to me....

So what should I do now...? I know, as the wind is a perfect on-shore, I thought about going all the way to the mouth of the Waimakariri and back, a nice 15kms each way. The wind was perfect as I started my run north towards Spencer Park, and I felt in real control of all the variables and was even able to do a little experimentation with slides along the way. With the trucks set a bit softer, it was far easier to get the board to turn quickly while going at a fair speed. Combining an aggressive downstoke of the kite and kicking out my back foot would slide the back of the board as I turned upwind, and after a while I was able to do it at will and with confidence that I was not going to pop off the front the side of the board. Admittedly, these were only small slides and nothing like the huge sideways moments I have seen in the videos and such, but just learning that feeling was a great sensation...

Spencer Park came and went, (I even had a friendly wave from some nudists... all men I'm afriad), and as the beach curved a little further eastward, the wind seemed to have picked up and felt a lot more gusty. I had a medium sized off-board incident when I got cuaght by a gust, forgot how to react to it and headed for the softer sand. The added friction halted my board whilst I still followed the laws of gravity and did a convincing back-of-the-head plant further up the beach. Not a biggie, just a spill, a brief brush down and a glance up and down the beach to see if anyone has seen me.., and I was off again. The wind was now very gusty and it took a little while for me to regain my confidence, but by the time I reached the river mouth I was back in the swing of things, but did not hang around in case the wind was about to pick up even more. I have no qualms about packing the kite up and walking when the condition get too much for me, but as I was still 13 kms from home, I gritted my teeth and headed south.

The trip back was smoother and faster, (20 mins to the Pier), and I was soon trying out my small slides going in the other direction and waving at beach goers as I past them. Man... that was a blast, just setting the kite at 45 degrees and letting the board run was awesome fun.

I then spent an hour or so just going between the Pier & North Beach surf club just having fun, even though the wind had now picked up to an average of 15 knots and gusting upto 21-22 knots. Normally I would be packing the kite up when it gets to those sort of figures, but today I was have altogether having too much fun to do that. And hey, I was feeling well in control and handling the gusts when they came through with some aggressive leaning, floating around people on the beach and speeding across the wet sand.

I had been out on the board now for a solid 2 hours and my legs and knees were trying to tell me something, but I was not listening. I was thinking of quitting for the afternoon but decided that anothr run north was in order. Just north of the Waimari surf club is a large square concrete outflow pipe that needs careful navigation to get past, especially if you go up towards the soft sand to go round it. The tide had not dropped enough to go round the seaward side of the pipe so I went for the top-of-the-beach route, and thought I had made it safely. Unfortunately, as I was leaning aggressively upwind to head to harder sand, the board just went completely sideways and popped me off of it on to my back, at which point the kite I tried to guide the kite away from the power zone, but it decided it had other plans... After a nice drag followed by a small amount of unwated air, I managed to get the kite down and safe.... This was a good point to end the session and give into my tiredness before my over-confidence got me in to some serious trouble..

Even with the unceremonious dumping at the end, this was by far the best session I have had to date. I reckon I must have done maybe 50 kms of landboarding today and virtually all of it had been controlled and fun... Does it get much better...?

Sunday 19/2 - North Brighton [Wiamari Beach] - 15:30- 17:00

Wind conditions: Avg-10/Gust-14/Lull-5 Direction: East - South East

What a difference a day makes....

Thought I would go out a little nearer low tide today to see if the conditions were as good as yesterday. To look at the wind website, it should have been awesome, but in reality it was a dissapointment.

The wind was really lumpy and coming in mainly on a SE direction, that made going south along the beach too much like hard work, and even going North was nowhere as good as Saturday. The beach was not only quite crowded with Sunday beachgoers, but had all sorst of shit all over it, huge lumps of seaweed the size of small trees, a ton of driftwood that I have never seen before, and everyone had a dog that wanted to chase me..??

So no fun... Weaving around the crap and people, and struggling to get any power into the kite took its toll on me, and my muscles were reminding me just how good yesterdays session was... Therefore I packed it in early and retired to the lounge...

The tides are good for some evening sessions this week, so let's hope the wind plays ball....

Friday - Sunday 24th-26th Feb - Waikuku Beach [Waterfly Jib Jam]

Wind conditions: between 12-20 knots, Direction: North East through South East

The Waterfly Jib Jam is a regular kitesurfer event held north of Christchurch at Waikuku beach, organized by Morgan of H2Ofly. Morgan is surely one of the most laid back & relaxed guys in the local CHCH kitesurfing scene, and refreshingly unpretentious for a surfy, and also pretty good on a landboard I thought it would be a great idea to piggy-back off of this event and get a bunch of us boarders to show support for the local kite-related sports, and also to help generate more interest and participation in the local landboarding scene. The word went out and at least 4 boarders including myself were up for it, so plans were made and beer brought!

As the tides on the weekend were low in the early morning and evening, we decided to get up to Waikuku on Friday evening, set up camp and then hit the beach for evening session. Am I glad we did because even though the wind was coming in with more than a touch cross-shore, 5 of us including Morgan had a blast under a very spectacular sunset in the 12 knot winds. Plenty of downwind runs followed either by some serious upwind tacking or a swift walk back up the beach, ensured we were out there until well after the sun went down. In fact it was bloody dark when we finished, it was difficult enough to see each other let alone our kites, boards and stuff we had left in the beach. [Note: next time a beach bonfire or torch is essential] We retired to the campsite for some incinerated sausages, plenty of beer and a yarn about the local kiting scene & characters, before hitting the air mattress at 1:30am.

Saturday morning was a stunner, with a clear blue sky and strong sunshine to get rid of the chill of the night and help with those hangovers. At around 9:00am there was hardly a breath of air out on the beach, and a morning session was looking doubtful, so we went for a spot of mountainboarding on the local dune hills. By 10:30am the wind had picked up considerably and was blowing fully onshore at around a fresh 12-15 knots, and it didnt take long for us to hit the beach as the tide was fast coming in. Personally I had a nightmare of a session, running into the soft sand twice and really hitting the beach, [Hard], and also managing to take Kiter out as well. But Southie and Norwester were hooning along the beach throwing down some wicked jumps and slides. Once Kiter was back up and running again, he was powersliding up and down the whole beach and only stopped riding when the beach started to run out. After a few runs in the Blokart we headed back to the camp to worry about eating and stuff, while Southie broke out his kitesurf gear and headed for the waves.

That afternoon some of us headed out to the estuary & lagoon to watch the kitesurfer doing their stuff in fully powered conditions that must have been blowing 20 knots at times. Canterburys top riders were out there doing their thing and the tricks were being thrown down hard, especially Cookie and his kiteloops. At one point I counted 16 kites out on the water and another 12 or so laying around on the beach, the CHC estuary must have been empty..! I gave Morgan a hand getting the kicker set up and then sat back with a beer or two to watch the fun It took a little while for some of the riders to dial in the kicker but once they had there was some awesome carnage taking place. The most popular move of the day seemed to be the flat spin to arse-plant, followed by a length body drag downwind, with only a little variation in how they got to the arse-plant Most respect must go to Mattie for his numerous attempts on the kicker, taking out a couple of other kitesurfers on some runs, but never giving up. Did he ever hit that triple flat spin with handle pass, or what ever it was he was trying to crack?

With the wind still cranking and the tide receding, the die-hard landboarders tackled the 15+ knot side shore conditions just to eke out whatever we could at around 6:00pm. Man it was hard work. You could sail downwind as powered up as you wanted, but coming back upwind was a real chore, involving having to execute about 20 hard tacks to be able to pull any upwind riding across the beach. Kiter & Norwester both dropped a kite size and were still fully powered on their 3.0m & 3.5m kites respectively. I stuck it out with my 5.0m and was very cautious about too many aggressive downstrokes on the downwind legs, especially as I was keeping one eye open to spot any patches of soft sand. After an hour or so of this punishment I tried to work my upwind to where the beach opened up towards the mouth of the Ashley river as I could see that Norwester had made it there, but it was taking me forever! I noticed that he had taken a hit and was lying on the beach, and after I had executed 2 more tacks upwind, he was still laying there. By the time I made it round the point and caught up with him, he was up on his feet but was looking a touch tentative getting back on the board. He had hit the same patch of soft sand I had hit in the morning and it had given him a good old fashioned beach session spanking, involving a 20 foot involuntary & unassisted flight and hard landing on his back. As we both worked our way back down the beach he took another spanking and called it a day. It must have been almost 9:00pm before we got back to the campsite, battered, bruised and somewhat knackered, where we hunkered down around the BBQ for a well deserved feast of charcoal steaks and ribs, washed down with as much beer as we could manage!

Sunday morning was repeat of Saturday weather wise, except that wind did not fill-in as quickly as the previous day, and with the tide coming in fast, we aborted our proposed landboarding session. Nursing our aching bodies from the previous two days landboarding, we retired gracefully and made a start at breaking camp. By 12:30pm we were packed and saying our goodbyes and telling each other that we would definitely do a landboarding camping trip again, before heading back to CHC.

A big thanks to all the landboarders that came along, to all the kitesurfers that showed us some respect, to Norwester for making the effort to come up from Ashburton to kite with a bunch of blokes he had never even spoken to, and to Morgan for his organization and willingness to let us be involved Cheers.

well said spig'' it was a great weekend and would love to do it all again .

Ditto Kiter thanks to all you fellas for the invite for the weekend ...I now understand why the beach is the best spot to ride ,,here i have been fighting my way round the park down here with gusty and unpredictable winds and now I have found landboarding nirvana ...not sure if the body will be repaired enough for the weekend but I will see what its like come Saturday ....Hey Spig how do i go about uploading a phot to the site what format and size can I use as i have to show you fellas what, (as you wonderfully described ) a 20 foot involuntary & unassisted flight and hard landing on his back looks like a couple of days later...let me know ,

And by the way i have decided to sell the 3.0 m Samuri if any one is interested let me know thought i would give anyone lookin first go at it before listing on trade me [/list]

WARNING......LANDBOARDING CARNAGE AHEAD......





O U C H . . . ! !

This is the result of a new KGB move called a "20 foot involuntary" as perfected by Norwesters at the recent Jib Jam.... I can't see him trying that one again anytime soon...

bloody hel norwester'' didint think it was that bad

anyway if you can make it this weekend i will let you use my board

instead of that concrete slab u have i am off for a month drug dependent'

if ya need a bed we can look after ya there too. :wink:

Hell yeah!!!!

I won da Boardercross at the Kiteports challange on the weekend.beat some locals in da first race and some frenchies in the second.

So anyways gotta go im praying for wind this weekend at its working.

Hey kiter wen u goin kitesurfing?I wanna come film wit my camera.
Jst jokes.I might be able to help.

i've still got a squishy knee from a case of the speed wobbles from my worn out hand-me-down mt board

i wonder if linda on the camera caught me faceplanting.....

at least i didn't get the prize for slowest mtb-er like i did last year

anyone know how craig hansens thumb fixen op went?

craig of dunedin :wink:

I still came first by like a minute.I also beat the frenchies from stance kiteboarding later during the afternoon and that was a close one.

Weather looking good for this weekend so ill probably see ya down at da estuary martin and then i can finally work on getting a simple backroll.
I talked to that fag on the slingshot at school 2day and now hes telling me about his new leash and that he is going to try handle passes.WTF.LOL.Dam BS thats what i think!

Later

Hey....??

What happened to my blog...? :shock:

I get busy for a few weeks at work, and you've taken over my blog and turned it into a chat room...

NOTE: I reserve the right to delete unwanted or off-topic posts in this thread...

Looks like a small kite day....

Currently (8:55am) blowing Easterly Avg 14 / Gust 23 / Lull 8 and increasing....

Lets see what it's doing at 11:00am

Saturday 18/3 - North Brighton - 11:15-14:45

Wind conditions: Avg-16/Gust-28/Lull-9 Direction: North East & East

Yehawww.... What a blast...!

Got a call from Norwester at around 10:00am letting me know he was in town to have rip along our awesome stretch of beach. Looking out the window I could tell the wind was pumping but I didn't ralise just how much...! After a strong coffee and watching a tips DVD, we hit the beach in some mad conditions....

I had been hoping to get some practice with my new 10m Ozone Access depower kite this weekend but the wind was just too much for that. So I first decided to go with my 5.0m Radsail, but on leaving the house I soon changed my mind and dropped down to my trusty 2-line 2.8m Best Trainer for these wild winds. Norwester started out on his 3.5m Bullet, but was soon being dragged all around the tide line and executing some spectacular forward rolls in the general direction of the dunes. Luckily I have a demo 2.0m Ozone Imp back at the house, which was soon in Norwesters hands.

The wind was very gusty and coming in strongly from the NE for the first part of the session, which made going north a struggle at best. But heading south was a blast, I has some awesome speedy runs with my little kite hardly touching the wind window...! I would then have to do a upwind run, cutting back hard against the wind and throwing in the odd tack to get my speed back up. Norwester was having a ball with the Ozone but it was not really big enough to generate enough upwind power to get him going back North along the beach, so he spent some time walking the board back up wind.

I bumped into Buggier SteveB who was rigging his 2.5m Peter Lynn and took the opportunity to take a short break and chat. SteveB has noit been out too often lately, and as a beginner in the buggy he had picked an 'Adventurous' day for some practice.

Back on the board, I was powersliding upwind at about 2kph for a long while until the wind changed to a more easterly direction after about an hour or so. On the southern runs I was taking the time to practice my slides and getting some hard carves in, which was working well. I started doing some sort of slalom runs, aggressively throwing the board first left and then right and back to the left again, sliding the tail of the board out. This went well until I got a little too aggressive and threw myself off the board, afterwhich I went back to just doing some long cruisey runs down towards the pier.

The wind started to drop after about 2 hours, down to a more reasonable 12 knots or so, and my little trainer kite was begining to struggle pulling my 90kgs around. Norwester rigged up his 3.5m Bullet again and this time it was much better behaved and he was well enough powered for some sweet runs. I was considering going back and getting the 5.0m Radsail but my legs were already beinging to tire and I decided to just have some fun with the 2.8m doing some shorter runs and finally just scudding up the beach.

At around 14:30 the wind dropped a little more and I decided it was a good time to give it up for the afternoon, I was beat. I chatted with Tony who was swapping his 8m GK Sonic for his 11m until Norwester decided he had had enough.

Overall it was great session, if a little hairy at times. I was well in control of the little 2.8m Trainer for most of the afternoon, chucking it around with abondon when the winds slowed a little. I also felt that my board skills had picked up as well with plenty of sliding and carving for fun, if the wind had been a little more stable I would have tried a bit of toeside riding,....oh well next time...! Norwester seemed to have a great session too, and we both trudged off complaining about aching muscles...

Sounds like you had a wicked session.I went kitesurfing instaed cause i was way to over powered for landboarding considering i had the power strap fully pulled in while kitesurfing.

Today at about 1pm i took my 14m cabrinha CO2 out and did some landbaording with it in the sub 10 knot winds.It flew ok most of the time except for the few occasions where it would luff out.It was goin all good until the wind started moving towards north so made it hard to go up the beach but i managed to keep a walking speed goin upwind.I finally reached the pier and did an awesome downwinder back reaching scary speeds but at this point the wind was slowly dropping so about 100m from my house the kite crashed and i couldnt relaunch it so i just called it a day and packed up.

later

i see i missed a good sesion here.

good to hear u boys got out and had some fun . :wink:

I justspent the last 20 minutes typing a post and the Fu**n PC crashed
soooooo anyway i will start again

Saturday 18/3 - North Brighton - 11:15-14:45

Wind conditions: Avg-16/Gust-28/Lull-9 Direction: North East & East

Part two

Indeed a good day was missed by you fellas

After the initial hit of coffee at Spigs place (straight up black,strong enough you could just about stand a spoon up straight in it)
Off out the gate we went.
OUt of the bag came the evil 3.5 Bullet,(I say evil as this is the weapon that almost put me in the hospital and is responsible for the massive bruising in the recently posted photo)
After launching it i proceeded to perform the double forward roll to stand move and had flashbacks of Waikuku and being a passenger on the hurt train again
Mr :mrgreen: was kind enough to borrow me a two liner to play with for a while
Then the wind dropped and out came the Evil and then it was all on.
I took it slow for a bit and then got a bit of confidence back and i was shittng myself a bit every time i built up a bit of speed.
By the time we had finished the beach looked like a freeway with all the tyre marks in the sand from the god knows how many runs up and down the beach we had
It looked like there must have been about 30 KGBers out but alas there were only two, and we had the whole beach to ourselves (xcept for the blocarts But they dont really count do they now fellow KGBers)
It was a great almost 4 hours and i was well pleased to get into bed that night cause i was totally stuffed
Yesterday and today I have been constantly reminded of the fun that was had on Saturday as every time i get up to walk my knees and legs certainly let me know.
So thankyou Spig for your hospitality and for a great day on the beach

Look forward to the next time up

hey''

i hope that guy that hit the pipe is ok i spoke to him when i was walking home he had a lot of blood from his nose and his board had a few battle wounds.

:?:

I had my best ever landboarding seesion this afternoon

I started out going very slow as the wind was only 10 knots but in about an hour the wind was blowing 18 knots.I was flying my naish X2 and was loving the power so decided to start doing some jumps.After a while of figuring out jumps i found out there were 2 kinds of jumps you can do.Theres big air jumps and long distance jumps.I have to say i got about 2m high doing big air jumps and the longer i was out there the better i was getting.Then i started doing long distance jumps which you only got about a metre off the ground but just float for a few metres.Near the end of my session the wind was getting way to strong for me but i decided to have a few more go's at jumoing.The first one was average but then the second jump i totally cranked it and did a Fucking long jump!!!!!It was not 5 metres or 10 or even 15 meters it was 19 METERS LONG!!!!!!It was fucking insane and it looked soo cool cause the tracks just dissapear and then show up again 19m further.

So lets see if anyone else can beat that record.Maybe ive already been beaten because norwesters crash was a pretty big one and he flew a few metres

later

ooohhhhh yes it was rather a large jump but yours should count Southie as i dont think landing on ya back can be counted as a completed jump...

Thursday 24th March - North Brighton 16:15 18:30

Wind conditions: Avg-9/Gust-13/Lull-6 Direction: East / South East



Today was a perfect example of the First Law of Kiting. From about midday I started checking the HowIsIt.co.nz website to see how the wind was building down at Brighton. By about 3:30pm it was averaging around 14-15 knots and looking like it was set to go higher, so as the afternoon was pretty slow I grabbed my jacket and left the office. I eventually got home, changed and got my gear together, took a final look at the wind web page and saw it was still blowing around 14 knots, and headed to the beach with my 5.0m Radsail.

By the time I rigged up and stepped on the board at 4:30pm, the wind had dropped to below 11 knots and was slowly dropping away!! I continued on with the 5.0m for about 45 mins getting less and less power out of it and having only half as much fun as I was after. I knew it was going to be a wash-out when the kitesurfers gave up, (everyone except the mad Frenchy), so I decided it was a great time to get the 10.m Ozone Access out.

15 mins later the big orange beast was up and flying easily in the now sub-10 knot breeze. As this was my first try at riding the board with the Access I took it kinda easy, but I hooked in a stepped on the board. In these lowish winds the Access was a little sluggish, but when a good patch of wind came through it really came to life and I could really feel the acceleration when pulling the depower bar in. Unfortunately the good wind did not last for long and I was stuck down the beach trying to keep the kite in the air until the next patch of wind came in. The wind was now averaging about 8 knots and it was just getting harder and harder to set the Access at 45 degrees and ride the breeze, so after a few more runs I packed it in.

I had been a little scared to get the Access out when I thought it was going to be blowing 14 knots or more, but having felt how it reacts when the wind came through at around 12 knots, I think next time Ill be a little braver. It was a real buzz setting the kite and then pulling the bar in and speeding up, and even better when I could slow down by just pushing the bar back in. I know Im gonna have some fun with this awesome kite.

Let hope that the wind comes up this weekend so that I can get my BOB, (Big Orange Beast) out for a powered up run.

Sunday 26th March - North Brighton 16:15 18:30

Wind conditions: Avg-15/Gust-21/Lull-9 Direction: East / North East

After having waited for the wind to come up all day Saturday, I was keen to get out on Sunday around 4:00pm if conditions were right. Well, not sure if they were right, but I hit the beach in a faint drizzle with every intention of getting the 5.0m Radsail up and flying. The wind speed was trending down as I laid my lines out and got rid of the tangles, but it was still gusty at times, but I was confident that the 5.0m was the right choice... I have to get over my fear of flying a large kite in feisty wind conditions, right?

Wrong... As I pulled back on my lines, angling the kite to the edge of the window, the canopy started to inflate and rise okay but then suddenly a gust pushed the semi inflated kite the other way across the window and powered up. I had had a concern about the conditions and this time I was ready for the power and as the pull increased to an insane amount, I dropped to my arse and let go of the bar to avoid an unnecessary flight. As the kite collapsed and the kite killer kicked in, it gave my right arm such an enormous yank that I though was going to pull it from the socket! Ouch..! Time to put the 5.0m meter away and try something smaller.

After spending another 20 mins rolling up the Radsail and nipping home for my trusty 2.8m Best Trainer, I was finally up and running. And what a good session it was too Only myself on the beach, a solid Noreaster kicking through, with just enough easterly component to keep me powered upwind going back up the beach. If anything the wind had increased over the preceding hour and I having a ball with my little kite in conditions very similar to the previous Saturday session with Steve Campbell (NorWester).

I had adjusted my toeside bias a little more between sessions and was now able to carve hard and fast at will on the southerly runs down the beach. Heading back north was almost a continual powerslide for most of the session, but towards the end the wind started coming through more easterly, allowing me to practice my carving going the other way. Im not sure if I have gotten the kite position right during my carving, as I seem to lose power after 3 or 4 turns. I worked out that droping the kite down the window on my upwind carve worked well, but I found that the kite would semi-automatically head for the zenith when carving back downwind. I finally worked out that I should keep the kite powered by going down the window for both carves, cycling the kite back to the top of the window during the transitions between carves. Not sure if this is the right way to do it but it seemed to work well, although there is always a better chance of being pulled of the front of the board when doing a downwind carve.

Anyway it was great fun, and as the light stated to fade I was joined by a guy in a buggy with a small red Peter Lynn Phantom, who was really hooning. Even when he went two-up in his buggy I was still losing ground to him whilst following. I guess I needed something bigger than a 2.8m kite to compete.

I finally decided to call it a day and casually rode up the beach to where I rig up. I was tired and my legs were shaking a bit, but that might have just been the cold and wet! I stepped off the board and looked to my left to make sure there was nothing in that side of the window, where I was gonna attempt a landing. I must have taken my eye off the kite for an instant of a second but by the time I looked up again the kite was diving into a kiteloop smack bang in the middle of the wind window. For the second time that session I took evasive action but it was too late and I flew forwards maybe 3 metres, spun in mid air, and landed on the back of my head!! Thank God for my helmet. The kite pitched into the bottom of the dunes and I laid there dazed and confused! I really hate it when my kite spanks me like that, it really spoils what was a good Landboarding session and dents both my ego and confidence.

The fact that it only takes a moment to lose control of such a small kite in gusty conditions, with the result of lifting a 90kgs guy clean off his feet and throwing him 3-4 meters is concerning. It just serves to remind me that you cannot take anything for granted with the wind and that safety is paramount. If I had not had my helmet on it would have been a lot worse than a stiff shoulder & neck. Lesson for today: Play it safe.[/u]

Sunday 26th March - Vegas 14:30 16:30

Wind conditions: Crap,gusty Direction: East / North East

Ground conditions: Like a carpark full of potholes

(Using your header as a template cheers Spig)

My sympathy goes out to you Spig as a double spanking is something to not look forward to(but wish i had of been there) ....and yes i know i have to get a helmet...
As for the power of a small kite ,you are 100 per cent on the money ,it dosent take but a blink of the eye and before you know it UP UP and away you go at the mercy of the wind gods before smackin the beach
For people learning it is a good reminder that safety is # 1
As for me i was just about in the car yesterday to chch but ended up at the park (stupid crappy full o bumps and shit wind park)but hey take what u can get had a couple of not too bad runs with the 5.5 Bullet and got a pissed of with the conditions so tried a few jumps.The wind got a bit gusty so SAFETY FIRST (and i dont have a helmet) i packed up and went home
The runs on the beach have spoilt me and the park just aint the same anymore

Saturday 1st April - South Brighton 10:30 15:30

Wind conditions: Avg-11/Gust-13/Lull-7 Direction: South East / East

The wind was looking good all through the early part of the morning with a sweet and constant 9-10 knots coming out of the east. Unfortunately by the time I had rigged my 10m Ozone Access close to the South Brighton Surf Club, the wind had swung a little to the SE and dropped a knot or 2.

Southie turned up on his 10m Naish LEI and we made the most of the soft conditions. Southie was really throwing down and landing some nice jumps, and Kiter turned up to take some photo's of hm in action. I on the other hand was still strugging with my big Ozone depower foil, which really did not agree to the drop in windspeed especially going up wind, which was done at little more than walking speed. Southie was able to go upwind much better than I was but then he is about my weight...!

Spent a good hour just getting a feel for the Access working out how to keep the power constant through the window, and learning about the best bar position in the turns. Early on I was pulling the bar in hard during the up-stroke on a turn only to find the kite wanting to fold, so it did not take long to put a stop to that and keep the kite shape right. Around midday the wind picked up a couple of knots and came in a little more easterly and the Access really came to life.

Downwinders were fast and controlled, using the bar to generate some initial power and then setting the kite at about 60 degrees and just riding the wind. Sweet... I loved doing those tight carves turns with the Access but found that after maybe 6 or 7 the kite would have flown back towards the zenith and I would have to bring it back down to pick the speed up again. I guess I need to work on what my hands are doing on the bar instead of what my feet are doing on the board. With the wind now averaging around 11 knots even the upwind runs were becoming easier, although it did involve setting the kite real low and locking my position in to the board, which made those runs kinda tedious.

Blizzad & Zenon showed up with they buggies around 2:00pm and soon there was a whole bunch of us ripping up the beach. In fact Neil21 showed up on his 13m Venom later on and another buggy guy with a C-Quad joined up late on. Great to see so many land based kiters out there on such a great day.

I was getting tired but Southie convinced me to take a last upwind run all the way to the end of South Shore. Man was that hard work... My thigh muscles were really burning in the 20 mins it took to get down there and I lost feeling in my toes..! Still it was worth it as the run back up the beach was the sweetest of the afternoon, nice hard carves, using the full width of the beach, and following Southie as he cracked out some impressive and high jumps until he failed to land one...

Overall a great session. The 10m Ozone Access is a gonna be a great kite for just going out and having some contollable fun with, great for cruising and messing about with and also super stable and very very predictable. I can't wait until the wind is right for an assult on the Waimak, the Access will be a great weapon for just that sort of hard, fast, long type of run...

Hi im new and have been browsing the forums. Im interested in landboarding and i need some advice since you seem to know quite alot about it and i was wondering if you could help me out i have one posting under welcome but judging by the amount of unreplied messages i suppose none of the regulars actually read them. If you could help me out it would be great

Cheers

sure thing'' where you from? if chch we can get the advise to you you need and even get you going on a kite if you would like to have a go.

and maybe you would like to join us at camp

Sweet most of you guys live in Chch tho and i am in riverton even worse im only 14 so im stuck, but if you can help me thats wicked

where is riverton/ if you require a lesson with a kite

there are a few people arround/ nz landboarding/ kitesports/ h2 fly

or if sometime you are at the beach one of us will be happy to show you all about it .

at 14 yr old please seek advise and lessons before buying any kite as this will make you time flying better and safer. :wink: