Forcast's looking good for tomorrow & Saturday, high tide is around 1pm. If you don't bring Lee & his learners you will be excused the "customary rights" - payable to any local that may request beach fees from Auckland tourists

Much better attitude from you uppity south-of-the-bombay dwellers. Just keep it up, thank you. I'll have a cardboard cut-out of screaming Lee stashed in the back of my Landcruiser that's never been offroad ready to pull out at the first sign of local cheek.

Friday arvo was N.N.W & smoooth slickness, lovin' kitelooping my 9m, great to get on the water after a 3 week break. Surprisingly the Daryls left just as it got good.

Saturday cranked W.S.W. & the tribes of babylon descended, or ascended when the wind dialled up during a squall without rain... Came in to change to shorter lines on 7m & there was a bit of mayhem going on. Got back out & off to ride those nice big lefts I had spotted up on the north bar earlier. After the usual upwind mish, picked off a nice set wave - kiteloop take off into a fast forehand bottom turn looking for the next turn off the lip & absorbing some chop.... OH F#%K, kite wing-tip has hit the surface! (Flu induced complacency?) MUNCH goes my wave, CRUNCH goes the next... Tried to relaunch the kite but it's hard to get line tension when all four lines have broken! So another big bar swim, the good thing about the north side is there's no tide and the waves are good for body-surfing. I managed to beat my kite in thanks to the assist from K.K.K for the last 50m & Pixie on the polesurfer holding the kite so it didn't blow up the beach. Unbelievably my kite was still intact, I guess 'cos the lines broke it saved the kite, I was expecting to see it in 3 pieces or even lose it altogether. So in a perverse kind of way I enjoyed the session, it was a worst-case-scenario & I survived!

Sunday was pretty hit & miss, mostly I missed it. W.S.W but swinging to S & dropping off when the clouds weren't around.

So yeah tangled, no matter what wetsuit you wear, kitepants / no pants, no matter if you can or can't kite cool - If you kite or pole Raglan sooner or later prepare to be humbled by the elements.

Hey Skyrider, hats off to you for tackling those lefts way out the back. I stuck around in the estuary, although I saw a couple of specks on the horizon that I was too chicken to go and join. Must have been you and Jeremy. Yeah - those squally were a blast. Never been so overpowered on a 8.5 in my life!