2009 BKSA National Freestyle Tour Dates
24th June 2009
After Watergate was cancelled in April, there is now an extra event in Yorkshire in September - woohoo!
Round 1: May 15th-17th, Swansea South Wales
Round 2: July 10th-12th, Hunstanton Norfolk
Round 3: July 31st-Aug 2nd, Barrow Cumbria
Round 4: August 28th-30th, Blackpool Lancashire
Round 5: September 4th-6th, Bridlington Yorkshire
Round 6: September 25th-27th, Littlehampton West Sussex
Round 7: October 8th-10th, Redcar Tee Side
Got my legs back!!
11th April 2009
Yahoo!! the leg brace is off and it is AMAZING to be on my feet again! it has been a week now and it is still a massive novelty to be standing up and trying to walk again and doing things unassisted! I can make my own porridge and carry drinks and food and EVERYTHING :-)
The past week has been pretty tough going though, I couldn't bend my leg at all when the brace first came off. Felt like a bit of a wolly because the consultant was asking me to bend my knee and I just couldn't do it - I had completely lost the muscle memory - my brain just wasn't speaking to my leg! when I got home I put a rolled up towel under my knee and MADE it bend!! such a horrible and unnatural feeling, pretty sick really, and the paaaaain !!! it has probably been the most pain I have been in since the operation, and I never thought something so easy would be such a mission. I guess that's what six weeks in peg-leg position does to you !
So the situation now is, I am having a scan at the end of April and will go back end of May to see my consultant to see what scan showed and to see how I am getting on. Until then he said I have to work at bending my leg and walking and physio and get in the pool to do hydro-therapy. If the operation worked and scan shows my knee has healed up ok (fibro-cartilage has formed under my knee cap) then I will be able to continue with rehab until my leg is strong again. My consultant also said that if I can bend my knee past 90 degrees comfortably and squat without it being painful, then I can try getting on my board again for a gentle cruise - so that is my goal !!! just trying not to get too excited and build my hopes up! I'm missing kiting SO much! and I think about it every day, but I have been told there is a 50/50 chance it will have healed up ok due to the extent of the damage to my knee cap, and if it hasn't healed I may need more surgery. 50/50 is not a great odd but I am rejecting them at the moment and working on recovery. Miracles DO happen... watch this space! :-)
New rehab and no-winder toy
11th April 2009
I now have a new toy for my rehab and for windless days ! more toys :-) you can never have too many. I bought a Jimmy Lewis 10.6 SUP board - not picked it up, just waiting til I can drive again. I can't wait to take it out and can't wait to get out on the water again...in or on ANYTHING ! Think I'll be able to SUP before I'll be able to kite, and SUP will be wicked for strengthening my leg and great for core workout too. Really looking forward to getting out on it! Won't be able to just yet, but physio says I'm ahead of schedule so won't be long :-)
The story behind my new name : 'Robocop'
18th March 2009
Hello!! Sorry for not writing for a while, I have been off the radar a bit since the knee operation I had early February! It's quite a long story but I'll try make it short(ish!)..!! I had been having a few problems with my knees during the summer. They were ok kiting most the time, but I starting doing kiteloops in September which I was loving and after a few hard landings and one in particular when I got a bit carried away in the moment and forgot to keep pulling the kite round, and landing as the kite was still going round...!!...I decided with winter approaching, I thought it would be a good time to get them checked out before hopefully going away for a few months before the 2009 tour started! This hasn't exactly gone to plan so far...but who knows what is round the corner!! :-)
So I had a scan on both knees - my right knee scan showed I had bruised my knee cap and slightly damaged the cartilage underneath (just one hard kiteloop landing - amazing how punishing they can be!!) - so not too major, and I decided to leave that for now and focus on getting my left knee sorted which was in a worser state! my left knee scan showed I had fractured my knee cap and badly damaged the cartilage underneath it so my consultant/surgeon planned to do an arthroscopy (key hole surgery, two small incisions) to check out the damage, tidy it up (!) (take away the broken bits of bone and cartilage) and then drilled some holes in to my knee cap which would stimulate the production of fibro-cartilage. Cartilage is irreplaceable but the fibro-cartilage created acts as a replacement, not as good a what you are born with but a good back-up apparently!! He reckoned I could be kiting maybe 2 weeks after the op but would have to take it easy for a while...(whatever that means hehe)...so I was eager to get this sorted asap, sooner I get it done, sooner I get back on the water!
So anyway, on Friday 13th February (yep some people suggested I change the date but I am not superstitious so left it!) I went in to hospital to have this operation, which was done under a general anaesthetic! It was quite a long day, but I met a mate of mine I kite with in the ward who was also having an operation on his knee, so was cool to see him and took my mind off the operation itself! Just before the operation, I realised I hadn't taken my beads around my wrist off! (you are meant to take off all jewellery, or anything like jewellery!) I got them in Lanzarote and didn't want to cut them off so when I couldn't do it, one of the anaethetists helped me. By that time I was nicknamed trouble (not for the first time in my life) after some problems putting the cannula in my hand aswell, my veins were hiding apparently!? So anyway, I ended up being a bit late for surgery and my surgeon, who was also the guy I had been seeing for the past few months (and a kiter too so good mates!) came to see where I was, and was like 'what are YOU doing now!?' smiling...and I said I was trying to take my beads off because I liked them and was trying to avoid having to have them cut off :-) and he said 'don't worry, leave them on, I'm not operating on your arm am I?' - such a cool guy, very cool...especially because he kitesurfs too :-) and then in to theatre I went. Not sure why but as they were putting me to sleep I was trying to stay awake for a long as I could! but that didn't last long..and I was OUT!!
ANYWAY!! this short story isn't very short is it!? hehe...hope you're still awake, if not, sleep well :-)
So, anyway, when my consultant came to see me after I came round, he explained my left knee was in a worse state than the scan showed, and was a 'mess' inside! Once he has tided up and taken out the broken bits of bone and cartilage he said there was a black hole, a bit like a 'crater' in my knee cap! (whoops) He said I would need to wear a leg brace for 4-6 weeks (ended up being 6!) and was not to bend it or weight bear on my left leg at all...this was a bit of shock and I was so so gutted about it. No kiting, no sport and not using my legs (well both of them!) for 6 weeks is probably one of the worse things for me! but since then I have got my head around it and accepted the situation. At least I got it seen to, otherwise I could have had major problems in the future!
That was 4 weeks ago now, so hopefully only 2 more to go until I can try walking and weight bearing again, and take off this big leg brace that is a permanent accessory for me right now (check out the photo in photo section!) giving me all sorts of nick names including Robocop/pegleg but I think I am a bit more like Lara Croft, mainly because I can put things in my leg brace to carry things around! it's quite handy :-)
Not sure when I can kite next yet, was told an extra bit of info two weeks ago...found out there is a 50/50 chance that my knee will be able to produce enough fibro-cartilage to fix my knee and if not I'll need more surgery but will think about that later!! for now, I am hoping and praying that I won't need more surgery! and if I don't, I'll work hard on rehab and try get my strength back as quickly as I can, so hopefully I can be on the water really soon! just taking every day as it comes right now and keeping positive :-) I'll keep you posted! :-)
Round 1, Watergate Bay - cancelled
18th March 2009
The BKSA have announced that Round 1 at Watergate Bay has been cancelled due to lack of funding - such a shame because it is an amazing spot, and we were all looking forward to seeing eachother again! but hey, hopefully we can have a comp there next year. So this now means that the first event is at Swansea Bay on 15th-17th May.
Below is the updated list of 2009 BKSA National Freestyle tour dates:
Round 1 : May 15th-17th Swansea, South Wales.
Round 2 : July 10th-12th Hunstanton, Norfolk.
Round 3 : July 31st-Aug 2nd Barrow, Cumbria.
Round 4 : August 28th-30th Blackpool, Lancashire.
Round 5 : September 25th-27th Littlehampton, West Sussex.
Round 6 : October 8th-10th Redcar, Tee Side.
More info on the BKSA at http://www.bksaonline.org
