2009 BKSA National Freestyle Tour
20th January 2009
The BKSA have just announced the dates of the 2009 National Freestyle Tour / British Championships, with the first event on April 24th 2009, which is in three months time!
Round 1 : April 24th-26th Watergate Bay, Cornwall.
Round 2 : May 15th-17th Swansea, South Wales.
Round 3 : July 10th-12th Hunstanton, Norfolk.
Round 4 : July 31st-Aug 2nd Barrow, Cumbria.
Round 5 : August 28th-30th Blackpool, Lancashire.
Round 6 : September 25th-27th Littlehampton, West Sussex.
Round 7 : October 8th-10th Redcar, Tee Side.
(All above events are subject to funding and if funding is not agreed events may be pulled 30 days prior to dates.)
For more info visit http://www.bksaonline.org
First session of 2009!
19th January 2009
Such an awesome day - sunny, a 'fresh' westerly 25knots, and nicely powered on my 7m Bandit Dos. It was so good to get out again - realised it was my first session in 2009! I went to Oman with work a few days after New Years days, so hadn't been out for a couple of weeks. Didn't get to kite over there unfortunately but it was nice being in the sun again, didn't get out in it much, but was nice to know it was there! (check out the project I have been working on: http://www.omansail.com)
I think when you don't go out often you appreciate sessions so much more, and also when it is cold you tend to bust out as many tricks as you can because you know the cold kicks in quite soon! Today was wicked, probably got out for an hour at Colwell Bay on the island, the sun was so bright you could hardly see coming in - loved it! The wind was pretty strong and constant, and picked up a bit too, so perfect for boosting :-)
Had a bit of a shock towards the end of my session - I rode in to something which stopped me in my tracks, took the board off my feet, and I carried on going! felt like I hit a rock, it made quite a loud clunk noise! When I body-dragged back to my board I saw one of my heel side fins stuck to a plank of wood, and actually took a bit of effort to free it! the board seemed ok though which was cool. When I got back to the beach, one of my mates Phil aka Skelley noticed the fin had slightly de-laminated where the screw goes in the to fin, but nothing serious - phewww. Think I was quite lucky :-)
There were only four of us out today - me, Ben, Phil and Geoff! the number of kiters on the island that get out over the winter drops a bit in the winter months, so it's cool to be able to still get out and face the not so warm weather - once you have done it a few times, you don't think so much about it! It does make you feel tired for the rest of the day, the cold can take it out of you a bit, but it is sooo worth it - I love it.
We're hoping to get an early morning session in before work this week, and off snowboarding for the weekend - happy daze :-)
Merry Crimbo everyone!
28th December 2008
Hello! Hope you had a wicked Christmas and managed to get out on the water too! I was hanging out with the family over Christmas which was cool, but managed to get out yesterday! I bought a new Maui Magic hoody from Tommy -www.session1.com - which made a massive difference. I also have a Maui Magic hoody/rashvest combo which I wore with it! sounds a bit extreme but so worth it and meant I didn't feel the cold as much. I'll do anything to be able to stay out there a bit longer! It was such a wicked sunny day, but 2 degrees and an even colder wind chill. There was a NE wind so we went down to Ryde, which is my favourite beach on the island to kite at - big sandy beach! Had a bit of walk to get to the water as the tide was going out when I got there, but it was worth the walk. Wicked to get out, did get a bit cold, but mainly because of my long walk before I got to the water!
I had a close shave with the hovercraft a few times which was a bit crazy! There was a nice little lagoon in the hovercraft channel which I was kiting in, so I was kiting there when the hovercraft was not around, and when I caught sight of it I quickly got out of way pretty quick...! All good fun :-)
Also had a scan on one of my knees Christmas Eve and I find out what is going on inside there on New Years Eve when I go to see the Orthopadic Surgeon/Consultant - need to get my knees fixed up before next season and only an operation is going to do that! I can kite on them ok and have done all year but a hard kiteloop landing just before the Brighton event in October, and a dislocation last year which seems to have left bits of bone hanging around under my knee cap, is causing some pain. So I am trying to get the sorted asap so I can still get away and hit some serious kiting training before the BKSA tour. I may miss the first one or two if I run out of time a bit, but will be worth it to have two good knees again, and to get some training in before the comps. ANYWAY! just thought I'd update you on that! until then I'll keep kiting as much as I can can, and hit the gym so I keep my fitness/strength up too.
I hope all of you winter warriors are having a wicked time out there, and for those of you that aren't kiting - get out there!! :-)
Early morning session before work :-)
25th November 2008
Every day should begin like this! this morning me and my mate Ben got up early for a kite before work. I'm not gonna lie...getting out of bed was a bit of a struggle at first! only because I knew it was cold outside and my bed was so warm...but once I was up I couldn't wait to get to the beach!
I had a quick pot of my Grasshopper porridge (http://www.teamgrasshopper.co.uk), put my wetsuit on at home and loaded up the car. It was a northerly wind so we went out at Ryde which I think is the best spot on the island, nice sandy beach and at low tide sand banks and lagoons appear and the water is butter flat - soooo nice. It was high tide today so bit choppier but still sweet. When I got to the beach Ben was already there and nearly ready to go. The wind was blowing nicely and pretty solid...and cold...but it was windy and that was the most important thing. And it was sunny which was awesome! so nice to see the sun! My fingers did get pretty cold pumping up my kite but the feeling came back which I was pleased about :-)
I launched Ben, finished doing my lines, and then hit the water. The wind was sweet, the occasional gust came through but lasted long enough to be able to use it for extra boost!
At the moment, I'm still getting used to my new smaller board - and loving it! I'm really enjoying boosting and going big. It's quite nice not to have a competition coming up, as sometimes I think I put too much pressure on myself to learn new stuff which is good to do but if I don't get a trick as quickly as I'd like to sometimes I can find it quite frustrating, so sometimes it is nice just getting out there and doing whatever you feel like on the day with no pressure!
Today was so awesome! loved every second out there! and wicked going to work having not showered and with salty skin and hair :-) I had such a wicked day at work, I was super-chilled all day, I wish I could kite every morning before work! Friday morning is looking windy so we could maybe have another pre-work session at Yaverland if the forecased Southerly wind comes through earlier enough...I REALLY hope so! Tomorrow morning I'll hit the gym...until the wind comes back :-)
Sweet Sunday session
23rd November 2008
Just got back from a short but sweet session on my 7m at Seaview. Launching was pretty dodgey as the wind was cross shore and coming over the headland, but after a couple of attempts my kite decided it was going to stay up in the air and not just suddenly fall to the beach for no reason. I had a word with it when we got back to the beach :-)
I was pretty maxed to start with, then the wind dropped and then it picked up again and I was stacked and just boosted really, I love jumping as high as I can, sooo good. I recently got a slightly smaller board from F-one - 130x37 Acid (before I was using 130x39) and I am finding it easier to go bigger now which is cool :-)
It wasn't as cold as it has been recently, but after stacking it a few times and the water flushing through my wetsuit my body temperature started to drop quite quickly...I guess one word to describe it is refreshing...?!
It was wicked, and there were loads of guys out on the water and on the beach so there was a cool vibe down there. Wish we could all hit the beach like that every day...haappy daaaze :-)
