Sunday 22 June 2008

A year in review - start doing, stop doing, keep doing

I thought I'd take a little time to review my last years kiting and think about things a little.

I've broken it down into some classic lists of start, stop and keep to give some focus to it all.

Keeping Doing
Weather variety - whatever the weather you can pretty much find something to do and you're always learning. high wind, low wind, smooth wind, gusty wind, it's all valuable experience.
Practice on the land board - I enjoy doing this and I don't really get to do it enough. It's a good into to kitesurfing but the 2 are a little differnt. landboard does however get you used to balancing against the power of the kite.
Get out with the guys - meeting up with other like minded people is important. I learn faster and have a good laugh too. The occasional long distance trip with the RaceKites.com crew is a fantastic get away and always good.

Stop Doing

Being a wuss - I think all aspects of kiting are easier with more power. More power comes from bigger kites and/or higher winds. More power takes some getting used to and in particular when you know the spankings are going to be even harder.
It's also important to get on with it for the kitesurfing, don't wuss out, get up and going.
Talking about it - it's good to get out and meet the guys but I need to balance that by getting out and doing it. I can easily spend ages just chatting away, even when there's good kiting winds to be had.
Buying things! - I know in my heart of hearts that I have everything I need to have a good time. However, there's still the lure of the new shiny thing, the different experience or the new venue. It's quite scarey to look at the stuff I've bought and sold over the year.

Start Doing
Kite surfing! - my little foray into kite surfing was great and I *really* want to get it cracked so I can make the most of it. This will make a good summer sport.
I'm right at the beginning of the learning curve on this so it's particularly interesting and I now have everything I need so there's no excuses other than time.
Focus - dump the kit I don't need, stop swapping around, get good at it. I think bow kites are the way to go. I'll keep the arcs for inland and the bows for inland/water.
Beat Paul! - we're having a Speed Champ 2008 competition between the 2 of us. So far I'm winning but Paul's got some new kites that pose a serious threat.