Cleethorpes

Forecast
The weather forecast for today was looking pretty bad from the outset with easterly winds for the whole of the UK coupled with rain.

It was looking good for Ainsdale but I couldn't go as I don't have a permit and the person I need to get one from wasn't available.

This meant the only choice was the East coast with offshore winds, not ideal, definetly too dangerous for the water but definetly worth getting out for a good blast on the landboard to get some practice in.

Cleethorpes
I got to beach at about 11am to find it completely empty with the tide on the way out. The winds were pretty blustery so I cracked open the 9m Atom to cope with those top end gusts.

I got setup and I had a quick static fly to get things moving. Just before I jumped on the board the winds started to pick up even more ahead of a HUGE black cloud on the horizon that was moving pretty swiftely in my direction. The winds kept on rising so I decided to get the kite down before the weather came in. I brought the kite down to the edge of the window and it just wouldn't come down and it resulted in me pulling the 1st safety and letting the kite out fully on the leash but it was still bouncing around even though there was no power. It took quite a lot of wrestling but I got it down in the end.


Rain
The rain didn't half come down and I ended up sitting under the kite for 20mins while the wind howled around. One benefit of a bow kite is that you can hide under it if it rains. :)
It did feel quite 'British' to be sat on the beach in the pouring rain.

After the storm passed the wind disappeared completely for a while and then came back to a nice 15mph, although it was offshore. It was the usual gusty offshore wind.


Practise, practice, practice - land to water
I spent the rest of the day belting up & down Cleethorpes beach on the landboard practising powered transitions. I need to get the powered turns sorted so I can make better transitions if I ever get good enough on the water as I assume that a loss of power will make me sink!

I did have a few tumbles and ruined my knees on the hard sand and sharp shells. I've ripped my trousers through and got cuts on my legs. I definetly will be wearing my knee pads in future.

What I've learned - transitions
I think I've also sussed out a possible problem with my water starts as I have a tendancy to take the kite from the top of the window (12 o'clock) around the edge of the window, this enevitably ends up with the kite at the edge of the wind and therefore no power after an initial boost.

When moving right, I started moving the kite back to about 11 o'clock and then down through the center but much lower so when it moved through the 12 o'clock line it was much lower in the window and therefore more powerful.

This in itself took a bit of getting used to as there's much more power to hold down but it gets moving faster and the power stays on. :)

What I've learned - POWER!!!
I'm getting used to more power and I surprised myself by pretty much getting long runs, effectively unhooked, max permanent power, and just using the angle & direction of the board to control the power.

I also got some MASSIVE slides in on the runs and some HUGE power slides to stops. :) I left loads of sand trails along the beach and even had an audience at one point.

All in all, it was a good 4hr session. Bring it on! :)

sweet arcs

Today at Ponty was great boarding on my trampa & 16m Venom II; again pretty much the only one out all the time thanks to it's fantastic gust munching ability. I increased the turning speed by changing the settings at the tips and it's pretty damned fast now, centre strap was set to mid-power.

I tend to fly mostly trimmed in on the 'wimp' settings, these allow me to fly the kite with less power but it's enough for my skill level. Trimming out to 'max power' resulted in pure power throughout the window, I don't think I'm quite ready for this.

I had 2 long sessions throughout the day while others with Access, Frenzy, Blades, Beamers and Firebees all couldn't cope with the constantly changing conditions. VII kept me going all day with a smile.

Despite the fact they're a pig to launch solo they're fantastic kites.

Trampa
I also had the first proper blast on my Trampa kite deck, which is *way* better than my previous board. Carves nicely, bindings are good, super bouncy to soak up those bumps and the matrix lite trucks mean for great stability at speed. Another great item.
I also managed a bit of toe-side riding, not very far and not very fast but still I tried.

GPS
I used a GPS to clock the 2nd session and I managed a peak of 18.7mph on the board (not bad in the light winds with a 16m arc) and covered a distance of 3.9 miles.
The image below shows the run @ ponty, you can see the red bits where I stopped/fell off and the yellow bits are usually me walking about.

Trampa test

I managed to get out at luncthime with the trampa for a quick downhill session at Norfolk Park.
Board is nice and irons out the bumps while remaining nice and controllable.

Trampa arrived

The trampa arrived today, it's super springy and looking good.

It's a 13 ply 35deg short kite deck, scrub matrix lite trucks, rockstar hubs, primo alpha, scrub ratchet bindings.

Stripped it down, replaced the wheel bearings that were shot and cleaned it all up. The bearings are completely missing on one of the king pins! I have no idea how the previous owner could have ridden this but I'll have to get some ordered before I can ride it properly.

This is a world apart from my Kheo Air-S: it rides higher, massive amounts of pop, bindings are super grippy and the Trampa boards are notoriously bombproof.