2008 BLOG
DEC 29TH 2008: The direction was a SE which put me off. Grant paged me and da wind speed and the tide were perfect for EB.... just bad direction but then it went more ESE and i was down the road en route to EB. A few other guys were there just chattin away.. no kites up and wind looked crusty. I rigged up and went out. It was as bad as it looked... infact worse lol. Got a few runs in... snuck a few handlepasses in.... surface stuff lol
DEC 23RD 2008: Short session at EB after work. Got there at bout 130. A few guys out.. unfortunately tide got too high and wind got too low.... mmmmm EB remembers who i am lol. But all is not lost.... may head out again this evo once da tide heads out again... outside chance of a nite kite too if Grants keen. STAY TUNED. Only moves for me today were some flat 3s.
DEC 20TH 2008: CRANKING at Bramley today. Bloody marvellous. Heaps of us out. Fully lit on da bullaroo so much that i even used the wavetray as well as da FLOAT. Oldskool moves today. Big airs and one footers (judoairs) as well as big floaty front spins. Fully stoked to be lit up like a Christmas Tree... being so close to Christmas and all hee hee hee.
DEC 19TH 2008: The plan was for a nite kite but i fort da wind was gonna swing NW so decided to have a quick kite at EB whilst there was wind. It was pretty good... out by myself in about 15 knots. Float and Bullaroo. nite kite end up not happening.
DEC 18TH 2008: Grant txted me early in da day about Renton Rd but heavy mail (ie late finish) so we both decided 2 kite PH instead. Was good at times, VERY up and down but i did score a go of his ERA at the end which was excellent.
DEC 15TH 2008: Long time between drinks but it was sweet to get back into it yday.... pretty much basic stuff for me..... great to jump high... allways fun. Nothing beats big air hee hee hee. Pumpin northerly at Bramley.. out there for just over an hour. Used da bulla and da float but then gave da wavetray a bit of a run and it went great
NOV 21ST 2008: Wasn't gonna head out but Grant paged me and we ended up enjoying bout 15 knots at Bramley which was excellent. Grant conditions for wiping out and James Price took full advantage of this and managed to land some nice backmobes... very impressive. I was doing more flat 3s... not huge height... just slight airpass lol. Getting more into my kiteloops again... a few hard landings... at the end felt something give on my float... damn i don't wanna snap that board so i stopped kiteloops on that board lol. Grant was on his ERA and of course was powered... he's light and the ERA is fully at home in 15 knots and i still rate it as the best kite i've ever used for unhooked moves... although i didn't use it today... used da bullaroo instead... which ain't too shabby unhooked either. I still rate that kite eh.... its good for everything lol... big airs, unhooked, waves, kiteloops... it does it all hee hee hee. A few other guys out too... mostly learning. Ryan (Milky) was out too and lovin da 2008 waroo. Interesting to see how he goes on it cos whilst guys like James and Blair now use c kites they learnt fast using waroos and da waroo imo is the best kite for learning and more importantly you'll never outgrow it.
NOV 16TH 2008: Windier today and most of the time i was well powered. Got spanked a few times doing things like flat 3s, kiteloops and kung fu can openers. Heaps of people there today and got lots of footage which of course will be on UTOOB.
NOV 15TH 2008: Dissapointed At EB on arrivial but on occasions there was definately wind.... especially at the end.
NOV 10TH 2008: Ok i've uploaded the footage from the other day when Tim Friedel was on da camera. Great conditions at EB....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9z7xjDk52s
NOV 9TH 2008: Sundays are allways my day off work so i have the mornings free to kite NE winds. And as it was a NE i kited hee hee hee. Initially out on the 7m but had a small break and put the 10m up after bringing a friend along. Rebecca wants to kitesurf but we boith agreed that it wasn't best conditions for starting out. Afterwards Tim came along and it was me, Scotty, Mark kiting it up whilst Tim was on camera duties.
NOV 8TH 2008: I didn't expect there to be much wind today.... except for perhaps a short northerl;y thermal shift for bramley in the arvo. That didn't really happen much but once that departed we got a decent easterly and to be honest it was crankin at EB. Able to easily do frontroll judo airs and on occasions was even downlooping the kite after puttin da foot back in.... one time on landing even ran out of water and wiped out on the beach. I also trialed my new homemade chickenloop. This is designed for unhooking and is big and has no donkeydick... it still needs tweeks but other than attachment issues (it dangles around a bit) its super easy to hook back into. also trialed my new handlepass leash.. once again homemade and works a treat. Gave it a few trials... surfacepasses... half hearted attempts at flat 3s. still no full frontal attacks on the area of airpasses by me as yet.
OCT 24TH 2008: More bramley action.. more crankin northerlies. This time i decided to get the 7m out and zoom around on that. heaps of fun... lit at times on the float. Quite a few of us out today along with plenty of polies too... it was quite windy.
OCT 22ND 2008: Bramley in a northerly... was kickin ass. James Price and Hayden were allready out and Scotty was setting up. Great to be back at Bramley in a northerly.... my favourite wind direction for out east... pre frontal it kix ass.... just keeps increasing...perfect. today was pepped up by the heat.. themal effect as it died off lots in the evo when i was at EB. Still good enu to have a play unhooked.. raileys... all dat sort jazz... no HPs today but looped da bulla round a few times. After 2 years i still stick to my tried and true combo of da 10m bullaroo and da 133 float. i still have da flx and my wavetray but may use one for slider duties... c wot happens eh next time i'm at PH.
OCT 15TH 2008: EB slowly got better and better after Scotty left... sori mate
and it was just me, Grant and Mark out there, loopin it up. Grant now has a fettish for kitelooping his ERA, doin jumps and landing on da beach... and beach jumping and allmost landing on his bus lmao. He also likes letting his ERA go and seeing how many houses it can clear before getting stuck in a tree... lol. We went to Blair's place afterwards and Grant has got these two huge plastic pipes that will make a great slider... adding to the array of toys now at PH hee hee hee.
OCT 5TH 2008: Crankin at da start today. Just me out kiitng at PH but helped Blair and his mate toy up PH... in addition to da kicker we now have 2 sliders . Blair has done an amazing job making all these toys... and they look sooo appetizing hee hee hee. Anyway today hooked in all da time... boosting huge on occasions
OCT 3RD 2008: For the last week Grant has been trying to hook up a session with me at Renton Rd... well today he succeeded. We hit Renton at about3pm and kited till bout 5pm. Nice steady wind and flatish water... and HUGE amounts of room... so we now have 4 eastern Manukau Harbour spots to choose from now. Renton Rd is the newest discovery... not even a week old lol... take your pic... Ihumateo Rd (early 2003), Stonefields (early 2004), Ambury Farm (early 200
, Renton Rd (September 200. Just me, Adam and Grant out today.
SEP 29TH 2008: Change of scenery today... EASTERN BEACH??!! gawd i've forgotten wot this place looked like lol. Anyway pretty light stuff today... actually had 2 sessions... one on da way home from work... and the other with Grant and Hayden after a quick trip home to get munchies. Up and down... threatened to get up but then died off again. At the end i just used Grant's ERA. No better kite suited to EB conditions that i've used btw... that's if you plan to unhook... which i allways do when using the ERA. unhooked lots today and got into some more surface handlepasses... no airpasses yet.
SEP 28TH 2008: As mentioned before Blair arrived and i could now kite.... wasn't very good though and i was only expecting to be out there for an hour... that was until i realised it was daylight saving and i now had to be somewhere lol... so that was a short session. Blair once again was having a crack at the kicker he made... he's done a great job too and once i defin my flx i'll be into it
SEP 23RD 2008: After having my longest break ever from kitesurfing (beating my previous record of 40 days in 2002) i finally got back into it. Unfortunately the conditions that i was dealing with definately didn't make me feel glad to be back into it. then again i wasn't using my first choice bar and lines as hayden has those. Anyway Blair came along at the end and he didn't have his harness so i lent him mine as i used a springy and was now freezing my ass off thanx to my job which has made me burn 5kgs of insulation off me lol. Anyway unlike previous occasions when i had an extended period off da water.. this time i was rusty. anyway i'm waiting for blair.. he's just arrived so looks like i'll be updating this log soon.
AUG 8TH 2008: Really windy today and i made a bad kite choice. I used the 10m when i should have used the 7m and was overpowered majorly... on the flx today and the move backfired. I knew i was in for it cos i took my safety leash... if the kite was gonna end up in da golf course then it ain't gonna take me with it... so when i found it really getting dodgy i unhooked and let the kite go!!! fortunately it came to rest on the tidal flats (i don't condone this btw and only did it cos it was PH where the hills acts as a buffer) so the kite was spared any major shredding. by then i sorta had enough lol and gapped.
AUG 1ST 2008: PH was goin off. Me and Grant were out. Able to boost huge. Great day.
JULY 31ST 2008: EB was CRANKING 2dae!!!! fully lit on da 10m bullaroo.. crossonshore northerly and skying massive jumps off da waves... damn brilliant conditions. plenty to go around even though i was the only one there. bought a new wettie from tamaki sailboards yesterday and used it today... certainly not cold now lol.
JULY 30TH 2008: omg over a month off the water.... i had a heck of a lot of non-kiting crap to deal with.... demotion from manager cos i punched the microwave oven, the resulting hand injury and now i'm on the brink of landing a job as a postie!! . Anyway today i went out for a session at EB. Looking pretty good on arrivial... then died off a tad as i got in the water.... mmm EB hasn't forgotten who i am lol. But then it started forgetting again and it was crankin for da rest of the session!!! on da 10m bullaroo and da float... perfect, wasn't too cold... even in a springy
JUNE 26TH 2008: Didn't get wet today but was meant to meet GRant at PH at 4pm.... anyway on arrivial it was CRANKING... infact crankin too much and no-one out so decided to play it safe (didn't trust those squalls either) and wait for Grant. Unfortunately he never turned up.. maybe next time.
JUNE 25TH 2008: After sitting out a very ruthless day yesterday i decided to give today a crack to fire myself up for the stance showing later on that nite. Anyway Anthony and Alex both had half days so i joined them for a session. Initially i was gonna oput the 10m up but a strong patch made me reach for the 7m... once on the water i wondered if i should have out the 10 up instead.... a few minutes later i was happy on the 7m! It was now PUMPING... I know PH sometimes dissapoints in a NW... NOT TODAY! I was pretty chilled after wiping out so sorta came in after that and now it was looking yukk with lots of rain bearing down. Afterwards i went to the showing for the new stance movie which was screened at Tamaki sailboards... heaps of food, lots of kiting mates to chat to... and a kickass video.... an excellent evening.
JUNE 21ST 2008: Out came the Fuel and for 10 minutes i was on a c kite... but i knew damn well that my patchup wasn't that good as i could hear air escaping from the bladder as i rigged the kite up. Anyway went back in just as the kite imploded....10 minutes later i was back into it on the bullaroo but now the wind had dropped and we were all grovelling.. never really got up today... just a little bit in the showers.
JUNE 9TH 2008: Nice and windy today. i was on the 7m and met Grant, Alex and Anthony out there. Today i decided to kit up bigtime with TWO wetsuits, my booties and a helmet. Needless to say i wasn't cold today . Today i was mostly on the float but i did have a go with the wavetray that i bought off Tim last year. It's great for carving and waves/chop and can't wait to use it in the surf.
JUNE 8TH 2008: Wild and windy first up and after being paged by Grant decided to give it a crack. Arrived at PH to an interesting surprise... no-one there! Anyway setup and then Grant arrived and we got into it. No hint of rain now... the skies cleared and it was quite southerly... but still enough SW in it to be ok wind. As my bullaroo has got a leak in the valve (now i have a feeling that i'm about to discover the DOWNside of the easypump system) i used the 7m waroo instead. Worked pretty good but most of the time underpowered... which was agood thing in a way as all the walking upwind kept me warm... not to mention the sun helped as well... oh i guess thats what happens when your in a SPRINGsuit in the WINTER
JUNE 7TH 2008: Despite the 20+ knots everywhere else it never hit that at PH. In a NW the wind allmost never delivers.... but if it does then it's ON because the bay is just majic and the wind is smooth being open etc... unlike the consistant but gusty SW that hits here. I think it got up to 15kt for about half and hour... enough for me and a few of the ESK groms to trick it up in the shallow water. Grant was gonna come out but he never made it.... pity that because with his light weight and that 12m ERA of his he'd be lit up bigtime in the stronger parts.... ok thrasher lose those manboobs..... um NOT EVEN
JUNE 3RD 2008: Pine Harbour at low tide today by myself. Had to cut the session short becuse i had to be somehwere at 4pm. Wasn't bad at times... windier than yesterday but still not epic. Still on the FLOAT and 10m bullaroo.
JUNE 2ND 2008: Pine Harbour today... not too bad at the start but definately fizzed out towards the end. Quite a few of us out today as well. I had a small go with Grant's ERA at the end... first time for me using that kite at PH and I rate it very highly for that up and down style of wind. Tried my pulleybar on my bullaroo at the end but only on the beach as i forgot to put any loops on for hooking into. Other than that apart from a few minor adjustments it works great..oh yes and the leash needs to be attached better. More detailed imfo on http://www.geocities.com/thrasherkiteboardin
MAY 23RD 2008: Grant txted me at about 3pm saying that EB was filling in... i headed down..... yeah the wind had filled in... and then filled out again but no majors becasue i had issues with the pump hose. Borrowed Grants pump but the nozzle wouldn't come off (bullaroo easypump doesn't use a nozzle attachment) so i guess i just had to use raw power and pump that sexy beast up faster than the air would eascape through the hose leak... eventual success and out i went. Not enough wind so basically just tried all sorts of silly stuff..... Surface Osmosis, Downloop surface passes, double surface passes.. bascially anything that had a surface pass was fair game but i didn't nail many of them and the bullaroo took a but of a beating from all the crashes..... but it's a tough kite, designed for land kiting. Hey i'm really gutted that BEST ain't gonna continue the bullaroo becasue its just such a good kite... here's hoping that the waroo 2008 delievers. Anyway went to get Kebabs afterwards with Grant...... no issues with wind now.. the seabreeze was kickin in at full throttle
MAY 21ST 2008: Wind up and down today at EB. Me, Grant, Blair, James and Hayden were out just muckin around in the 10 to 15 knots. Occasionally got better. Was on the usual setup today, bullaroo and float. Had a quick play with Grant's ERA at the end. The more i use this kite the more i like it... and i liked it at the start... so i'm loving it now. Grant likes it too.
MAY 20TH 2008: Better conditions today. 20 knots NE at EB. nicely lit. Enough for one footers.. steady breeze too. A nice way to relax after a 14 hour graveyard shift at work
MAY 19TH 2008: Duh wot a dumbass thrasha. you so break promises. So much for loggin every sesh till August. Wot u on about i've logged every session so far... haven't missed out on any so you a fool homie! Nah idiot you haven't posted any sessions 4 a whole month now... so don't gimme that crap. UH DUH YOU DUMBASS DATS COS I HAVEN'T BEEN KITEN IN A WHOLE MONTH... SO BOOOYAAA TO YO MOMMA. Incase you haven't allready gathered... a blast from the past with some lunacy from kiteforum.co.nz days... hope you liked it . Nah honestly i did head out today for the first time in a month. Been busy and frustrated at the same time. i needed the break cos mentally i was losing it.. but then again being off the water for a month made me lose it too.. so ya can't win. Anyway it wasn't too shabby out at EB today with about 15 knots of NE. Was on my usual setup of 10m bullaroo and float board. worked fine.
APRIL 18TH 2008: Did the photo shoot at the start of the session.. sorta need my 10m bullaroo at that stage... what?? Yep that's right no 10m bullaroo... no worries it ain't wrecked i just thought i'd stick the 7m waroo up instead! Anyway kited through the squalls today courtesy of the small kite. Very "freeridey" today with NO unhooked stuff at all.. infact the riding i did was more akin to windsurfing.... speed, waves etc. Loving the speed runs now, especially on the 7m.. works a treat. Oh yes it was cranking today as well at PH. Grant and Adam joined me as well and we seshed it up for about 2 hours by ourselves before the groms came and the wind went.
APRIL 17TH 2008: Met Tanz at Pine Harbour.. nowhere near enough wind today out east. i won't really elaborate on the session as there wasn't much to elaborate on. Reason why i came out is that i'm meeting someone out there tomorrow for a sorta photo shoot and i wanna make sure i know how to get to PH... not having been there for 6 weeks. PS: There is a welcome new addition to the shores of PH which i wouldn't mind having a crack at with one of my plyboards
APRIL 12TH 2008: Surprise Easterly in the arvo. Woke up just as it kicked in so missed out on sod all.... AND it stayed up when i was out there Hey as you may allready know i snapped my harness hook on my best harness so have had to make do with one of my older spreader bars which have a more substantial hook to them. Because of this i stayed hooked in today and besides windy enough to pop arial moves like one footers etc. Heaps of us out today but windy enough to not bunch. Good session. bullaroo and float as allways
APRIL 4TH 2008: Waited till the wind got up and off to EB. Not bad this morning.. did die off towards the end and it was a bit gusty but it was still averaging 15 knots which is all good. Out there by myself today and fitted a new spreader bar to my harness. 10m bullaroo and BEST float as allways. I've found no other setup that works better out on da eastside.
APRIL 3RD 2008: Surprise NE! Had no ideait was gonna blow NE today but it did and mi got me some at EB to start with and then had a pearler at Bramley. Wind turned easterly midway through that sesh prompting me to pack away but then it started crankin from the north again so i rigged up the bulla again and i was back on the water. Wind didn't ease at all and me, Adam and the groms were goin hard in the CNB zone. These sorta sessions sure take their toll on the gear and there are a few repairs to make on the bullaroo (which imo is the toughest kite i've ever used). In addition to this i've also snapped my harness hook which is a poobar but will try and kite it out as much as i can before it fully gives out
MARCH 31ST 2008: Scored a good session at EB in the morning before the wind eased off. It was just me, Ben and Grant. Got quite windy at times too but on the whole wind was a tad up and down. much more northerly today too. Pics of the session at Bramley on the 30th are now up.
MARCH 30TH 2008: Lightwind session at Bramley but wind got up at the end when i was able to hook in etc. Before that i was mostly doing unhooked stuff. Quite a few others out. My mate Andrew Seward had the camera and got some footage and i will stick the pics up soon. btw my blog site http://www.geocities.com/thrasherkiteboardin is back up and running. However my session blogs are only found here until August. The website has all the other kiteboarding related stuff i ramble on about... check it out.... you know ya wanna
MARCH 28TH 2008 mkII: The second session of the day was at Bramley. Powered up on the 10m Bulla with Joel and Grant on 9m waroos. I kept it oldskool today whilst Grant and Joel were into the kiteloops. THe wind was epic at the start but died off and got gusty at the end.
MARCH 28TH 2008: Scored myself some good wind just after the sun rose at EB. Knowing full well that the wind would deteroirate i didn't waste anytime. Conditions were excellent at the start and i was well lit on the 10m bullaroo and the float. however as predicted the wind did ease off and by the end it was classic mid incoming bouncy effect which is basically means it very very up and down due to some crazy happs. The session wasn't epic due to the wind not lasting but i was stoked to get it so early in the morning.
MARCH 27TH 2008: Waited till the afternoon today and to be honest it wasn't very good. The best wind was at the high tide but it was quite easterly and hence not good for Bramley... well what do i know i was sleeping but it was easterly when i was awake. anyway had a grovel out at EB in the afternoon. Lots of unhooked moves. Grant was out too trying to do himself grevious bodily harm kitelooping his ERA. Only about 10-15 knots today but better tide then yesterday morning when the wind was good 50m out but crap inshore with the mid incoming tide. MY website will be uploaded soon.... stay tuned
MARCH 26TH 2008: Well i've been wondering when graveyard work was gonna pay off and today was my first real chance of night work earning dividends... on the very conditions that i got diddled with when i worked mornings.... a NE. It was 15 knots and sunny at about 8am at EB so up went the bullaroo in an attempt to get some action in before the tide got too high. Those who know EB know that an onshore wind at mid tide or above with sun often means some wierd effect close to shore that turns to wind to CRAP. Thats what i got today... mostly grovelling but sometimes lit. Way too many lulls to pull anything impressive. I really need a bigger kite... no money so making do with what i've got at the mo. Missed the Fuel today.. has a bit better low end than the bullaroo.. bulla is better for PH.. strong and gusty. Wind was up and down all day from then onwards... but i was sleeping so wasn't too worried..... maybe tomorrow mite do it ditto... hopefully the wind has picked up too.
EARLY MARCH 2008: Finally got to have an actual kite at Ambury Farm. So far the place is very overrated by Grant... who thinks its the best spot out. But to be fair i haven't been out there in its ideal setup. The wind was too SW today which made it gusty coming of Puketu Island... and it blew up the channel which meant it didn't come off the sandbar... meaning no flat water. sesh was ok but nowhre near what i was hoping for in a spot which on it's day (ie in spring) would probably produce some of the best conditions in Auckland.
JANUARY 23RD 2008: Yeah i finally found some time to kitesurf... scary i know. Out of pain city too. anyway my smallest kite at the mo is an 11m Fuel which tops off at about 25 knots so the wild conditions as of late have not suited me at all. today did.. ok maybe it could have blown a tad more but at times this arvo Shakers reminds me why its worth the drive. The low tide was a biggie and the wind pretty southerly so i'm made the drive up north.. first stopping off at Seventhwave and then at Anabatic before setting up the 11m fuel at shakers. Wind was very up and down... heat affected, filling in styles... not a typicial gusty thing... more airmass than blockage. At times it really looked like it was gonna kick in but then died off again. There was about 5 of us out. I left at about 6pm as by now the tide was fast coming in and the wind sorta swung more westerly.. high tide is pretty crap at the main beach at shakers.... like EB it needs to be real windy to kite here at HT.
JANUARY 15TH 2008: An unexpected SW at PH today and that was one of my best sessions ever. Makes up for all those days that i missed out on at EB.
JANUARY 7TH 2008: Eastern Beach sesh after work. Initially didn't look hugely promising and spent it grovelling at the far southern end but it did get better and at the end it was really good. When the wind delivers at EB it really is a great place to kite in that mid tide and today was no exception. Was gonna head to Bramley afterwards but then realised that i had something on at mum's tonite... birthday feed so didn't wanna miss out on that.
JANUARY 5TH 2008: Today was a poo to be honest but i don't regret what i did. i needed the sleep after work and that wind looked like it was dying. And no need to go into the many dissapointments that i've had at EB so lets just say that i decided to sleep and kite Bramley in the evo. That plan would have worked out fine if the wind wasn't too easterly... which it was. nowhere near as good today but Michelle came along and had a fly of the trainer kite. I'm hoping that she wants to get into kiting but she's undecided at the mo. but that didn't stop her from making a right mess of my trainer kite and tangling all the lines.... i told her that after the initial buying of kites and boards etc it's not that expensive. she certainly want's to get into it but other things are holding her back but if she gets into it fully then we could be looking at a national champ in a few years time so watch this space. Another coworker whoz also keen is the bosses son 19 year old Luke Thompson... another loose unit in the same vein as 18 year old Michelle but different.
JANUARY 4TH 2008: Was hoping for a seabreeze at Bramley to use the 21m in but at the end got more than what i bargained for!! Anyway on arrivial i met a couple of other guys using a mountainboard and a kitewing... this is the third "watch this space" item that i've blogged... these look COOL. Anyway it was ok at times for the 21m but other times i was grovelling in the north facing area. But it did pick up and now i was comfy lit most of the time.. other times i was well lit. Anyway the wind made the transition from 10-15 knot northerly to 15 knot NE... it then changed from 15 knot NE to 15-20 knot NE. And yes i was still on the 21m!! I do say that i'm impressed with the top end of this kite... you can feel the fifth line come into its own which means that they do actually work!! looking forward to getting the 17m back up and running using the same setup... 25 knots would certainly be on wit that kite as i remember holding 20 knots with it in 4 line mode back in late 2005 (when Phil got that footage of me at Bramley). Anyway now i was super lit, having to kite slow and still getting carted off downwind on occasions. Other times i was boosting HUGE, floaty jumps. so powered that i had to use the flx... and still losing my edge.... heck i really needed the wavetray or even the lunchtray!! i had to come in now as it was borderline and no way was i gonna land this beastie solo so decided to use the other 2 guys whilst they were still there! Anyway no majors but i could have now gone out on the fuel and been lit up but i had heaps of stuff to do so came away feeling very happy in what was a much better than expected session.
JANUARY 3RD 2008: The SW got up and off to PH! pretty good wind too. Alan was there as well on his 18m Rhino II. so was Susan but she didn't kite. haven't seen Alan for ages and he was doing his oldskool moves, big floaty jumps, one of the biggest jumpers i've seen. The wind wasn't really suited to an 18m 2002 kite however with lulls and gusts that just don't suit those sorta kites. I had a go with both Alans twintip and the R2. The twinnie is impressive and heaps faster then the boards of today... much better upwind too. back then boards were designed to handle power and go fast... and go upwind fast. unlike the short fat freestyle tricky boards of today. using his gear just made me dream of the oldskool. Alan has one of the fastest boards i've ever used... a directional... Manolo. when i wasn't on Alan's kite i was on the 11m Fuel which worked great in the conditions we had today. Ideally i would have wanted the 17m yarga up or maybe a 13m waroo but the Fuel did great... unhooking lots but not all the time.
JANUARY 1ST 2008: Allmost didn't head out but Bramloey was looking appetising so off i went. Joel was there as was Ryan. Initially on the Fuel doing surfacepasses. also tried some hooked in downloop frontrolls as well. After a whilew i put the bfk up and was powered so stayed hooked in and styled it woth front and backrolls. Tried an "automatic backroll" which was interesting. bascially its a doublebackroll but touchdown in between rotations. The touchdown is the takeoff and not that easy to do.James came out later on and at the end it was me Ryan and James seshin it up.
DEC 29TH 2008: The direction was a SE which put me off. Grant paged me and da wind speed and the tide were perfect for EB.... just bad direction but then it went more ESE and i was down the road en route to EB. A few other guys were there just chattin away.. no kites up and wind looked crusty. I rigged up and went out. It was as bad as it looked... infact worse lol. Got a few runs in... snuck a few handlepasses in.... surface stuff lol
DEC 23RD 2008: Short session at EB after work. Got there at bout 130. A few guys out.. unfortunately tide got too high and wind got too low.... mmmmm EB remembers who i am lol. But all is not lost.... may head out again this evo once da tide heads out again... outside chance of a nite kite too if Grants keen. STAY TUNED. Only moves for me today were some flat 3s.
DEC 20TH 2008: CRANKING at Bramley today. Bloody marvellous. Heaps of us out. Fully lit on da bullaroo so much that i even used the wavetray as well as da FLOAT. Oldskool moves today. Big airs and one footers (judoairs) as well as big floaty front spins. Fully stoked to be lit up like a Christmas Tree... being so close to Christmas and all hee hee hee.
DEC 19TH 2008: The plan was for a nite kite but i fort da wind was gonna swing NW so decided to have a quick kite at EB whilst there was wind. It was pretty good... out by myself in about 15 knots. Float and Bullaroo. nite kite end up not happening.
DEC 18TH 2008: Grant txted me early in da day about Renton Rd but heavy mail (ie late finish) so we both decided 2 kite PH instead. Was good at times, VERY up and down but i did score a go of his ERA at the end which was excellent.
DEC 15TH 2008: Long time between drinks but it was sweet to get back into it yday.... pretty much basic stuff for me..... great to jump high... allways fun. Nothing beats big air hee hee hee. Pumpin northerly at Bramley.. out there for just over an hour. Used da bulla and da float but then gave da wavetray a bit of a run and it went great
NOV 21ST 2008: Wasn't gonna head out but Grant paged me and we ended up enjoying bout 15 knots at Bramley which was excellent. Grant conditions for wiping out and James Price took full advantage of this and managed to land some nice backmobes... very impressive. I was doing more flat 3s... not huge height... just slight airpass lol. Getting more into my kiteloops again... a few hard landings... at the end felt something give on my float... damn i don't wanna snap that board so i stopped kiteloops on that board lol. Grant was on his ERA and of course was powered... he's light and the ERA is fully at home in 15 knots and i still rate it as the best kite i've ever used for unhooked moves... although i didn't use it today... used da bullaroo instead... which ain't too shabby unhooked either. I still rate that kite eh.... its good for everything lol... big airs, unhooked, waves, kiteloops... it does it all hee hee hee. A few other guys out too... mostly learning. Ryan (Milky) was out too and lovin da 2008 waroo. Interesting to see how he goes on it cos whilst guys like James and Blair now use c kites they learnt fast using waroos and da waroo imo is the best kite for learning and more importantly you'll never outgrow it.
NOV 16TH 2008: Windier today and most of the time i was well powered. Got spanked a few times doing things like flat 3s, kiteloops and kung fu can openers. Heaps of people there today and got lots of footage which of course will be on UTOOB.
NOV 15TH 2008: Dissapointed At EB on arrivial but on occasions there was definately wind.... especially at the end.
NOV 10TH 2008: Ok i've uploaded the footage from the other day when Tim Friedel was on da camera. Great conditions at EB....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9z7xjDk52s
NOV 9TH 2008: Sundays are allways my day off work so i have the mornings free to kite NE winds. And as it was a NE i kited hee hee hee. Initially out on the 7m but had a small break and put the 10m up after bringing a friend along. Rebecca wants to kitesurf but we boith agreed that it wasn't best conditions for starting out. Afterwards Tim came along and it was me, Scotty, Mark kiting it up whilst Tim was on camera duties.
NOV 8TH 2008: I didn't expect there to be much wind today.... except for perhaps a short northerl;y thermal shift for bramley in the arvo. That didn't really happen much but once that departed we got a decent easterly and to be honest it was crankin at EB. Able to easily do frontroll judo airs and on occasions was even downlooping the kite after puttin da foot back in.... one time on landing even ran out of water and wiped out on the beach. I also trialed my new homemade chickenloop. This is designed for unhooking and is big and has no donkeydick... it still needs tweeks but other than attachment issues (it dangles around a bit) its super easy to hook back into. also trialed my new handlepass leash.. once again homemade and works a treat. Gave it a few trials... surfacepasses... half hearted attempts at flat 3s. still no full frontal attacks on the area of airpasses by me as yet.
OCT 24TH 2008: More bramley action.. more crankin northerlies. This time i decided to get the 7m out and zoom around on that. heaps of fun... lit at times on the float. Quite a few of us out today along with plenty of polies too... it was quite windy.
OCT 22ND 2008: Bramley in a northerly... was kickin ass. James Price and Hayden were allready out and Scotty was setting up. Great to be back at Bramley in a northerly.... my favourite wind direction for out east... pre frontal it kix ass.... just keeps increasing...perfect. today was pepped up by the heat.. themal effect as it died off lots in the evo when i was at EB. Still good enu to have a play unhooked.. raileys... all dat sort jazz... no HPs today but looped da bulla round a few times. After 2 years i still stick to my tried and true combo of da 10m bullaroo and da 133 float. i still have da flx and my wavetray but may use one for slider duties... c wot happens eh next time i'm at PH.
OCT 15TH 2008: EB slowly got better and better after Scotty left... sori mate
and it was just me, Grant and Mark out there, loopin it up. Grant now has a fettish for kitelooping his ERA, doin jumps and landing on da beach... and beach jumping and allmost landing on his bus lmao. He also likes letting his ERA go and seeing how many houses it can clear before getting stuck in a tree... lol. We went to Blair's place afterwards and Grant has got these two huge plastic pipes that will make a great slider... adding to the array of toys now at PH hee hee hee. OCT 5TH 2008: Crankin at da start today. Just me out kiitng at PH but helped Blair and his mate toy up PH... in addition to da kicker we now have 2 sliders
. Blair has done an amazing job making all these toys... and they look sooo appetizing hee hee hee. Anyway today hooked in all da time... boosting huge on occasions OCT 3RD 2008: For the last week Grant has been trying to hook up a session with me at Renton Rd... well today he succeeded. We hit Renton at about3pm and kited till bout 5pm. Nice steady wind and flatish water... and HUGE amounts of room... so we now have 4 eastern Manukau Harbour spots to choose from now. Renton Rd is the newest discovery... not even a week old lol... take your pic... Ihumateo Rd (early 2003), Stonefields (early 2004), Ambury Farm (early 200
, Renton Rd (September 200. Just me, Adam and Grant out today.SEP 29TH 2008: Change of scenery today... EASTERN BEACH??!! gawd i've forgotten wot this place looked like lol. Anyway pretty light stuff today... actually had 2 sessions... one on da way home from work... and the other with Grant and Hayden after a quick trip home to get munchies. Up and down... threatened to get up but then died off again. At the end i just used Grant's ERA. No better kite suited to EB conditions that i've used btw... that's if you plan to unhook... which i allways do when using the ERA. unhooked lots today and got into some more surface handlepasses... no airpasses yet.
SEP 28TH 2008: As mentioned before Blair arrived and i could now kite.... wasn't very good though and i was only expecting to be out there for an hour... that was until i realised it was daylight saving and i now had to be somewhere lol... so that was a short session. Blair once again was having a crack at the kicker he made... he's done a great job too and once i defin my flx i'll be into it
SEP 23RD 2008: After having my longest break ever from kitesurfing (beating my previous record of 40 days in 2002) i finally got back into it. Unfortunately the conditions that i was dealing with definately didn't make me feel glad to be back into it. then again i wasn't using my first choice bar and lines as hayden has those. Anyway Blair came along at the end and he didn't have his harness so i lent him mine as i used a springy and was now freezing my ass off thanx to my job which has made me burn 5kgs of insulation off me lol. Anyway unlike previous occasions when i had an extended period off da water.. this time i was rusty. anyway i'm waiting for blair.. he's just arrived so looks like i'll be updating this log soon.
AUG 8TH 2008: Really windy today and i made a bad kite choice. I used the 10m when i should have used the 7m and was overpowered majorly... on the flx today and the move backfired. I knew i was in for it cos i took my safety leash... if the kite was gonna end up in da golf course then it ain't gonna take me with it... so when i found it really getting dodgy i unhooked and let the kite go!!! fortunately it came to rest on the tidal flats (i don't condone this btw and only did it cos it was PH where the hills acts as a buffer) so the kite was spared any major shredding. by then i sorta had enough lol and gapped.
AUG 1ST 2008: PH was goin off. Me and Grant were out. Able to boost huge. Great day.
JULY 31ST 2008: EB was CRANKING 2dae!!!! fully lit on da 10m bullaroo.. crossonshore northerly and skying massive jumps off da waves... damn brilliant conditions. plenty to go around even though i was the only one there. bought a new wettie from tamaki sailboards yesterday and used it today... certainly not cold now lol.
JULY 30TH 2008: omg over a month off the water.... i had a heck of a lot of non-kiting crap to deal with.... demotion from manager cos i punched the microwave oven, the resulting hand injury and now i'm on the brink of landing a job as a postie!!
. Anyway today i went out for a session at EB. Looking pretty good on arrivial... then died off a tad as i got in the water.... mmm EB hasn't forgotten who i am lol. But then it started forgetting again and it was crankin for da rest of the session!!! on da 10m bullaroo and da float... perfect, wasn't too cold... even in a springy JUNE 26TH 2008: Didn't get wet today but was meant to meet GRant at PH at 4pm.... anyway on arrivial it was CRANKING... infact crankin too much and no-one out so decided to play it safe (didn't trust those squalls either) and wait for Grant. Unfortunately he never turned up.. maybe next time.
JUNE 25TH 2008: After sitting out a very ruthless day yesterday i decided to give today a crack to fire myself up for the stance showing later on that nite. Anyway Anthony and Alex both had half days so i joined them for a session. Initially i was gonna oput the 10m up but a strong patch made me reach for the 7m... once on the water i wondered if i should have out the 10 up instead.... a few minutes later i was happy on the 7m! It was now PUMPING... I know PH sometimes dissapoints in a NW... NOT TODAY! I was pretty chilled after wiping out so sorta came in after that and now it was looking yukk with lots of rain bearing down. Afterwards i went to the showing for the new stance movie which was screened at Tamaki sailboards... heaps of food, lots of kiting mates to chat to... and a kickass video.... an excellent evening.
JUNE 21ST 2008: Out came the Fuel and for 10 minutes i was on a c kite... but i knew damn well that my patchup wasn't that good as i could hear air escaping from the bladder as i rigged the kite up. Anyway went back in just as the kite imploded....10 minutes later i was back into it on the bullaroo but now the wind had dropped and we were all grovelling.. never really got up today... just a little bit in the showers.
JUNE 9TH 2008: Nice and windy today. i was on the 7m and met Grant, Alex and Anthony out there. Today i decided to kit up bigtime with TWO wetsuits, my booties and a helmet. Needless to say i wasn't cold today
. Today i was mostly on the float but i did have a go with the wavetray that i bought off Tim last year. It's great for carving and waves/chop and can't wait to use it in the surf.JUNE 8TH 2008: Wild and windy first up and after being paged by Grant decided to give it a crack. Arrived at PH to an interesting surprise... no-one there! Anyway setup and then Grant arrived and we got into it. No hint of rain now... the skies cleared and it was quite southerly... but still enough SW in it to be ok wind. As my bullaroo has got a leak in the valve (now i have a feeling that i'm about to discover the DOWNside of the easypump system) i used the 7m waroo instead. Worked pretty good but most of the time underpowered... which was agood thing in a way as all the walking upwind kept me warm... not to mention the sun helped as well... oh i guess thats what happens when your in a SPRINGsuit in the WINTER
JUNE 7TH 2008: Despite the 20+ knots everywhere else it never hit that at PH. In a NW the wind allmost never delivers.... but if it does then it's ON because the bay is just majic and the wind is smooth being open etc... unlike the consistant but gusty SW that hits here. I think it got up to 15kt for about half and hour... enough for me and a few of the ESK groms to trick it up in the shallow water. Grant was gonna come out but he never made it.... pity that because with his light weight and that 12m ERA of his he'd be lit up bigtime in the stronger parts.... ok thrasher lose those manboobs..... um NOT EVEN
JUNE 3RD 2008: Pine Harbour at low tide today by myself. Had to cut the session short becuse i had to be somehwere at 4pm. Wasn't bad at times... windier than yesterday but still not epic. Still on the FLOAT and 10m bullaroo.
JUNE 2ND 2008: Pine Harbour today... not too bad at the start but definately fizzed out towards the end. Quite a few of us out today as well. I had a small go with Grant's ERA at the end... first time for me using that kite at PH and I rate it very highly for that up and down style of wind. Tried my pulleybar on my bullaroo at the end but only on the beach as i forgot to put any loops on for hooking into. Other than that apart from a few minor adjustments it works great..oh yes and the leash needs to be attached better. More detailed imfo on http://www.geocities.com/thrasherkiteboardin
MAY 23RD 2008: Grant txted me at about 3pm saying that EB was filling in... i headed down..... yeah the wind had filled in... and then filled out again but no majors becasue i had issues with the pump hose. Borrowed Grants pump but the nozzle wouldn't come off (bullaroo easypump doesn't use a nozzle attachment) so i guess i just had to use raw power and pump that sexy beast up faster than the air would eascape through the hose leak... eventual success and out i went. Not enough wind so basically just tried all sorts of silly stuff..... Surface Osmosis, Downloop surface passes, double surface passes.. bascially anything that had a surface pass was fair game but i didn't nail many of them and the bullaroo took a but of a beating from all the crashes..... but it's a tough kite, designed for land kiting. Hey i'm really gutted that BEST ain't gonna continue the bullaroo becasue its just such a good kite... here's hoping that the waroo 2008 delievers. Anyway went to get Kebabs afterwards with Grant...... no issues with wind now.. the seabreeze was kickin in at full throttle
MAY 21ST 2008: Wind up and down today at EB. Me, Grant, Blair, James and Hayden were out just muckin around in the 10 to 15 knots. Occasionally got better. Was on the usual setup today, bullaroo and float. Had a quick play with Grant's ERA at the end. The more i use this kite the more i like it... and i liked it at the start... so i'm loving it now. Grant likes it too.
MAY 20TH 2008: Better conditions today. 20 knots NE at EB. nicely lit. Enough for one footers.. steady breeze too. A nice way to relax after a 14 hour graveyard shift at work
MAY 19TH 2008: Duh wot a dumbass thrasha. you so break promises. So much for loggin every sesh till August. Wot u on about i've logged every session so far... haven't missed out on any so you a fool homie! Nah idiot you haven't posted any sessions 4 a whole month now... so don't gimme that crap. UH DUH YOU DUMBASS DATS COS I HAVEN'T BEEN KITEN IN A WHOLE MONTH... SO BOOOYAAA TO YO MOMMA. Incase you haven't allready gathered... a blast from the past with some lunacy from kiteforum.co.nz days... hope you liked it
. Nah honestly i did head out today for the first time in a month. Been busy and frustrated at the same time. i needed the break cos mentally i was losing it.. but then again being off the water for a month made me lose it too.. so ya can't win. Anyway it wasn't too shabby out at EB today with about 15 knots of NE. Was on my usual setup of 10m bullaroo and float board. worked fine. APRIL 18TH 2008: Did the photo shoot at the start of the session.. sorta need my 10m bullaroo at that stage... what?? Yep that's right no 10m bullaroo... no worries it ain't wrecked i just thought i'd stick the 7m waroo up instead!
Anyway kited through the squalls today courtesy of the small kite. Very "freeridey" today with NO unhooked stuff at all.. infact the riding i did was more akin to windsurfing.... speed, waves etc. Loving the speed runs now, especially on the 7m.. works a treat. Oh yes it was cranking today as well at PH. Grant and Adam joined me as well and we seshed it up for about 2 hours by ourselves before the groms came and the wind went. APRIL 17TH 2008: Met Tanz at Pine Harbour.. nowhere near enough wind today out east. i won't really elaborate on the session as there wasn't much to elaborate on. Reason why i came out is that i'm meeting someone out there tomorrow for a sorta photo shoot and i wanna make sure i know how to get to PH... not having been there for 6 weeks. PS: There is a welcome new addition to the shores of PH which i wouldn't mind having a crack at with one of my plyboards
APRIL 12TH 2008: Surprise Easterly in the arvo. Woke up just as it kicked in so missed out on sod all.... AND it stayed up when i was out there
Hey as you may allready know i snapped my harness hook on my best harness so have had to make do with one of my older spreader bars which have a more substantial hook to them. Because of this i stayed hooked in today and besides windy enough to pop arial moves like one footers etc. Heaps of us out today but windy enough to not bunch. Good session. bullaroo and float as allways APRIL 4TH 2008: Waited till the wind got up and off to EB. Not bad this morning.. did die off towards the end and it was a bit gusty but it was still averaging 15 knots which is all good. Out there by myself today and fitted a new spreader bar to my harness. 10m bullaroo and BEST float as allways. I've found no other setup that works better out on da eastside.
APRIL 3RD 2008: Surprise NE! Had no ideait was gonna blow NE today but it did and mi got me some at EB to start with and then had a pearler at Bramley. Wind turned easterly midway through that sesh prompting me to pack away but then it started crankin from the north again so i rigged up the bulla again and i was back on the water. Wind didn't ease at all and me, Adam and the groms were goin hard in the CNB zone. These sorta sessions sure take their toll on the gear and there are a few repairs to make on the bullaroo (which imo is the toughest kite i've ever used). In addition to this i've also snapped my harness hook which is a poobar but will try and kite it out as much as i can before it fully gives out
MARCH 31ST 2008: Scored a good session at EB in the morning before the wind eased off. It was just me, Ben and Grant. Got quite windy at times too but on the whole wind was a tad up and down. much more northerly today too. Pics of the session at Bramley on the 30th are now up.
MARCH 30TH 2008: Lightwind session at Bramley but wind got up at the end when i was able to hook in etc. Before that i was mostly doing unhooked stuff. Quite a few others out. My mate Andrew Seward had the camera and got some footage and i will stick the pics up soon. btw my blog site http://www.geocities.com/thrasherkiteboardin is back up and running. However my session blogs are only found here until August. The website has all the other kiteboarding related stuff i ramble on about... check it out.... you know ya wanna
MARCH 28TH 2008 mkII: The second session of the day was at Bramley. Powered up on the 10m Bulla with Joel and Grant on 9m waroos. I kept it oldskool today whilst Grant and Joel were into the kiteloops. THe wind was epic at the start but died off and got gusty at the end.
MARCH 28TH 2008: Scored myself some good wind just after the sun rose at EB. Knowing full well that the wind would deteroirate i didn't waste anytime. Conditions were excellent at the start and i was well lit on the 10m bullaroo and the float. however as predicted the wind did ease off and by the end it was classic mid incoming bouncy effect which is basically means it very very up and down due to some crazy happs. The session wasn't epic due to the wind not lasting but i was stoked to get it so early in the morning.
MARCH 27TH 2008: Waited till the afternoon today and to be honest it wasn't very good. The best wind was at the high tide but it was quite easterly and hence not good for Bramley... well what do i know i was sleeping but it was easterly when i was awake. anyway had a grovel out at EB in the afternoon. Lots of unhooked moves. Grant was out too trying to do himself grevious bodily harm kitelooping his ERA. Only about 10-15 knots today but better tide then yesterday morning when the wind was good 50m out but crap inshore with the mid incoming tide. MY website will be uploaded soon.... stay tuned
MARCH 26TH 2008: Well i've been wondering when graveyard work was gonna pay off and today was my first real chance of night work earning dividends... on the very conditions that i got diddled with when i worked mornings.... a NE. It was 15 knots and sunny at about 8am at EB so up went the bullaroo in an attempt to get some action in before the tide got too high. Those who know EB know that an onshore wind at mid tide or above with sun often means some wierd effect close to shore that turns to wind to CRAP. Thats what i got today... mostly grovelling but sometimes lit. Way too many lulls to pull anything impressive. I really need a bigger kite... no money so making do with what i've got at the mo. Missed the Fuel today.. has a bit better low end than the bullaroo.. bulla is better for PH.. strong and gusty. Wind was up and down all day from then onwards... but i was sleeping so wasn't too worried..... maybe tomorrow mite do it ditto... hopefully the wind has picked up too.
EARLY MARCH 2008: Finally got to have an actual kite at Ambury Farm. So far the place is very overrated by Grant... who thinks its the best spot out. But to be fair i haven't been out there in its ideal setup. The wind was too SW today which made it gusty coming of Puketu Island... and it blew up the channel which meant it didn't come off the sandbar... meaning no flat water. sesh was ok but nowhre near what i was hoping for in a spot which on it's day (ie in spring) would probably produce some of the best conditions in Auckland.
JANUARY 23RD 2008: Yeah i finally found some time to kitesurf... scary i know. Out of pain city too. anyway my smallest kite at the mo is an 11m Fuel which tops off at about 25 knots so the wild conditions as of late have not suited me at all. today did.. ok maybe it could have blown a tad more but at times this arvo Shakers reminds me why its worth the drive. The low tide was a biggie and the wind pretty southerly so i'm made the drive up north.. first stopping off at Seventhwave and then at Anabatic before setting up the 11m fuel at shakers. Wind was very up and down... heat affected, filling in styles... not a typicial gusty thing... more airmass than blockage. At times it really looked like it was gonna kick in but then died off again. There was about 5 of us out. I left at about 6pm as by now the tide was fast coming in and the wind sorta swung more westerly.. high tide is pretty crap at the main beach at shakers.... like EB it needs to be real windy to kite here at HT.
JANUARY 15TH 2008: An unexpected SW at PH today and that was one of my best sessions ever. Makes up for all those days that i missed out on at EB.
JANUARY 7TH 2008: Eastern Beach sesh after work. Initially didn't look hugely promising and spent it grovelling at the far southern end but it did get better and at the end it was really good. When the wind delivers at EB it really is a great place to kite in that mid tide and today was no exception. Was gonna head to Bramley afterwards but then realised that i had something on at mum's tonite... birthday feed so didn't wanna miss out on that.
JANUARY 5TH 2008: Today was a poo to be honest but i don't regret what i did. i needed the sleep after work and that wind looked like it was dying. And no need to go into the many dissapointments that i've had at EB so lets just say that i decided to sleep and kite Bramley in the evo. That plan would have worked out fine if the wind wasn't too easterly... which it was. nowhere near as good today but Michelle came along and had a fly of the trainer kite. I'm hoping that she wants to get into kiting but she's undecided at the mo. but that didn't stop her from making a right mess of my trainer kite and tangling all the lines.... i told her that after the initial buying of kites and boards etc it's not that expensive. she certainly want's to get into it but other things are holding her back but if she gets into it fully then we could be looking at a national champ in a few years time so watch this space. Another coworker whoz also keen is the bosses son 19 year old Luke Thompson... another loose unit in the same vein as 18 year old Michelle but different.
JANUARY 4TH 2008: Was hoping for a seabreeze at Bramley to use the 21m in but at the end got more than what i bargained for!! Anyway on arrivial i met a couple of other guys using a mountainboard and a kitewing... this is the third "watch this space" item that i've blogged... these look COOL. Anyway it was ok at times for the 21m but other times i was grovelling in the north facing area. But it did pick up and now i was comfy lit most of the time.. other times i was well lit. Anyway the wind made the transition from 10-15 knot northerly to 15 knot NE... it then changed from 15 knot NE to 15-20 knot NE. And yes i was still on the 21m!! I do say that i'm impressed with the top end of this kite... you can feel the fifth line come into its own which means that they do actually work!! looking forward to getting the 17m back up and running using the same setup... 25 knots would certainly be on wit that kite as i remember holding 20 knots with it in 4 line mode back in late 2005 (when Phil got that footage of me at Bramley). Anyway now i was super lit, having to kite slow and still getting carted off downwind on occasions. Other times i was boosting HUGE, floaty jumps. so powered that i had to use the flx... and still losing my edge.... heck i really needed the wavetray or even the lunchtray!! i had to come in now as it was borderline and no way was i gonna land this beastie solo so decided to use the other 2 guys whilst they were still there! Anyway no majors but i could have now gone out on the fuel and been lit up but i had heaps of stuff to do so came away feeling very happy in what was a much better than expected session.
JANUARY 3RD 2008: The SW got up and off to PH! pretty good wind too. Alan was there as well on his 18m Rhino II. so was Susan but she didn't kite. haven't seen Alan for ages and he was doing his oldskool moves, big floaty jumps, one of the biggest jumpers i've seen. The wind wasn't really suited to an 18m 2002 kite however with lulls and gusts that just don't suit those sorta kites. I had a go with both Alans twintip and the R2. The twinnie is impressive and heaps faster then the boards of today... much better upwind too. back then boards were designed to handle power and go fast... and go upwind fast. unlike the short fat freestyle tricky boards of today. using his gear just made me dream of the oldskool. Alan has one of the fastest boards i've ever used... a directional... Manolo. when i wasn't on Alan's kite i was on the 11m Fuel which worked great in the conditions we had today. Ideally i would have wanted the 17m yarga up or maybe a 13m waroo but the Fuel did great... unhooking lots but not all the time.
JANUARY 1ST 2008: Allmost didn't head out but Bramloey was looking appetising so off i went. Joel was there as was Ryan. Initially on the Fuel doing surfacepasses. also tried some hooked in downloop frontrolls as well. After a whilew i put the bfk up and was powered so stayed hooked in and styled it woth front and backrolls. Tried an "automatic backroll" which was interesting. bascially its a doublebackroll but touchdown in between rotations. The touchdown is the takeoff and not that easy to do.James came out later on and at the end it was me Ryan and James seshin it up.