Dom's Kiting Pages

A simple photo story.

Walking over the dunes, feeling a charge of excitement

The fan was set to III and rattling in its cage

An agitated sea state. I think we're at Bft 7 now.

Rob having a stinging great time in the sand, messing with a chicken loop.

On the water now and giving it a good go.

That's a nicely buried rail there.

Starting to find the rhythm.

Rob goes for a hit on a throwing section...

...and gets the spray of the day.

By now the word was out for windy waves among the local surfers.

A last look back at the bay, it was unkiteable now.

And on the way home, this. Check the area of exposed parent wood. Bft 8.

Tags: Keith Keen, mega windy, Norfolk, Strapless

I think this must be one of the windiest days in which I’ve seen someone kiting on a strapless surfboard. Rob Sayer and Gary of Ipswich and Norwich respectively (I think) took the shrieking gales on the chin and went for it on 6m and 5m kites.

I’ll get some shots up tomorrow; the boys were good…

But now just look at the sand. It seems like I’m filming from the back of a truck at first, but just watch.

Footage shot with the trust BlackBerry, I thought it handled the wind noise quite well actually. Good old Crackie.

Tags: don't go out, insane wind, Norfolk

The bloke in this picture is the definition of hardcore. Days like this don’t happen that often in summer in Norfolk.

29/08/2010. 40knots, 7 seconds, 2m.

How would you take it if this was what you'd been looking forward to?

Tags: hardcore, Norfolk, Sea Palling, Surfing, the drums

Been over to the far East of England today on the Norfolk coast. It’s such a long way from Cornwall that you cannot make the journey without your engine management light coming on says my mate Phil.

It’s pretty remote around here, almost a bit wild. You’ve got people setting up bases and ’stealing’ parts of the dunes, Dixie flags, loads of fields and very long straight roads going to the middle of nowhere. It’s a place to bury strangers all right. It’s also quite beautiful though and it’s definitely one of those places that makes you feel like you’re ‘getting away from it all’ which was the point of this little trip for me.

Today I rode at one of the wave spots they have here. Norfolk picks up quite  a bit of swell action and the locals were out there ripping today. Stebbo was especially nimble and throwing in loads of nice turns; Dave was making light work of the hard conditions on his strapless board as was Rob (some photos of him coming Weds), and Richard was mixing some nice freestyle with solid wave selection, always seeming to be in the right spot.

The wave was short and fast, but you could get some great turns in and if you got caught in the shore dump it really gave you a wallop. It’s quite a spot and not to be taken lightly! I dunno which was more of the eye opener, the standard of riding or how properly fun the waves were.

Here are a few shots I got with the GoPro on the trusty Kitehero line mount; set it a bit further up this time and I think that it gives a better angle like this. Still need to get that Rain-X though.

With more skill I might have god a head dip here...

Preferring the more distant mounting point

More of a 'kite cam' feel to these shots I reckon

The GoPro is hanging under the lines, but it seems to work OK like that

Tags: GoPro, Kitehero, Norfolk

This is the Mathematical Bridge over the River Cam in Cambridge. It is special because when it was built, no nails, screws, bolts or fittings were used to hold it together. Clever, eh?

A little bit less clever were the folk who took the bridge down to see how it was put together and after marvelling at the olden technology discovered they couldn’t put it together without a liberal helping of bolts.

Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

I’m in Norfolk at the moment, about to go to the sea; waves are predicted, we’ll soon see.

Yesterday we tried, but Rob Sayer and Gary got blown off the water on 5m kites, I had a 9m so ‘needles’ to say that stayed in the bag.

Here’s a quick snap – look at the sand streaking up the beach – I’ll get footage and some good riding shots up on Weds.

Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

Tags: Norfolk, Sea Palling, windy

The first thing people ask you when they learn that you kitesurf isn’t  ’how many more days on the water do you get?’ or ‘how good does it make you feel?’ or even ‘does it fit in the back of a hatchback?’

People ask ‘but isn’t it expensive?’, and they mean it as more of a statement than a question. Usually the person asking / statementing has a surfboard and a wetsuit anyway and drives a long way every other weekend to arrive at a wind-blown beach where they proceed to paddle out just for the sake of getting in the sea (I don’t blame them) with riding-on-board time expectations of about 10 seconds every three hours.

That to me is the biggest false economy a fledging waverider / waterman could make. Really in the grand scheme of things, what’s £1000 on the extra gear needed to go kiting spread over the cost of say, two years? And then you stand to recoup some of it back when you trade in for newer stuff. Where else is this tenner a week going? Sky Sports Package? Ben & Jerry’s? Apple? Another consumer-electronics brand who works its staff for 20hrs a day and sleeps them 100 to a room?

Next time someone says it I’m just going to tell them they can’t afford it.

Here are some shots I got yesterday with the GoPro at Watergate and the now becoming trusty Slingshot Celeritas and RMP 2010, which I have to return today – bah! I was planning to go on one of the safety boats to assist in Sir Richard Branson’s Channel crossing but the 12hr round trip to Kent is too much to bear at the moment. The blue skies and empty waves of home will have to do for now.

Fading into a windy lump

Cutty

Blowing the top off a frothy one

I think I was swimming two seconds later

Tags: A30 is too long, Kitehero, Richard Branson's Channel Crossing

You shouldn’t kite here in the summer as it angers the Harbour Master and contravenes a local bylaw, but when the tide’s this low and the entire estuary is dry, I think we can forgive the odd kiter in the sea can’t we?

Hawker’s Cove and Daymer Bay are true world class places to kite but because of the huge 7m tidal range and shallow sea bed the window of opportunity is very fleeting. I was just surprised to see so much sand this day; from Hawker’s Cove you could walk out and be starting straight across the River Camel towards Polzeath. Hope you like the shots.

Looking out towards Polzeath from the hamlet of Hawkers.

Looking across the River Camel towards Daymer Bay

Yep, that's the Spring Low tide then!

Can't you just picture living in that cottage?

Been a bit slow with the updates the last week or so – thick in the midst of a heinous Kitesurf Magazine deadline, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Either that or a P45 is looking for me with a torch.

Ahem.

You know how the Windguru forecast can sometimes look ‘off the scale’ a week or so ahead, but when the day rolls up, you sometimes struggle to even get on the water because it’s so light? Do you think this is because:

a) ‘Windguru’ make forecasts look really great so you keep checking back, thus keeping their advertisers ready

or

b) Other forces are at work, such as blocking highs derailing the course of the wind and swell, or the original storm that’s creating the low blowing itself a bit earlier.

I’m pretty sure it’s b) since many other sources do the same thing. What’s not as easy to remember are the days when the wind springs up out of nowhere, or the swell arrives a day early, or bigger and better than it was supposed to be.

We’ll keep an eye on this one though – the 4m plus swell forecast for Friday 27th August – and I’ll post a picture up here so we can see what it was like.

Tags: big swell forecast, Windguru

Airush have impressed a lot of people this year with a volley of strong, well positioned kites. First we had the freeride Varial, then the wave orientated Lithium, recently the stunning Vapor X (after a good cross-shore wave session yesterday, I’m a big fan) and now the One.

“Why’s it called the One?” I asked UK Importer James from Storm Distribution.

“It’s got one strut”.

Fair enough, I’d have known that if I’d have unpacked it – and I would have unpacked it sooner if I’d have known that. I was keen to get the One to the beach to see if anyone would notice the peculiar one strut concept. Pumping up was a laugh; no one pump! It’s easy to get the One into a pleasingly stiff airframe since the strut and leading edge are so oversize, about 5 and 7psi respectively is all that’s required.

The bridle is super simple – a y piece each side with single pulley – and it’s clear that the kite maintains structural integrity in the sky via a combo of the impressive sweep of that large diameter leading edge, a very low aspect ratio and the subsequently long and thick strut at its centre chord.

I won’t feck about and waste your time with more words, here’s a bullet point list for now. Full review in the coming issue of Kitesurf Magazine – Issue 61.

- Super swept leading edge makes self launching and relaunching a piece of piddle

- Feels more compact and looks smaller in the air than a regular 12m. Plenty easy enough to throw around for a surf session. I didn’t even bother to adjust the Smart bar from 45cm to 55cm though of course this would make it even more nimble.

- Strong low wind performer with good upwind abilities. During the testing days, the only time I was beaten upwind by anyone was when Denzil Williams turned up with an 11m and a full on race board. I was using a surfboard and Denzil is about 4 stone (56lbs you Americans!) lighter than me.

- Flaps about a bit when you chuck it around on land, but on the water the canopy looks and feels tight. Stability when running downwind is inspiring.

- Good depower, big sweet spot, just about impossible to trim it wrong.

Conclusion: I’d be interested to know what the inflated volume of this 12m is because with those large tubes and long curved leading edge, it can’t be that much different to a regular 5 strut kite like the Vapor X.

However, the advantages of a one strut kite that become apparent after the first session are: set up is quick, pack down is easy and quick, relaunch is easy (no water wheel effect of extra struts), flies great and pulls well in light winds (improved aerodynamics I’m guessing).

The One is a simple, safe, un-intimidating kite that handles all the back office stuff (stability, launch, relaunch) easily. The concept clearly works and it should make the lives of instructors a lot simpler. I’ve no idea of price yet, but maintenance will surely be a lot easier with only two bladders to worry about. In the right hands though, the One is an impressively marginal wind kite with blistering upwind ability thanks to the huge forgiving sweet spot. Feels good in the waves too.

Look at the simplicity of that bridle. The Airush One 12m.

Nice and chunky leading edge on the Airush One

Marginal winds are perfectly acceptable with the One

Tags: Airush One, one strut kite