I’ve previously leaked some info revealing that the Bandit 4 will be a three strut kite with more squared wing tips. I can confirm that it is also still a Delta kite.

Video snippets and better action photos and more product info coming in the week, but for now here’s a few snapped shots of F-One’s 2011 range…

Sqaured off wingtips for more direct and snappy steering

The new sticks are looking tight as ever

Our testing ground for the week

Yep those tips are angular!

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I was left with no option but to drive to Newport, Wales, and back, to get the one-day Fast Track Passport. 

Mercifully the system is really efficient and easier I reckon than renting a video from Tower Road Spar shop. No queues, the form was simple, and the staff were nice; this was a good Civil Service. 

You have a four hour wait while they make your new passport, and in that time I nipped off to Porthcawl to get a couple of shots of a tidy little swell that was pushing into Rest Bay. The chap in the photos is (I think, correct me if you know otherwise) Elliot Dudley, former European Longboard Champion and reigning Welsh Champ. 

It's dark in there

Cheater 5 on a hollow little section

Sun was quite overhead hence the darkness of the rider

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.

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

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

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

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.

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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.

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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

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?