Kitesaster

We were back in Laulasmaa for another practice on our own. As we have a goal to get ourselves ready for September (the IKO Assistant Trainer course!), we try to get on the water as much as possible. Most probably we have never been so much on the water as this summer. 

Anyway this day was a kitesaster (=kite disaster). Anne-Mai had just bought a new kite Gaastra Toxic 9m2 (2014) and it was the first time to fly her new “baby”. Triin took also her 9m2 kite which is actually her favourite kite. In the beginning it was all fine. Gusty wind as usual, but Laulasmaa is such a nice place that it’s not even so disturbing. Everyone has enough space to find the spot that suits. We were trying to jump, toeside, jibe and usual stuff. Were happy about our progress and enjoying the sunny day. But then things happened…

When practicing jumping, one of the common mistakes is that when descending the kite moves upwind of you. Meaning that when you land your kite drops. This is known also as a front-stalling. This is exactly what happened to Anne-Mai. She practiced her jump and landed so that the kite moved upwind of her and due to that it dropped. Unfortunately she was not able to relaunch correctly (kite turned contrariwise – leading edge out) and she had to self rescue. As she was far from the shore she could not reach to the bottom, she decided to have her board taken to shore by another kiter. Luckily there were many kiters on water and help near by. After reaching to the shore, Anne-Mai set up her kite and left it to try a bit. Meanwhile Martti from Laulasmaa Surfclub (again) asked her what happened. After receiving a short explanation, he encouraged “we all been there, it is part of the journey.”  So true, can’t argue that and we always say the same for other surfers who are just beginning. 🙂

After Anne-Mai’s incident we went back to the water as it was such a nice day and somehow we both had enough time for another session. Everything looked good until Triin’s depower line broke. It happened so fast that in a second Triin even didn’t realize which line had broken. A crash, opening the chicken loop, beginning to self rescue, some hassle with the kite as it started looping, finishing self rescue and back to the shore. Luckily it all went well as Triin was close to the shore and could reach the bottom of the sea quickly. But it still was a scare as she had never broken a line before and even couldn’t think how it would be like. Now she knows and should seriously think of exchanging all the lines or buying even new bars.

All in all – things happen in surfing and that’s something one needs to be prepared for. The positive side is that Anne–Mai is totally thrilled about her new kite – exactly what she had been looking for. It is a super fun kite that has the power as a larger kite but at the same time it is super easy to handle. New “baby” put a big smile on her face!