Yesterday was supposed to be the day when we were going to head on the water all together. The magical day when Kristiin would ride with us and at the same time evaluate our progress. It all started out very promising.
We met at Stroomi beach, Surftown Surfclub as usual. The wind forecast for that day was mediocre west wind 7-8m/s but the actual wind seemed stronger. On the beach we had a discussion on which kite to take. Kristiin encouraged us to take 12m2 kites, so we did even though Triin felt in heart that 9m2 would be more suitable for her.
As we were setting up our gear, there were already approx 20+ riders on water who seemed to be enjoying their ride and each minute more and more were arriving to the beach. We quickly launched our kites and headed to the sea. Kristiin was first on water and chose a spot on the left corner – so that we would have enough room to show our jumps. Triin was second and after her directly Anne-Mai.
As it is middle of summer, the beach is as usual divided between surfers and swimmers. Therefore getting on the water can be tricky as the shallow waters are sweet spot for most kiters. At first we had real hassle due to the traffic to get ourselves upwind in a good/safe position where to practice our jumps. As we got upwind, it was totally different scenario as on shore. Now the west wind was blowing directly into the spot (if you are on shore, the wind is coming over spit which makes it weaker), therefore it was much stronger than on shore.
As soon as we got upwind we started looking for Kristiin to place ourselves on the same riding line so that we could show our kiting. While we did so, there occurred a situation where Anne-Mai dropped her kite to the water, while she was trying to relaunch she noticed Triin riding directly towards her. She decided to wait with relaunching until Triin turned around. Unfortunately very strong wind gust came and Triin was forced to lower herself also in water because her kite was so overpowered and she couldn’t turn the other way as fast as needed. The moment when she was able to stop the distance between the two of us was so little, that the leading edge of Anne-Mais kite was digging against Triins back. So for few seconds there was a situation where our kites could have hit together. (That would have been something new for us. Not funny actually … ) As the gust went by, Triin was able to continue riding and Anne-Mai got also back on water. This time we were lucky to have only a scare not actual accident. This expressively shows why you should trust your gut feeling and rather start your session with smaller kite (you can always change it for bigger one). Talk about learn in experience. But after all we are still learning and every hour on water is very valuable.
We continued kiting a bit and trying to practice jumping although we noticed that Kristiin had gone back to her club. As Triin’s kite was so overpowered for most of the time, she soon went back on shore in order to avoid another incident. A bit later also Anne-Mai came off, because the wind got stronger and stronger.
This was it for the day for us as we had limited time and babies already waiting for us. Till next time!
