Wet 'n' Windy

Date : 18-nov-2006
Location: Gower
Team: SWAT, Froggy, Missile, The Tom, Arwen.

The forecast was 15-18mph W with a slight chance of rain in the afternoon.
On the way there we had a call from Tom and S - the M4 was shut - so we met up with them at the services (where tom had a puncture in his Landy) and then detoured through Bridgend. We eventually got there at about 10:15 - not too much time lost, but it was hailing - heavily.

The next problem was my kitewing. I noticed that there was a 4" gash in the clear plastic. Luckily a roll of gaffa tape sorted that for the day.

Eventually I got going and what a blast. Although the wind wasnt quite as strong as the forecast and there was more rain than expected, it was dead onshore so perfect for runs up and down the beach.

I spent a hour doing upwind turns, in all combinations (regular, goofy, heel to toe, toe to heel) I did a run from llangenith to Rhosilli, back past Llangennith and on to the northern end of the beach. OK I stopped once to swap sides when at Rhosilli, it must have been a 5 mile run.
Also did some great runs through the surf... that always gets people's attention!

Intermittent rain, hail, sun and wind meant we packed up at about 3:30 and went to the pub.

Great day.

there's a video here:
http://www.wingsurfer.co.uk/generic/template.asp?ACT=nav&mID=169
wet n windy

New kitewing speed records? - 47.8 mph!

Location : Gower
Date: 21/10/2006

Via the forum, a few of us arranged to meet up and take advantage of the wind forecast.
Tom, SWAT, Missile, Foilman, Foilboy, and me (froggy). The "Foils" left home at 3:15 to avoid the traffic and get there for the crack of dawn. Tom had been out on a "free bar" works do the nght before and for some reason arrived a bit later. We got there at about 10:30.

Beach was the more common rippled effect makeing runs to the sea impossible, but the wind was SSW so we could do fast runs Northwards and just about manage to ride back. And fast runs they were.

The wind was 24mph when we arrived. SWATs fist exploratory run up the beach clocked over 40mph. So did mine. The sand was hard packed so we thought.... woooo hoooo!.
It wasnot long before I had clocked 45.4 mph (73.06kph) with my 4.8 Kitewing and SWAT had reached 48.7mph (78.375 kph) with his 5.5. New records for both of us, and a knats whisker away from the 50mph target.
Unfortunately the wind moved round to a more westerly and dropped a little, so no matter how hard we tried, no more speed.

Foilman was doing some impressive jumps and hopefully there are some pix on the forum soon. My camcorder seems to have been playing up, so Foilboy's recordings may not be there. Hopefully some of Tom's will. and Foilboy's digital pixs too.

At one point, when we were just about to do a photo shoot with out nosnow.pl t-shirts on, a serious squall came in and the wind went from 20ish mph to 40+ mph in a matter of seconds. As SWAT dissapeared, we had to drag Foilman back from the dunes, seriously overpowered - he couldnt keep his feet on the ground. So couldn't walk upwind to drop his kite. and it rained. SWAT has dissapeared in to the beyond the 50m visibility of rain/wind/sand combination. We sorted Foilman out and the wind dropped, visibiliy cleared and sun came out. That was mad. Next thing, we saw SWAT walking back up the beach. He was ok, but he'd had the wing ripped from his hands and on impact with the ground, broken a mast tube on his 5.5 pro. We wondered what had happened to the 5 or so kitesurfers who were out on the water. I wouldnt like to be out on the sea when that happened.

Anyway we got the ramp out, did some jumps. The wind moved round to SW and dropped a bit more. so we still couldn't beat the morning's records.

Great day though.

Becalmed at Les Hemmes

Great place - no wind, (when we were there). Must go back when there is a better forecast.

New Video - Flying off the Ramp

We've uploaded a new video! - Kicker!

With our £20 ramp from Argos, we set off to the beach at the Gower on August 26th. With 6 wingsurfers there, we all had a go, but Tom managed to jump the farthest as well as crash the most spectacularly.

The wind wasn't great, but enough to get a feel for it. I think with a better wind next time, we should be doing some serious "flying".

http://www.wingsurfer.co.uk/videos/

Dirtsurfer Meet ups planned

There are 2 meetups planned :

• - Halfway forest in S Wales for a bit of downhilling
• - Les Hemmes in France for a bit of kite/Kitewing wingsurfing

Check the forum for full details:
http://www.forums.wingsurfer.co.uk/forum_topics.asp?FID=1

No more Kitewings from the Munkey

Skywings in Finland have asked us to post this message to inform you that Munkey Distribution are no longer the UK distributors for Kitewing.

You can now place your orders directly with Kitewing. They are in the process of establishing new partnerships in the UK.

Please contact Jan-Erik Luther at Kitewing HQ on : mailto:info@kitewing.com

Tel : +35894551716

Skype : kitewingfin

For international enquiries please refer to the Kitewing Dealer Network at http://www.kitewing.com/contact/

New Dirtsurfer Flexi 16" - First Impressions

SWAT got his new Flexi (well I picked it up for him) last week, and we assembled it ready for a session at the weekend.

It came in 2 reasonably small boxes, so much so that I thought that it couldn't all be there... but it was.

One box contained the wheels, and the other one the frame and all the other bits.

The following are notes & thoughts in no particular order:

1. The frame and metalwork is of good quality.
2. The deck looks somewhat rough, with loose fibreglass on the edged and on the back.
3. The Footstraps are great, but fitting them takes a little working out ()- See here for my instructions -
4. The board looks long with the 16" wheels
5. The assembly was slow, as the captive nuts in the deck didn't line up with the mounting holes in the frame. In fact we have only managed to get 11 of the 12 bolts in place. - even after an lots of struggling.
6. Its a great ride - very smooth
7. On rougher terrain it feels great (I've never tried the original flexi, so that could be the same for them too)
8. If the deck was to actually fit the frame it would take less than an hour to assemble.
9. The brake, although a new type, is essentially the same design as the old one. the cable soon gets clogged up with sand and muck and siezes up.
10. The calf brake lever is still too far back to comfortably reach, and there is no further adjustment on this (I thought there was going to be)

All in all, a great ride, cant wait to have a go on the 20".

Dirtsurfer wheels

Had a bit of a problem last session. Several of my spokes have corroded through at the nipple! SWAT has lost 5. I suppose its a factor of riding near salt water. I managed to bodge a few spokes to get mine back together, got a spare wheel for SWAT and put old one in for repair at the local bike shop.

New Dirtsurfers in the UK

ooooooh. last night I collected SWATs new 16" flexi dirtsurfer from Munkey.
Started putting it together for him, but hit a problem with the deck tolerances.

I couldnt get the captive nuts in the deck to line up with the holes in the frame. at 1bout 1:00am I gave up. Look like it will take a bit of "adjustment" with a file, to open out the holes in the frame. I decided that this is something that SWAT can do in his own time!

Anyway off the the gower tomorrow. Promises to be a GOOD session.
We have a keen photographer coming down, who wants to take some shots.
Missile is coming down sat later, as well as Tony with his new DS and Kitewing he picked up on eBay.

4 wingsurfers on the beach at the same time - cool!

We'll post a review of the new flexi after the weekend!

Llanaber West Wales.

Is it just me or dos it take me more time and more space to load my toys into the car when I go away? What with my Dirtsurfer, Mountain board, windsurfer + 2 sails, mast, boom, kitewing, box of bits etc, I barely had room for the tent and the family. Lucky I've got a 7 seater otherwise I'd have to leave the kids at home.
Anyway, we went to Llanaber, just up from Barmouth. I've been to Shell Island before (before I was married, before I had a car, before I got any toys), but decided to try the Barmouth area as there are lots of campsites next to the beach.

We arrived on Sunday after a 3 and a half hour drive cross country (I get fed up with motorways, so cross country is more interesting, shorter and probably more economical) Arriving at 5:00 the wind was blowing 18mph directly on shore, however once we'd set the tent up, sorted out food, welcomed my sister and family it was 9:00 and starting to get dark. That night brought torrential rain, thunder, lightning and lots of wind.

The next morning it was still raining - heavily. Funny how in the longest dry period anyone can remember, I go camping on the 3 days it rains. Still, it stopped later on and I got the Dirtsurfer and Kitewing out and started runs up and down the beach.

The beach at Llanaber is I suspect, the same beach that starts at barmouth and goes up to Shell Island. a stretch of about 6 or so miles. Unfortunately although the sand is pretty solid, there are huge great holes, and rivers,and I found it difficult to judge the depth of the holes until I got onto (into?) them. Some were shallow, others were up to 18 inches deep. Spaces between the holes were limited, so speed runs were difficult. I decided to take advantage of the distance available amd did a 4.5 mile run up the beach, and a 4.5 mile run back. In total, day 1 I covered 25 miles and a max speed of 35mph.

Day 2 I decided to get up early (7:00 and was on the beach by 7:45) to get the most from the tides and wind. Wind was about 17mph and SW. More runs (max speed 38.9mph, without having enough space).

Day 3 the wind went round to the North, so long runs were out of the question, so I got the ATB out and practiced throwing it around and practicing my jumps. A max jump distance of about 12-15foot (although not very high) was achieved, I was pretty chuffed with that. I even succeeded in jumping over a small (but deep) pond on the beach.

Day 4 I ran out of time and came home.

Learnings:
Harlech beach looks good
Black roack sands is not far away.
Loads of campsites there.

First UK Dirtsurfer-Fest

15 dirtsurfer riders from across the UK met up for a weekend of riding at Out To Grass (OTG) in the Malvern Hills on the 22nd and 23rd July. I think the centre, which is normally full of mountain borders, was a bit surprised to see so many DSs, and the usual comment was "not seen one of those before". Great fun was had, especially down the Snake Run. A few even tried the Border X track. - until the rain came and washed us out. (even the 4x4 got stuck).

There's a video here:
OTG Video and some photos here: Photos

It was good to put faces to names. Thanks to Tom and Tim who organised the event, I'm sure that there will be many more, and thanks to OTG (http://www.outtograss.com/) who were very welcoming. We'll be Back!

Its all downhill...

It may sound daft, but I live about 1 mile from a pretty good dirtsurfing hill. Cleeve Hill. So, I went up there with Missile, and we had a bit of a look around. I must say, riding without a wing to balance yourself with takes a few goes ot get used to, but I soon regained my confidence, and between us with did quite a few runs on the grass, and finished off with quite a long run down the path back to the car park. Its then that you realise the benefits of having a wing. No hills to climb!

Still good experience, and we agreed we should go back there again whenever we get a chance.

The ultimate ride would be on the road back into Cheltenham. From the Golf course, back into Prestbury Village, is probably 2 miles and pretty damn steep. Its also very busy, so I need a bit more experience and confidence before I have a go.

18/06/2006 - Jumping practice

Location: Gower
Wind: up to 10 mph S / SSW
Distance Travelled: 25 miles
Max Speed: 34 mph with wing, 27.9 with Windsurfer Rig.

OK, another day, usual place at the Gower.
Wind was forecast to pick up during the day and the tide was fully in when we arrived at about 10:00 am. So we waited, slowly the beach exposed itself and we gradually claimed it back for ourselves. The wind was SSW, so running up( ie north) was too far downwind, and running back (S)was hard work beating into the wind.
I set up my large windsurfer rig (6.5 metres) and had a few runs with it. The wind was only about 10mph, but It felt good with a reasonably large rig. I managed to reach 27.9mph, which is a new record for me. I wanted to top 30mph on the day, but it wasnt to be...
Lots of runs about, but not the best conditions. I clocked 25 miles during the day, but the wind never reached the forecast 17mph.
We spend most of the afternoon practising jumps. There wasnt enough wind to make a real go of it, but I think we all got the principles clearer in our heads.

Missile did a few jumps with just the wing, which I capture on my (oops, my wife's) new camera using the multi-shot mode.
We messed about for a while with an abandoned car on the beach. Well to be honest it was a pink plastic toy car, but it was rather silly, and we took a few shots of Missile in it with his wing - Until he fell out the back.

29/5/2006 - The wind's picking up

Location: Gower
Wind: up to 28 mph NW / NNW
Distance Travelled: 30 miles
Max Speed: 34 mph

Drove down again. SWAT and Missile had been there for the weekend, and were having a ball. I'd tried to fix SWATs kitewing, but the temporary joint had broken again. So we were a wing down. The wind was picking up, most of the kiters on the beach and even the buggies were struggling. The wind being NNW meant we only had small amount of beach to play with, but fun anyway. Being a wing short we decided to take it in turns. SWAT did a few jumps, with the ATB, Missile and me did some standing jumps, missile having the weight advantage seemed to jump twice as high as me. Technique probably.

Loads of fun on the kitewing with the Mountain Board doing power slides.

27/5/2006 - Kiting in the rain

Location: Gower
Wind: 14 mph West
Distance Travelled: 43 miles
Max Speed: 33 mph

Another good day. Wind was good and steady, but lots of rain. The beach was "ploughed field" again, appart from a stretch near the dunes. However, with westerly winds that was fine. plenty of space, not many others on the beach until the weather cleared in the afternoon.

Highlights?
Missile found a 2' deep hole at 25 mph and went flying. I saw him and thinking he had hurt himself, fell off during an emergency turn.
SWAT broke another mast tube on his kitewing by falling on it. He did manage to create a temporary splint with gaffa tape and spare wing tips. He could fly it but the aerodynanics were all wrong.
I did a fairly spectacular crash in the stream. The rain had turned the stream into a river and what normally is a simple process of crossing, became a 2 foot deep torrent. So my disrtsurfer stopped dead, and I went flying. Much to the amusement of onlookers. My dirtsurfer then started to wash away downstream, so I had to wade after it.

Anyhow, I brought SWAT's wing back and left him mine as he and missile were staying over. He texted me later to say 83 miles, which I assume is the distance he has travelled. Surely another record? I'm back tomorrow with a slightly better temporary fix on his wing. Forecast is 23mph NW, sunny. Should be a good day. Must crack those duck gybes.

Wingsurfing uphill!

21st May 2006.
Quick session today between rainstorms. It was blowing 20mph, so I thought I could justify a quick late afternoon session with the Dirtsurfer and Kitewing on Cleeve Hill.
I have always wanted to run from the common by the arials to the next hill top by the golf course. Well, today I managed it :-)
Very gusty, as the kitewing kept lifting over my head and behind me at times. Good fun though as I did 3 runs there and back (probably less than 1/4 mile each way), but the fun thing was that it was down and up the hill. Going down is a bit mad, as you could go flat out. I didnt, as it was so gusty, but powering up the hill is quite an experience. I've done it at the same spot using a normal power kite and a mountain board, but this was a first with Kitewing and Dirtsurfer.
Then it started to rain so I came home :-( what a wimp.

Our New Website - wingsurfing, kitewing, dirtsurfing

We've got our new website live now.
Loads of great videos, pix, news, hints and tips.
Feedback has been great so far, and we'll be adding loads more content on a continuous basis.

http://www.wingsurfing.co.uk

new kitewing / dirtsurfing video

http://www.wingsurfing.co.uk/videos/Kiting_may_1_2006_5.wmv (20mb)

some good dirtsurfer slides - lots of fun

1st May - May Bank Holiday at the gower

We really must go somewhere else. The problem is it's such a good spot.

Anyway: wind forecast was different on each website, but windguru said 25mph. It ended up at about 15 which was good. The beach was pretty bad again, with a surface that wouldn't be out of place on the moon. Just as well that the wind was mostly westerly, as we had good runs up and down the beach. Managed to fly/ride (flyde?) 40 miles over the course of the day, and it felt like it this morning. top speed 33.7mph.

Lots of use of the harness on the Kitewing; lots of dirtsurf powerslides; Lots of video taken (will post when i've edited it); lots of crashes from Missile; an abortive attempt to try jumping and flying from the dunes by SWAT and Missile; raced a few kitesurfers (they were in the water, I was on the shoreline - they won, but the beach was too bumpy for me to go for it. - my excuse anyway); a bit of ATB powersliding with the kitewing.

Missile is doing really well, I must sabotage his kit so he doesn't get better than me.

Nothing particularly new learned, but did get some video of one handed kitewing flying. (and SWAT's "wave to mum"), and did get loads of practice of turning and sliding

Powerslides

Session Report: 17 April 2006

Went down for the Bank Holiday Monday to Meet up with SWAT and Missile. Missile had his new dirtsurfer and kitewing to play with. Not a vast amount of wind when I got there at 10:00, but forecast was to pick up to 19mph during the day. Hard work to begin with, but as the wind picked up it proved to be a good day for messing about. got 33mph and kited 40 miles over the day, and spent most of the time practicing powerslides. A few crashes are on video here http://www.wingsurfing.co.uk/videos/powerslide_outtakes.wmv.

April 13/14 dirtsurfing with kitewing and windsurfer sail

Froggy and SWAT - Another session, more progress. I suppose thats what its all about. Keep flying, keep pushing, keep learning. We had 2 days; thursday and friday. Thursday was a blaster. westerly 18-20mph, very gusty to begin with but getting better as the day went on. Lots of power slides on the dirtsurfer, improving power slides with the mountain board, used the harness a lot; came a cropper a couple of times :-( - a couple of minor jumps too.

Should have been able to beat the speed records but the gusts in the wind were just too much to commit to. Friday was much more consistent but much less, only managed 34mph.

Loads of interest on the beach. I think we could have sold a few sets of kit over the 2 days... where's the commission mkyd? 2 guys (windsurfers) were convinced after about 15 minutes and said they would buy a dirtsurfer/kitewing combo between them.

We also had interest from a professional sports photographer who must have spent 45 minutes taking photos. We'll be in touch with him to get some copies.

Friday was much quieter and a lot less wind. A bunch of buggiers set up right next to us, making it difficult to get out of our spot next to the river. They also really churn up the sand.

I had quite a good session on the dirtsurfer with a 5.5 metre windsurfing sail (tushingham storm). Got a top speed of 25 mph which is not great, but the wind was falling off all the time.

I'll be going back on monday, as SWAT has gone down with Missile (who has his new kit now) to catch the end of the forecasted 17mph westerlies... hmmnn

New Kitewing / Dirtsurfer Speed Records

Great session on Saturday the 1st April. 15-20mph SSW wind. Almost perfect conditions.

SW managed to reach 42.3mph (with his 5.5m wing), beating my previous best. The best I could do was 41.2MPH (with my4.8m). Pretty damn fast, and I get the feeling that we're pushing the limits, so "every little helps"... SW had more pressure in his Dirtsurfer tyres (40PSI as opposed to my 30PSI). I know its not going to make that much difference, but its all about friction and rolling resistance.

According to the GPS, over the course of the day, I kited 39.5 miles. Also used the Kitewing harness a lot; and spent some time prefecting some moves on the ATB with the kitewing. Really throwing it about - great fun. Watch this space for videos: http://www.wingsurfer.co.uk/videos/Gower

Wingsurfing Inland?

I had the first (sucessful) go with the kitewing & dirtsurfer combination inland. The wind was blowing 15mph and although it was raining I decided a quick trip up onto cleeve hill was called for. As it's only 2 miles from my house, its not a bad venue, and one I should use more often. Its right on top of the hill, and if its windy anywhere round here, its the place to be. Normally you expect to see a few kiters there. However, probably because of the rain, it was just me and a few dog walkers.

Because of the higher rolling resistance starting, and the generally bumpy surface, its harder to start than on a beach. Once going though, relatively easy, and because of the wheel diameter, much easier than an ATB. Try and avoid the really ruff stuff, but otherwise quite good, and quite fun if you start to pick out the "interesting" terrain.
I managed a few runs up a hill, but hard work in the gusts as it was downwind and more sheltered. Big wind shadows behind the gorse bushes, and nearly bailed out when I was riding between two big bushes.
Top speed reached, 21mph, but didnt really go for it as the conditions were not perfect. (wet and muddy). Kited about 6 miles. Brake seemed OK.

Highlights
Nothing new learned, except uphill riding, but worth doing a few more trips up there after work (if its 12mph+), now the nights are getting longer.

Bumps and Harness

Llangenith again last Sunday. Wind was forecast to be 17mph East, so we headed off as usual. Although it seemed windy on the way there, on the beach when we arrived it was almost zero :-(

So we played with our flexifoil bullets for a while. I managed after a few attempts to use the kite with the Dirtsurfer. Thats a first. You need a bit more wind than there was, otherwise, as soon as you get moving you catch up with the kite and it drops out the sky. Anyhow, managed a few runs then the wind picked up. Whatnot tried his new 5.5 kitewing, but it was very gusty and variable by the dunes, being offshore. The beach was nearly useless everywhere else due to the "ploughed" effect. It seems that a couple of days of easterly wind create this effect. No chance of any speed runs in those conditions.

Down by the sea, the wind was much better, more consistent. So I did a few runs at the waters edge (and in the water) and that was quite fun. No speed attepts as it was very wet and ploughed.

Harness
I thought it would be a good chance to try the harness lines on the Kitewing. So I set it up (as best I knew), and it was actually much easier than I thought. NOt sure teh line positions were right, but using my old windsurfing (seat) harness, it was easy enough to hook in, and power up. You can still depower OK as the lines slide through the harness hook giving you a fair degree of freedom. When you get gusts, you can still depower OK. The thing to watch (as with windsurfing) is remember to unhook, when you turn or stop. Otherwise you end up on your face on the wing. (Yes I did)

Highlights
I can dirtsurf with a 3.5 flexifoil bullet for power.- need more practice.
Using the harness lines on the kitewing is much easier than I though and will afford far more power when doing runs.
GPS reading said I had covered 25.7 miles during the day (we were there for 6 hours!).

More Kitewing Problems

Looks like we have a serious issue with kitewing boom wear - after only one season. This wear appears in th 4 spots where the battens must touch the boom. SWs boom is the same and his battens have actually worn at the end. Must look into some form of sleeve that might protect the boom. Nylon or Mylar? I wonder if anyone else has this issue?

Broken Kitewing Boom

After the wingsurfing session at the weekend, SW checked his boom. Its knackered :-(
Clearly the crash the week before had caused more damage than we realised. So its a new boom for him.

Dirtsurfer Brakes

Had a bit of problem with the brakes on the dirtsurfer at the weekend. Although we put it down to very wet conditions, subsequent inspection of SW's brake made us realise it was actually locked up. Turns out the Dirtsurfer brake pads were completely worn. So much so, that the pads were actually touching each other over the top of the disk. ie not even touching the disk when braking.
A trip to Halfords and £14.99 for a set of Tekro Gemini-Novela pads (needed a hole drilling in the back) seemed to do the trick. and a complete strip down, oil and rebuild, seems to make the thing work better. Although I'm not convinced that the Y-brake cable we fitted a while back actually helps, as it gets clogged with sand.
So... currently looking into hydraulic (sealed) units from Hope. I'll blog more about this when I find out.

Wet Gower Trip

OK, so you'd think we'd learn by now. The wind was from the South-East; it was raining, and we had to drive through the snow to get there.
Well it was OK actually, just a bit cold and wet, and we had a chance to play with the new GPS's - They work a treat; although conditions meant I only managed 35.7mph :-(
Managed some quite good downwind turns on the Dirtsurfer; and about half an hour powersliding on the mountain board.

Conditions: Wind: 15mph gusting 22mph from South East, moving round to South
Beach: very, very wet, but very flat.
Weather: Very wet. Rained all day.
Nobody much about. No other kites, but one windsurfer.

Highlights:
The wind broke a pole on my beach tent.
Simon's new tent couldn't stand up.
Sand in the kitewing crossbar meant we couldnt get them apart with cold and sandy hands. Solutions: Unscrew the whole bar and fixing. Simple.

Cool GPS

This looks rather cool. But having just ordered a Garmin wrist mounted one, looks like I'll have to stick with it.
Link

New GPS?

Been looking into GPS systems as SW has an old Garmin unit strapped to his Dirtsurfer, and I'm currently using a Halfords £12 bike computer. Mine gives me max speed (so far 40MPH recorded), but as part of our new "official world speed record" we (we me actually) need to be able to record and verify it on GPS.



Found this one: a GARMIN FORETREX 101 Personal WRIST MOUNT GPS for £68 + 15 postage. Thats great value as its normally over £100. Its also fully waterproof and wrist mounted. We decided to order a couple and have direct comparisons then.

Dissapointing trip to Gower

OK, so it cant always be great conditions, but last weeks outing was a waste of time. OK we knew the wind was offshore, but after 2 hours in the car for me (4 for SW) the beach was as rippled as a ploughed field. We tried to find a good spot, and the best was near the dunes, but of course, the offshore wind was round in circles there which made it almost impossible to fly. Right next to the sea was useable, but there was no way we could commit to the power.
I did a few runs actually in the sea (well 3 or 4 foot into the sea) where the water was 2 or 3 inches deep, which was good fun.

Then SW doing a tight turn on the edge of the water, managed to fall onto his wing and, as we found out a bit later, split the fibreglass boom. He's since ordered a new one from MKYD, but thats an expense he wasnt expecting.

We decided to pack up and drove over to the campsite near "bomb beach", but the site was closed and nowhere to park. A bit frustrated we made the decicion to drive over to Pendine as we'd not been there before.

It was further than we expected and probably took an hour to get there. The tide was in (we knew that anyway), and there was nobody kiting, but we chatted to some guy about the rules. You have to be a member of http://www.clsc.co.uk/ to be able to fly there (£50pa ?). (read the forum http://www.racekites.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=243&PN=0&TPN=1 for latest). Pembrey looks to be better but same club membership rules apply. Its a long way to go and hassle with membership (day membership is available, but you have to be sponsored by a club member)

News Tricks / Things Learned
A bit of riding in the sea, a few turns in very gusty conditions.
Perhaps look into a Pembrey weekend at some point in the summer. - hassle with membership.

What is Wingsurfing?

There seem to be a growing number of "fusion" sports appearing. With kitesurfing being similar to wakeboarding, but with a kite; Traction kiting being a combination of Mountain Boarding and Kiting etc. It seems that people are more keen to try these combinations, to get a new experience.

Well, a couple of started using a kitewing with a dirtsurfer. Not the first to do so I know, but the problem was there was no name for it.So we thought we'd call it Wingsurfing. Its kind of a cross between windsurfing, surfing and snowboarding.



check it out here http://www.wingsurfing.co.uk