Wave Warriors spotted in Poole Harbour

Yay,

SWAT and I took the plunge, took a couple of days off, and spent 2 days at Poole Harbour with the new Kitewing Wave Warriors (WW75). The idea was to get to grips with the kit in the water and Poole Harbour is one of the best spots in the UK for learning as when the tide is in, there is about 2 foot of water in a space about half a mile square.

Day 1, we set the wings up in less than perfect conditions (variable 10mph winds), and really only managed to achieve very short runs before sinking. I also managed to break two of the board fins by riding down (into the sand) rather than along!
The Kitewing is brilliant, quality wise if feels really good, The quality of components is great, and the wing material is the best yet.

Day 2 the wind was up to 18mph and more SW, so this allowed us better practice. With the tide going out we only had about 3 hours of riding, and after gluing a fin back together again the night before, I was riding on 2 fins (not 3) for a while before I broke one of those, and had to start using my Windsurfer board instead.

Lessons learned :
1. You need 15mph+ wind
2. You need to be fit!
3. Dont start in water that is too shallow.
4. the wing feels very stable, so hooking in to the harness feels very natural and not at all unstable.
5. I was even starting hooked in
6. You need to perfect the "step-on-and go" technique. You cannot step on and then get the wing trimmed, you will simply sink.
7. Once a wingtip touches the water surface, forget it you cannot fight it, just let go and start again.
8. I need to perfect water starts as I was only riding in 18" of water and essentially doing "beach starts" each time.
9. Managed to get "on the plane" a couple of times on the larger windsurfer, but not on the kitewing board.
10. No attempts at turning yet, lets get starting and straight lines sorted first.
11. Hook in as soon as possible if you are not when you start.
12. if the wing is upside down, flipping it by lifting the nose and letting the wind turn it over needs to be done with care, as it can result in broken battens. - I know, I broke one.
13. Wingtips (mast extensions) are very vunerable, and if you try to fight the wing/water combination you will break them - I broke 2!

Summary

This is a great piece of kit and I know I'm going to love it. I also know its harder to master than land based wingsurfing, even if you have windsurfed before, it takes a while to get the hang of it. Oh and I realise I need to be fitter!

Water Wingsurfing

Woo hooo - My new Wave Warrior (WW75) water kitewing is here and SWAT and me are off to poole for a couple of days to get to grips with it. I've loaded up the froggy wagon with everything I can think of, but I'm sure I've forgotten something. SWAT and I have some of the first ones in the country - thanks to Kitewing. The only thing wrong is that my camcorder is not back from Sony yet, and SWATs has currently lost the charger for his... I'll keep you posted after I get back....oh and its going to be very windy tomorrow!

May 6th Wingsurfer Trip to 'Gennith

Having a load of work to do on the house (trying to finish re-building the bathroom) - I decided that I could really only justify 1 day of wingsurfing this weekend - even though it was a long weekend. So I checked the forecast, several times (then checked again) to decide which day would be best. Saturday: no wind. Sunday 15mph SW some rain. Monday: 20mph & rain. So Sunday it was....
Not a particulary early start, the tide was not out till 2pm anyway, so no real hurry. Phatpig had decided to go down earlier and had caught the train. Now there's dedication. SWAT figured another weekend of ankle resting would be sensible. So it was just me in the car.

Arrived about 10:30 to meet Gavin, JoeA, Skye, Karah, PhatPig and Tom in the car park. We loaded up Toms ramp-come-trailer with Dirtsurfers, Kitewings and pushed / pulled / dragged the whole lot down to the beach. It struck me that this was the first time down the Gower since SWAT did his ankle in - except for the windless Easter. Toms ramp does make a pretty effective transport device once he's screwed a set of wheels on the back and loaded the front onto hist buggy.

The weather was OK, a bit overcast but not raining, The wind was looking ok, about 12-14 mph (a guess as I couldnt find my wind meter). Not much to report on the riding other than the wind was really steady blowing directly on shore. Tom spend all day jumping the ramp. I did numerous blasts up and down the beach (total distance travelled 31 miles) but only topped 30mph top speed. Direct on shore wind is not the best for speed runs, as you need to sail slightly away from the wind. There must be some research on this somewhere. PhatPig was looking cool (I saw him going for some turns too).

By about 4:00 everyone was knackered, and were talking about the pub, but PP and I trundled off after picking up his tent from Kennexstone. The rest stayed on, so Im keen to hear what it was like on Monday.

Another Kitewing wingtip on my 5.5 Rage broke (or more accurately de-laminated), which is annoying as this was using 2 brand new tips, and I didnt drop or crash the wing once during the day - I've got through 3 so far and only used the wing 4 times. So today I ordered some carbon fibre rods from Active Toys. I ordered one of each size (4,5, and 6mm dia & 1.5 metres long) Not being quite sure what I needed or how I can use them yet, but I assume I can make up something that might be a little more robust than the fibreglass ones.

Any way, good day out - everything aches, and it looks like the ankle god has been apeased. - Just in time for the water wings (wave warriors) when they arrive.... and yes, I have ordered one!