No Riding - Still :-(

Not sure if I mentioned it but I got a cracked rib a couple of weeks back. not from wingsurfing or anything, but at a mates stag doo GoKarting. Dammit it hurt. so the last three weeks I've been too chicken to get on a board. However I spent part of today checking out my kit.

My Beachracer is in a bad way I'd not looked at it for a few weeks and when I did, the back wheel had siezed completely. The cheapo useless Bke Hut Hydraulic disk brake had locked solid. and the disk rotor had started going rusty. So, I took things appart as best I could (cant get the pads out, and even if I could Halfords have no idea, or at least are not willing to tell me where to get new pads.) Anyway, I cleaned it all up and at least got the wheel going round!.

Then I noticed that several spokes in the from t wheel had gone (corroded through ). So I took these off and cleaned up as best I could. Need to get some replacements... I also made a few notes on the site and added it to the "If its Broke..." section.

Also noticed that there is a LOT of play in the front swing arm bearings.... hey ho lots to do before I go riding again on the ole beachracer..

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!

New Kitewing! - 7.5m Wave Warrior

Yeh, after what seems like months of keeping shtum, (is that a real word?) the new Wave Warrior is officially anounced. Its a 7.5 metre kitewing and board for water use.!!!!

Lots of people have asked about this ever since I've been involved in the sport - so now here it is.

http://wavewarrior.wingsurfer.co.uk/

Latvian Dirtsurfing

Met up with Ivo last week, at the OTG event in Malvern and he gave me some pix taken in Latvia.. Check them out..
http://photos.wingsurfer.co.uk/igallery.asp?d=\wingsurfing+in+latvia\

Wingsurfer.co.uk - Shop is Now Open

UK Dirtsurfers and kitewingers can now get their gear from the experts at http://shop.wingsurfer.co.uk/

Wingsurfer.co.uk, which is probably one of the best resources for Kitewing and Dirtsurfer information has added an online store. So UK riders can now get their Latest Dirtsurfers, Kitewings, accessories and spares directly from SWAT and Froggy. They've even got some great combo deals going.

If you need help or advice, there are plenty of resources there, and a great forum where you can communicate with other riders.

http://shop.wingsurfer.co.uk/

Dirtsurfers on the BBC

Yes thats right, I managed to blag my way into getting interviewed by Faye Hatcher on the local BBC radio Gloucester for her saturday morning Extreme Sports Slot.

New 20" Flexi Dirtsurfer

Yey - I have a new Dirtsurfer. The 20" flexi is really nice. I've not taken it out yet, but as soon as I've got some time! - I will....

18th Feb 2007

Not a brilliant wind, and quite a lot of rain. But we managed to have a go

Snow in the UK!

Well its been a while - so we get excited.
I'm just hoping that it stays for the weekend. I've got all the kit: (snowboard & kitewing) lined up ready to go! Watch this space for pix if I manage to get out and there's any wind

Kitewings to Switzerland

So we thought we had it planned. Take the Kitewings to Switzerland to take advantage of the wintersport side of the Kitewinging. What we hadn't counted on was: Not enough snow. No wind. too much wind (lifts closed) - so we ended up snowboarding and skiing instead, which was great. Zermatt is a great place, but probablyt not the best for kitewinging. I hear that Lake Silvaplana is the place to be. Flat and windy.

Ah well - next time.

Off to Zermatt!

Hey - SWAT and I (plus a few others) are off to Zermatt in Switzerland for a spot of skiing/boarding and are taking our Kitewings. This is a first attempt on snow for both of us, and as I'm still a newbie boarder it could prove interesting. NOt sure how easy this is going to be, or even how easily we can get the kitewings to teh top of a mountain, but hey, gotta give it a go!

Off on Saterday - woo hoo

Kitewing flyers global map

If you are a kitewing flyer/user, put yourself on the global kitewing flyers map.

http://www.frappr.com/kitewing

or

http://www.wingsurfer.co.uk/generic/template.asp?ACT=nav&mID=242



Cheers
Mike

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/