Another weekend of no wingsurfing. Weather conditions are mad. Its either not a breath of wind or its a howling gale with torrentail rain. Well I could have gone to Camber, but I didnt fancy the 6 hours in the car, for what could have ended up a miserable day. So I'm indoors on the web :)

I do have the new Wave Warrior to test out soon, and must get to the coast!!

Gusty but good

It was a good gusty session at the Gower on Sunday. 20-25 mph- gusting 40mph. Made it damn hard work to do anything for very long. We did a bit of HD video that SWAT will use at some point.

Wingsurfing Saturday, Downhilling Sunday

Months (well it seems like it) of waiting for wind, and I managed to get a session at the gower. Sand was very soft, and the wind was marginal, but hey I got out there. Took Alfie the Bernese dog down there for the day. He enjoyed it too!

 

 

Sunday was a quick trip to OTG for some downhilling. Some of the wingsurfer gang were there (although there were more on saturday):

http://www.wingsurferforum.co.uk/forum_posts.asp?TID=1529 - good fun, and SWATs video is excellent.

 

 

Some Dirtsurfing Photos

Just though you might like a couple more photos of my Dirtsurfer - these were taken in the Scottish Outer Hebrides.

 

Mike (froggy)

Surfing on Cleeve Hill

Just had a pretty good session a mile from my house which makes a change. Its blowing 20-25 mph here so a quick trip up Cleeve Hill was called for.

I have to say, anyone who regularly flys/rides inland has my full admiration! its gusty as hell, but then if you can ride inland, you can ride anywhere!!

I didnt dare hook the harness in, and had to give up after 2.5 hours as my hands refused to grip the boom anymore.

Great fun riding up and down hill though. Putting extra power on to go up hill is a real buzz! Had to watch out for the sheep, as I never knew which way they will run when they realise you are coming. (ooer! perhaps I shouldnt have typed that!)

No speed records, but real fun!!

A few photos of wingsurfing on the beach at Newgale in Pembrokeshire. Pretty good session, not that much wind, but good fun.

Wingsurfing at Newgale

whilst on a "romantic" trip round south wales as part of my (our) wedding anniversary, I managed to get away with a day of wingsurfing at Newgale beach. I've been there once before, probably about 5 years ago when I went on a weekend Kitesurfing course - taught by Kirsty Jones no less. Anyway, conditions for my week away were variable, and although I had my Kitewing and Dirtsurfer Flexi in the van (we hired a VW Van for the week) I thought I may not get a chance to use it. However, wind and tides were favourable on the Thursday and although not a stunning day, the wind was blowing 10-12 mph most of the time and the beach was emtpy. It was nice to get back on teh board with some wind. No records broken, no new tricks, just a few hours of turning practice until the tide came in and the wind dropped. Pix to follow....

Where have I been?

yes - ok its been somwhat quiet here. However, last weekend I managed to get to the Gower with SWAT, and T&S. While the wind didnt amount to as much as had been forecast, the weather was good, and we spent the day shooting video. OK not real extreme stuff, but hopefully a few good shots in amongst it all. Watch this space, or www.wingsurfer.co.uk or youtube for the results...

Keep Riding.!

Wave Warriors in the Duck Pond

Thats the Duck Pond at Exmouth. I've never been there before, but its quite a good location. Shallow safe water. I understand it is only useable for a couple of hours either side of high tide, and I admit we were running out of water pretty fast. Lots of interest though. Si we rigged up in wind that was about 8-14mph, so a bit marginal for the wave warriors, but we were there and needed to play.

A few lessons learned.
1. You do need a good breeze to get going (15mph++), and when you have it - you can just step on and go.
2. If you try starting in less than perfect wind, its hard work and frustrating.
3. I forgot my recoiling kitesurfing leash, so had to use 2 kitewing normal leashes. One on my board and one on the wing. This worked pretty well, and the board was a little more under my control than with the recoiling one.
4. I still start hooked in, when in marginal conditions, it gives you extra lift and is less likely to sink the board.
5. I tried one turn, but quickly sank (need more wind!)

Bullet Cam Video of Dirtsurfer and Kitewing

Hey, here's a shot from a quick video I took using my bullet cam. I have to say, its far more difficult to get good video using it than I thought. You cant see what you're shooting, so its complete hit and miss.

Kitewing in The Outer Hebrides

Just realised that I'd not put a link to my Photos from the Outer Hebrides. Uig Bay on the Isle of Lewis. These shots were all taken there. Faboulous spot.




Mike's Photos Kitewing + Dirtsurfer=Wingsurfing at UIG

Global Calming? - Where's the wind?

Is it just me? - of has there been no wind for weeks. Mike Kitewings are in their bags and getting frustrated. I'm sure last year were out flying every weekend, this year I've not had a day with more than 5 mph winds for ages. Ant I need 12 mph to get me and kitewing and the Dirtsurfer going!

We need to pray harder!!!

Good Gower Weekend

Hurah,
After what seems like months, I/we managed to get a good weekend Kitewing / Dirtsurfer session at the Gower. A few of us were there, Tom, Skye, Missile, SWAT and a few non-kitey mates, and a good weekend was had by all.
No records broken, but saturday was a good steady 11mhp - ish (WNW), and sunday was probably 12-14mph (WSW). 33.1mph best speed, so no prizes, but lots of fun. Even flew my 3.5 bullet on saturday and we gave a few impromptu lessons to some mates (and passers by).
Tried out my newly aquired bullet cam but it didnt read my 2G memory card, not sure why, but I filled my 256Mb in 2 minutes. (2 runs). I'll check it out and post anything interesting...

The Hill End Campsite was not full which was nice - must get back again (next weekend?)

I didnt mention, but we went down last weekend (bank holiday) for the day, it too 3 hours to get there, there was no wind and the fog came in, so you couldnt see the sea...I blame global warming.

OTG meetup at Malvern

We planned a meetup of dirtsurfers at Out To Grass mountain board centre in Malvern last weekend. The forecast was rain, and for once unfortunately the forecast was right. Saturday is rained like hell, and the lift vehicle couldnt get up the track, so it was a run - a walk - run - walk. Sunday wasn't much better. so we ended up whimping out and going home. Still, good to see a few faces and get a bit of video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEFa2eu7rgk

Hey I'm back

Back after what seems like ages..
The excuses....
Firstly we had floods in Cheltenham where I live, and consequently no running water for 2 weeks. You cannot believe what a pain that is; not having the ability to flush the loo or wash clothes or take a shower.
Then we went away .. to the Outer Hebrides. Uig Bay and Stornoway to be precise. Weather was "variable" so lots of rain, and surprisingly not much wind for teh first few days. then 40mph winds, then eventually (on the last day) a near perfect day at uig. If you've not been there (not many people have) imagine a sheltered sandy bay, roughly half a mile square with flat hard sand that dries when teh tide goes out and fills up with waist high water when its in. Thats Uig. The main downside its that its 600 miles and 2 ferry journeys away. But a beautiful place nevertheless. Must go back.

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!