Sunday, June 14, 2009

Going to the Dark Side

Nahant, sunset session, kite landboarded


Why am I learning kiting? I want more power in light winds. I'm sick of schlogging on my biggest sail while kiters breeze by me, lofting big air, big smiles on the their big faces. I want some of that!

No, I'm not going to the dark side. I'm just visiting. No way I'm giving up windsurfing in strong winds.

First impression of kite landboarding- It's harder than I expected to balance without a sail in my fists/ Fun/ Am I nuts?!/ Shin guards would be nice/ I wish my board had a brake!/ My harness is useless cause I'm not even thinking about hooking in while I'm on the board/ I need more wind to keep my kite up/ I'm glad my board doesn't have straps/ Hey, I haven't fallen once without landing on my feet!/ I could get completely pulverized in strong winds.

Nahant is only a 35 minute drive without traffic!

Nahant, Kite Landboarded, ENE, E, 6-12, 3.6 trainer kite, solo.

4 comments:

PeconicPuffin said...

Have fun! Try not to get killed.

scooper said...

Good idea! I banged my shin on the side of landboard on Sunday but I didn't see my life flash before my eyes so I guess it wasn't serious.

Snowy Guy said...

Scoop, don't delude yourself. I have seriously considered surf kiting and rejected it. You need winds in the twenties to learn. It takes some doing to get through the beginning stage before you can kite the low winds. If you start right you must have a kite sized 10 or 11 meters while you are learning to get up on a board and ride. You also have to give up sailing those great winds. Then to kite the low winds, you need to buy a bigger kite. It won't be good for winds down around 10 m.p.h., too. At that point you are dead in the water with a kite.

Snowy Guy said...

I forgot to add that you will be sinking some serious deniro into your kite boards if you get involved. Finally, I drove a taxi cab in Boston for 12 years. Don't expect the drive to Nahant to be so short timed as it was for you. The Revere beach parkway can often be bumper to bumper. The same goes for the Tunnel, the Mystic bridge and the Lynnway.