Another go at Eastern Beach after yesterdays great session.
Today the wind was awful. Gusting between 7 – 15 knots.
Could ride really nice for 1 minute and then 2 minutes lull and waiting to be able to get up on the board again. Everyone was struggling and after an hour or so I decided to call it a day. Not much fun to ride in these conditions. Hopefully the wind will pick up again over the next few days.
What a great session at Eastern Beach today. Wind from 12-15 knots – again perfect for my 13.5 naish cult. I just love those days. Some nice chop to jump over and the tide was just coming in, covering the reef to the left of the beach, opening up the next bay as well for some flat water kiting. Great. There weren’t many people out when I started but it became a bit more crowded over the next few hours. Again fortunately most kiters seemed to prefer to kite just very close to the beach, all in the same spot. There were only two other kiters in the area further upwind allowing for some nice riding without worrying too much about collisions. I love the Eastern Beach – even on long weekends it doesn’t get too crowded and you can park right next to where you rig your kite.
Today was the first time for me in Orewa Beach.
I tried to avoid it so far because I heard that it’s very crowed on a good windy day and fortunately there are lots of alternative beaches to kitesurf in Auckland on a North Easterly wind.
Anyway I though Friday noon wouldn’t be soo crowed and the wind forecast looked great at 18- 20 knots.
When I got there just a few other kiters were out.
The wind had dropped to around 13 knots. I rigged up my 12m ozone instinct and went out.
Orewa has a really nice beach break and its real fun to jump that chop.
However I was very underpowered on my 12m kite and had to work it a lot to stay upwind. Wasn’t so much fun so I went back and rigged up my 13.5m naish cult.
I just love this kite – it never lets me down.
And neither did it this time. I was riding upwind through the chop nicely powered well upwind of other kiters that seemed to prefer to stick close to the beach.
I jumped my heart out and had great fun. After about 4 hours my legs burned on each tack, had a blister on my right hand and also on my left foot. No more power left in my body I went back to the beach. By now it was quite crowded there and I was wondering why everyone sticks together so close when there is so much space further upwind.
Anyhow it was a great first session at Orewa Beach and I’ll surely come back. But I think only on a weekday. I can’t imaging what its like on a weekend with so many kiters competing for some space.
Lots of people experience lower backpain when kiteboarding.
This can be caused by various factors: bad body posture, not enough flexibility, not enough core strength, etc.
This cool video by Sarah Ellis has some pretty good tips on how to avoid backpain and spend more quality time on the water.
Kiteboarding Exercises with Sarah Ellis from Anthony Spencer on Vimeo.
Ever came home stiff as a popsicle after an epic session?
Many kiteboarders have back and muscle problems. Fortunately they can easily be avoided. Key is proper stretching before and after kiteboarding.
If you’re stiff and unflexible it will negatively affect your kiteboarding skills/performance as well as increasing risk of injury.
I normally stretch in the morning after getting up and in the evening before going to sleep. Additionally I do a bit of stretching during the day and if possible just before and after a session.
A cool tip is to get some tiger balm and rub it on your back and shoulder muscles before stretching in the evening.
Believe me – it’s the ultimate relieve.
Here is a cool video on how to stretch based on some simple yoga exercises compiled for kiteboarding:
Pine Harbour is a great place for kitesurfing at pretty much any tide.
Launching is a bit difficult at high tide cause there is not much beach available. Could do a drift launch. But at about 2 hours after high tide there is a good beach for launching.
The water is very shallow and it’s a good place for beginners.
SW to NW wind will work fine. SW can be a bit more gusty then NW.
Every session I had at Pine Harbour was really good so far.
Nice flat water with a bit of chop in high winds, a huge area for kiting, only few other friendly kiters, grassy spacious areas to rig, nice views.
Only problem – its quite a long drive from Auckland. Expect about 45 minutes to one hour drive.
Once you reach Pine Habour Marina, turn left after the entrance.
From the first car park you can walk over a little bridge to the beach and rig up there.
During low tide it’s better to drive a little further past the toilet block until you can see the water. You can park right next to the road and rig up, climb down the rocks to the beach and walk to the water.
It might be a good idea to wear booties – but I’ve also seen people kiting barefoot.
Just be careful with oyster shells and rocks. Last time I kited there, I noticed a fin coming out next to me in very shallow water. First thought it was a shark. But on a second thought I guess it was a sting ray.
All in all its a great spot. Highly recommended.
Well today was the third day in a row that I went to Pine Habour.
After two days of nice light 13-15 knot winds, the forecast for today was in the 18-20 knots range.
When I arrived at pine habour just an hour or so after high tide there were already lots of kiters around. I found it amazing cause the last two days were perfect and hardly anyone was around.
Anyway the wind felt a bit stronger but not much. The windmeter only showed around 13 knots and most kiters with their 9m kites seemed to struggle a bit.
So I decided to use my 13.5 again instead of struggling underpowered with my 9m.
Turned out to be a good decision. Managed to ride upwind and was nicely powered.
Continued to work on my jumps and got some nice big jumps and even managed to land most of them. The wind picked up and I had to trim my kite for less power.
Got overpowered a few times but managed to hold down the power with my seat harness.
Its quite exciting to ride overpowered and release some power in a nice jump. Great session. After about two hours I crashed and lost my board, made a kite loop, crashed the kite and got dragged downwind quite a bit before the kite relaunched out of the water with full power even though it was fully depowered. Thats the downside of riding overpowered. I was in deeper water and tried body dragging back to my board but the kite was pulling like crazy even though trimmed and arms fully stretched.
Not sure if I managed to bodydrag upwind or not but another friendly kiter got the board for me and brought it back to were I was. Phew – lucky me. Don’t know if I could have gotten in back otherwise.
Anyway – back on the board I was a bit more careful not to ride out into so deep water in this overpowered situation. It was certainly a great day for jumping high into the sky.
Just some slight kite movements and jump was initiated.
When I was done kiting there was no one around to help me land – had to self land in the water. Trimmed and fully depowered I walked up one of the front lines. The wind was so strong that I had a hard time holding onto this line. Thoughts of kite-mares flashed through my mind. Managed to get to the kite, get hold of the leading edge and secured it with my suicide leash. What a relieve 
Even though heaps of fun riding overpowered, I think next time I’ll rig a smaller kite when I feel the wind getting too strong.
Second day in a row that I went out to Pine Habour.
Today was the first time that I tried out a seat harness instead of waist harness.
Got a second hand Dakine storm seat harness. The wind was great again. Steady at 13 knots and perfect for my 13.5 naish cult. Only very few kiters around. Amazing for a Saturday. I worked on my jumping skills and found it much easier to do nice and high jumps with the seat harness. Also got much more reach with the seat harness and can depower the kite much more. If I let go of the naish bar with my waist harness it slips out of reach and I have to pull on the depower strap to get a hold of it again. With the seat harness I can let go and fully depower and still reach the bar with fully extended arms.
Its great.
The big problem was toe side riding with the seat harness. First of all its very uncomfortable and second particularly the Dakine Storm harness seems to have a problem with the spreader bar slipping out on the right side if twisted too much in a toe side position. It happend twice and once it happens its very difficult and even dangerous to control the kite and slide the spreader bar back into position.
I decided to not rider toeside with this harness anymore until I can find a solution to lock the spreader bar into place somehow.
Still struggling to land properly after a bigger jump. Too much happening and I forget to fly the kite back into the powerzone at the right time before landing.
But I learned a lot today.
Another great session at pine habour.
Wind around 10 – 15 knots, kite 13.5 naish cult.
Perfect conditions for this kite. It was raining and full on high tide when i got there.
Had a beer and a club sandwich in the Jolly Roger Pub while waiting for the rain to stop.
After a while weather got much better and some windsurfers arrived. Went out and had a great time for about 3 hours just until sunset. There where only 3 or 4 other kiters around – lots of space.
Today I heard an interesting question that made me think.
Which situation would be safer or more preferable – being completely underpowered and perhaps losing control of the kite or being overpowered and unable to hold the kite down.
I guess both situations could be dangerous and it depends a lot of whats downwind of you. If there is a friendly beach directly downwind both situations are manageable.
It’s getting tricky if you need to go upwind or perpendicular to the wind to reach a safe landing. When underpowered its pretty much impossible to go upwind unless perhaps self rescue and swimming is a possibility. This would require a lot of strength and endurance.
I would opt for being overpowered as the preferable situation.
Loose some power by pulling the trim strap all the way.
Push the bar away and edge like crazy.
If thats not possible take the board under the arm and body drag back to the beach.