Lessons learned today

I'm at the early stages of a great learning curve with kiting, and every time I go out I learn something new.

I'm sure I am not alone in that I try to kite in hopeless conditions. I've not had a kite out for over 2 weeks because the weather here in the UK has been terrible. Rainy, gusty, generally not good kiting weather.

I've been itching to get out, especially as I finally got a new harness! I tried an Ozone Access SB, but with it done all the way up it didn't quite feel tight enough, plus I had loads of long straps to secure. So I went with a climbing harness in the end, a Black Diamond Momentum SA:



And so my first lesson learned today is that I love it!! It's early days, but I have to say I'm very impressed with it. One thing that really used to annoy me about my waist/seat harness was not being able to bend down when I had it done up. With this climbing harness I barely even knew I was wearing it! And it's surprisingly comfy, even around the gentleman's area. Even with the kite overhead pulling the leg straps straight up it didn't feel like it was about to squash anything. I put a carabiner on it rather than having to undo my chicken loop to hook in. I don't (and never will!) do any unhooked stuff so no worries there. And it folds up tiny so is ideal for travelling with. Oh and it was pretty cheap, which was a bonus.

The other lesson I learned today was that it's a waste of time trying to get an ATB to move on waterlogged grass. It's rained for days, and though it was sunny today the ground hasn't had a chance to dry out. I knew the ground was going to be soft, but I thought I'd be able to board. No way. I got moving, but it was really hard to get going and keep moving. I've only got standard wheels and tyres on my board, maybe with some bigger ones I would have had more success.

The final lesson learned was that in sketchy winds you really need to keep the kite moving, and not go too near the edge of the window. Whenever I stopped the kite, like when I was getting ready to get on the board and start, I ended up with the kite either luffing or on a couple of occasions getting flipped inside out.

But in spite of the inability to get any good runs in I still enjoyed myself. And it was my lunch break from work, so what better way to break up the day!!

Hey, you learned, you didn't get hurt.... sounds like a good day !!

Glad you liked the climbing harness, I was worried I'd lead you astray!

I learned over the weekend that sand is not my friend. I went out into what I thought was the hardpack to landboard only to go three feet and then get thrown over the front of the board with my brother laughing at me. Damn sand.

I have been equally frustrated with bad wind. For whatever reason there aren't any good, open fields around here, so I'm left with gusty shifty wind and it has made my progress abysmal. I think I got the board 4 months ago and I still can't switch directions without getting off of it lol I can't wait for spring so I can get in the water.