Howdy all! Hope you're having a great spring and/or NABX!

Arrived in Thailand a couple of days back, got settled into the condo and had an explore around Hua Hin.
Had dinner with the guy and his wife who owns and rents out the condo ... turns out he runs an S&M 'parlour' back in Holland but is a very nice guy anyway :D it's a funny old world innit!!

Shoulda brought my 19 not enough wind today to get my fat arse out of the water, even on the 14m North Evo and Phantom board (door!) I borrowed from the school. The websites say the thermal winds build in the afternoon but the guy here says lunchtime is the best. Hopefully tomorrow will be better - we're going to head out for breakfast and wait and see ...

Been lamenting to AJ about the foil haters but the only 2 guys out jumping today and going WAY upwind were Flysurfers :puzzled: they're trying to get me to buy a North quiver but I won't weaken :D do want the North quiver bag though ...

The instructor guy took the 15m Syn and my North Sumo board for a downwind run ... it was nice to see the kit works so it's a matter of me getting up and onto it!

The wife took some video with her old Sony digicam but no way to upload, so that'll have to wait.

So basically, hello, we're having a nice holiday - wish you were here! I know Drew would love the lady-boys

lol

praying for wind 4 ya

So did she shop or something when you got there? :Ange09:

She? Who she? Oh that chick ... I dunno she was on the beach or in the restaurant or on the toilet or something I dunno ... I was kiteboarding :D

You bad

Went and scoped out Pran Buri yesterday, then jacked up a lesson with Kiteboarding Asia guys today ... basically so I could use their gear and get some tips & someone to babysit me in a strange locale. Awesome crew - Laurent (from France) and Jay (from Sweden) are great guys! Highly recommended.

Pretty good day riding too - I was on a 15m Airush DNA and a Square 1 board and though my lard arse and crappy skills had a hard time getting up and moving (underpowered), we got there in the end - got some nice runs in before my legs collapsed :D going back tomorrow for another session and a crack at a direction board, maybe.

Whoever said "18 plus knots in Hua Hin" needs a kick in the nuts ... Phree I'm sorry I'll never doubt you again
So IMHO skip Hua Hin (crowded and swimmers everywhere too) and go down to Pran Buri ... better beach, better wind and much friendlier locals.

... met a guy called Dan from Hong Kong and wondered if it might have been Furbowski in disguise

yeah kami, tell us more about the directional / race board !! is it really better for lightwind ?

the airush square o ne is already a HUGE HUGE board.

is the race board floaty? or does it sink when not moving?

Didn't get to ride the 7'2" directional cos Jay thought it was too racy - long and skinny ... but I DID ride a Nobile XYZ or something - for about 5 hours ... but still not upwind
144x45 IIRC and it was POP straight up and riding, no dicking around.
The Airush Flow 16m didn't impress me too much - LE kept folding over when I really put some weight against it but I had a great second day! Got over-powered at the end of my second massive session and went shooting off downwind again but managed to avoid nosediving into the shoreline this time
It was pretty much just me down that end of the beach, a couple of swimmers at the shore line but otherwise, I had the beach to myself. Went back to Huahin the next day and sat in the restaurant and watched the kites diving in and out of swimmers on the beach, playing slalom with them and the jet skis

Back home now - Japan is so far behind 'third world' Thailand in SO many ways!
For example, at the airport immigration, there were 8 windows for Japanese citizens, 2 windows for non-Jap but with re-entry visas ie. living in Japan (us) and get this - ONE window for the rest of the tourists, 2 plane loads of them. Add to that, non-Japs have to have your photo taken and fingerprints scanned, the hold-up was retarded long. Just stupid.

Thailand is awesome and very bloody cheap - I recommend it!

Sounds like you had a great time. Would love to go there some day.
Always wanted to go to Guam tho.

Thailand? I spent 2 months living in a hut on Koh Phan Gan and Koh Samui. No kitesurfing but loads of awesome diving.

Have fun!

Had fun, Jaymz I could easy spend a couple of months there!

the 19 will deliver what you want, once you get some time on it, you'll know it. there will no doubt in your mind what kite to take no matter what your told the wind will be. the right kite for your size! not necessarily the wind in every case.

that big board 45 CM wide had to be the ticket!

more about the condo owner, there had to be some fun in there, right!

glad you had good time

Yeah I've slowly come to realize that bigger kites aren't for lighter wind - they're for bigger arses I'll never doubt you again Phree

Yeah loved the board ... good thing about renting gear is the options impressed with the bright red fins too ... got me inspired to try dying my black ones like the guy on the OTHER forum ...

I got a funny vibe off the condo owner when he didn't tell us what he did at all、but mentioned general things about his business - it was back in Europe, he worked over the internet at all weird hours etc etc. I thought he might have been a pr0n king or something but the truth was far more interesting his wife was interesting too :D