28 gusting to a million. And that's only on the inside. As soon as you get out I think it's gusting to a million and one. Finally had all the family bits out of the way and got to hit the beach. Todd tossed me a 7.5 to pump up and I was treated to a lightning fast kite in challenging "locals didn't even bother to head out on their Sunday" kinda day.

Wow.

Kite Beach did to me what Seaside did to my kite at SOBB - wash & slosh. What a crazy experience. So no, didn't fare super well. Got up riding a bit but spent a lot of time dragging back tot he board after a couple great super human supermans

Wow. That's about all I can say. Kite Beach is NOT a great place to be learning. I can't imagine if I hadn't come here with a few skills prior......

Some pretty cool gems of the day though. Got to meet the GM of Wainman kites. But even better, the twintip I was riding was the personal ride of some guy they call Lou? Pretty cool in and of itself. I'm glad I didn't lose his board

I'll try again tomorrow (if NOAA says there might not be as much sandblasting happening on the beach). I hafta go shower out my ears now......

Nice one!
I'm surprised the locals haven't beat your ass for being a beginner if the KF-zoo isn't anything to go by ...

Todd made it very clear to me that if you "wind up over there" don't expect any love at all. In fact the opposite of love.

Kite Beach, HI? Seaside is pretty tame in comparison.

Hahaha, saw one fistfight in the lot, got insulted by some locals for being a howlie....all within my first 30 min at kitebeach

great start to a kiteboarding passion eh?, glad I was bright enough to know that those 'cool kids' were the rarity and not the norm!

nice inside stuff, what is "wind up over there"

nice go at it !

tell em your from Guam.........................you'll become an instant "bra"...............

Hey Mac, I know exactly what you mean, not the paradise I was expecting. I was there in late March, 25 gusting to 40, 6m kite, 50 or so kites on that little beach, old WW II anti sub/ship things in the water (affectionately called the triangle of doom) , gnarly limbs and branches all over the downwind beach with pieces of kite flying in one of the trees.

So it went something like "OK launch and run like hell with your board, body drag to get out of the wind shadow of the trees just north of the launch." " As the kite lulls and crashes into the water, drift out with it until you clear the wind shadow, relaunch the kite and get your board on." "Oh, and about then the wind will really pick up, look out for the myriad of downed kites and try to avoid them"

On the other hand I found everyone super friendly, even flying my Santa Cruz kites, The first day I tried on my own, I highly suggest a guide, which is what I got for day 2, Aqua Sports is a good recommendation for anyone heading that way.

Quote:

Originally posted by apextech 25 gusting to 40, 6m kite, 50 or so kites on that little beach, old WW II anti sub/ship things in the water (affectionately called the triangle of doom) , gnarly limbs and branches all over the downwind beach with pieces of kite flying in one of the trees. So it went something like "OK launch and run like hell with your board, body drag to get out of the wind shadow of the trees just north of the launch and jump into the water." " As the kite lulls and crashes into the water, drift out with it until you clear the wind shadow, relaunch the kite and get your board on." "Oh, and about then the wind will really pick up, look out for the myriad of downed kites and try to avoid them" On the other hand I found everyone super friendly, even flying my Santa Cruz kites, The first day I tried on my own, I highly suggest a guide, which is what I got for day 2, Aqua Sports is a good recommendation for anyone heading that way.

Couldn't be truer. Quite a place and beautiful at that. Apparently you can kite where ever you want on this island, you just have to maybe not kite around places with lifeguard towers. Might have been some more palatable winds on the Kihei side but then again, if it was better over there - why no kiters? Why do they all go to Kite Beach?

Ditto the "guide" plan. Had I not had Todd Davis I'd have been walking the kite back from that harbour WAYYY downwind of the beach.....that, after having launched in the "Pro Pool".....if I had survived the launch without being strung up by my kite lines.

Todd's a pretty awesome cat. Hardly flew but learned a ton.

The best thing I came away with there was a new water launching technique, which involved landing the kite on the water at the edge of the window, where it will just sit, putting your board on submerged in the water, launching the kite and water starting. Its much easier than the 12 o'clock kite placement for an initial water start.

Todd taught me a few counter intuitive things. He doesn't rely on the flagging safeties and when he teaches he teaches to grab those front lines and yard them in. You've got to commit and know that what you are doing is not an emergency break - you're committing to a rescue pack-down. He's seen many kiters tea bagging their way downwind because their releases jammed and they didn't have a plan "B". Oddly enough, we were sitting on the edge of the beach trying to avoid the sandblast (it was THAT windy) and a girl he'd taught a few weeks earlier came to chat. She had exactly that happen - her safety jammed up. Todd's take is, if the kite is down, it's probably sheeted out and holding little power. You grab and reel like a Mo'Fo' and you're safe. Pack up and drift in.

He also gave me a better alternative to leashing on the flagging line to begin with. If you're confident enough to flag your kite via the top lines you can clip your leash around the depower rope just above the chickenloop. If you accidentally come unhooked you're still connected and because you've dropped the bar your kite will drop from the sky (if trimmed to do so) and wait for you to get your #@%$#!e together. Then you just rehook your chickenloop and carry on. No bar reset etc. He did stress that you need to know as a reflex to climb up that leash, to the depower line and on up to the front lines to flag out if it all goes wrong. You still have your leash release to let it all go if you really can't get it under control.