Interesting and eventful day at the beach yesterday.. Started out buggying, had low tide and lots of nice hard beach to run on... Don't get past the tide line, massive holes from those damm burrowing kids.... Some were big enough to lose the whole buggy in......

Wind was picking up so time to get in the water.. Huge mats of seaweed coming in, wading out is like crawling thru the jungle...
A few poorly executed runs up and down the beach..

I looked like a seaweed monster after wipeouts, seaweed hanging from me, the bar covered....

Nasty creatures hiding the the mats, a couple man-o-wars got the best of me,, them bastard's hurt !!

Had one particularly nasty run in w/ the board. Somehow I crashed into it w/ my shins and now have 2 matching 6" skinless sections on each.... I hate my board, its edges are so sharp, not my first scrapes from it...

All in all, typical day at the beach.....

Hope the wind blows today !!!!

Anyone have a used full body armor suit they want to get rid of????? :singing:

holy crap!

and i thought the soccer fields were rough! Although the water sounds about like the lakes out here (minus the jelly fish)

YOU ARE PROBABLY GOINg TO BE BETTER OFF FINDING A DIFFERENT SPOT WHERE THE WINDS ARENT BLOWING YOU ONSHORE... THERE ARE A LOT OF SPOTS AROUND THERE TO KITESURF AT... IT WILL HELP YOUR PROGRESS... i promise

p.s..... sorry for the all caps... caps lock and im too lazy to type it all over again :P

as i aws saying... i tried numerous times at the beach and did much the same as you... then i found a perfect spot to learn, and my progression was exponential to what i had been up to... now its all good... the location makes all the difference...

i dont know the spots, or i would tell you, but there are some kite surfing specific forums that can tell you for sure... if you cant find them, get in touch with burritobandit on this forum, and he might be able to point you in the right direction

good luck

Most of the flat water spots around here have oyster beds scattered around... I 'd rather fight the waves than wipeout on one of those. The gulf is only 5 blocks from my house, so its convenient....

I'm slowly progressing, very slowly..............

i was more referring to the getting blown onto the beach part than the waves part... the spots that i have been to in your area had the oysters clearly marked and they were pretty easy to avoid...

im just saying... as somebody who has already made some of the same vain efforts you are currently making... it is much easier to learn when the wind is side-shore... and we dont get those kind of winds here, so finding a different spot is sometimes a better alternative...

Last year we had water weeds of some description in the lake too - wrap themselves around everything and feel ooky walking through them. Also, when the wind gets up enough to kitesurf, it drives waves across the lake than can sometimes be breaking over my head :o

What kind of board you got, borntofli? The Square One I have has gently rounded rails - but that supposedly makes it a crappy upwind board. I'll settle for getting up and moving consistently at the moment

Sunday went to the beach to either buggy or kitesurf. We sat around for most of the day waiting for the wind. When it finally did pick up there was not much hard packed beach left as the tide was high. I hugged the water line and now understand why a mud guard and fenders are nice to have. I ended up buggying in the wetsuit with the Pulse. Flexiblade was cruising the loosepack with the Phantom and the custom bigfoot uberbuggy. Goodtimes. There was too much surf for a newb kitesurfer.

Yesterday I tried out the Delta. Winds were around 30 and gusty. I got lots of body dragging back to the board. I am in the same situation - slowly progressing - bashed knees and shins from the board. Only had to water re-launch the Pulse once when it was down on the leading edge. Pulling on both the steering lines 3x and then letting go of one worked like a charm. Thanks for the tip Tridude.

borntofli, do you know about this spot called "The Tanks"?

Quote from Centex Forum:

"This is an awesome flatwater spot. The bottom is firm sand, so its easy to walk back to the launch. There is a very thin layer of semi slippery algae growing on the sand that allows you to crash and slide on the algae instead of getting the sandpaper effect of most sandy bottoms. When you stand on it it provides enough traction to walk and or wrestle your gear. There are no oysters to speak of and only one gnarly to worry about. the gnarly is an old trailer axle that is sticking up and covered with barnacles- and yes it is just barely below the surface- on the far right side of the spot about 200-250 yards from the east shore. and about 200-250 yards from the north shore (road).

The launch is adequate, and fairly clean. The biggest defect with the launch is that it is in a wind shadow on sea breeze days. The oil storage tanks cause some fluky, funky rear end gusts- Bear this in mind and help out you buds. I saw an experienced 200 pound plus rider get dumped on his rear end - no fault of his own. Keep an eye on each other.

The spot is approx 5 miles south of Port A on the bay side. You will see an electrical substation on the west side of hwy 361, very close to the highway. Thats ur landmark. next to the substation is a caliche road heading west, drive west 1/4 mile then the road will curve to the right, you will drive past an oilfield production site. continue another 1/4 mile and look for some iron bars driven into the dirt to make a vehicle barrier. Park there. Dont even think about driving off the road- you will get stuck. The road you will drive on is NOT a public road! Someone spend several hundred thousand building and maintaining it. It is a private road and we need to keep in mind we are guests. oilfield service trucks ( big ones) drive by often, so park in a way that leaves plenty of room for them to pass. The road has a gate at the highway entrance , but i have never seen it locked. Please dont do anything to screw up access to this sweet spot.

During the summer months this spot will be 10 -15 degerees hotter than the beach. If you bring your favorite kite assistant keep that in mind, and make sure to bring some water and lawn chair.The wind will be about 5 mph stronger than the beach too..."

http://tinyurl.com/c5bvhp

I've never been there but heard it's good place to learn.

We killed it at Corpus for two days last weekend, lots of spots there:
http://www.kiteboarding.com/page.asp?page=wheretoride

Sorry if this is stuff you already know about

-Dave

I went and checked out a spot not far from there, but as soon as i got out of the car i was instantly eaten by thousands of biting flies.... Needless to say I left and have never been back.....

That might be good for weekends when the beach is too crowded...

Thanks !!


Where did you go in corpus, wildcat beach/?

beating out on shore breeze is all about speed through the break and relaxing your up wind line(point of sail) enough to have good speed. side shore is easier for sure.

we have tons oysters around here and should be AVOIDED at all cost.

when the wind is great , it can be really fun sessions without alot of "get out struggle", if the wind is so so the novice will be taken by the break almost everytime. any weed catch on the board and all comes to a stop. and if you can't get out , ride down the line ! your wet, might as well get something going.

best way to describe it , LIGHT balance AND FAST. (also solid sailing skills will really make a difference here as well)

Quote:

Originally posted by borntofli Where did you go in corpus, wildcat beach/?

I find Wildcat a bit crowded on the weekends...we launched at a place called Grassy Point. It's down the street from Lola. Not very beginner friendly spot. Lots of junk in the water adjacent to the launch and some power lines downwind. Still less crowded and once you're out away from the launch you can cruise for miles in waist deep water. There was about 4 kiters there and it looked like about 10 kiters down at Lola.