March 2007 Diaries

Date: Saturday 17^th March  

Location: West Shore

Mission:  I think its dropped a bit!

Yesterday Katie and I had gone on the water in our custom nose warmers-BIG red comic relief noses with an elastic band strap specially designed by Mr Hills who had risked all with his latex allergy to develop it.  I had some bright red tights, pants n T shirt on as well and felt like something off a Queen video!  I had a really fun session but couldn’t get ‘Don’t stop me now’ by Queen out of my head!

Saturday brought a beautiful morning and a great group on the water, the wind was strong and gusty but I had a fantastic session today, Carl said I was jumping about 20ft! Justin has started jumping now and I saw him get some good height, particularly the one where he tried to jump on my head!  Unfortunately the wind picked up to much and most of us came in except Katie and Thompson! I thought it was great that a girl was still out whilst 10 guys were back on the beach!  We all stood on the beach chatting in the sunshine for two hours with the hope of the wind settling back down, every 15 minutes someone would say “I think that’s dropped a bit, do you?” It didn’t but it was nice to get a good hour and have a laugh with everyone on the beach afterwards, for me it’s not just the fact that I love kiting, it’s also about the people you meet and the friendships you make along the way. 

Zoe

xx

Date: March 7^th – March 14^th 2007

Location: Sardinia

Mission: Climb, climb and climb some more!

So.. I’ve let the side down and gone on a non kiting hol… how could I…. Was definitely worth it though!  Had a good flight out and a not too problematic drive to the apartment but woke up to rain on the first day, so a trek through one of sardinia’s national parks doing the touristy thing was all that I got up to on the first day.  But day two we woke up to blue skies and bright sunshine so made haste for some local crags.  Had a good first climbing day on a crag in the mountains, and a second day on a crag on the beach!  Third day was rainy again so headed out for a gorge with massive boulders to scramble over and around and then it was sunshine again for the rest of the week.  Spent a day on crags in a local gorge where I did possibly the hardest climb of my life (beware of your nuts!) before heading out the next day to a gorge that time forgot.  Surtana has huge multi pitch routes took 2 hours to climb and another three to abseil off but perhaps one of the best routes I’ve ever done.  Finally the last day woke up bright and early to get a few routes in before breakfast, moved out of the apartment and off to another local crag where we squeezed in a few more fab routes before having to catch the plane home.

All in all a great week, climbing in sunshine, fantastic routes, fine wine, cute gecko’s, and mad Italian men to keep you amused all week.  Almost as good as kiting… When are we off to Egypt?…..

Sheryl xox

Date:  March 6^th 2007

Location: Newborough

Mission: Tame the waves.

What a brilliant session, I have been waiting for what seems like an eternity to get a good sesh at newborough and today was it.  Bright sunshine and monster waves!  And it wasn’t even too chilly!  Went out on my nine and had a mad time hurtling over some enormous monster waves (well they seemed enormous to me ;-)).  Just a brill sess, can’t really say any more.  Katie was out on her 7 and Zoe on her nine…. And for most of the time we were the only ones out on the water (so lads, isn’t it time you got out!)  After a quick stop for hot soup I couldn’t resist going out for another 20 mins but as zoe came down with the camera I lost my board and got really wasted trying to get it back!  So home for a long bath and to pack for my holiday tomorrow.  Have fun ;-)

Sheryl xox

Date: Friday 09^th March  

Location: West Shore

Mission: Double Shift

Katie was already set up and ready to go when I arrived at West Shore this morning, the wind was high twenties but pretty steady.  I launched Katie and she was up and off riding straight away, it was evident she had had some good tuition whilst she had been in Spain, thanks to the legendary Mr Hills!  This was the first session I have had with Katie riding along side me, keeping upwind and making most of her turns.  Debs had come down with me and I was having a great time hogging the camera, I was taken by surprise on a couple of jumps now I have my pop, so think the expression on my face on a couple of her pics should be quite funny. With the wind steadily building and high tide approaching we decided to come in so not to spoil what had been a really fun session!  We went over to Turbulence HQ for coffee and T cakes!  We heard the wind had dropped and the sun had come out, I went back to the beach to have a look and it was about 20knts and the sky was blue, the only problem being my cold wet wet suit, I said to Katie it would be like drinking a Tequila, so we quickly got the nasty bit done to get a buzz for the next few hours!  I was so glad I had, I was out on the back lagoon, occasionally looking over my shoulder at the sun setting over Anglesey, it was beautiful, the water drained away and what little heat there was went with the sun.  A few very happy smiling faces were packing up on the beach, it was 18:20 when I got back to the car and I smiled to myself at the thought of summer evening sessions! 

Zoe

xx

Date: Tuesday 06^th March  

Location: Newbrough

Mission: Monster wave steals Tweenie’s trainer!

A quick cuppa at Turbulence HQ and we were off to Newbrough.  I was really looking forward to today’s session as it was the first time in a while I’ve had a session with the girls, with them all jetting off to different parts of the world.  Katie has just returned from Spain and has come back full of love for Tarrifa, Sheryl is off to Sardinia tomorrow and Johara is still in Morocco, we had loads to catch up on during the journey to the beach only stopping chatting to text Jo and when we noticed the high wind warning sign on the Menai Bridge.  We all went quiet as we approached the beach and saw the waves; they were the biggest I’ve seen since my visit to Watergate Bay.  The wind was high 20’s, the sun was shining, the sky was blue and it was just us three girls with this perfect playground all to ourselves!  The waves were fantastic, clean, well spaced and very powerful, as I found out when I did a jump off the back of one of the monsters and ended up under the kite with my lines going slack! I was in the water wondering weather my kite was going to hit the water before the next monster wave was going to hit me and would I be able to do a quick relaunch before the wave got to the kite, I soon realised I was being unrealistic so pulled my safety, the wave hit me and I was washing machined for what felt like ages, then the same wave hit the kite and I got dragged with some force for longer than the wash cycle, I was sure my kite was going to be injured and was really glad when we reached the shore and all was fine, oh apart from one of the Tweenie stickers I have put on the bottom of my board has lost a trainer.   

Zoe

xx  

Date: Saturday 03^rd March

Location: West Shore

Mission: What a day!

There were so many great things about today’s session I don’t know where to start!!!  When I arrived at West Shore it wasn’t the fact the sun was shining and there was plenty of flat water that I noticed first but something which seems like a rarity these past few months-the wind wasn’t gusty!  Adam had gone to the beach for an early session and was ready to come off the water when I was setting up, he shouted me over and told me to watch him do a backloop so I could have another go at them, it looked so fluid and slow in comparison to the aggressive fling yourself round motion I had been doing.  I had borrowed Sheryl’s 555 to check out as I’ve heard so many good reports on them, I wanted to give one a go to see how it compared to my beloved Crazy Fly, I like both boards but stayed on Sheryl’s the majority of the session (which was6 hours by the way!!) as it got planning earlier than mine so gave me that little bit extra power.  Adam came back on the beach and gave me some coaching and……. I have finally done not one but several backloops!!!  I am so buzzing.  Britters, one of my kiting friends had come on the water so I decided to show off my new trick to him, much to his amusement as I flew past him rotating through the air without my board! Why is it that things go wrong when you try and show off!  The main thing I have learnt today though is the fact that all this time I’ve thought I was quite good at popping I have been doing it totally wrong, I have always put my weight on to my back foot and boinged the board then jumped as you would from a standing position bending my legs up to get off the water, so much effort!, when to pop properly just takes to flick your board towards your kite then away and it pops of the water automatically and relatively effort free! Giving a nice smooth fluid action!  I combined this new pop with a small wave which took me by surprise, I don’t know if I’m more made up about the backloop or the fact I can now pop properly, I think its one of those basic skills which if you take your time to learn it properly will make you progress so much quicker and easier when you are ready to.  Anyway, my son Marcus joined me at the beach today and set up ready for our first Mother and Son session, we were ripping along together, both smiling ear to ear.  Marcus had his best session yet, I cant believe how well he is doing, he was on the water for three hours in a nice consistent wind and has already progressed so quickly, I’m going to have to raise my level a lot as he will be doing things I’m doing after a year on the water in no time at all.  We kited until the water drained away and both packed up on the beach totally buzzin and exhausted.  We called into Turbulence for a coffee and cakes and chocolate and cookies and anything else we could eat as we were both starving.  Andy ‘Bond’ Thompson pulled up outside the shop in a super cool, gunmetal grey Lotus with the roof off sporting a pair of dark shades, “fancy a ride!?!” how could I refuse an offer like that!  What a car, the vibration from the engine is like standing near a big bass speaker, the 190 horse power on such a light car makes acceleration rapid, to put it mildly and the car sticks to the road as if its super glued! 

Zoe

xx