The first step in learning to kite is learning about the power zone and things like 2 o'clock and 10 o'clock, all new to me but I've heard people talking it for years. Last night I borrowed my friend Declan's trainer kite so that I could practice launching and flying with the small kite before setting up the 14m.
Session I (4-5 knots)
I must be honest to say that I struggled at first with keeping the kite in a stable position and crashed time and time again. Poor Carl had to keep running up and down the beach to rescue the kite. After 20 minutes or so things seemed to calm down a bit and I was starting to control the kite, just not very well. After one crash Carl called over to ask whether the kite had a hole in it when I got it! Arhh... end of session.
Session II (5-6 knots)
After trying to think of ways to tell Declan that I had ripped his kite (which he needs for a lesson later today) I thought that I would give it another go as the wind seemed to be a bit stronger. Actually tried a different spot with less rocks and a wider open space (Amwaj Marina). At first I was crashing all the same but it must be the motivation of having to run back and forth to fetch the kite on your own meant that soon I was startintg to keep the kite in the air for longer.
OK time to try the drills I had been given. After about an hour I was starting to feel very confident flying the kite through the power zone and controlling where I wanted it to be. It was great to feel the power even with a 2m kite. So it seems time to go for it with the big kite.
Some good news - on returning the kite to Declan he told me that the rip was already there!
More to follow
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment