Kiting #10 (16 May): Went out to CRONULLA with R & J. Friend of friend of friend stuff - Brit & American in Sydney and both learning - so excellent people to go out with. J is at about my level while R is a budding champ! So it was a beautiful day for 'winter'. Windy enough (at least for me) - south-westerly, though did drop off later in the day. Cronulla's a great place to go - couple of miles of empty beaches except for some 4WDs, two other kites and a fisherman - entry only by 4WD and $15. Long curved beach so can pick up a variety of different wind directions.
So I was a tad nervous going out - having had another 4 week break between outings. And yes, I'm still only body-dragging and I think still some way off getting on the board. Went out on the 12m kite. Bit unsteady. Bit too nervous really. Hardly in control of the thing. But got some playing in. Then of course there's the near-miss (I seem to have one most times I go out - this surely is a dangerous sport).....more later, I'm running late....
Back. J and R were charting my downwind progress along the beach, and after a short while I decided to bring the kite down. 50m or so from the only other kite flying on the 2 mile beach. Not too bad on the control. R grabs for her. Misses. And the - suddenly - I lose control and the kite swings to the right. And, yes - no - shit - I encounter my first entanglement. My strings cross the strings of the big yellow kite. I get out the water. The flyer stays put, calm, keeps his kite flying. His girlfriend comes running. We get it untangled. No harm done. Except to my pride, and their opinion of us.
Anyway. J went out. R went out and showed us how it’s done, but the wind started to drop off. I had another go before we left – but on J’s 7.5m kite – which I really enjoyed. Mostly ‘cause I wasn’t scared of it. Anyway, all good stuff, and a great venue. The plan from here I think is to get some practice in on a smaller kite.
