Skunked

Definition

tr.v. Slang skunked, skunk·ing, skunks
To defeat overwhelmingly, especially by keeping from scoring.

Or

To go to a spot seeking wind and not getting it at all.

That was the weekend. Both days. Kite Sheriff mentioned that "we got skunked" and I didn't know what he meant. Yes, I admit it. I actually thought he literally meant getting sprayed by a skunk. (No, I'm not blonde :-P) Yes yes yes, I'm a complete dork for not knowing what it means. Well, now I know. It looks like we won't be getting any wind for the rest of the week. I'm headed down to Baja for 3 straight days of kiting... woohoo!

Bad habit! Bad Bad BAAAAD habit!

Okay, it looks like I'm developing this habit of leaving work early at 3:30. Mhm.. Today was no acception. Hey, I'm trying to take advantage of my boss's absence. Once she comes back from her leave, I'll be stuck again doing 9 to 5, and will not be able to sneak out of work early so freely. Right? I'd better do it while I can!

When I arrived at the beach, it was just SMOKIN! More so than yesterday. It was blowing so hard that when I got on the beach, my legs were stinging from the the sand being blown down the beach. It was easily 20-30mph today. Definitely out of my wind range and abilities. So I chose to take my camera out again and just watch others have fun and take pictures. Man, J-man, Crazy-Man, and Kite Sheriff got BIG air on their kites today. That will be me by this time next year, I hope....

Smokin...

I arrived at the beach at 3:30 (yep, snuck out once again)... And it was ON, baby. I set up and launched my 13. I walked upwind and bodydragged out past the waves with my board, went on my board down wind, then came in to do the walk of shame twice. The wind was perfect at that time. Enough wind to take me out to sea and to come back. After my 2nd time into the beach, the wind REALLY turned up a notch. WOOO-WEEE...! It was blowing 20+. Too windy for my kite and for me - I was getting lifted off the ground on my 13 fully depowered. So I waited patiently for the wind to calm down which it never did. Doo dee doo dee dooo~ I wish I had had a smaller kite so that I could get out. NUTS! I was stuck on the beach with my 13. Kitemaster T and the rest of the gang arrived down from Zeros or Leo somewhere (doing a downwinder). Man, I wish I was good enough to do that... Some day. I hope it comes soon. I often wonder how much I will improve by the end of the summer. I hope I can go upwind and be able to start doing small jumps by then. Am I being too ambitious? :-\

Hey Wind, will you make up your mind? Please?

Well, it's 7pm and I'm sittin' at home, while it's blowing steady at Zuma. :-( What's wrong, you ask? What's a wind junkie doing at home, while it's blowing so good at the beach? Yesterday, I went out and it blew for only a short time, so I was expecting the same. I decided to be a good employee today and stay at work until 5, thinking that it wasn't going to be blowing well today. Little did I know that it had been blowing 13-17 mph steady at the beach since this afternoon! WTF man! I got Kite Sheriff's message, which he left a little after 2, at 5:15pm. ARGH!!@#!@# I would have left immediately had I gotten his message earlier. And by 5pm, I figured that the wind was going to stop soon, so I went home. But no, it's STILL blowing. X-O Sigh... So now, I'm kitesurfless... it's been blowing since 2pm and it's still blowing. I bet Kite Sheriff is having loads of fun. What am I doing at home instead of out on the water? I'm lame. I didn't even surf this morning because I was too tired. I need to be back in the water. Maybe I'll just go take a shower and pretend that I'm at the beach or back at the lake with fresh water. Okay, that's enough complaining. :-[

O waves, why do you hate me so?

I was bad again today and went to the beach as soon as I heard that the wind was blowing. Well, the surf was big, and I tried to bodydrag out past the waves, but the waves didn't let me. In fact, they kicked my ass. Every time I tried to get out, I would make it half way, then another set would start to roll in. I was hoping that the wind would be strong enough to drag me out, but the wind became light as soon as another set started to roll in and I got pummeled. :-[ Each time I tried to get out, the waves came charging in, saying "Oh no you won't!" Aww.. man. I lost the battle with the waves today. Maybe I will have better luck next time...

The Kiteboard God has taken another...

Okay, so last night, I dreamed that I was riding upwind, shredding the waves on my kite. I was able to water-start, ride out to sea, jump over waves, ride back upwind, do cutbacks on waves, etc.... This dream now signifies that this kiteboarding addiction of mine is starting to get out of hand. A few months ago, I was dreaming about surfing, riding big waves, and drooling over new surfboards. It's now switched to kiting. Don't get me wrong, I still surf in the mornings and have fun when I'm catching waves, but when the wind kicks up, I will be the first one out of the water to get on my kite. What else am I supposed to do when it gets windy and the waves are blown out? :-P

I hung out with Kite Sheriff at Starbucks for a few hours last night. A cool cool guy. With his help, I hope I'll be jumping and shredding it by this time next year. He says kiteboarding will change my life, as it has changed his. Hmm.. I've heard the same from surfers. :-\ Kite Sheriff has been surfing since he was 15 but he now hardly surfs. He does, however, kites every chance he gets - which is almost everyday. I wonder if this will happen to me as well...

Will it be windy enough to kite later today? I hope so.

All about Kiting...

There was no wind today, so I couldn't kite. Me, Kite Sheriff, and Gerald just putzed around at the beachz, waiting and talking. Yesterday, though, was another story.

J-Man met me at the Starbucks by Trancas market at around noon. We were both so eager to see the wind kick up. I guess overly eager. J-Man's friend, Casey, who was visiting from Chicago also came down to watch us kite. We waited, waited, and waited. Waited 4 hours, in fact. Yes, we were desperate. Yes, both of us are addicted to the wind. Mhm. Finally, at around 4pm, the wind started to kick up, and we started to set up (YEA!). When the wind kicked up another notch, Kite Sheriff helped me launch my kite, and I bodydragged out past the waves and started working the kite. Up on the board, I went. (woohoo!) But I still couldn't maintain staying on the kite for too long. I just need more practice, I think. The wind would die and I would sink, I would gain too much speed and crash, I couldn't keep working the kite longer than I wanted to (right now, I think the longest ride that I've had has been about 10 dives), etc... I am getting a feel for going over the bumps on the waves - keep the nose up! I even managed to do a little hop. I imagined that I was on my snowboard, getting ready to do a jump, and I made the hop without crashing! Woohoo! I tried going on the other awkward side a few times too. Failed. But I am starting to get the feel for it a bit. Next session, I will try it a few more times... actually, many more times. I NEEED to be able to come back into the beach, man. Oh, another note, I bodydragged upwind with the board in my hand. That was the first time that I did that. At Mojave, I was bodydragging upwind but without the board. This time, it was with the board in my hand. Woohoo! When I got back to the beach, Kite Sheriff congratulated me on bodydraging upwind with the board. I am hoping that by the end of the Mexico trip, I will be able to ride upwind. That would be awesome... or "SICK!" as Kitemaster T would say. Ahh...another good day of kiting.

Now, with each session, I feel myself getting better on the board, learning something new every time. Now, I'm going to kick it up a notch and try to accelerate my riding the board. Mexico will be my breakthrough, I think. I can't wait! It's gonna be ALL ABOUT KITING.

Up, Up and a.... kaBOOOM!

Okay, I admit it. I'm a bad girl. I've been leaving work early to go to Zuma and kite. I left work early again today at 3. SHHHhhhhhh!! The last 2 days that I ditched work to go to Zuma, I didn't feel comfortble going out on the board because it was either blowing too hard or I didn't know people that were riding there. Yesterday, however, was a different story.

When I arrived at Zuma, the wind was very light, maybe 8-10 mph. Not enough for me to get on the board. After my spectacular weekend in Mojave, I was determined to get out at Zuma and get on the board. At around 4:30, Kite Sheriff and J-Man arrived and started to suit up. YAY! I was relieved that someone that I knew came and that they were optimistic that the wind was going to kick up. woohoo! I suited up and started to get ready. And low and behold, the wind did kick up. Kite Sheriff and J-Man launched and rode out. J-Man was getting major air, by the way - the type of air where he was able to dangle his feet, look underneath, sing a song, and say hello to everyone on the beach. It must have been at least 20 feet. I hope I can do that soon. Some day, right? I launched my kite, grabbed my board (the Caution Redline board that I bought off of Ali) and walked up the beach toward the flag. I tried to get up on the board from the beach to ride out through the waves, but that didn't work too well. :-\ So I bodydragged out past the impact zone with my board in my hand. (Whoa! I remembered what Kitemaster T had told me about how to hold the board while bodydragging out, and I did exactly that. No problems getting out this time. Woohoo!) I put the board on my feet, and did a couple of test loops to get a feel for the wind. Then I dove the kite, and up on the board I went! FIRST TIME UP ON MY BOARD AT ZUMA, BABY! After about 10 seconds, I lost momentum, sank down in the water, and lost the board. :-\ I had a hard time getting back to my board though at Zuma. The combination of the wind and current made it drift way out to sea and J-Man had to go get the board for me each time. (I owe him 5 shots for these pick-ups). When I got to the lifeguard tower, I came in, did the walk of shame, and walked back up to the flag to do it again.

My third time out was my most significant board moment. I got up on the board and started going out to sea. I was thinking, "Keep the kite moving, keep the edge, lean back, etc... " - everything that Kitemaster T and V-Dawg has been telling me. And well, I started getting lit up. You know, the type of speed where the board starts to shake? I tried to keep my edge, lean back, and try to work the kite back up higher to slow down but well, it was inevitable. KaBOOM! I came off my board, did a 1080(?)(3 spins while hanging onto the bar) while flying through the air, and tumble crashed. After I came back up above the water (and burped :-P), I heard J-Man yell out "WHOW! That looked nice!." I admit that it was sorta fun while I was in the air, but I lost my board (again) and J-Man had to go get the board for me again. :-\ J-Man saw the whole thing - he saw me get lit up, saw the board shake, and saw the nose go down - which is what made me tumble crash. I will make note, keep nose up next time. Yes, Kitemaster T and V-Dawg has told me this more than once.

At the end of the day, Kite Sheriff said that he was proud of me. :-) Even though I had a major tumble crash, it was a good kite day... I can't wait til tomorrow to do it again. I hope the surf is small.

Kiting Heaven...

That's what Lake Mojave is. Kiting heaven. Steady wind, not much chop, and NO WAVES. That was key. NO WAVES to pummel a certain beginner kiter who is trying to get up on the board. No sirrrreeebob, no pummeling the beachgirl THIS weekend. And with these great conditions and with the right people (thanks Kitemaster T and V-Dawg) telling me how to do it, up on othe board I went! My trip to Mojave was the best thing for my kiting experience. Hands down. It was a blast hanging out with Kitemaster T and V-Dawg. They are such great guys. With all their tips and instruction, I even managed to go upwind without knowing it. I also managed to do a small jump accidently, of course. Can you believe it? I was speechless. "What the heck did I just do? Emm...Can I do it again?... Please?"

It was a GREAT weekend. Here is how it went down:

Saturday, May 7, 2005
I got up at 3:15 am to get to Kitemaster T's by 4 am. (Oh man, brutal!) He was still asleep when I got there (hehe). Oh yea, on a sidenote, another beginner - Lynn - broke her leg while flying her kite on Friday. It was pretty windy, but she went against V-Dawg's advice and threw up her kite anyways - not a very smart thing to do. She apparently got dragged across Typhoid Creek, and hit a concrete block which broke her leg. It may have been serious, so she had to get helicoptered out of the beach. Scary... Thank goodness she was okay. Okay, back to Mojave (woohoo!). So anyways, we went to V-Dawg's by 5am, and managed to get to the lake by 11am (we stopped by Mad Greek restaurant in Baker for some falafels and sandwiches - mmm... :-P). When we arrived, the wind was light, but still kiteboardable. So we threw up the 13 bomba and I tried to get on the board. Failed. :-( I had a hard time bodydragging back to my board, pushing myself up on the board, and controlling the kite in a way to pull myself up out of the water. Boy, was I a mess. Then the wind died, so we hung out in a small cove across the lake for some time, then decided to wakeboard. Ok, I don't want to brag here, but I've never wakeboarded in my life. I used to snowboard like mad a few years back though so maybe that helped. I got up on the board on my first try! I was thinking, "Huh? Have I done this before?" Hehehe... not too bad for a first time wakeboarder. Mhm. Maybe it was the board? I used a kiteboard instead of a regular wakeboard. Hmm... Maybe I was a wakeboarder in my past life?

When the wind finally kicked back up late afternoon, we put the kites back up. Now remember, I wasn't able to get on my board too well before the wakeboarding session. But this second kiting session was a whole different ballgame. I couldn't get back to my board for the life of me (since my bodydragging sucked), but I was able to get a sense of being on the board after edging on the kiteboard while wakeboarding. I guess I retained the muscle memory. And during this session, I managed to get my lame ass up on the board! As soon as I got up, I was thinking, "what the...!@#!@# So this is how it feels like! Ahh..." I only had short rides before I tumbled and crashed, but the main thing was that I got up! I drank so much water that by the end of the session, my stomach was full. You KNOW you ate it good when you hit the water hard, tumble, then BURP when you finally come back up for air. This became routine. I'd be riding, then tumble crash, big splash, then burp. Not the most graceful thing that I've ever done. Good thing that it wasn't salt water. It was so nice to crash in fresh water (and not taste anything) rather than salt water by the way. Yea, people pee in the lake, but as long as I don't see it, or taste it rather, I'm A-O-K. But the main thing was that I got up on the board and was riding BEFORE I tumble crashed and burped. We stayed out on the lake until the sun went down. Ahh.... what a day...

Sunday, May 8, 2005
"Bring it on" was the theme for today. I was determined to bodydrag back to my board and get my ass up on the board consistently to ride for more than 5 seconds. And this is exactly what I did. Even though I was sore from Saturday's session, I had to keep going at it. I must improve, I must improve. I must get better, I will get better.... I am like robot. Hehehehe... I kept Kitemaster T's voice in my head: "Keep your arm like like a rutter! We're not going to get the board FOR you! Bodydrag bodydrag bodydrag back to your board! Look in the direction that you want to go! Keep working the heck out of the kite! Lean back! Push your heels down to edge!" and on and on and on. Lots of things to remember. I would be in the water and see Master T having so much fun on his kite. That's what I want to do! How come my body doesn't do what it's supposed to so that I can kite like that too?? He makes it look so easy. I bet I looked like a mess. Oh dear... But I guess I have an excuse as a beginner. V-Dawg ripped it up when he got T to take over driving the boat. Man, he can really ride too. Some day... Right? Hopefully, by this time next year, I'll be able to shred it on the kite too. :-P

Saturday, I was on my 13 Bomba. Sunday, I was on a 10.5 Venom. OMG, I loved the quick turning response of the Venom! I wanted to take it home. After flying my 13 Bomba yesterday and the Venom today, what a world of difference! The Venom was like a bullet, allowing me to whip it around so much quicker than the Bomba. After countless episodes of tumbling and burping, I finally started to get comfortable with getting up and riding on my goofy foot side. There were a few times when I got freaked from going too fast. So since I didn't know or didn't remember rather (Kitemaster T or V-Dawg had told me how to slow down, but it went in one ear and out the other since I had never needed to do it) , I tumble crashed to stop. And when I made it to the end of the lake, it was time for me to go the other way. D'OH!!! What is UP with THAT! The instant I tried to switch sides, I couldn't even stay on the board for more than a second. Is this a left brain/right brain thing? I only want to do the same thing that I was doing on my goofy side except the opposite sides! Not asking for much here. Why isn't my body responding to what I'm telling it to do??? By this point, my body was pretty tired. I was at it on my goofy side all day. And I needed the same amount of energy to try out the same on the opposite. I tried it a few times on the awkward side, only to experience another failure, then I decided to quit since my body wasn't listening to me too well. It was tired, needed food, and and some rest. So I called it a day. I think I should have kept at it for another 45 minutes. More time on the water and on the kite = more skills I'd build in flying my kite. Oh well... I will have to wait til Baja to experience another kiting heaven-like conditions again. I can't wait! :-D

All in all, I probably had the equivalent to about 2 weeks of kiting at Zuma. I was in the water non-stop at Mojave. And with the perfect conditions, being in the water flying the kite non-stop, and Kitemaster T and V-Dawg's instructions, my kiting skills dramatically improved. Best trip ever, hands down. MHM. :-) I can't wait to try out the new skills back in LA.

Lake Mojave, here I come!

So I decided to do it. I had enough of this bodydragging. I'm tired of getting pummeled by Zuma, trying to get outside the break. After the fiasco last weekend (driving all the way down to Belmont shores for the wind and absence of waves, not finding it, then finding out that Zuma was blowin'), I decided to throw down the cash and go up to Lake Mojave to get my ass on the board. V-Dawg says that after the trip, I'll be up and riding at Zuma no problem. No more trying to bodydrag out past the impact zone to put the board on my feet. I'd be up and riding on the board from the beach and hoppin' over the waves. What a nice thought. Hopefully, this will be true. I can't wait....

Well, THAT sucked...

Today, I decided to take people's advice, go down to Belmont Shores, and risk getting stung by stingrays (Belmont Shores supposedly has lots of them) to see if I can get on the board down there. I'd been told that there won't be any waves to pummel me into the sand. So after surfing that morning, I packed up my gear and decided to just go for it. I got down there at about 1 pm and waited for the wind. There were probably about 20-25 other kiters waiting, with their kites set up. I waited, and waited, and waited... Soon, 4 pm rolled around but NO WIND! Just my luck!!@#! And Zuma wind line was reporting 15-18mph wind! WTF, man! I drove all the way here, hoping to be in conditions that would let me get on my board. This isn't what I signed up for, man... After talking to a few other kiters about the lack of wind, I decided to pack up and go home. Yes, well, THAT sucked. I drove back to Zuma later that day to see kiters having fun. Aww man.. I want to do that! So I decided to just learn at Zuma where the Monkey Air guys hung out. At least, I would know people there who would keep an eye on me while I struggled in the water. :-\ Who cares about sharks?