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.