Time flies....

Here I am - 3 kites and 2 boards later... It's been one year since I started my kiting addiction. And I'm still at it! :-D My surfing hobby has deteriorated into limbo and the kite addiction has occupied the majority of my free, windy hours during the weekends and some weekday evenings (when I'd been fortunate enough to sneak out of work early).

I've JUST gotten my V2 quiver. Woohoo! I can't wait to try out the new 10 and 13 V2. I tried to get out yesterday - left the office at 5:15 but wasn't able to to Leo til 6:15 pm. GOSH DARN IT!! And of course, as soon as I got there, wind died. So today, I saw the trees moving since the morning. I was bitter... Ugh,.. so I tried not to pay any attention to the trees. Just ignored the wind. dum dee dumm dee dumm.... I should have taken the day off!! Grrr....

San Quintin - kiting heaven...

I'm finally back home and recovered.. sort of. I left last Friday for a kiteboarding trip to Baja and got back late Tuesday night, then off to San Francisco for a conference. My flight was actually Tuesday afternoon, but I decided to blow off the flight so that I could stay down in Mexico to kite one more day. Hehe.. Yes, such a loyal trusty employee, I am.

I've come back with some minor injuries though that are preventing me to kiting or surfing for a few days - couple of blisters on my hand that ripped from the kitebar - now they're infected, a couple of cuts on the bottom of my foot from stepping on a rock on the beach - I'm limping now, a BIG 10 inch rash across my neck from the wetsuit and the helmet strap (yes, it looks like a big ole hickey across my neck), and tendonitis on both my elbows from kiting 5 days straight.

It was all worth it though. My kiting has improved tremendously. I can now get up and going on my goofy side very comfortably, and come back into the beach somewhat. On my last day, I even started going upwind. Sure, it felt awkward, but I still did it - which is all that mattered. I was so happy that I was laughing all the way into the beach. Of course, no one saw, but hey, next time. I even rode a couple of waves while going downwind. Accidently, of course. :-) But it was fun while I was on the wave.

I kited Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. MAN, it was kiting paradise. We had miles and miles of beach to do downwinders on and get picked up.

I've mentioned before that Mojave was kiting heaven. But I change my mind now. San Quintin is kiting heaven. Mojave is up there though. But since we need a boat to do downwinders at Mojave, I'd have to go with San Quintin.... I'll be dreaming about the place for a while. I can't wait til the next trip back down to SQ - fourth of July weekend. I've already cleared my calendar. Woohoo!

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.