Bodydraggin' Bodydraggin' Bodydraggin'...

Sunday, April 3, 2004
Sunday - day 4 on my kite. And I had a GREAT time bodydragging! Michelle called earlier during the day to let me know that she would come down when the wind kicked up. Well, the wind didn't kick up until about 4pm and Michelle never made it. Michelle is the only other woman kiter that I know. Hopefully, I can get as good as her in time. Since I surfed Zuma in the morning, I just stayed up there to avoid the traffic on the PCH again. A few kiters started coming out around 3pm. And I pulled out my kite and waited for the wind to pick up. I met Greg Saks who was an experienced kiter. He gave me some tips on bodydragging. And bodydragging yesterday was the best so far. (Hmmm.. but now that I think of it, I've only bodydragged in the water 3 times, so it doesn't take much to make it the best kiting session.) When the wind picked up a bit, I was even pulled up out of the water (woohoo!) while bodydraggin! So, I guess I'm hooked. Now, I need to practice flying the kite with one hand on the bar instead of two so that I can be ready for the board... That will be my next challenge. It's supposed to blow all week, but it sounds like it will be blowing too hard for me - 20-25 mph. Maybe I'll go out to Zuma and watch the other kiters at some point this week.

Saturday, April 2, 2004

Last weekend, I bodydragged for the first time. Btw, just for the record, I had my first lesson during the weekend of March 10, 2005 with my kite instructor who, for anonymity sake, I will affectionately call V-Dawg (you probably can figure out who this is easily if you've been kiting around Zuma/Leo... but still... :-P). I've only been out on the kite 1 other day after the lesson. I got completely whipped around by the kite, and got pummeled by the waves since I couldn't get out of the impact zone. But the good thing was that I started to get the hang of it toward the end of my session. I went up and down the beach 4 times, then on my last try, I dropped my kite on the beach and couldn't get it back up. Since I was so tired, I decided to call it a day and try again next time.

Today was my 3rd day out on the kite, and it was a complete disaster. Since I was in San O in the morning, I didn't get to Zuma until about 5pm. (Man, traffic on the PCH was really annoying! You would think that the city would open up the road to more than one lane in the middle of the day on a weekend.) I suited up to get ready to bodydrag. The wind was really light so it would be important for me to keep the kite flying constantly in order to prevent it from stalling and falling out of the sky. And low and behold, I was bodydragging in the water for about 3 minutes and BOOM! The kite goes down in the water.... SHIET! I tried to get it back up in the air, but the wind was so light that I ultimately couldn't get it back up. So I rolled up the lines, swam to the kite, and kicked into the beach. Man, having a wet kite really sucks! I don't have a deck or a patio so I didn't know where to dry it. I couldn't launch a soaked kite since it was so heavy. So, I ended up laying a sheet in my livingroom and just laying my 13 m kite on it. It worked, I guess. Sand and salt water everywhere. Oy... I'll dry the rest tomorrow...