Nuclear Winds

I don't know where the winds came from today (well - yes I do - frontal system passage) but I'll take them and more!!!

I was at the Long Beach Yacht Club this morning at 1100 anticipating a wild ride on Roger's F28, but when I got there, he said the wind was too strong - he had a report from a guy on a 40' Hunter out at Cat Island who said he had 28 kts on his mast top anemometer. Discretion is always the better part of valor - easier to walk away from parked sailboat than one that is sitting on the bottom of the Mississippi Sound because of a mistake. And by not sailing, I got to break out my 11m Crossbow!!!

Solid 15-18 kts from 1330 to 1530 (my time on the water). The Crossbow is a hell of a kite! Complete depower came in handy in situations where I would have eaten it with my other kites (sorry Naish - but in your defense, my other kites are old - and they're old so that is a good thing - built to last, but enough with my guilt trip of checking out another brand...). In one of those moments, I was coming down from a jump and ditched the board - the kite lines went limp and I braced for the inevitable bull ride (jerking when the lines tension up again) - NOTHING!!! I had time to stand up, take a few steps back and paid out bar to absorb the excess pull - AMAZING!!!

And the loft on this kite - RIDICULOUS!!!! Huge jumps with lots of float and smoother landings. For the type of kiting I currently do, I have found the perfect kite!

Kite design has come a long way on the last 4-5 years.

Cat Island is in the background of the picture - I felt like I could have been there in a few minutes the way the kite was flying. I think this 11m could handle at least another 10 kts without blinking an eye - and the jumps with that kind of wind will be in the ludicrous range.

Sorry for all the gushy adjectives - but this really was a good day of kiting!