Author: kitesur

Ian Young, Perth to NW Cape — Mission Update, Day 2 — 8 November 2014

Just spoke with Ian at 10:30am. He’s in Jurien, finishing a coffee.

A bit sore and battered from nearly 9 hours on the water battling some pretty beefy swell of nearly 4m for most of yesterday but, as expected (if you know Ian) he’s as fresh in attitude and motivation as ever and ready to hit the water again. His goal is to reach somewhere around Dongara by evening, but there probably won’t be enough time and wind to reach Geraldton today.

Kites and other equipment, with the exception of a couple of hours unexplained outage on the GPS tracker have been all good.

Ian passes along his thanks to everyone for the support and encouragement. If you haven’t already done so, head over to the “Soldier-On” site and make a donation to help out our Australian veterans!

https://soldieron.giveeasy.org/campaigns/kitesurfing-perth-to-the-north-west-cape/

Cheers, Rob

IAN YOUNG 1,300+ KM WESTERN AUSTRALIA DOWNWINDER — MISSION UNDERWAY!

Kitesurfer Ian Young has left Perth Western Australia today on an epic downwinder of more than 1,300km — From Perth to Exmouth in Western Australia, across some of the most inhospitable and inaccessible coastline in the world.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/25453081/epic-surf-aimed-at-brothers-in-arms/

Ian Young

IanYoung_Path

You can follow Ian’s progress in real time at  http://nano.sjy.id.au

Here’s  information from Ian and his team in Perth:

Ian Young is a veteran of more than 22 years service in the Australian Army and has set himself a personal goal of kitesurfing from Perth to the North-West Cape, more than 1300km.

There are many veterans who suffer a variety of health issues and we would like to use this adventure  to increase the awareness of these problems.

Many of us suffer from “donor fatigue” these days with so many “good” causes that need to be tackled, however can I please ask you to consider donating to help those veterans who put their lives on the line to serve their country and now need your help.  Once you have donated you will receive a tax receipt straight away to your email address. All donations made from this link will go straight to Soldier On.

So, please help me help Soldier On by giving what you can to this great cause. https://soldieron.giveeasy.org/campaigns/kitesurfing-perth-to-the-north-west-cape/

You can also “share” my page with your friends or leave a comment or “like it”. It all helps!

https://www.facebook.com/iay60?fref=ts

We plan to connect with Ian as he approaches Geraldton in the next few days and ride with him on at least part of the journey–hopefully on Saturday — Contact me if you’re interested in joining us!  

More information about Ian and the project:

Thanks for the opportunity to help raise awareness of the good work http://Soldieron.org.au do to help service men and women that are suffering as a result of their duty for their country.

Some of the background links you might find useful:

Wish Ian well for a safe and successful journey!

Ian Young

 

UPDATE:

Ian leaving Perth on Friday morning (below)

IanLeavingPerth

http://www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Kitesurfing/General/kitesurfing-from-Perth-to-the-North-West-Cape/

Summer video competition #1 – Kite on ANYTHING.

Hey all,

If you hadn’t noticed summer is nearly here and the sea breezes are already starting apparently (no-one has looked up what a sea breeze actually is I think) but there is wind none the less. This opens the floor to the first kitesurfing.com.au video competition!!

For this video comp you must submit a video (via youtube or something) of you or a mate kitesurfing on the most obscure board imaginable! I once used a plastic toy guitar with some degree of success. To qualify the video must contain a kiter, actually riding on the object for some distance lets say 20m or more and hopefully end in a large stack (will gain you points!)

Get creative, planks of wood are simply shit and isn’t going to win you anything, attaching a hydrofoil to something also doesn’t really count but I like it so enter it anyway!

There will be a prizes when I can find a willing sponsor / donor but worst case you’ll get the kudos of the kitesurfing community.

A VIDEO OF YOU KITE SURFING ON SOMETHING STRANGE, BIZARE, STUPID, INCONCEIVABLE.

 Below are the entry details.

  • Kiter must ride for at least 20m to qualify 50m is best, a turn n return is awesome! – the further the more points however if its that easy to ride try find a harder object!!
  • The kiter is the entrant not the person that shot the video! – There just ain’t no skill in shooting a video with a phone! more points for more creative film making tho!
  • There must be an explanation of what it is that you are riding in the entry comment below this post.
  • The object must be a non-pollutant! – I can’t stress this enough, dirty the sea I’ll come crap in your shoes!
  • You MUST retrieve the item! – You can’t go nuts on something thats going to sink and leave it out in the bay, the winner and their steed will be presented the award, no steed no prize!
  • The judges will be myself (Pete) and whoever I can get at the pub to watch them over beers.

How to submit your entry.

  • Upload your video somewhere, if its facebook you need to post it to the Northern Beaches Kiters page AND then add a comment to the comments below to say you’ve entered on facebook with a link if poss, if needed get me the video and I’ll upload / host it.
  • Youtube/vimeo entries are quickest, upload it and share the link in the comments on this post (not Facebook!) try and put a link this post in the comments on youtube.
  • Use your REAL email address to post in the comments HERE!. They are hidden from the world and if you don’t use it I won’t know how to get hold of you for your prize!!

Competition dates.

  • This comp runs from NOW until November 16th 2014! – That is plenty of time to get your stuff together.

Tips..

  • Try and keep it safe.
  • Points awarded for adding difficulty – waves, old kites, unsuitable attire etc etc
  • Big crashes are awesome
  • Small interviews in the video are good, describe what your going to ride, give it a name and then ride it!
  • If you can get the whole beach in hysterics I’m going to like that.

OK, Any other questions drop us an email pete@kitesurfing.com.au

Have fun.. Wish I could enter…

REMEMBER – TO ENTER YOU MUST COMMENT TO THIS POST BELOW…..

Kitesurfing Waterproof GPS Watch Review: Garmin Forerunner 220

 

by Jono Woodhouse

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Product

Garmin Forerunner 220 with (optional) Heart Rate Monitor

Colour: Comes in a manly red or cute girly purple.

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Cost

Garmin 220 Forerunner and Heart Rate monitor: Approximately AUD 255 to AUD 265 (see details below)

Review

As a keen kitesurfer I’ve been on the lookout for an affordable waterproof GPS Watch for a while. The big challenge is that most of the affordable GPS Watches that have become available in the last 5 years are only “water resistant”. Which just isn’t good enough for kitesurfing. However Garmin have now introduced two GPS watches that are finally waterproof and aren’t going to cost you an arm and leg.

Enter the Garmin Forerunner 220!!

I’m a kitesurfing fanatic, but I also enjoy running, cycling and swimming, so you’ll see some comments in the review about this too.
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Pros

  • Waterproof to 50m !! I take the Forerunner 220 into the sea on a regular basis. Kitesurfing and ocean swimming, and I’ve not had any problems with water leaks. They suggest you don’t press the buttons while actually underwater. And I find the buttons can get a bit salted up, but a quick clean in fresh water and it’s back to normal. You can shower with it too. It sounds like the Heart Rate (HR) monitor is waterproof too, but I haven’t taken that into the sea yet.
  • Kitesurfing. Fantastic for recording kitesurfing sessions. For example you can:
  • record the distance that you kited
  • record downwinders kite trips.
  • see how far out you go to sea
  • see the angles you ride upwind and downwind
  • record your speed, distance, time etc.
  • and impress your mates (upload your activities to Strava.com)
  • Battery life: Garmin estimate the battery life to be:
  • 10 hours battery with the GPS on. I’ve not tested this. But gauging on the battery percentage after long sessions – it’s probably not far from the truth.
  • 1 month of battery life in watch (only) mode. Again not tested, as I’ve never gone a month without using the GPS
  • What you can display on the screen. There are actually there are 5 screens that you can scroll through (by pressing the up/down arrows)
  • The first 2 screens are fully customisable. You can view 3 data fields on each screen. For example I use:
  • Screen 1: Distance, average speed, time
  • Screen 2 Lap distance, lap speed and current speed

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  • Heart Rate is another screen (if you use the HR monitor) – which shows you current heart rate (in beats per minute) and your HR Zone (you can setup 5 heart rate zones which correspond to your heart rate levels)
    HR.jpg
  • Clock is another screen
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  • Also if you configure your own “workouts” – you get one more screen which tells you your average speed for the workout and an indication of your progress in the current lap you are working on. e.g. Distance covered, or time left etc.
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  • And if you set up a “work out” or turn on auto lap (where for example every 1km is a lap), you get apace notification every lap too, which tells you the lap number and your average speed for that lap. This notification screen pops up for about 5 seconds at the end of every lap. This is quite useful when kiting (and running) as it beeps and vibrates after each kilometer and shows you your speed for the last 1km.
  • The display is very visible in low light, and also in bright sun.
  • Looks good enough to wear as a watch, all the time. Unless you are into fancy fashion watches… :)
  • It’s designed by Garmin as a Running GPS Watch.
  • And it’s really good at this.
  • Provides measurement and analysis for running training and racing.

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  • Has accelerometer for times when GPS signal is poor (for example when running through the city behind tall buildings). I’ve had varying degrees of success with this. Sometimes it’s great, other times it’s pretty bad.
  • Fast GPS turn on time
  • If you’ve synced your GPS Watch with a PC within the last week the turn GPS time is typically 10 to 15 seconds. (It achieves this by loading a week’s worth of data about the positions of the GPS satellites onto the watch)
  • Otherwise, it typically takes about a minute to acquire the lock, which is still pretty good. You can also start your session before it’s acquired the lock, and it will start recording as soon as it can.
  • Accurate GPS recordings. Better than the older GPS watches and mobile phones.

Cons

  • From a kitesurfing perspective: the biggest missing feature is a Show My Current GPS Location (eg for emergency sea rescue). I’ve submitted this idea to Garmin – and it would also be useful for Mountain Bikers and Trail Runners.
  • From a running perspective: 4 fields on screen would be better (and this is available in the Forerunner 620)
  • From a cycling perspective: Not great. While it can record your bike rides, it’s not really designed for cycling. By default the speeds are in minutes per km (this can be changed in the settings – but it’s a mission to do quickly) And to be fair this is not really multi sport GPS Watch. Garmin have other watches for that.
  • From an ocean swimming perspective: Because your hands spends most of the time under water – the GPS really struggles with accuracy during an ocean swims. You can still see where you’ve swum (when you upload to a map), but the route is pretty jagged and the distances are often considerably out. For example a 1.4km ocean swim often records as about 2.5km. This is true of all GPS devices – and if you google it – the work around is to put the watch into the back of your swim cap (which I’m too scared to do in the surf) or pull a small float behind you.
  • The Bluetooth is version 4.0 (BLE) which very few mobile devices support. So I upload using their custom USB cable direct to Strava on my PC. I’m also not aware of a way to use the custom USB cable and a tablet, which would be handy too.
  • Only one charging/syncing cable. Two would be better. One at work and one at home.

Conclusion

I’m very happy with Garmin Forerunner 220 and highly recommend it. It’s fully waterproof and works amazingly well for kitesurfing and running.

(GPS kiting session uploaded to Strava)

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Where to Buy

I bought one from DWI Digital Cameras with the Heart Rate monitor (which also included free shipping to Australia from Hong Kong – arrived within 10 days) $265 – $275

http://www.dwidigitalcameras.com.au/astore/Garmin-Forerunner-220-GPS-Watches-with-Premium-Heart-Rate-Monitor.aspx

And I found a $10 off discount here:

http://www.retailmenot.com/view/dwidigitalcameras.com.au?c=5526908

Further Reading

 

VIDEO : Endless kiteloops

Check out this awesome video. It took me a while to find where the bar was but it shows at the end. Looks like this poor chap has binned the safety and the bar has got caught on the post pulling it into this loop. It’s a long video so FF maybe your friend.

For those people curious as to why it didn’t snap a line sooner, and for those people that want to learn more about looping kites safely this is whats happening. When the kite is looping for the first 19 off minutes, notice how the kite isn’t actually flying anywhere, its looping inside its own length so it’s not generating any apparent wind and is pretty much stalling itself, then all of a sudden towards the end it starts opening up its turn and really starts whipping a good loop, that is where the power of the kite loop is being generated! A few mins of that and something had to give and sure enough a line snaps ending the almost comical 20mins of looping and probably saving the kite.

anyway, here is the vid..