Weekend screamer!

What a crazy weekend we’ve had in Sydney. I’m not sure about you lot but when I woke up on Saturday morning I could have sworn something wasn’t quite right. Sydney was engulfed in a thick blanket of smoke from the bush fires out west. This finally pushed away from the coast as the day warmed up and a small nor-easter came in. On the beaches I almost thought we’d get some good wind right up until about 3pm when it died totally. This didn’t go unrewarded as I managed to get to see some locals up close in the form of a few large stingrays and a wobbegong shark in knee deep water. I even managed to jag a few pics and a cool little video.

The forecast for Sunday was WIND. And lots of it! I picked up the change on the charts at Ulladulla and then it was a waiting game. After checking the flatness of the surf at Dee Why I decided to do something I don’t do very often and shoot off down to Dolls Point to catch up with a few mates. When I drove past the bay it was cranking! I wish I’d stopped to get a picture. When I parked up at Dolls I saw one kite on the beach being sat on by someone who I guess was trying to keep it and then I was blinded by sand, I’d forgotten that about Dolls. Without even noticing my friends were in the car park I grabbed a brand new in the wrapper 7m Cab drifter (thanks Windsurfnsnow!) And a twinny and just got on with it. Managed to self launch without killing anyone no problems and went and did some big jumps. Came in, tested self landing in 40 knots which turned out to be easy (using my proper technique) and went to find out why people were just standing about. Had a fee more runs and jumps later and decided that was enough. A few peeps jumped on my gear to have a go, everyone came back safe and happy. One thing that was great to see was that of the few people that did go out 3 of them were girls! Its fabulous to see this level of skill in our female kiters especially when I’ve coached them at kitechicks. I had a real proud coachy moment standing on the beach. Well done girlies and thanks for not trashing my new kite.

Monday has continued with some great wind and waves back at Longy. I got there after 5 and it had gone a bit onshore, I decided to let my current injuries settle a bit and give it a miss but it did let me take some vids and snap some pics (must pack camera next time) Matty B was there to snap some good pics that we’ll get up in the gallery soon. Meanwhile check out vids. It’s good to have Matt Ma back in town and to see he’s still charging! Alex also put on a show and did some silly shit for us all to laugh at.

Sorry for the poor pics, they were from my phone..

Smokey Kurnell images

The past week in Sydney has been a difficult one for many. With hundreds of homes burnt in the Blue Mountains fires. Our thoughts are with those that have lost so much to the fires and we hope that if they were started deliberately those responsible are dealt with accordingly.

Last weeks Friday fires on the 17th of October 2013 resulted in a smoke cloud being blown over Sydney causing some of the most bizarre lighting conditions I’ve ever seen. There is something about the smoke that seems to filter out some wavelengths of visible light that causes colours to pop and seem very surreal.

Local Kurnell kiter Jess Digs managed to get down late in the evening after the worst of the smoke had cleared and snapped these great shots through the smoke. Yep, that is not cloudy cold conditions its a dry, 30c+ smokey day in Sydney.

Well done Jess.
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How NOT to play with kites..

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This video was just shared about on facebook by the SUCK guys. It shows what ‘seemed’ like a good idea at the time but ended – almost predictably – in near disaster. From what I can read into this they attached a long shoe lace from the boat to the harness and proceeded to fly things about to get some great lift. It is actually a wonderful example of apparent wind effects with flying the kite about.

Anyway, the shoe lace snaps at about 20ft up, the shock has stopped the guy completing his loop (which would have made things a bit softer) and he hits the deck like a sack of spuds. Good job this wasn’t over land!

Anyway. watch, enjoy, LEARN..

 

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STOLEN. Kiters gear pinched from van!

Some low life scum has stolen all of Zephyr Jen’s surfboards from her van on the 4th October in Merewether. Jen is a bit of legend in the Aussie kite scene and this is a real knock for her.

Please take some time to look at the boards and keep an eye out in the surf or garage sales etc. Her contact details are in the poster or you can contact us here and I’ll pass the message on directly. If you have an old board you don’t mind parting with I’m sure Jen would appreciate the gesture.

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Alliance & Liquid Force Demo/Clinic Day

Hey Crew, I just found out about an Alliance Kite Demo day at Kurnell THIS WEEKEND (5-6th October)

Join the team from Alliance Gear when they host the Liquid Force Kite Australia Pro Team when they roll into Sydney to showcase the 2014 LF product range and you get to ride with the Team and be guided along the way, a great way to score some cheeky little tips ahead of the intensive professional coaching day Sunday!!
Project Kaizen is the brain child of world famous Chris Wardell known for kiting and cable park skills, him and the National LF team riders will guide you through techniques to improve and help you unlock the key to understanding the art of self improvement.
There are limited spots left for the Kaizen Clinic so please contact us immediately if you are interested.
Sounds like it could be a good day and I really hope they get some wind. Please contact James at Alliance for more details on exact timings etc.
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October long weekend forecast **UPDATED **

Hey Crew,

** UPDATE SATURDAY LUNCHTIME **

The low pressure system that was meant to be leaving a slight southerly trend has moved further offshore and this is leaving us with a small temperature driven seabreeze starting to come into Sydney. I’m still dubious that it will amount to anything as looking up and down the coast we’ve got wind coming in from every direction! Keep an eye on it and you might be lucky :)

** END UPDATE **

The long weekend is so nearly upon us and I can’t wait to get out of the office and get into the water for a few days. There is quite a lot happening this weekend in terms of activity with groups of people heading to Old Bar for a kite mission and a few heading down to Jervis Bay. A few of us had a look into heading to Jervis for the weekend but it’s PACKED! Every rental house we looked at was booked out, must be something to do with school holiday, a long weekend and a billion sailors turning up in big grey tinnies!

Unfortunately looking at the charts for the weekend shows a slow southerly momentum to the wind that I’m sure the heat and attempted sea breeze will kill off. That huge slab of high pressure that is lurking over us is the problem and the low is just providing that slight southerly breeze. Down to Sunday-Monday you can see the front sliding through Sydney that should push some wind in but only for a short period, could be late Sunday arvo or Monday morning but sods law says it will be at night.

So what else is there to do? There are lots of big tinnies to look at in the harbour, a huge-mungous fireworks display on Saturday night, Silvan and Sarah’s leaving bash. Might be a good day to rent a stand-up and give that a go, fly model planes or crazy golf. Nat and I will probably head to North Head on Saturday night for the fireworks if anyone wants to catch up.

That’s about it, not the news we wanted but there isn’t anything we can do it about it so best to just keep busy or earn some partner-points to cash in on a windy one.

Have Fun..

Pete & Rob

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