Drove down to Balok hoping the monsoon wind would still be blowing. Thankfully we had two good days of wind around 12knots. I decided to use my Airush decoy board that weekend coz the weekend before I used the Jimmy Lewis the whole time. I could get better upwind with the Airush which is why I decided to keep it. It doesn't do well for jumps mainly because the footstraps on it are all stretched out and I end up losing the board alot of times.
I still use a leash, (a Dakine surfboard leash) coz I 've been losing my board quite frequently. Last Sunday I broke the leash, the dang thing just snapped. I was forced to ride without it. I took it as a sign from above that I had to progress to riding without one. So made sure not to ride too far from the shore and practiced jumping near the surf. Fortunately it all worked out well, I lost the board several times but was able to retrieve it much easier since it was closer to the shore. I felt like a real pro now hehe.
My friend Andy got his new kite last weekend, a Slingshot Link 15M. He set it up like a C kite without the 5th line. He let me use it a couple of times and here is what I have to say about it.
What surprised me first and foremost was the zero bar pressure. It took awhile for me to get used to not having any pressure on the bar. I had a hard time feeling where the kite was, I constantly had to keep looking at the kite, eventually thou I got the hang of it.
It's turning speed is amazing. Very fast compared to my 14m Contra. Zero bar pressure + quick turning speed = you better keep an eye on the kite. The fast turning speed makes it so easy to get some air. There were times when I just wanted to make a simple transition but I still ended up catching some air. I was able to land some jumps which I normally couldn't with the 14m Contra .
Not much depower. I had such a difficult time going back up wind coz there was so much power, the kite kept dragging me downwind towards the shore. Sadly on my second run, I was back doing the walk of shame. Well it could have been the setup of the kite or my lack of riding skills which could be blamed for or maybe the wind was a bit too much for its size.
Overall I enjoyed the whole experience. I had fun jumping with it but I wouldn't recommend it for beginners. There's just too much information to be processed and understood for someone just learning to kite. This kite would just add to that and the beginner might end up getting overwhelmed. Better to stick to a bow kite.
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