It has finally happened. I am now living (and working) in Adelaide, Australia. I arrived on April 12 together with my better half and a lot of things have happened since then but I am not about to blog about it since this blog is all about my kite boarding and not about details of my life.
Winter had just begun and I’m a bit bummed by it only because I haven’t gone kite boarding in 3 months. I was so looking forward to weekends kiting here since we live like 15 minutes from one of the kite spots but the weather has just been awfully cold. On an average day it would be 10-12 degrees. The wind made it even colder.
My gear arrived like a month after and even then I didn’t have a wetsuit. I logged on to www.seabreeze.com.au , and introduced myself in the SA forum. I got a few welcome messages which was nice. Fast forward. My gear finally arrived and I decided to go on my first session despite not having a wetsuit. I just couldn’t wait anymore. I had an idea of how cold the water could be but that didn’t matter, I just had to get out on the water.
I went over to this spot called “The Wall” at North Haven. It’s called the wall because of the barrier of rocks that separates the shipping lane from the beach. It makes for great flat water. It also is home to what locals call “white tips” also known as sharks. I am told that dolphins can be found there as well.
As expected the water was freezing cold. The wind was blowing somewhere around 14-16 knots cross off shore. There were around 8-10 kite boarders when I arrived. After scoping the scene I decided to give it a go. Dressed in board shorts and two rash guards I quickly realized just how cold, cold can be. I had at least 20 minutes of kite boarding when on my last run, heading back, I crashed into the water while attempting a pathetic raley.
In the process I had been separated from my board. I had tried desperately to body drag upwind to get it but it was just pointless. Till this day I have not figured out how it’s done. 5 minutes (it seemed much longer) swimming in very cold unfamiliar waters, I figured I better body drag back to shore before I go into hypothermia (I don’t know if I am exaggerating but it was really very cold).
Fortunately some kind hearted kiter took notice of my floating board and carried it back. I tried convince my brain that it wasn’t as cold as it really was but that didn’t last long. Not only was my knees shaking but my butt as well. Funny feeling thou. My nose was blue and numb as well as my feet.
I put on my jacket and quickly took my stuff back to the parking lot. It was harder than usual to fold the kite since I was freezing my ass off. The wind wasn’t helping as well so I moved behind a shed to block the wind. I didn’t bother to pack up properly I just wanted to get into the car and turn on the heater. I chucked in my sand filled, poorly folded kite at the boot and drove away. Little did I know that behind the shed, I had left my bar.
The next day, as I woke up. I started going through my head the stuff I had to do for the day. At that moment in time I was still unemployed so I had lots of time in my hands hehe. I was thinking about the boot of the car and how messy my stuff was when I realized hmmm I don’t think I recall chucking the bar in. I went to the garage and unpacked the gear and realized I had left the bar behind the shed.
I quickly posted my lost bar ad in the forum, with hopes someone would be kind enough to return it. 2 and a half weeks had gone by but no one has returned it. I had already placed an order with Onboard for a new bar, which would have cost me a lot considering I was unemployed. Luckily on the 3rd week, I got a call saying my bar has been found and that I can pick it up at Phil’s Kiteshop. Yippiee.
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