The chronicles of a wannabe kiteboarder

Pics from Phuket Thailand (July '07)

2008-08-24T23:39:00.000-07:00

For lack of anything to post I decided to just post some pics taken from our trip to Phuket last year. Did some kitesurfing (but I forgot the locations) and tried to learn how to surf. Did the touristy things as well. It's a great place to go Thailand. I would certainly would want to go back and kite there some more.

an epic session...

2008-08-10T23:22:00.000-07:00

After my recent post I just realized I haven't posted about last last Sunday's epic session (the first of many more epic sessions to come). There must have been at least 15 kiters at North Haven aka The Wall. That got me excited. I enjoy kiting more when there are other kiters around, not only is it safer but I also get inspired to do better. Anyways the wind was blowing pretty well that day, my 14meter was perfect that day. I decided to go use my old Airush decoy 135 board since the wind was good and that board let's me ride upwind better. I decided to just follow the other locals and ride the same direction they were going... I noticed several of them were riding very near the rock wall to take advantage of the flat water that the rock wall provides (it's actually a barrier of rocks that acts as a wall to block the waves coming from the other side...hmm did that make sense?). So I decided to go ride along that direction as well and boy was it awesome... I was gliding thru the water so fast, I dont't think I've kited that fast before. It was exhilirating. So basically that's what I did for the next hour or so, just ride beside the wall and go as fast as I possible could. I was also able to work on my toeside and transitions as well. I did a few jumps but kept losing my board, the footstraps of the Airush are too wide for my feet and I probably was doing it wrong too hehe. Anyway it was all good that day, no accidents or near accidents, my kite was up all the time and I didn't lose my board. It's been awhile since I've had a kiting day like this, I can't wait to go kiting again.

Stop, It's too big...

2008-08-10T23:10:00.000-07:00

Thats what I kept telling myself when I went kiting last Sunday... Watching other people kiteboarding on a late Sunday afternoon, I decided to rig up even if at the back of my mind I knew the my 14M kite was too big for this weather. I didn't have a wind meter with me so i could only guess-timate it was blowing more than 20 knots. I setup my kite on the lowest knot and fully depowered yet I kept getting lifted from stand still (my kite at 12 o'clock). That inner voice inside me started to change tune to, "don't do it" and "land your kite or you could end up on the 6 o'clock news"... Thankfully Sherlyne had stayed a bit longer and I was able to signal to her that I wanted to land the kite, thou she herself struggled to hold on and land the kite, I was able to abort a possible disaster. Minutes after landing my kite a huge rain cloud appeard and the wind just amped up even more... The kiters who were there didn't seem to mind but then again they were on much smaller kites. So I packed up my gear and left the scene, disappointed at not being able to kiting. "You'll have another day, don't worry" the inner voice inside me said.

Back once again....

2008-07-08T00:44:00.001-07:00

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.

No wind no cry....

2008-03-30T21:43:00.000-07:00

What's a kiteboarder to do when there's no wind? go wakeboarding...me likey!

I recently discovered this new wakeboarding spot about 30-45 minutes away from town. It's called Carasol . My NZ buddy Richard and I decided to check it out. Here are a some of the pics.

@ Kuantan March 8-9

2008-03-10T18:15:00.000-07:00

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.

Gone in 60 seconds....

2008-03-05T23:35:00.000-08:00

Just like that I've totally stopped blogging. No excuses. I've just totally took it out of my to do list, not like I have a lot of stuff to do. You know what I mean. If not for the clamor of updates from my legion of blog fans (from last count hmm 1, yeah you mr.wind-x guy no.2) out there I would have totally left this blog to rot in someones hard drive.

It's been like what 5months since my last post?... so much stuff has happened, I don't know where to begin. Expert bloggers help me.

My last post mentioned me and Sherlyne going to Boracay. Ok in a nutshell the trip, the beach, the experience to go back home was great. Kiting wise, it sucked, big time. 6 days and 5 nights, only 1 day of kiting not even 1 day more like 4 hours maybe.

One cool highlight of that trip was to see some folks from Extreme Elements doing their stuff.
We got tons of pics which someday I will post when the moon and the stars are aligned to my liking.

Between then and now, I've been to Kuantan almost if not every weekend. The monsoon wind blew and blew so I've been able to get mucho kiting time and because of that I'm proud to say that I can kite surf already (applause applause). I can go downwind, upwind, transitions, backrolls, raleys, toeside (and handle passes.....not!) Basically I can kitesurf period.

One particular milestone which I would say helped dramatically in my learning was changing the kite I've been using. I sold my 12M switchblade '07 and got a 14M Contra '07 (2nd hand) courtesy of Ken "Malaysia's godfather of Kiteboarding" Tan. The package came with a 135 Jimmy lewis Model 3 board, now how sweet is that? Sorry I'd rather not disclose the price, you guys might start buying his stuff and I'll be out of the loop, yeah selfish me.

Eversince the gear change my skillz just improved tremendously. I also have to attribute the monsoon wind which has been pretty much excellent.
I've improved alot since the gear change so much so that I joined the Kuantan Challenge aka kiteboard racing competition. It was just me and my friends and a couple of Thai's that joined but the experience was nonetheless memorable.

It would have been totally awesome if I had won the beginners category if not for two factors. One was Martin ( a Brit now based in Kuantan) being put in the same category as me, when in fact he should have been classified in the professionals category and the second was me not competing in 2 of the 4 races. Why you may ask? well for one I was having lunch when they decided to start the race which was around 12ish and by the time the 2nd race started I was in the middle of the ocean warming up.
Anyways i'm cool with all that, the experience alone totally made up for whatever screw ups that happened.

That pretty much is the gist of all that has happened since then. I left out a lot of little details which really would just turn this post into a novel.

Oh by the way, before I end this post let me just announce that Sherlyne and I are moving to the land down under, Australia for the geographically challenged nitwit. Were moving to Adelaide on April 7th so that's a whole new post right there.

till then....hope and pray I keep this updated.
To my legion of blog fans out there thank you for being so patient and constantly checking this site for updates. Without you all I would be nothing..nothing. (lol)

2007-10-25T18:58:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, I haven't been blogging about my kiteboarding coz I haven't gone kiteboarding... All that is about to change. Can you say Boracay? booyeah baby!

My gf and I are going to Boracay next weekend for a week. We will be spending a whole week there so it should be loads of fun. A local resident emailed me saying wind has been good and should be good when we get there. 12-20 knots of wind daaaaamn! Boracay is one of the best spots in Asia to go kiteboarding only thing I'm not to keen on is that its got lotsa corals reefs and sea urchins, so If you happen to fall you got to be careful where you stand, I got booties but I've never tried kiteboarding with them. Another thing that concerns me is the rain, it's been raining here and it's been raining there. I don't mind if it rains for like an hour or two I just hope it don't rain like non-stop and like by the time it stops raining it would be too late to go out k'boardin.

Were going to be staying at Hey Jude hotel. I just heard from a good friend of mine that it's a pretty decent place to stay and cheap too. It's located in a pretty happening area so there should be enough stuff to do and see to keep the gf happy and busy. I haven't been to Boracay in ages. I think the last time I went was like 5 years ago, I'm pretty sure a lot has changed since then. So anyways I'll surely be posting about that soon... to the 28 returning visitors to this blog keep on returning hehe.

If you build it they will come...

2007-10-25T18:43:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated this blog for quite awhile, basically because I haven't gone kiteboarding...in awhile. Well actually I did go kiteboarding 3 weeks ago (I think) but there wasn't much to blog about since the wind conditions were pathetic. Saturday was spent sitting waiting and talking crap. Sunday was a tease, wind blew for like 2 hours then died out. The only highlight of that weekend was this para-glider who crashed while trying to land. He was a bit shocked but eventually was ok after a couple of minutes.

Anyways, I went to check the stat counter for this blog and wow it got a whooping 138 visitors from Aug to Oct, hehehe. Pathetic I know.

Bigger is better..

2007-09-24T00:30:00.000-07:00

My GF and I drove up last weekend since we spent the last 2 weekends at home and we desperately needed the change and fresh air. The drive was pretty good not much cars but we still ended up taking longer than usual since we found ourselves using the long route unintentionally. Anyway we arrived around 1:30pm and I was glad to see the other kiters rigging their gear. Edmond the guy who makes WiND-X kites was there with his GF, Andy, Eugene and Daniel. Daniel's dad Leo was in Kuching kiting, perhaps looking for a new spot to kite. Soon after Andy's friend Trisha arrived together with her BF Alex, both avid divers like Andy.

Saturday started out lousy the wind wasn't so good. Edmond brought with him 2 new WiND-X prototypes. I forgot what he calls them. After messing around with my 12m I gave one of the prototypes a try. Edmond tells me it's a prototype and the actual production kite flies better, or as designed. Meaning the kite I was going to try was...defective? I decided to try it anyway.

The kite was like a bus just like the other 16m kites i've tried , a good looking bus, to fly. It was quite slow to turn and it kept dropping down. I had a hard time relaunching it as well. Could be because the wind was not cooperating. Daniel and Edmond tells me the production kite is much better to fly, so I'm hoping to get a shot at trying that. Aesthetically the kite screamed for attention, it looked good. Best looking kite at the beach. Too bad it spent most of the time
parked.

Trisha and Alex played with my trainer kite for awhile until the wind got really lousy. They got a mean looking digital SLR camera with them which the made full use of while at the beach. Hopefully we get to see them.

After having dinner the crew we went back to Sunday Bar and had some drinks, Esther showed up and joined us for some drinks. Esther just happens to be the first female Malaysian kiter. Allan mentioned this fact to me when I rode with him. After a couple of beers the jokes started to come out and all these kiting stories. Trisha, Ken and Andy shared they're diving stories as well.

Sunday the wind arrived around 1pm. I asked Daniel if I could try his 16m Cabrinha switchblade the older bigger version of my kite and used the beginner board. It took me awhile to get used to it but after aggressively pumping the kite for more power I began to glide and move. I was so thrilled to be actually kiting in light wind. It was quite tiring thou, and it really makes your arm muscles work. After a couple of successful runs I went back a happy man. I was stoked.

Reeling from my stoked-ness, I played assistant kite instructor to Eugene who was giving Alex the basics. I was the guy who helped launch the kite. Alex looked pretty comfortable with flying the 12m kite. A diamond in the rough perhaps, like most of us hehe. Hopefully he takes up the sport. I hope Trisha takes it up as well. It would be nice to have a bigger kite community in Balok.

We headed back around 545pm, got home around 8ish. It was a good weekend.

Grounded...

2007-09-12T21:39:00.000-07:00

I just got the Aug/Sept of Kiteboarding and I realized I haven't gone kb'ing in almost a month (and I havent posted anything as well). I always get psyched just looking at the pictures, imagining one day I would be busting moves worthy of praise. All these new gears in market is making me drool. The new Naish Sigma is totally awesome. The design is so radical I wonder how it flies.....

There's this article in the magazine about this corporate lady who gave up her high paying, high profile life, sucking job after learning how to kite board. She now works in the industry and is living her life. I am green with envy. Maybe I should make that my goal. To work for a company in the kiteboarding industry that can support my kiteboarding lifestyle (or should I say give me a kiteboarding lifestyle). Sounds neat eh? Yeah ok, reality check. Moving on.

I cant go to Balok beach this weekend so I will have to wait another week. I just remembered that I left some of my stuff with Leo at Balok beach, I hope it's all good when I get them back. Speaking of which, I haven't heard from Leo. He would normally would sms to tell me the wind conditions. I wonder if there's been any good wind, . He hasn't posted any pics in his flickr account as well. Maybe there hasn't been any wind. Bummer.

I'm due to go home soon, I have yet to use up the free round trip ticket given by the company I work for (relax no need to be envious it's about the only benefit that's worth mentioning). I'm thinking of going to Boracay sometime October, I think the wind should be pretty good.

Need to look further into this.

Update 19-08-07

2007-08-19T17:40:00.000-07:00

Sunday and my friend Allan and I decide to go on a day trip to Balok Beach, Kuantan. I haven't seen him in like 6months, right about when I started kitesurfing. So this was his first time back since then. It was a three hour drive more or less and we had kept each other updated with, well, whatever. We missed a turn somewhere and we ended up taking a the longer route but that was ok since we were kinda early. We arrived a little past one and we could see the top of the trees moving so we figured that was good sign.

When we arrived I saw Andy another upcoming kiter. He was fixing his lines with Leo. Apparently the wind just started to pick up so we got our stuff and got it setup.

I got on my 12M and my 135 board, and as usual struggled to stay up. After a run at it, I put it down and chilled for a bit. Leo then took out his Wind X 16m and asked if'd like to try it. He's been urging me to buy it from him but I've always put it off. Now seemed like a good time to give it a go.

I launched the kite and borrowed his 145 Cabrinha board. Being used to a smaller faster kite, I struggled trying move the kite up and down, down wind. I could get up a bit but could not stay up long. The wind was just terrible. Probably 8 knots. After several run using the 16m, I gave up and decided it wasn't worth the effort or maybe because I had a lousy light breakfast and no lunch. Daniel had arrived with the new Wind X ultra-light prototype and went for a quick ride with it. I wanted to try it as they all said it was a great kite, unfortunately the wind wasn't on our side. Daniel ended up sitting down with us.

Allan did better and rode a bit but even he gave up and chilled also . There was only one guy kiteboarding, one of the local guys using an 18m kite (forgot what kind) he seemed to be enjoying as we just sat and chatted . After awhile we saw dark clouds approaching and rain soon followed. The wind switched direction and we quickly had to run to the kites and face it the opposite direction before it could get blown away. Allan and I decided to pack our gear and call it a day.

The rain stopped after 30 mins and the sun came out a bit, the water was pretty flat so Leo asks if we wanted to get pulled by his lil boat, wakeboard style. Well since Allan, Andy and I were still in our wet boardies, we went for it. Daniel (Leo's son) went first, then me, Andy and Allan. Andy being his first time did alright but then sprained or popped his shoulder when boat jerked forward as he crashed and failed let go of the bar. Lesson no.1, let got of the bar once your down. Leo's wife took him to the clinic to get it checked. Allan did ok too, I guess if you can kitesurf then kiteboarding would be easier. As for me I did a couple of runs and quickly got tired and decided I had enough.

Well at least now there is something to do when there is no wind. It wasn't a very productive day at the beach but it was not that bad. The ride home took a bit longer since it was raining and luckily I wasn't driving. It's now Monday, and my arms and legs are a bit sore. I'm tired. I hate Mondays.

P.s.
Sorry no pics, was too lazy to take em. Next time ya?

Past is Past....

2007-08-16T23:51:00.001-07:00

Here's a list of some of the things/events that I can remember and is of significance to my learning this sport.

Took lessons with KBA on Feb '07 - my instructor was a local rider named Nung (pronounced as "ning"). Great guy only I sometimes had difficulty understanding what he was trying to say I simply just smiled and nodded when I couldn't make out the words.
Barely an hour since I opened up and used my kite, I crashed it into the tree's causing a rather large tear near the main bladder. I sat there speechless thinking this is the start and end of my career. Fortunately my friend Leo, the local instructor, was able to patch up the tear and breath new life to my kite.
I've lost somewhere around 6 pieces of contact lens to the waves that battled with me in my attempt to get up and ride.
I've had many many bruises and cuts on my knees and elbows. Too many that I've no longer bothered to protect them.
From the waist harness, I've recently switched to an impact vest harness because a) the bruising on my chest (because of the bar) is getting to irritating and painful specially on back to back days of kitesurfing b) it adds buoyancy making it a bit easier while attempting to get up on the board c) my tummy is getting too big that I look terrible when my waist harness lifts up to my chest area.

A kiteboarder is born...

2007-08-16T20:56:00.000-07:00

Wikipedia - "Kitesurfing, also known as kiteboarding, involves using a power kite to pull a rider through the water on a small surfboard or a kiteboard (a wakeboard-like board)."

I first learned about kiteboarding back in Jan of 2006 when a good friend of mine invited me to join her and her friends for a weekend at the beach. I met a friend there named Derrick who was taking his lessons from one of the local "instructors". Later on I would meet up with him again at the Monsoon Madness and there I would see kitesurfer's strutting their stuff doing some really radical moves. I was in awe and totally amazed at this new sport. Since then I wanted to become a kitesurfer or kiteboarder, whatever you fancy calling it.

Sometime in February, on a trip to Koh Samui ,Thailand with my girlfriend Sherlyne, I signed up for some lessons with Kiteboarding Asia. Three days later I got my level 1 & 2 IKO International Kiteboarding Organization card, and got the gear locked up. I was now an official kiteboarder.

Apparently, there's a lot more to it than just three days of lessons (with very weak wind at that). Getting practice time on the water was and is more difficult. The wind isn't always strong enough for me to get some experience.

I struggled and am still struggling to get consistent rides on my gear. I have a 12 meter kite, a Switchblade Cabrinha, and a 135 Airush Decoy board. Although I am getting better every time I feel like my progression has been slow. Aside from the inconsistent wind the beach we kite at is like 300 kms. away, roughly a 2.5-3 hour drive.

The true test to see if I knew how to kiteboard was when my Sherlyne and I went to Phuket. The wind was blowing pretty hard. I'm not sure about its exact speed but I'd guess around 15-20 knots. It was more than enough in fact I had to trim down the setup of the kite since I was getting lifted up just standing up.

True enough when I dipped the angle of my kite somewhere around 2 o'clock, I was kiteboarding effortlessly. My only problem was going back upwind. Whenever I'd make the transition I would simple fall over and have to float back to shore and start again. This is attributed to riding goofy or switch stance when headed back, which is not always that easy to begin with. Anyways the older guys back at shore assured me that I was doing it right and that I just needed more riding time to get that sorted out.

So basically that is how I got into this lovely extreme sport of Kitboarding and that is basically the level I am in now. The Goal for now is to ride consistently downwind and upwind. I am so close, yet so far (from the beach he he.)

This blog will chronicle the hi's and low's of my so called kiteboarding career. So sit back and enjoy the ride.