jameseb
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Everything posted by jameseb
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Are the roads drivable in a car, or is it still 4x4 country up there? Those last pics are certainly 4x4 only -- I guess that was the weekend? Given the traffic that road gets I'm guessing when the roads are drivable there will be no snow left. Would love to get out on the kite in the snow, but not having a 4x4 is really buggering things up. I think I'm going to have to buy a truck... Anyone heading up during the week I could get a ride off from the bottom of the hill?!
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This thread was mainly just me being surprised by a conversation I had with my old man. Been riding mountain boards for years, and I'm sure he never mentioned before that he was involved with these things back in the day.
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I didnt realise it was a local bloke (to me anyway) who invented the mountain board -- that chap from vets in practice, Joe Inglis. I also didnt realise my old man had a very small part in getting the first mountain boards manufactured. Joe came to the GRP (fiber glass) manufacturing plant my old man used to run (many years ago) looking to get the decks made from GRP. Apparently it was a no-goer for the size of the deck and so on, so he put them in touch with another local resin impregnated wood company. Completely useless trivia, but there you go.
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Beach is always best, has to be said, just dont get the time to do it very often! Water is my next thing to try with the kite, just tracking down a board... And if you're in need of a water fix closer to home, you can always hit the cotswold water park over at South Cerney (Cirencester way). They've got a cable-ski which isnt bad. Never tried a kitesurf board on a cable, but I guess it's very much like wakeboard. I've seen a bloke ride the cable with a surfboard, so I dont think it'll be a problem...
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South Wales is definitely the place to head from Gloucester. Some other guys from round here head down Westward Ho!, but the drive is worse than the gower and you've only got the one beach, so if the wind moves you're stuffed. Inland Cleeve is the best in my oppinion, and there's "the hill" over by Swindon which I've not tried as it's only open weekends. But it's good by all accounts. Then there's Lydiard Park in Swindon and Plock Court in Cheltenham, neither of which I use, but a lot of folk do. And there's also Selsey Common near Stroud... there's a fairly big hill there might be be good for a bit of hill riding, but I've not been there in a long while now.
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Broughton aint a bad little beach -- although by the time I got down there on Sunday most of the wind and all the people had buggered off. There were some board marks in the sand, though, so someone had been there. Felt like I was tracking some illusive animal. Hahaha. Ah well, maybe catch some of you lot next time!
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Ah, that's called Broughton is it. Cool, never knew the right name, but it's the one I was thinking of. Can you park in that car park just before the caravan park then? Never actually been down there. Hope the weather cheers up a bit.
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Sorry, that's me being a moron, I mean NNW... so I think Llanmadoc is the only useful beach.
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Looks like a SSE sorta wind this weekend and I'm down Swansea way. What's the best bet, Llanmadoc? How do you get to that beach, take the Llangennith road but go straight on instead of turning left down to the campsite, or go through Llanmadoc itself? Ta! -- James
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That does sound top fun, I really fancy the idea of a bit of snow kiting. Only done a bit of snowboarding, and that was awesome with a decent bit of powder down -- as you say, it's like landing on a douvet or something when you cock things up. Awesome. Shame snow is one thing we lack big time in this country...
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Well, I've got an arc (15m Phantom) and a 7.5m Frenzy. I know the Frenzys have a good name as a snow kite, but I much prefer the big arcs. I guess you need less power to get going on the snow. But you still need the power for the jumps, although I guess you have more hills and stuff to lob yourself off...
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What kites are best suited to the snow? Or doesnt it really matter? Would love to have a bash at snow kiting at some point. ta! James
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Hah, cool. Did you take your spark stick down and feather some sticks up to get the fire going? Or one of the many stick on stick friction methods? Haha. I've watched far too many Ray Mears DVD's. Top stuff.
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Agreed, point taken on safety.
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Yeah, I may be a bit optimistic. More of a point of view of existing kite control skills and having already done water based board sports. I may find I'm completely ****e, we shall see. Dont have a problem with water starts from wakeboarding though, I'm assuming it's similar. And although by far not the same thing, starting from your ass on a landboard has its similarities. And I'll pick up the terminology as I go. I find not remembering what something is called makes sod all difference to being able to ride it... Anyway, many thanks for the tips. I'll have a search for a board and hope we get a bit of sunshine soon.
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I'm a newbie to kite surfing and would like some advice on board size, board, etc. I'm pretty handy on a landboard and intend to get started using my 15m Phantom on the water. I'm about 6 foot and 12 stone, so what sort of board width / length would be suitable? I'd probably consider myself intermediate. I wouldn't want a very cumbersome board to learn on, as I would expect that to only take a couple of sessions before I'm reasonably able on the board (I'm already ok with wake boarding). And I'd go with one of those double ended ones (whatever they are called) rather than those setup for single direction riding as well. That's about it, any tips, please! ta! James
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Pendine was good on Friday afternoon. Is it always that wet there? Must have been like 5mm of water over the whole beach, got completely and utterly soaked! Was nice and windy though, and a huuuuuuge flat beach. Although it was my first time riding on sand in ages, first time since I've been able to jump, and now I have far less skin on my arms... nasty! Llangennith wasnt bad on Sunday either. Although I think pretty much everyone had buggered off by Sunday afternoon... only a few kites out. Top fun. Elbow pads next time.
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Looking more like Pendine Fri & Sat moving to Llangennith on Sun at the mo'. Thankfully my membership for the CLSC has turned up so I can fly at Pendine now. Wooo!
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Wind isn't looking great for the weekend at Cleeve, got some nasty south-westerlies coming in by the looks of it. But I'll be down the Gower this weekend, thankfully... Met a few of the Lickey Hill lot at Cleeve. The grass is currently quite nice and short if you've not been there for years...
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The best of all kites.
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Bit early to tell yet... where are people heading this weekend? I'm down Swansea from Friday through to Monday, so will be heading down the beach. Looks to be southwesterly all the way through the weekend at the moment, so Aberavon or Llangennith? Wind is looking a bit dead though. ta! -- James
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Hey, people love ranting about this topic, no need to search. But, yeah, I have done since I posted, and there is a wealth of arguments about it all. Down to personal preference at the end of the day. Thanks all for you input!
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Right, once I get myself a board sorted I think I'll give it a bash without a leash and see how it goes. I can see a leash would be useful, but I've had bad experiences with leashes on land, and being in water obviously makes it worse. I'll make a call then... Looking forward to a bit of kitesurf action, should be good.
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Yeah, that's my worry. I used a leash on a mountainboard a couple of times when I first got it, until I got smacked in the head, then never used it again. I shall have a search, there seem to be these reel things rather than bungie leashes, which sound like they could be a good alternative. Less likely to come back and smack you one. But then again, kitesurf boards are relatively light compared with landbaords. ta! -- James
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Just about to get into doing a bit of kitesurfing. I've got plenty of expenience in landboard kiting, and I want to know if it's worth having a leash or not when learning. I've done some wakeboarding, so I can ride a board on water ok-ish, but I'm sure I'll be kicking the board off when I screw jumps up as I do on land. So, is it worth having a leash when learning? I can certainly see advantages in the water as it's less easy to grab your board when it comes off than on land... ta! -- James