Bobby

There's a guy on ebay.uk located in Dublin,Ireland does made to measure bladders, says in his ad he'll copy the old one if you send it to him, might be worth a call. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kite-leading-edge-blank-Bladders/193282181352?hash=item2d008408e8:g:TUYAAOSwhOVa62Go Or hang out for a cheap big old Rhino; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NORTH-KITEBORDING-RHINO-06-16sqm-VERY-GOOD-CONDITION/324296971182?hash=item4b819b13ae:g:pDUAAOSwuTpe~cP1 Feel your pain though buddy, my big Ozone split in two after I messed up. Loads of tape later and a trip through a Singer sewing machine it came out - let's just say not to the original designers specifications. Still flew though.

Hi Renato - I know nothing about kiteskating dude but I love these old arcs. Learnt my kitesurfing skills on these and these have got to be the most forgiving kites for learning new stuff on. It's going to take a few mph to get this big guy in the sky and by that time this slow monster might be too much too handle as you need next to no power to skate. If it was me I'd put my protection gear on and just give it a go. Or go out a buy a cheap secondhand foil, they won't be as good a gust muncher as this big guy though.

As Sandmonster put it; "New decade, new thread".........and then there's - new website. Kicking off an Ainsdale beach thread. Hoping it'll get used as much as the old one. A few bits of maybe useful stuff; Sefton Councils regs about kiting on the beach; https://www.sefton.gov.uk/around-sefton/coast-countryside/kite-zone-permit.aspx One thing to note on that link - for the last few years the Summer map parking isn't happening it's just the Winter zone map to pay attention to throughout the year. From March till the end of September it's £8 to park on the beach (cash only as of September 2020) - You can park free at the Rangers hut (turn left just before the beach entrance and drive 200yds) but you'll need to hoof your stuff over the dunes. Kite addicts wind info; https://www.kiteaddicts.co.uk/kitesurfing-spots/spot/Ainsdale A few Ainsdale pictures I took from years ago

Empty beach on a windy day and a whole bunch of kiteskills present. Awesome Carl just awesome dude. I need to buy back my old Venoms.

Joel, you man are doing a great service. To see those Flexifoil Foil posts of mine from 10 years ago brings a warm glow. Makes me want to buy back my 4.7 Blade 2 and get wrecked by that mean machine again. I grew up on those forums, from static flying, to land boarding and then onto the water where I still am. The people on those forums helped me every bit of the way. I never went the social media route when the forum died, I thought the collective togetherness could never be duplicated on facebook. I so wanted the forums to rise again. Then I received your email. Man did I smile. Thank you for this. I just hope this all comes together and some of the stoke those old forums created flows into this site. It sure was a great friendly virtual bunch. Let's do this. You've doing the hard work by breathing life back into what was a great scene, now all of us need to do our bit and create the vibe it once was. You get 5 stars Joel.

And there's me thinking it'll just be a bit of a decent day. Well and truly stoked Couldn't hold the kite in that morning wind, kept ripping me off the water then it'd lull for half hour then just pick up and blow. Nob on onshore, big sky and massive goons. Coolest feeling carving through the shallows with a low sun, cool tunes, and just me and another dude with the water all to ourselves. Loved it. Not too cold at all - after 3 hours feet got a wee bit icy but nowt really. Nice to see a few old faces down - (hope you had just as good a session Russ) and Carl was ripping it up as usual, making it look way to easy to jump over my 13m That was just a bit better than Xmas shopping. Simple and costs nothing, always the best

Merry Xmas you lucky people, gifts galore tomorrow. Bang onshore mid teens, LT at 10ish so infilling goons all day long, bits and bobs of sun and a big high of 9deg. Last decent Saturday of 2010 so come on ladies make an effort. Once you've dragged yourself into the rubber wear, pulled on the beanie and the gloves and made that step into the water, I bet you a beer you're gonna love it. Best of the wind for the early birds.

Nice vid as always dude You were pretty awesome on Sat, seeing the movie I wondered were the faceplant outtakes were, but thinking about it, I don't think you made any. Great day on Satdy, Rimmer was pulling some great stuff on the water. Waves were massive and the weather was perfecto 11m, could'av been a bit more Northherly but that monster goon that developed was big enough even in a cross-on. Had some guys kite fall out the sky, hit mine then collapse in a torn tangled heap. Crap luck but nobody was hurt. And still not too cold Had a day snowboarding in Chillfactore today, It ain't my first love but for something different I'd recommend it.

OK ladies, Satdy looks a good'un. Dust off those kites, climb into the rubber and lets get out there. No need for gloves and booties, double figure temps, sunshine all day and a decent and warm WSW to blow us in. LT at 10:30 and the best of the wind for the early birds. Keep off the shandy, get to bed early and I'll see you on the water for 10ish.

Can totally vouch for John. Takes care of his stuff and is an honest reliable dude. Suit looks perfecto, and with that inner fleecy jobbie you'd sure be toasty

Was a real good day down the Dale today - no wind forecast for the next few days so thought I'd make the best of it. Got down at 10 and rode the tide all the way in, couple of breaks and jumped out at 2.30. WSW high teens all day with some lovely gnarly waves out there to run over. Got into a real tangle of an experience out in deep water, but sorted it and lost my fav beanie in a spin cycle but found it by chance later on. Couple of land dudes to chat to, some lemonade and butties and there was loads and loads of sunshine

Took the Flydoor down and took a dip on Sunday but majorly struggled in that light wind cept for maybe a half hour or so when it picked up brilliantly. Don't fly much in bang on Northerlies and it can be a pain getting out crashing through big waves and falling into deep troughs with a massive door on your feet but coming back in more than makes up for it . Felt like a 'proper' surfer, kite parked at 10 o'clock, riding on top of a big roller, coming in dead straight with the beach, crash over the top when it breaks and carve back out to sea, very, very cool. If that WSW high teens breeze stays with us for Wednesday then thats for me. HT at 13:30ish so perfecto for getting down about 10 and riding the tide in. Sunshine, a big 13deg and...it's my birthday so cake and beer for any dude who makes it down

Perfecto day people. Mid twenties WSW all day long Goons seem to last forever and no need for hats and gloves just yet. Big waves got me in the end, gave me a good spin rinse, pulled the board off my feet including the screw holding a pad down - ended the day for me. @Mark - Hope your water session went well dude Might be a treat of a windy weekender on the way. EDIT: Just noticed XC and COBS are way apart - XC predicting a 'don't miss it' day and COBS 'stay at home you ain't missing nowt'.

Nice vid Ian Saw you on that yellow fun machine when I was out on the water Friday. Used to have one of them in red, it was a great kite. Bought it off some dude who'd ripped it on a reef down under, had it repaired and it was one of the best arcs I ever had - in the end sold it to a guy in S.port and I replaced it with a 10m Venom 1 - another classic kite. Always thought small arcs are just the best fun. (except the Peter Lynn 630 I used to have...now that was just plain scary)