eBay and More

It is the time of year when there are some good deals on kite equipment.
EBay has several kites up for auction that would be great for using here or most anywhere. First there is this Cabrinha Switchblade II that is one of the best kites out there. It was the most popular kite on the beach in Cape Cod.
There is also a 9M and a 12M '06 Caution Answer kite available. I flew one in Cabarete and it was the best that I tried out on that trip.
And here is a brand new Waroo 11M for $500. Great for beginners.
I am not a fan of Slingshot but here is a new 9M Link for $450.
Another good source for used stuff is the classifieds at iKitesurf.

The wind finally came up sometime after 3:30 yesterday and I was the only one kiting. While I was killing time waiting, I did some bikini watching.

(No) Wind Report

A couple of people have called or stopped by to ask if we are going to have wind today. Below is a photo of the water in front of my house at 3:30 pm. Nothing. Tomorrow and Sunday we are supposed to have wind.

La Manga

Today ended up being a real nice day. It started out with light winds so we went up to the next beach where some days it starts earlier and stronger. We still had to wait until 1:30 or so but finally the wind came. Nothing real strong, but steady. It was fun to get out kiting in a different spot. La Manga is a shallow bay, more open to the sea than we are used to and with a lot more waves and chop. Lots of room for long tacks. At the end of the day Ricardo, Christian, and Lou kited down to the end of the bay and portaged over to the kiddie pool at Algodones while I drove over to the other beach so they would have a ride back to their car.

Another Nice Day

We have only had a couple of days that haven't been windy lately, and even those days would have an hour or more of wind late in the day. Most days the wind starts early, before noon, and blows all day before mellowing out towards sunset. Today was blowing 15 - 20 with some stronger gusts. Above are Shawn (from Ventura, CA) Carlos and Scott.

The wind has let up considerably but it still blows for part of the day almost every afternoon.
Last weekend it got a bit crowded out on the water. The sweet spot that we call the "kiddie pool" only has room for seven or eight kiters before space gets tight. I was thinking that we could have problems with over ten people showing up the first weekend of the season, but this weekend was back to normal - three yesterday and four today. Here is a photo of John, enjoying the best part of the bay.

A Great Begining

The season has started off with 8 good kite days out of the last 9. Not expecting any wind today, but maybe tomorrow. The wind on most days was gusting over 20 knots. Measured a gust of 28 yesterday. I don't have a wind meter set up, just a handheld that I use to check the wind a couple of times during the day, so it could have gusted higher. Even with that much wind I was still able to use my 14M Rhino that I had set up earlier in the day when the wind was lighter. First time that I've tried to test out the high end of that kite's range. The low end is around 10 knots. I have never seen a kite with a wider wind range than the North Rhinos.

Christian and Arizona Lou drove down from Phoenix to take advantage of the early wind. Both were looking real good out there and were liking the smooth conditions to improve their skills. Chris has less than 20 sessions on the water, but here he is getting some air.

The Season Has Started

We have had two days of northwesterly winds in a row and the prediction is for a five day blow starting Saturday. So get your kite gear in shape - tighten the bolts on your bindings and fins, check your bladders and your lines, and repair the damage you didn't fix last year because it is show time. Only two of us made it out on Tuesday but a few more showed up yesterday - Jeff, Luque, Adan, Scott, and myself. The beach is great, the water warm, enough wind for 12 meter kites and flat water. What more could you want?
Too busy kiting to take pictures but I'll have plenty of this coming weekend.