Kitesurfing with Flysurfer

Busy busy busy

2010-11-02T11:21:00.001-07:00

Been a while since I last posted - been SUPER busy with some really exciting stuff.
The SKA has been running properly now for 2 months and we've sent a LOT of emails, and had two really successful events. Obviously the wind has been all over the place at both, because we live in the UK, but we've had great feedback and are looking forward to the next few.
This weekend sees us host the first ever student slider jam in the UK! We've got 35 registered to compete and more coming down to support and spectate. The obstacles are coming together and assuming the wind shows up we should have an incredible weekend.
I'll try and get a post online soon, for now check out Expix review of the chick event which went down last weekend!

http://www.expix.co.uk/exzine/events/285-ska-student-kitesurf-chick-weekend

Oh, we've also been publishing a free magazine, which I'm in! Check it out,

Top end of the Pyscho 4 8m

2010-09-01T08:19:00.000-07:00

After a less that perfect day at Hunstanton on Saturday (gusty, choppy, and one broken board), I went to Brancaster on Sunday to check out the flat water. This beach is incredible! Miles of sand and loads of flat water, and a speed strip behind one of the sand bars. I tried my best to get out on the 8m but it was just too windy. It's the first time I've been overpowered on it, but it was 40-50mph so I guess that's fair! I had the kite in the air no trouble at all, and for the most part it was fine. Flew comfortably etc etc, but even with if fully sheeted out I just couldn't sit still. I tried to get to the water to get on a board but decided it was too dangerous when I couldn't even do that, so I landed, and had a session on my girlfriends 7. I probably felt even less safe on that, but had a play in the speed strip which was awesome! Did one jump on the way in, which scared the life out of me, so I called it a day.

Went to Sea Palling for some waves on Monday, mega swell! Had a wicked time, was hoping to boost with the 8 but it was a tad light, but probably too windy for the 12! I noticed the stall with the 8 once again, and I've realised that I've started noticing this since I opened the nose vent to set it to high performance. Will have to test it out on both settings next session. Anyway, I borrowed a 10 and had a sick day, measuring jumps against a 20m pole just upwind. Got about a 2/3 of the way up! Really looking forward to getting some proper air there with the 8 though.

Scotland on Friday!!!

Felixstowe

2010-08-21T11:22:00.000-07:00

Sweeeeeeeet session at Felixstowe today. Super powered on the 8m, so smooth. Went the highest I've been (again) and started looping before I land, seeing how the kite takes it; no problem at all which is reassuring. This kite is so good for freeriding, and anything hooked in really. Solid power, super smooth and really boosty. I had been borrowing my brothers board, but when I got back in my boots I started going for some unhooked stuff. The wind had died a bit and I noticed the kite has a tendency to stall a little if its underpowered and unhooked. No problem in flat water when you have plenty of room to get speed up because when the kite is going its fine, but it doesnt let me load up an edge when I'm going more slowly and not absolutely lit. So that's a shame, but otherwise I'm still really impressed. Today I had the performance vent open too which I think made quite a difference! I was more powered than I expected to be given the wind so maybe it improved the low end, or maybe it just picked up, who knows.
Super tired now, but looking forward to a trip up North in a few weeks. Going to Scotland, which should be mega!

Flyradical M Review

2010-08-20T00:56:00.000-07:00

So I've been riding this board for about 3-4 months now, and have had some epic sessions on it. I posted a while ago about a flat water session I had and how the pop took me by surprise. Ive been out in similar conditions on other boards since, and I think the Flyradical must have had something to do with it! I felt like I had to force other boards off the water in comparison.

I don't know a lot about board shape and how it affects performance, but I'm really suprised at the characteristics this board displays, given how it looks. Super flat, not a lot of rocker and practically no concave, yet this board rides fine without fins, especially if the waters flat. As soon as you engage your rail, you forget completely about the lack of fins, so tricks are as comfortable as ever, especially wakestyle. I think it'd be harder to hold down a lot of power with the kite high, for freestyle or big air, but then you wouldn't take the fins off for that. I've been riding it on the sliders and wall rides at Box End cable in Bedford, and the bottom shape makes it super predictable, especially compared to a 3 stage board. It's definitely helping me progress from boardslides to presses, without too many surprises.

Riding it how its meant to be ridden, I've found the straps the most comfortable I've ever used. They've narrow and high, which works well for my feet at least, and I've had a lot of people agree with me once they've had a go! Comfy pads and secure straps, ideal. The only problem is the system for tightening them, I've found that pretty tricky. It's hard to get enough leverage on the buckle, and the string that loops through came undone the first time I tried it! They do allow for a lot of adjustment when they work though, and the strap is consistently comfortable at every adjustment level.

The board itself...Well I don't feel like I can put my finger on the differences, but I've done everything on this board that I've ever been able to do on my Custom, and a little more besides. It's pretty smooth in chop, although its size and stiffness are obvious when its really choppy. It pops really well, even when at low speed, so I've been able to do most things, no matter what the conditions. It's an easy planer too! I can get out earlier on this than on my wakeskate, which is great (although I did put 5cm of rocker in my skate, and its a similar size - not a good set up in hindsight!).

And then when the conditions are perfect, I've got nothing bad to say! I think it took me a while to get used to it, because of the lack of rocker. I need to make a conscious effort to release the board at a certain time, but when I do the results are sweet.

Reading this review over I've said almost nothing useful!! It's so hard to describe the differences when this board, as I said before, performs so differently to what I expected. I will make some more back to back comparisons and update soon.

Board comp

2010-08-20T00:53:00.000-07:00

I just entered a board competition with
www.mykite.ch to win a Wainman Hawaii Twintip. I'm already worried about when I have to give my Flysurfer equipment back, so hopefully I'll get lucky and this will be a good board! Mykite.ch are a Flysurfer Pro center so I guess I can trust them :P. They have some sweet pictures too, check them out here
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=8625458&o=all&op=1&view=all&subj=137932509554569&id=286107078#!/album.php?aid=32989&id=137932509554569&ref=mf

I really want to write a review on my Flysurfer board, I've been riding it only in boots lately, with and without fins, and at the cable too, so I think i've got a good impression of it by now. Check out my next post for the full review.

Wind

2010-08-03T16:54:00.001-07:00

There is NO wind in Felixstowe!! Think I'm going to have to go back to Southampton soon, everyone seems to be getting on the water way too often.

2010-07-29T16:55:00.001-07:00

Oman Pictures

2010-07-29T10:27:00.001-07:00

Been trawling through the massive stash of pictures and videos from oman and found a few good one's. Could have been on the Pyscho for the loops but I'm still terrified so I pinched my girlfriends 7, smaller the better! Very interested to see the difference between that and a foil, so will update once I grow a pair.

Hurst session yesterday

2010-07-18T13:11:00.001-07:00

Super keen for a laid back session after the effort of getting the slider out, I was a bit unsure about heading to Hurst for a flat water session behind the shingle bank. I'm never sure if it's going to be worth it because it's a tiny pond and can get busy, as well as being pretty gusty sometimes if the wind's in the wrong direction or not strong enough. Finally my boredom got the better of me and I set off with Charlie despite the live weather reading 16-25 knots. When we arrived it was high tide and the pond was empty, with the wind feeling a pretty solid 25 knots. Launched Charlie on her 7 and then self launched the 8. Sitting at the edge of the water at the bottom of the shingle bank, the kite behaved perfectly whilst I did my boots up. Again, the shingle bank had worried me because I wasn't sure how the foil would behave in the dead spots but I was geniunely suprised to be more comfortable on the Pysho 4 than I ever have been at this spot before. Popping into my first backroll of the day the flat water took me a bit by suprise and I went much higher than intended, over rotating and taking a pretty good beating. Once I slowed down a bit the pop was effortless - it's been a while since I rode here so I couldn't say if the difference was in the board but I had a sweet session nailing big hooked in stuff with the kite fairly low, front rolls and backrolls to toeside with a few s bends, and then a load of big airs. Really pleased to say that the kite was perfectly powered for everything, and I woke up this morning feeling knackered!

Still haven't gotten round to a review on the 8m Psycho 4 or on the Flyradical board, but suffice to say I'm really happy with them both at the minute, and feel like I've learnt how to get a bit more out of them!

Slider sesh!!

2010-07-18T12:44:00.000-07:00

I've not had any internet for the last few days as I've been moving house, so I'm lumping a few updates on at the same time. On Thursday we headed out with the slider for another attempt. I wasn't optimistic, low tide was at 7.30 so we had to get the slider in waist deep water, hope we could weigh the legs down and wait for the water to come in before dark. After loading my car up, planting my rear wheel arches firmly on the wheels, and putting two holes in my windscreen, we got the slider to the beach! We had a bit of a pre sesh and came off the water at about 7 and got it set up. Zac got some great hits so Matt came out with his 9m Primadonna, almost got a few good hits but was to underpowered, so I was about to get my 12m when the slider suddenly fell over. 20 mins of faffing about and I finally got out on my 12m, by which time the wind had picked up and I was super lit!! Credit to the Speed 3 though, super stable and I could still unhook, although I ended up gliding over the slider most of the time rather than riding along it. After the slider had capsized once more, and about 10 minutes before the sun disappeared, I decided to put the 8 up. Another benefit of these kites is the fact that it takes 5 mins and hardly any effort to switch, so if the winds all over the place its well worth switching up or down. Anyway, finally got out and was perfectly powered, and got a few reasonable hits! Didn't take too many falls, aside from one which put a 3 inch slice in my brand new wetsuit!! So a pretty good (if expensive) day, which has slightly restored my interest in slider sessions. Think I'll save the next one for flat water though :)

Oh man!

2010-07-12T03:42:00.000-07:00

Just got back from a sweet two weeks in Oman. Caught the best waves of my life on the last two days and got some awesome flat water sessions in before that, as well as meeting the friendliest people on the planet! Will have some pictures up soon once they've all been put together, and a video is in the works. Don't hold your breath though I've got a loooot of footage to go through to get to the good stuff.

Nailed a few new tricks on the flysufer gear too - very impressed with the 12, the fact that it rides the same unhooked as hooked in means its super predictable, and I nailed a flat 3 and raley to blind over two days! Only the once for each though so can't quite claim them yet.

Big thanks to everyone who came and made the trip so exciting, and all the absolute hero's that fed us, gave us camel rides, took us off road in the desert, gave us a place to stay for the week and more, all out of sheer generosity!

Slider sesh

2010-06-23T02:28:00.001-07:00

Took our slider out yesterday for what we were hoping would be a sweet first sesh. Got the to beach at about half 3 after finishing off the sliding surface, to a perfect 16 - 18 knots, spent about an hour setting up (hauling the slider out to about a foot deep, then filling rubble sacks to weigh down the base), and finally got out! Turns out we set the slider up at the wrong angle, so a local guy who had got wet suited up to help us out started spinning it round. Still wasn't right so i dumped my 12 on the "fifth line" so I could help out. Got it in the perfect position but it looked a bit unstable because it was now being hit side on by the waves. Nothing we could do so I started relaunching my kite...not quite as easy as I'd hoped to be honest! Did eventually get it back in the air, by which time the slider had capsized and floated back to shore! So bit of a learning experience - my feet are cut to pieces and I'm knackered! Definitely need a few more people and a bit more time to make it worthwhile, and ideally somewhere where the water is sheltered from the wind. Had a sweet sesh despite the lack of slider though, trying hard to make my front rolls into s bends! I was riding the Flyradical M with boots and no fins for the slider and it's actually not too slippy at all without the fins which was a nice suprise.

<-- Almost finished slider, without sliding surface.

Back to rev sesh

2010-06-21T08:25:00.000-07:00

A couple of shots of me trying to throw a grab in during a back to revert. Wind was only about 13 knots, on the 12m Speed 3 :)

Flysurfer Speed 3 12m

2010-06-19T04:24:00.000-07:00

Soo here's my first review of the Flysurfer gear. I've probably had 5 sessions on this now, in a pretty good range of conditions, 10-25 knots I would say.

It's been pretty good so far, set up is really easy, launch is pretty good although a bit sketchy if you aren't confident with a kite - it takes a while to fill with air and you need to be pretty aggressive on the bar until it's taken shape, but it is nice and quick to put in the air and I've been the first on the water every time I've taken it out. I guess the self launch issue is the same for LEI's, except with the Flysurfer it's your only option. Anyway for a 12 it looks huge and it's a little slower than my 12 switchblade 3, but for me that's cool - I'm trying to be wakestyle and so long as it pulls I don't really need it to move that quick. It really does pull too, it hasn't got me out any earlier than my switchblade would have, but I am better powered earlier, so I've been out in 12-13 knots doing my only trick (back to revert) really comfortably. It's also really good for messing about on a skimboard (or any other strapless board i guess) because it's soooooo floaty even in light wind, great for learning strapless airs or transitions.

In high wind it is ridiculous, I've been on Switchblades almost exclusively for 2 years so the difference is phenomenal, it's really easy to hold down and jumps are massive, especially for a 12m. Been way higher on this 12 then I have on my old 8, and even had to loop it on the way down which I didn't think would be possible. It's so big that even when it looks like it's in front of you, one of the wingtips is above your head so its floaty on the way down pretty much no matter where it is in the window - so long as you keep it moving.

I should probably add that I don't think big air is the coolest thing in kitesurfing, and I should really have been on an 8 keeping it steezy... buuuut it was a sweet session! Definitely fun when you aren't keen to get spanked.

Board Building

2010-06-19T04:02:00.000-07:00

A mate and I decided to have a go at making our own boards this summer - here's the result!

We went for a wakeskate partly because I really wanted one and partly because it seemed ridiculously easy in comparison to making a twin tip. It seems like skates for kiting are still not particularly well tailored to going upwind or light wind riding, so we've tried to do something that'll work best behind a kite.
It's 45cm wide x 122cm long, with 4.5cm of rocker, and channels in the tips which run 20cm into the board, placed about 10cm from the edge. The rocker is pretty much continuous with a very slightly flatter section in the middle to keep it super loose. The channels seem to do a pretty good job of keeping it in the water when it's going upwind except I haven't sealed them very well, but that's cool because I get to feel like I'm riding a jetski when water spurts up through the gaps.

For grip I crumbled a load of polystyrene over the board when the resin on top was going off and gently pressed the beads into the resin. Now that most of them have come off/split I'm left with a really rough pitted surface which is actually comfortable enough to ride bare foot, until you want to start trying anything particularly ambitious!

Check out the full details on how we made this board here

SKA

2010-06-18T05:47:00.000-07:00

We managed to wrap up the comp on the first day of the nationals so on the second day a bunch of the competitors and a few others from their entourages chilled out on Calshot beach to chat about the Student Kitesurfing Association which ran really successfully until about 18 months ago. Alex Hill, one of the guys who was in charge, was there to talk about handing over to a new committee.

We ended up getting a group of 30 of us together who were interested in taking it further, and after loads of chat on facebook 15 of us got together last week to officially form the new committee. We had a sweet sesh at Llangenith on the Saturday (where I got to test out my new skate - more on that later) and in the evening managed to find a pub that wasn't over run by the football, and sat down for a good four hours, chatting about the direction of the ska, the structure of the committee, and an events calendar for the year. We were pretty brutal about keeping the committee small and contained, so I'm stoked that I'm able to be involved as Vice President in charge of events. We've got some big plans for the year that should involve at least 10 events, as well as 3 National tour stops, sponsored by one of the biggest names in the kiting industry. The preliminary calendar is coming together at the minute, so I'll update you as soon as I can!

Student Nationals

2010-06-18T05:33:00.001-07:00

In March the guys at SUKS organised the first dedicated student kitesurfing nationals which was a massive success. 30 competitors from as far away as Edinburgh, including 2 guys from the BKSA Pro tour, came down for the weekend which was judged and commentated on by Freddie Oldfield, Ali Barrett, industry guru James Longmuir, and James Boulding. Awesome job by the SUKS team, especially the marshalls who spent the day in the pouring rain looking after us all.
Really good day, and I ended up coming third which was pretty sweet, especially as I had a cheeky skim board sesh in the final! Won a nice "golf" bag from Naish and a photo shoot with Expix.com, which we haven't had the chance to do yet, so all in all not a bad day! Definitely made me think about the competition scene a bit more too, and was great motivation for progression.

Check out the wrap up vid here

Kite Surfing, Student Nationals, 2010, Southampton from Hanna Hargrave on Vimeo.

Barra Video

2010-06-17T10:54:00.001-07:00

I'm going to put up a series of updates from the last few months because I've been pretty busy with various things and haven't had time until now. First off here's a video I put together before Flysurfer sorted me out with all the new gear, of a trip I took last September to Barra, in the Outer Hebrides.

BARRA from SUKS on Vimeo.

Brand new Flysurfer gear arrived!

2010-06-17T02:08:00.000-07:00

Back in January I submitted a video to Flysurfer to try and win the use of a couple of kites and a board for the year. You can check the video out here

About a month ago I got the news that a 12m Speed 3 and 8m Pyscho 4 were on their way to me, along with a Flyradical M! I was really interested to see how they compared to my old mix and match quiver of 12 and 8 Switchblade 3's, a 10m Torch IV and 7m Vari Condor One. I've been a bit slow getting this online but have had a few sweet sessions and it's about time for an update! Going to Oman in 10 days but hope to get a review online soon, along with a few pics and videos.