The day started off well. Got down to the kite centre nice and early and there was enough wind to go riding. Yipeee
I was hooked up with a 12m Cabrhina and a 148cm board. The centre helps you launch from the pontoon, by landing the kit in the water and handing the bar over to you. So I took it over and did a little body drag to get away from the pontoon.
First turn I was up and away, quite a long way. I was struggling a bit with the new kit and it being the first day on the kite, so didn't make any up wind. Also, my turns were terrible. I think I managed about 1 good turn in about 10 tries!
I was starting to get used to the kite and conditions soon enough. Unfortunately I had drifted down wind quite a bit and was near the landing beach. I did manage however quite a lot of runs, and long ones at that, before I had to land. Again the centre have people on the landing beach to help you land your kite. However the walk back to the pontoon, if you do not have boots, and are westerner soft footed like me, is really not easy and hard on the feet.
I got back to the pontoon and they launched me again. This time I was ready for it all and was riding up wind really quite well and managing to keep my station. I rode out really quite far, about 1pm and back all the way in again. Slightly better turns but still not as good as I was doing in Fuertaventura.
Then it all started to go wrong. The wind very quickly dropped and my kite fell out of the sky. I de-powered but simply could not get it to launch again. I made the mistake of when I was getting nowhere (but being dragged down wind) and closer to the beach, I let my board go. I now know that I should have used it on my feet to provide extra resistance. Oh well. However, as I was riding quite far out, I was being dragged to an area outside the landing beach. Subsequently the kite washed up over rocks and onto the beach. I managed to recur it and get it secured however. I did manage to cut my feel and shin on the coral! Doh!
The walk back to the pontoon felt like a walk of shame. However the school had no problems with it. Agee a short rest I headed out again. The guy launching me said that it probably wasn't going to work as the wind had dropped. Unfortunately he was right. I got up on the board once and sank, I then could not launch the kite again for love nor money. So it was basically a swim to the landing beach.
Kiting day over.
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