Author Topic: Evening sessions  (Read 1217 times)

PonoBill

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Evening sessions
« on: June 25, 2020, 08:48:29 PM »
Somehow I'd forgotten how good these can be. Probably because it's been cold and miserable in the evenings--finally starting to feel like summer. The wind settles into its steady state, the gusts and lulls go away, most of the newbs have burned out so there aren't any out of control kiters, just the folks that know what they're doing.

Today's second session started at about 4:30 and when I got out of the water at 7:30 I wondered what the hell I was stopping for. I started the session with some back pain and it went away after the first hour.

Dreamy zooming turns, just slicing back and forth for fun, big swells in the channel to chase, and then into the no current, flat and smooth water in front of the event site to try to get my switchfoot jibe shoved into muscle memory. So far the only thing I seem to have memorized is how to fall at high speed. But who cares, it was great.

I'm starting to get that "shove the board around" feel that I remember when I first learned to do planing jibes on a windsurfer a zillion years ago. Feels good, even if I'm doing it after I've fucked up yet another foiling jibe.

I came out of the water feeling better than I had when I went in.

Fiona Wylde was sitting at the waters edge when I came in, tossing pebbles for her dog to chase. Always a treat to talk to Fiona. Such a cool kid. I guess she's not really a kid anymore, but it's going to take a while for me to think of her as being older than 14.
« Last Edit: June 25, 2020, 08:50:55 PM by PonoBill »
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

Phils

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Re: Evening sessions
« Reply #1 on: June 26, 2020, 04:44:36 AM »
Sounds great.  Where do you usually launch?

PonoBill

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Re: Evening sessions
« Reply #2 on: June 26, 2020, 08:54:17 AM »
Last night was at the west end of the Event Center, in the morning it was Swell City.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

Solent Foiler

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Re: Evening sessions
« Reply #3 on: June 28, 2020, 03:48:18 PM »
Aaaaah... Had my own awesome evening session today. Wind's been howling for the last couple days and after a hectic afternoon session yesterday (27 knots gusting 35) I decided to wait for the evening today for the breeze to settle slightly. What a great decision! Launched at 7 (after putting the kids to bed) with solid 25 knots gusting more but as the sun started going down the average eased and things mellowed out. Was doing my usual upwind downwind loops riding the gusts, the only one out, until suddenly I wasn't, with another winger (a rare sight here still) coming out to enjoy the low evening sun. At 8:15 the breeze really dropped and I had to work hard to stay on the foil and get back to my launch spot, but that just ended the session nicely, with no regrets... Probably the same tomorrow with the breeze and tide forecast as it is. Looking forward to it already!
I'm 5'10", 66kg riding:
Swift Foil Boards custom 4'10 x 19.5" 35L
Gong Lethal 4'6 65L
Axis ART 799, 899, 1099, HPS 880 US & CS Adv fuse, 85cm mast
Gong Fluid L-S, XXL-S on 85cm and 65cm mast
Takuma RS 5.1, 4.3, 3.5

 


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