Takoon Chrono 2011 Review

I've had the new Chrono for months now, so thought it about time to get a full review written. Check it out here

ForceSix goes live!

I've been meaning to put a website together for sometime now, to host pics, reviews, videos, articles and other bric-a-brac. It's still WIP, but feel free to check it out / give feedback.

Here it is: www.forcesix.com

2nd at Blackpool and 2nd Overall!

Myself, Simon Light and Marcus Hawkins at the awards ceremony

Action shot from one of the heats (Photos courtesy of Craig Sawyer)

Last weekend brought the final stage of the 2010 BKSA kitesurfing tour on the windy shores of Blackpool.

The event started with the morning briefing, in which we were told that Friday was likely to be the only windy day, and that it was likely that we'd need to get all the events complete in the 5 hours before the tide came in. This meant that heat times were reduced and everyone needed to be on the ball to make sure they didn't miss them.

In my first heat I was drawn up against Simon Light in the Amateur Mens, and I struggled to land anything decent in the choppy conditions. Simon came out on top and I had to go through to the play-off to progress.

This put me up against Marcus Hawkins, who had also struggled in his first heat - Once the play-off had started the wind dropped almost immediately, both of us were struggling to stay upwind and even remain in the judging area. I failed to land any decent moves again, but I took some old tricks out of the bag to make sure I scored some points in the horrible conditions. This was enough to put me through to the finals on what must have been a pretty close call.

I decided that I wouldn't risk the wind dropping off again in the finals, so opted to use my 11m Furia, rather than the 9m Pure which I used through the heats.

The final went better, but still struggled to land any handle-passes in the conditions. I pulled some powered hooked in moves out of the bag which ensured I would get some points on the board, but as the final ended I had no idea how I'd do compared to the others.

We were all left to wonder about the results, as they wouldn't be announced until the presentation on Saturday. I had a good free-ride session after the comp, until the tide came in and there was no beach left to land.

On Saturday there was no significant wind. I had a couple of hours on the water with my 15m Chrono, but everyone else gave it a miss. We then all hung around killing time until it was time to go to the prize-giving celebrations. After relaxing with a few beers and demolishing the buffet, the ceremonies began and results read out. I was surprised to hear that I'd beaten Simon Light in the final, with Jake Moore taking the win. This meant that I'd also pushed ahead of Simon in the final results leaving me in 2nd place for the year... I was gobsmacked :)

After all the results were read out, it was time to party on, drink some more beer and get down and dance. We stayed on at the venue until about midnight then moved off into town to continue the merriment. I called it a night sometime after 3am, but for a few others that was only just the beginning!

When the morning came, nobody was particularly in the right frame of mind for more kitesurfing, and it was a good thing that there was no wind anyway. Before lunchtime most of us has said our goodbyes and started our journeys back home.

Chrono 2011 video

Takoon Chrono 2011

As some of you may know the new Takoon chrono 2011 is now available from S2AS. Both me and pete have taken delivery of 15m. So i'm looking forward to getting out on the water with it. Also I have the 10m demo kite at the minute and am sending it on to richard after Ive had a couple more sessions on it. So if anyone else wants a demo give Angelo a call at S2AS.


There is some nice updates on the new 2011 kite and bar. There's a new moulded one pump system, extra reinforcements on the kite, New one-piece bar grip and new cousins SKeletor line set which look top quality.

Heres my thoughts after my first session on the 10:


flew the 10m chrono 2011 today in 18-28knts , 4-6ft swell.

Went out first on my 133 twin tip, and the first thing I noticed was how far forward in the window the kite sits. The kite absolutely flies up-wind more so than the furia LTD which I thought had excellent upwind ability but the chrono is in a different league. When jumping the kite is really floaty which is great if your into your old school riding. The bar pressure is slightly heavier than the furia LTD which is pretty light. I had the turning set on the middle setting and found it nice and responsive .Didn't have chance to check out what it was like un-hooked as I was desperate to get on the surfboard as the waves where sweet. id imagine it wont excel un-hooked as thats not what its designed for and it sits too far forward but ill wait untill ive tried it first as I might be surprised.

I then spent the rest of my session on my burning 6'2" strapless. I was well powered on the 10 by this time and should have probably been on something smaller. The chrono felt fine in the waves turned ok but could have done with it on the faster setting. The thing that supprised me is how responsive the turning is even when the kite is depowered. 

ill write a bit more once I have had a few more sessions on it but up to now its shaping up to be a really nice kite if you want to do a bit of everything from old-shool freestyle to waves.

BKSA Round 4: Ayr

When I arrived at Ayr just before dusk on Thursday, there was a good amount of wind and one kite was out on the water. The wind blew all night long, and we were all looking forward to a good competition the next day.

When Friday came, the wind was still blowing strong and I was eager to get out on the water, so pumped up the 2011 Chrono2 which I had on demo, and was first out on the water. An excellent kite which builds on the success of its predecessor - I'll leave a full review for another time though.
By mid morning the pro's had hit the water and were a real spectacle to watch in the 20-25 knot conditions. The competitions were all wrapped up by early afternoon, leaving plenty of time for free-riding for the rest of the day.

The winds were somewhat lighter on Saturday, so opted to compete with my trusty 15m Chrono, which gave me a real power advantage over the others. I won my heat with a clear margin with a railey to blind, big grabbed frontloop, tantrum, big s-bend and a switch pop to blind which put me straight through to the final against two of the locals.
The final started well, pulled a big railey, a tantrum and a backroll transition, but crashed out on a railey to blind and my kite was unrecoverable. This gave me a 3rd position podium placing, ahead of the current championship leader (Marcus Hawkins) who came 4th, putting me in 3rd place overall. This leaves it all open for the final event in Blackpool in a months time.

Saturday night was party time, and we all hit Cactus Jak's which soon turned into a crazy evening with most of us showing our competitive side on the Bucking Bronco. Nicky Rudd Schooled us all with a 120 second ride and scored a bottle of bubbly for her efforts!
Sunday was more sedate, we were all feeling the effects of the night before, and the wind was pretty light also. The landboarders put on a good show, but there wasn't enough wind for a best trick competition on the water. After the prizegiving ceremony we all packed up and made our way home after a truely epic weekend.

Video is available now here : http://www.vimeo.com/15167854

Jo Wilson coaching session

Last weekend, I happened to spot Jo Wilson on our shores, who was up here to do some coaching of another local rider. I took the opportunity to get a bit of 1 on 1 tuition to spot any mistakes I was making and help with backs to blind.

I was pretty tired and my hands were shredded after 4 days on the water, but got a lot from the session, even though I didn't quite land the elusive Back2Blind.

If you need some motivation to push yourself on the water, check out Jo's website here: http://www.jowilsoncoaching.com/ - I'm sure you'll have a good experience!

A video containing some of my best wipeouts can be found here http://vimeo.com/14974053 (Thanks to Jo for the recording :)

BKSA Round 3: Barrow

Another month, another competition - this time over to the windy west coast Isle of Walney.

This time we were greeted with loads of wind Thursday, Friday and Saturday, which allowed all the competitions to go though without a hitch.

On Friday it was the turn of the professionals - they got through all the heats pretty swiftly, only for the wind to drop down for the finals, which was postponed for an hour or two, while waiting for the wind to pick up again. When it got underway again Ali Barrett scored a popular win after failing to progress from the heats in the previous competition.

When Saturday came, it was the turn of the amateurs - starting off with the juniors, youths and girls, as the wind was forecast to pick up during the day.
Soon enough it was my turn to compete, and had drawn Marcus and Jordan in my heat, the wind was blowing in the high teens, and water fairly flat with small wavelets. I landed a few decent tricks including an S-Bend and a downloop frontloop transition, but failed to land some others, inlcuding a railey to blind and a tantrum. As the results came through we were told that Marcus went straight through to the final, with me second and Jordan last (who really went for some big tricks but failed to land them).
The losers heat was about an hour later, in which it was time for me to struggle - the wind had picked up and the sea state was much rougher - I failed to land anything decent, and it was no great surprise to hear that I placed last - I just couldn't handle the onshore chop common on the west coast.
When I practice I always seek out the flattest most ideal spot to do my tricks in, which is all well and good, but doesn't really help when you could be landed with any conditions in a competition scenario. I'm going to force myself to practice in onshore mush, waves etc. in future, as its not just what trick you can land, its what conditions you can land it in.

I also got the opportunity to try course racing, along with quite a few others of the freestyle crew who decided to give it a go. I guessed I'd have a fairly good shot at it, as I had my trusty 15m Chrono to power me along :) After we had the briefing and got down onto the water, there were supposed to be 4 buoys which marked out the course, yet unfortunately I could only see 3 of them - so decided my best option was to find someone who knew what he was doing, and follow him :) The start went off fine, was a little behind the front men but no problem there, got through the 'gate' and followed everybody upwind. after several MINUTES of going up wind I could finally see the fourth buoy - about half a mile further upwind than where I currently was, my heart sank a little :) I managed to round the upwind mark, and head back directly downwind to the start (which in marginal winds is a lot more difficult than you think).

By this time a load of the other freestylers had given up, and I think I was the only person on a non-raceboard remaining. Having completed the course the first time, the second was much easier.

I think I was the first twin-tip over the line, but haven't seen the results.

By the end of Saturday I was pretty nacked - but beer had to be drank, and merriment had to be had after going to the red-bull BBQ.

Results-wise it was another poor event, but I'm learning more and more that competition isn't as straightforward as you'd expect. I was told when I first started that I should expect to do poorly in my first events, and I'm beginning to learn why now :)

The events are always a good craic, and it was good to see some local north-east riders make the trip over too, bring on the next one in bonnie Scotland!

Hunstanton Round-Up

What a weekend! the kind that takes the whole week to recover from :)

I got down there on Thursday evening and had a quiet beer or two with the locals on the sea front before calling it a night.
Friday was a scorcher with very little wind forecast, so was spent soaking up some rays, and enjoying the other attractions such as the bmx/skate/parkour demos. Again when the evening came about, its was time to kick back and sink a few more cold ones whilst listening to the live bands in the neighboring marquee.

Saturday showed a little more promise wind-wise, so got the Chrono rigged up early, and was the first out on the water together with Steph Bridge's amazing littlun's. The wind picked up slowly from being skimboard conditions to Twintip, and before long the BKSA started up the junior comp and progressed onto the girls before the wind dropped off again. It was good to get out even though the conditions were far from ideal, it was such a great sunny day, and the sea was amazingly warm - board shorts and rash vest weather!

Sunday started as I awoke to the van being buffeted by the wind, and as I looked out over the sea I knew that the competition was going to be on. It was high tide early in the morning, and the competition couldn't start until the water had receded past the groynes. We were told in the riders briefing that Pro men's were going to go first, followed by pro ladies, then the amateurs. The forecast was for the wind to drop slowly and was good 7m weather early on, so opted to pump up the 11 and 7m Furias. When the tide had dropped a little the Pro's hit the water, which was a great spectacle in the strong conditions. Ned particularly stood out with some big powered tricks, but didn't stick around to watch them all, as I wanted to test the water myself in order to decide which kite to compete with. I opted to take the 11m out for a ride, and although I was a bit overpowered, I assumed it would drop sufficiently by the time it was my turn.

After they got all the Pro's out of the way it was finally my turn, I was up against Marcus Hawkins (2nd overall in seniors last year), and the Kenyan Cup winner . The heat was over in a flash, I landed a few good tricks, a big kiteloop, off axis grab frontloop, back rolls, railey and some transitions, but didn't really go for anything incredibly technical. I was pleased to hear I came second, as there really was no competition for 1st place as the Kenya cup guy was miles ahead.

Second place lead me into the losers playoff, in which I really struggled - whenever I tried to go for a big trick the wind wasn't there, and was struggling all the time to keep upwind. I landed a railey, railey to blind and an inelegant tantrum, which fell well short of the mark. When the results came through, it was of no surprise that I was out of the competition. After waiting all weekend it was over in a matter of minutes - It was still a great experience and I'd learned a lot - Its a different ball game to have to try and pull off your best moves in a confined space no matter what the conditions happen to be at the time.

While the other competitions continued, I got the rare chance to watch Aaron Hadlow nail some big moves - he'd been playing football with Lewis & friends most of the weekend, while waiting for the wind, and it was really good to see him in action. I rounded the afternoon off with a good session on the 15m Chrono.

All that was left to do then, was to pack up all my gear, say my goodbyes and start the long drive back up to the North East, whilst listening to the World Cup Final - A truly amazing weekend, which leaves me looking forward to the next round all the more.

BKSA Round 2 : Hunstanton!

Looking forward to heading down to Sunny Hunny this coming weekend - anyone else going down?
Kitesurfing, extreme sports, music and maybe a cheeky beer or two... sounds good to me!

http://www.lifestylesfestival.co.uk/

can it be?

wind over a weekend?
am i dreaming?

Burning 6'2" on our shores now :)

The 6'2" burning has arrived, and from first impressions seems to be well worth the wait! I've not yet had a chance to put it through its paces in decent waves, but have had it out on the water, and it seems to be a fine piece of kit, even lighter than the 5'8", good upwind and a real pleasure to gybe. Looking forward to some easterly swells to give it a good test!

For more info check out this link: http://www.s2as.com/p/p-Takoon_Burning_6'2_Kitesurf_Board-3882.aspx

BKSA Round 1: Redcar

The first leg of the BKSA tour returned to my local beach this weekend, and despite the poor forecast, decided to enter given that we've had some good sea breezes on recent sunny days.

Unfortunately my optimism proved to be misplaced, and there wasn't enough consistent wind to run all the competitions, but they did manage to get the land events, the course racing and the women's pro freestyle all complete.

Despite this, I did get some time on the water and put line extensions on my 15m Chrono to give me that little extra edge in the marginal conditions, above is a pic. taken by local photographer
Colin Falcon.

Despite the poor wind, it was a good weekend overall, got to mix with some very good riders, sink a few beers, and top up on the tan. Hoping for a good forecast for the next event in several weeks time: Hunstanton.

I'm back

Hi guys.

I'm ready to get back in the sea right-now but the wind is very northerly, it'll probably take me best part of the summer to gain my previous levels of fitness and strength but I'm back in the sea at the next opportunity. I send all my kites to be modified, I can't cope with those exposed cross-joints for the amount of self-launches and landing I do, anyone had any problems ?

Pulling my pants on was a land-mark 2 months ago, then getting down to my toes and being able to lace-up shoes recently was huge.

Regards

to all

Richard

quick question

do u guys use the different settings on the kite? (furia's)
and does it make much of a difference?
if it does, what are the differences?

cheers

Budle Bay Opening Party

Had a wicked weekend with the newly formed North East Kitesurfing Club this weekend, at their first ever event the 'Budle Bay Opening Party'

Saturday was a beautiful sunny day, but the wind was strong and pretty gusty. Well over 20 people hit the water (which is a lot for the North East) and a good session was had by all.

After the day's exertions we all retired back to our tents and vans for a BBQ some beers and plenty of kitesurfing talk late into the night.

Sunday brought lighter winds, mist and rain, and most people gave a repeat session a miss, but I took my 15m Chrono out and had what turned out to be a really good session, busting out some moves I hadn't landed before.

After another 5 hours on the water on the water, I decided to finally call it a day, and drove home exhausted after what was an amazing weekend.

Takoon Chrono 15m Review

I've finally gotten around to reviewing the Chrono - big, green and oh-so-powerful!

http://www.nekitesurfing.co.uk/chat/takoon-chrono-15m-review-t2175.html

I'm Back!! ~ (unfortunately)

By the looks of things on the blog, nobody missed me?
where is everyone?
Had an awesome time!!
out of wind season and got 8 days out of 16 mixed between 7, 9, & 11 furia's (mostly 9m)

will add some pics etc when i get a chance - just moved and dont have internet till next week sometime.

Hey Rich, how is the hip doing? u gonna get out on the water soon?

Cape Town

Im off in 8hrs!!
2.5weeks of sun and hopefully some good wind!!

Cuba trip

Hey people,
just got back from a trip to Cuba. Mostly it was a missus pleasing cultural type thing but I did invest in bringing my kite gear out. Had 2 dope full-on days on my Furia 2 9m (damn that kite is sweet!) but annoyingly only one underpowered day to try out my new Furia Ltd 13m for the first time after that shocking windless winter we've been through. Still, it looks like the wind has returned. I'm heading to Cornwall this weekend and should be out for a wave session at Gwithian/Perranporth/Watergate (not sure yet) on Sunday - It's gonna be sweet but a bit of a shock after kiting in just boardies in toasty warm water. Heres a couple pics from the holiday.

No Rash Vest!:

Little frontloop grab:

Need more wind!

Strapless Kitesurfing Fraserburgh - March 2010

Picked up a Go-Pro HD recently and have tried it out kitesurfing the past few weeks. Still playing with angles and settings but here's some of the footage. All taken at Philorth near Fraserburgh over the course of three days.

Best viewed directly over on Vimeo

Strapless Kitesurfing Philorth - March 2010 from George Noble on Vimeo.

update on my gopro problems

i no longer will be having any problems!!!

it is gone! at the bottom of the ocean at littlestone on saturday!!!
it was leashed, but the arm snapped above the leash attachment point on rolled off my board never to be seen again!!!
i think someone was clearly trying to tell me not to bother with footage!!!

Pete at 'Paddies'

Heres a little vid I put together from some footage taken on friday. Its a spot called 'paddies' at redcar on the north east coast. Its a great spot to go if we get any westerly winds and want some flat water.  After a good 3-4 hours on the water I decided to get the vid camera out and get some footage of pete.

So here it is :

'paddies' 5th march 2010 kitesurfing from jamie blackwood on Vimeo.

can it be?

wind predicted for both days over a weekend?
it has to be seen to be believed!!!
who's going where?
looks like dungeness (littlestone) for me!!

i may just have to leave my gopro behind so as not to jinx the wind!!!
or have i dons so already by posting this? lol!

WENT DOWN TO LITTLEHAMPTON ON SATURDAY!!!

20knots!!! suited up, rigged up
7knots!!!
un-frieken believeable!!!!
eventually plicked up to 10knots, got to use the gopro (starting to think that it has jinxed the wind for us!!) which was superglued to the board last week (just the base)
unfortunately i did not have the correct kite so borrowed my mates.
flew about 20 minutes doing short downwinders (walk) downwinders (walk) hard work!!!!

footage not really worth putting up, but at least i know now that it works!

this wind situation is getting really frustrating now!!
did anyone else manage to get out?

On the mend but bored.

Hello everyone, you may, or may-not be aware I'm recovering from another hip-resurfacing-procedure all planned carefully so I'm recovering whilst the weather is very cold and mostly no wind. Day-to-day progress is noticeable and not counting for hiccups with drugs reactions I'm amazed how quickly I'm recovering to the extent I'm paying my gym fees for next month and have every confidence "I'll-be-back" early June.

One thing I wanted to ask you-lot is how-come no-one is using the Chrono ? I'm aware the Chrono isn't the favorite kite of one rider who made his comment on kiteboarder forum but the impression I get is no-one even tried the Chrono.

Regards to all of you and keep-up the good work.

Richard.

The wind is coming back

tomorow is looking good and then next weekend is looking good as well on wind guru, it has happend just as i get my kit must be me or something

wow got my new kit on tuesday and used it its the best i have flown yet

Tuesday - Afternoon Off!

As we all know, the wind has been awful for a while, so when I saw that Tuesday afternoon was looking semi-decent, I got it booked off work. I rolled on down to Tynemouth and the wind was pretty up and down, but got to try out my GoPro HD, and made a short video.

Here's a link, check it out :)

http://www.vimeo.com/9389016

Get my new kit this week

wahoo so excited to get in the water it seemes to have been decades since my last session

wind?!?!?!

Can anyone please organise some wind?
Preferably for friday please.

Graeme

Met.Office got it wrong!

The forecast for the weekend was amazing, Northwesterly 20-30 kts and sunny both days... unfortunately it didn't turn out quite like that.

I went up to Bamburgh again on Saturday, there was a 9ft swell forecast and a load of the local lads were planning to get up there for 9am... very keen!

There had been fresh snow overnight and the drive up was pretty treacherous in places, but when I eventually arrived the wind was slightly offshore and in the mid to high teens. It was forecast to be much higher, so rigged up the 11m Furia, expecting to change down later on in the day.

Sadly it never really picked up from there, and the wind was quite holey, as it was blowing over the headland and quite turbulent. I had a decent day anyway, and got to try out my bodged together helmet cam, consisting of a Pentax Optio W30, an old helmet, and a few bolts and washers! The result is okay, but its a pity the field of view isn't wider and isn't so susceptible to having water on the lens.

Sunday was a wash out, barely 10mph of wind, got wet but that's about all!

Music: Sometimes By Airtone

A better quality version can be found here: http://www.vimeo.com/9141335

Had a blast at Bamburgh!

Saturday was forecast to have some nice north westerlies up the coast so set off with a couple of local lads. It was raining as we got there, but this soon cleared and the wind was mid teens cross-shore with a 5ft messy swell, dumping on the low tide sand bar.

I took the Burning out with for most of the afternoon, as there was little point trying any freestyle in the conditions - was trying to do some popped jump transitions, but need a little more practice :)

As it was starting to get dark a really shallow lagoon formed, so grabbed the Lux and went for a blast on that and got the opportunity to do a bit of freestyle, even though the landings were a bit sketchy in a couple of inches of water! - decided to stick to what I know rather than pushing some new stuff.

I also tried to get some footage, but by then it was so dark the camera couldn't focus on anything fast moving in front of it, so called it a day after a really good session.

Was hoping for a repeat on Sunday, but it wasn't to be, no wind in sight!

Here's a pic. of me with my gear in front of the castle, and a very quick sketchy video (apologies for the quality!)

Takoon UK Team now on Facebook

Still work in progress, but feel free to check it out at:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=254084967910&ref=nf

Chrono review.

Done some time ago now and you may have read it, I've flown the Chrono more since that review so other stuff will emerge then I'll no-doubt contradict my early view. I feel a little guilt recommending novices to be prepared to learn with the Chrono because it's such a pussy in so many ways. I don't often drop my kite these days though I'm still learning strapless and you have to see this to believe how anyone with so much experience can fall off a board in so many different ways. The Chrono lifts off the sea soooo-easily with just a slight tug on the correct flying line and straight into the edge of the window which is home for the Chrono.

http://www.kiteboarder.co.uk/kitesurfing/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=34190

who's flying where this weekend?

i hope to get to Littlehampton for a morning sesh - around 9-9.30

hopefully get the session recorded on the gopro too!!

I'm just passed 68 years old and started kitesurfing at the sports embryo-stage about 12 years ago to fill a gap because I had to stop competitive sailing racing dinghies through walking disability. As each of the last few years have passed I've had to trim my kitesurfing to suit my disability so joining-up with Takoon and the UK team will be a way of sharing my experience and experiences. I'm not an accomplished rider in the sense of freestyle tricks concentrating on riding the waves and huge swells we get here on the west-coast of Wales but I am very competent and experienced always looking for a novice I can help or even a not-so-novice that needs help.

My first kites were foils from Canada, Concept-Air turned some ram-air ski-kites into the very first marine foils that were very difficult to fly and get of the sea but they did work, then came Windtools attempts at marine foils and eventually the first inflatable kites. I used Wipika Free-Airs for a time but kept going back to the foils because you didn't need to pump-Em-up and of-course I had become wired to those foils. Eventually came Naish Aero's one and two then Wipika Matrix and eventually the very first 'Bo'. I had one of the very-first Takoon Nova, the memory of the huge difference that Nova made to my kitesurfing will stay for-ever. Eventually I moved to Slingshot and the Link which brings us to my move back to Takoon.

I'm flying the Takoon Chrono in 12, 10 and 8, Maybe a 15 later this year.

I mostly ride at Newgale Beach in north Pembrokeshire, moving to Newport Beach, Broad-Haven Beach or Tenby South Beach as the wind changes, anyone who want's to test fly the Chrono is welcome to make arrangement with me via my mail-address takoon@big-blue-beach.co.uk

For the benefit of those who don't know I'm waiting to go into hospital to have my second hip resurfacing procedure, the first was two years ago and made a a huge positive difference to my comfort. I'll be recovered and back in the sea by late spring assuming everything works smoothly.

Furia Review

I've posted my review of the Furia after using it for a couple of really great sessions.

To find out more click the link below. http://www.nekitesurfing.co.uk/chat/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=2040

more snow in london!!!

whoop whoop!!
hopefully it lasts till the weekend!!
.... and that the wind plays along!!!!
got my gopro that i wanna setup to take some footage!
now just got to get through the next couple of days at work :-(

Snowkite - 11m Furia - South London!?!?!?

Had a great weekend on the snow in Purley Way.

Wind was up around 20mph with some serious gusts!!!! Had an absolute blast!!! She handled the gusts sooo well and did not mind sitting up in the zennith while doing up my bindings either.

Jumps were pretty huge (some pretty unexpected!!) one of the locals, unfortunately ended with a trip to A&E!! He probably needed quite a number of stitches to patch up his eye. Loved the bar!!!! I had thick gloves on and had no probs using the depower or changing the distance of the stopper ball!!!

Bar pressure is very light too, which is great!!!

It was an awesome day - I cannot believe that it was London!

Graeme

End of another sick weekend

Had a real blast over the weekend, went to Tynemouth on Saturday and was kitesurfing until sunset on my 11m Furia, doing some freestyle on the Lux, and practicing some strapless surfing on the Burning. The wind was fairly light but was able to get some amazing pop from the Lux and Furia!

Sunday was another one of those wild days, took the 7m Furia and was very impressed with how it coped with the very strong and gusty conditions. Again it wasn't the best day for pushing the freestyle, so had a great deal of fun boosting, ripping along in the shallows and getting a bit more strapless practice in!

I've been really impressed with Furia and will post a review in the next couple of days.













Pic courtesy of Chris

A cold day at 'the Chem works'

Well today there was a few of us decided to go to 'the chem works' for a session. We where greeted with 30 knt winds gusting to 44 and a minus degree windchill. Me and andrew decided to give it a miss and stay on the beach to take pics and video. Pete went out on his 7m furia LTD and had a great time ripping it up on his lux and burning.  I'm sure pete will do a write up to let everyone know how the kite preformed in, what I thought where overpowered conditions, but the kite seemed to cope very well.













Thanks to chris for the last two pics.


Cheers jamie

Snowkiting pics

Had a great days snowkiting on saturday on the field next to my house. Wind was 15 knts gusting to 22knts. I was riding my 11m furia for the second time and all I can say is 'wow' Very fast through the air and in the turns. Boosts big and handled the gusts really well. Anyway heres some pics.

Kites Arrived !

Furia 9 and Chrono 12 arrived this week. Awesome looking kites, can't wait to get out now and try them!

Furia LTD in da house!

Got my Furia's now and the forecast is looking decent for the weekend, really looking forward to taking them for a blast! Hope the snow doesn't stop me from getting to the beach :)