Posts Tagged ‘kite surfing’

What to do when there’s no wind….

Well, there’s always someone somewhere who will make a plan, and this time we have to thank tomasleeman for the entertaining video.

However, a cautionary tale here. My husband did something very similar in his mad and misspent youth, although in his case they were doing it off the back of a pick-up truck on a farm runway in the middle of the bush. He got up nice and high – 100 ft probably – when the driver of the truck, under the influence of a few too many beers, put his foot on the accelerator thinking this would send him higher. Of course all it did was snap the rope. All 100′ or so of it hit him in the face like a coiled spring and knocked him out. Luckily he came to just before he hit the ground, and having done some parachuting, went into the classic roll on impact.

But it didn’t stop him looking like the Elephant Man for several weeks!

Having just explored Cornwall’s rock climbing regions I thought I might just duck across into another of our favourite topics – kitesurfing – and see what Cornwall has to offer here…

Needless to say – it looks fantastic. Cornwall has the largest area of coastline in England, nine river estuaries and about 300 beaches… not bad, not bad. Whether you’re a first time flyer or a sponsored pro, there is something to challenge everyone.

As with most beaches in the UK, high tide in Cornwall can be a problem and it is not advisable to kite at least 2 hours either side of it at any of the beaches. And, as with many beaches all around the world now, some  have restrictions so you do need to check this out about before launching. It is this sort of thoughtless error which is resulting in more and more restrictions being put into place…

Watergate Bay,near Newquay.

An indication of the quality of this 2 and a half mile long beach for kitesurfing is that in 2002 it was chosen as the perfect site for the first European Kitesurfing Championships.  It is now used annually for the BKSA tour and it is probably the most famous kitesurfing beach in the UK. There is plenty of room for everyone to fly and, with a variety of winds, something for everyone. The beauty of this beach is its safeness (apart from high tide). There is a prevailing SW, but if it veers W, NW or even N it is still safe to stay out. Big Atlantic swells do come in quite often, so you need to be ready to turn quickly if trying to get out the back. However, it is still safe to stay on the inside and play on the large flat sheets of water where it remains shallow – although you stand the risk of being beached.

The main dangers are a small strip of rocks, just to the right of the beach when looking out to sea, and the high cliffs that effect the wind if you get too close.  There are no restrictions on this beach, but you are expected to walk up the beach to the more quiet areas before setting up.

Marazion, south coast and near the island St. Michael’s Mount

The sand on Marazion is coarse so it would probably be a good idea to wear protective booties. There is a small concrete wall separating the road from the beach and although this is useful – it can be a hazard for a kite surfer! Swells are smaller on the south side, but the S, SW or SE winds can still generate messy breaks for you to contend with. There is an outlet pipe further up the beach towards Penzance and also Longrock beach. Some kitesurfers will head over there for flatter conditions but there is the odd small rock and thick kelp so it is adviseable to seek local knowledge.

The main hazard here is getting the tide right because when the waves hit the steeper bank they create a lovely shore break that totally destroys kites! Restrictions are coming into place to stop people kiting above Red River near the town end of Marazion and to prevent any kiting activity near to the road and sea wall.

Sennen and Gwenver

Sennen Cove – also great for climbing, is NW facing. It is just 2 miles round the corner from Lands End and is suitable for all levels of kiteboarding. It has excellent access from the car park. Even at high tide there is usually a sand bank in the top corner where you can rig, launch and land in safety. The waves here are frequently monsters, making Sennen a favourite beach in anything from SW to N winds. Beginners should not attempt this beach at high tide, or in heavy surf. Also be careful of the rip currents outside the lifeguarded zones. These can be ferocious. If you are not confident in rip currents, don’t go out.

But when the lemmings have gone at the end of the day, then Sennen comes into its own – surfers and kiteboarders do battle in style.

Hayle Towans on the north coast in the bay of St. Ives

Hayle, otherwise known as The Bluff, is regarded by some to be the best place to kitesurf in Cornwall, but you can only go there when the wind is N, NW or NE. It is a river estuary providing flat shallow water as well as some swell where the water deepens. It is a great place for working on new tricks. However, as with all river mouths, there are strong currents so keep in the shallows where you can stand up to launch your kite and retrieve your board. Boards are often lost here, so a retractable leash is advisable.

No kitesurfing is allowed in the river when the water is above knee depth or boats are present. Fishermen are making complaints about kitesurfers and this is jeopardising the future of kitesurfing at Hayle. Enjoy it while it lasts…

Gwithian Bay in St. Ives

This is the longest continuous piece of sand in Cornwall but it is named differently depending upon where you park. It is NW facing and is an excellent wave riding spot with N, NW, W, and SW winds. There is easy access from the cliff top carpark and there is generally plenty of space. The beach sand is hard which makes it perfect for buggies and mountain boarding too. There are a couple of big rocks that you need to pinpoint before the water covers them and the water tends to come right up to the cliffs on big tides so watch out.

This beach can get busy with holidaymakers and surfers. There are no restrictions on this beach as yet so make sure you stay in the clear area and then with a bit of luck there will never be restrictions…

That should keep you busy for a bit… there are a lot more beaches down there – 300 didn’t I say? but we have picked out a few on both the north and south coast. Once you start exploring Cornwall you will no doubt be bewitched by a beach I have neglected to mention…

Just one more thing.

It is adviseable to have valid insurance of at least £5m.The BKSA (British Kite Surfing Association) offers worldwide cover which covers all kite activities, even snow-kiting. It costs £30 and can be bought online from the BKSA.

The race between two New Zealanders and 2 Aussies has begun after an epic voyage to the starting gates…

It took them 6 and a half days for the Antipodeans to get from their respective countries to Agadir – a torturerous journey of flights, cars and ferries with a healthy dose of jet lag  included.

Having flown via Los Angelos to London, they collected their two landcruisers, trailer and kit which had been sent ahead in containers and barely stopping to catch breath caught the 24 hour ferry past France and began the long journey down through Spain where they caught another ferry across the Straits of Gibralter  to Africa - at last. However, there were still the Atlas Mountains to cross to reach Agadir – the starting point of the race. Altogether about 2,500 kms  from London to Agadir.

It might amuse you to know that I have skied in the Atlas Mountains (Morocco) – a whole different experience! It was a while ago so things have probably improved, but when I did (not that long ago) our equipment dated from roughly the 30/40’s era!!! The skis were not dissimilar to planks and the enormous buckets on our enormously long ski poles gave rise to many an amused chuckle. As for the yards and yards of bindings…. Well!

However, I digress…

Yesterday, 4th August, was spent checking all the gear and getting it ready for their extreme journey. As Steve Gurney says:

“We soon become aware of how close to red-line many of us are. We’ve had very little sleep and some tempers are getting a bit frazzled. It’s testimony to the team spirit that is growing stronger by the minute that the caliber of the team members is strong and we have the resources to achieve our high goal. I’m also aware how many “MacGuivers” we have! This Sahara adventure, like moths to light-bulbs, has attracted resourceful, solutions men. We’ve already been building brilliance with bare hands and duct-tape! Nothing is gonna stop us!” – and this despite the fact that he was knocked off his motorbike shortly before embarking on this trip and is already suffering from a bruised rear end!

The four men, Christchurch’s Steve Gurney, Ashburton’s Craig Hansen, (for New Zealand) and Australians Geoff Wilson and Garth Freeman, are hoping to average 40km/h…

This trip is not all about extremes, endurance and breaking records. They also hope to raise money for the She Rescue Home charity, which helps girls escape the Asian child-sex trade.

The other day we had one of our regular rants about the environment, global warming and the awful destruction of the rainforests, amongst other things, and we showed you the video made by The Prince’s Rainforest Project.

This video has now been viewed more than 500,000 times over various sites and their next initiative is to launch their Supporter of the Week.

This week it is Richard Branson, entrepreneur, adventurer and founder of the Virgin group, who was filmed with ‘the frog‘ to demonstrate that there is a global determination for change on this issue.

Although he had little success on the video in changing the frog into a beautiful woman, there was obviously, from the following photo, a delayed but successful result to his efforts:

Richard Branson and Denni Parkinson. ‘I only wish I had eyes in the back of my head’ he told the Daily Mail. (Photo credit: Stephane Gautronneau)

In fact, so successful was his kite surfing weekend on Necker Island, that the Alinghi (defender of the America’s Cup) coach and and performance analysts, Pierre Yves Jorand (SUI) and Peter Evans (NZL) spent a lot of time studying and analyzing the photographs from Mr Bransons kitesurfing weekend and were able to give this exclusive report for World Sailing News.

¨From what we can tell it looks like it was blowing on shore at the time, suggesting an afternoon seabreeze, as the wind would have been sucked onto the land – probably in the region of 13 knots to begin with the pressure rising steadily throughout the afternoon, maybe up to 17 or 18 knots. The technique is good, his feet are in the correct position and he seems to have good control. When wet, the board shorts and long hair will be adding to the drag a little – the added weight will not help his performance therefore but nevertheless, judging by the smile on his face he is clearly enjoying himself. This has the effect of helping him to relax and at least feel phsycologically that he is giving the best performance possible. This is the key thing – and it´s therefore something we will be recommending as part of their training regime to both Brad Butterworth and Ed Baird before they compete at their next D 35 regatta¨

Responding to the recommendations from the Alinghi performace analysts, Ed Baird, said, ´One of the great things about working for a team like Alinghi is that all the people around you are constantly searching for that little bit of something special to help make the boat go faster. Pierre Yves and Peter Evans seem to have nailed it again, and I for one look forward to joining in the process, learning from it, sharing that experience and getting in amongst it¨

Brad Butterworth said, ´Yes, lets go´!

But to end on a serious note, let us quickly remind you that:

• the destruction of tropical rainforests accounts for 17% of CO2 emissions…
• that the Amazon alone circulates 20 billion tonnes of water every day which helps water the crops that feed the global population…
• that an area of tropical rainforest the size of a football pitch is destroyed every 4 seconds…

Note that Branson has chosen a very eco-friendly sport!

As you know we are all about extreme sports and in our endeavours to bring you interesting news and stories we do a lot of research into all kinds of whacky things that people get up to both in their spare time and professionally. One name that keeps popping up all the time is Red Bull. Beyond the high energy drink what is it with Red Bull?

Red Bull was founded by Dietrich Mateschitz, an Austrian businessman and billionaire, whose parents were Croatian and who currently owns a 49 per cent share in the energy drinks giant, Red Bull GmbH. He was born on May 20 1944 in St. Marein im Murztal in the region of Styria.

Dietrich Mateschitz

Life was fairly ordinary for Mateschitz as he grew up in Austria. He attended the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration and graduated with a marketing degree after ten years.

After finishing his degree, Mateschitz went on to work for Proctor & Gamble, where he was employed within their marketing department. He progressed up the career ladder to eventually become the marketing director for Blendax tooth paste. It was during one particular business trip that the initial idea for a stimulant beverage began to take shape.

Dietrich Mateschitz

In 1982, when sitting in a hotel in Hong Kong and suffering from jetlag, Mateschitz was musing into the popularity of ‘tonic drinks’ that were big sellers in the Far East when the idea of selling similar beverages in the West came to him. He then went on to form a partnership with a couple of local businessmen who were already producing a drink called ‘Krating Daeng’ (Thai water buffalo) and it was from this that Red Bull was born.

He founded Red Bull GmbH with his Thai partners Chaleo & Chalerm Yoovidhya. It was agreed that Mateschitz would run the company and after much research, testing and set backs, the caffeinated energy drink was finally launched in Austria in 1987.

Red Bull was an instant hit in it’s native country and as sales continued to grow, it was launched in other European countries. Not everything went so swimmingly though. Sales in Germany suffered as supply couldn’t meet the demand of 1 million cans per day and the product had to be re-launched six months later. France and Denmark banned the sale of the drink due to health concerns over the high caffeine level and the use of the chemical taurine.

But health issues aside, over the years Red Bull has managed to take a strong foothold in the competitive drinks market in Europe and America. In most countries, it lines up third behind the likes of Coca-Cola and Pepsi in the total number of cans consumed. By 2008 sales of Red Bull had increased by 17% on the previous year to 3bn Euros ($4.4bn; £2.3bm) having shifted 3.5bn cans in 143 different countries. These impressive statistics are mainly due to clever marketing which has increased the profile of the drink through non-traditional advertising streams.

From the outset the Red Bull brand has been associated with a variety of glamorous and exciting sporting events such as mountain-biking, snowboarding and paragliding. With Mateschitz being the marketing strategist that he is, he saw the potential on offer by tapping into large audiences and giving the Red Bull brand a “cool” image by being linked with sports and athletes. The profile of the brand seemingly increasing as a result of the many extreme sporting events the company sponsored.

So what are the extreme sports that the company sponsors. What follows is a compendium of just some of those extreme sports.

• Rugby Union
• Downhill Mountain Bike Racing
• BMX
• Snowboarding
• Freestyle Soccer
• Aerobatic Flying
• Kite Surfing
• Skate Boarding
• BASE Jumping
• Soccer
• Athletics
• Cricket
• Wake Boarding
• High Diving
• FMX
• Free Skiing
• Formula 1
• Cliff Diving
• Air Racing
• NASCAR
• Surfing
• Rallying
• Crashed Ice
• Break Dance
• Para Gliding
• MX Racing
• MX Freestyle
• Daytona
• Art
• Music
• Dance

Well that won’t be all – we are bound to have missed a few out – other than the energy drink then this is what Red Bull is about – marketing. It sponsors events and individuals in these high profile sporting events – what brilliant marketing – something Mr Mateschitz obviously learnt very well during his ten years at university.

To add to the fun we thought you would appreciate a couple of videos of extreme sports that Red Bull is supporting. The first, not surprisingly from redbull is of some truly awesome action from Red Bull Rampage – mountain biking in Utah.

The second is again from redbull of the Snowscrapers event held in New York in February which was won by Shayne Pospisil.

This one from redbullusa demonstrates the humourous side of Red Bull – some crashes from soapbox racing at an event they sponsored held in Seattle.

No doubt about it – a great combination of fun, sport and adrenaline – keep up the good work Red Bull.

Continuing our series on how to kite surf we have found two videos which we believe you will find extremely useful as a beginner to this exciting sport.

The first video from How2Kite demonstrates how to ‘play the piano’ with one hand. This is essential knowledge as when you are putting the board on your feet you only have the one hand to control the kite. By moving your hand to the right or left of the centre of the bar – as if you were playing the piano – you will find that the kite moves in the opposite direction. The skill is to have enough finesse in your hand not to over-do the correction. When putting the board on your feet you should be aiming to have the kite above your head at an imaginary 12 o’clock.

The second video from andxto99 is an excellent demonstration on how to execute the water start, we suggest one of the first and most essential lessons to learn. As we have just learned you will be keeping the kite overhead by playing the piano and you will be holding your board with your other hand. As you go into the water try to keep the kite out to sea and at a low angle as this will avoid any gust taking you airbourne when still on the beach.

Once in the water place the board in front of you and then put one foot into the boards footstrap, and then the other, making sure your feet are secure. Allow yourself to be pulled down wind by the kite.

When ready for launch you have to dive the kite into the power zone in the direction you want to go. Place the kite at 11 o’clock and dive it down to 2 o’clock and the kite will have the power to pull you out of the water. Remember to bend the knee of your back leg and extend your leading leg.

Sounds easier than it is but remember there is a first time for everyone – keep practicing, take lessons, don’t rush, build your confidence.