St. Augustine Blows

[toykites]

I'm not sure what it is this season, but it seems like the windiest I've ever seen it in St. Augustine. We usually have pretty consistent winds, but lately we have been flying 5 and 7 meter kites on a regular basis! Today was a repeat of last weeks onshore 25-38 mph winds, and what a difference a few days makes. If you saw the article I wrote in Lessons from a Hard Slide earlier in the week, you will know that flying too big a kite and difficult conditions with big surf caused my kite to fall out of the sky. A wave hit it and one of the leading edge seams failed, causing me to have to roll up my kite and paddle against the current on my kite back to shore. Today I learned from that experience and had an epic session in the same conditions. The difference was that I bought a 38 cm Cabrinha Powerlock bar and set it up with 20 meter lines, and I was flying a 2005 Slingshot Fuel 7. What a combination! Except for the accidental kite loop while attempting a switch double back (pulled with the wrong hand, OOPS!), the session was carnage free. I did get smacked by a wave but I turned the kite across the power and it was so windy that the kite just sat there waiting for me to get my board and go again. There were probably 10 of us on every size from 5 to 9, and it was one of the most epic sessions of the year. Tomorrow promises to be windier down south, but I would be happy to fly my 11 in the surf! If this system follows suit with the last one tomorrow will be nuking in S. Florida, so break out you helmets and small kites and make sure your small bar is tuned perfectly. You will be much happier with everything dialed in for the conditions. Enjoy!

Eddie Toy
Extreme Kites
http://www.oceanextremesports.com

[toykites]

I'm not sure what it is this season, but it seems like the windiest I've ever seen it in St. Augustine. We usually have pretty consistent winds, but lately we have been flying 5 and 7 meter kites on a regular basis! Today was a repeat of last weeks onshore 25-38 mph winds, and what a difference a few days makes. If you saw the article I wrote in Lessons from a Hard Slide earlier in the week, you will know that flying too big a kite and difficult conditions with big surf caused my kite to fall out of the sky. A wave hit it and one of the leading edge seams failed, causing me to have to roll up my kite and paddle against the current on my kite back to shore. Today I learned from that experience and had an epic session in the same conditions. The difference was that I bought a 38 cm Cabrinha Powerlock bar and set it up with 20 meter lines, and I was flying a 2005 Slingshot Fuel 7. What a combination! Except for the accidental kite loop while attempting a switch double back (pulled with the wrong hand, OOPS!), the session was carnage free. I did get smacked by a wave but I turned the kite across the power and it was so windy that the kite just sat there waiting for me to get my board and go again. There were probably 10 of us on every size from 5 to 9, and it was one of the most epic sessions of the year. Tomorrow promises to be windier down south, but I would be happy to fly my 11 in the surf! If this system follows suit with the last one tomorrow will be nuking in S. Florida, so break out you helmets and small kites and make sure your small bar is tuned perfectly. You will be much happier with everything dialed in for the conditions. Enjoy!

Eddie Toy
Extreme Kites
http://www.oceanextremesports.com

[ricki]

I'm not sure what it is this season, but it seems like the windiest I've ever seen it in St. Augustine. We usually have pretty consistent winds, but lately we have been flying 5 and 7 meter kites on a regular basis! Today was a repeat of last weeks onshore 25-38 mph winds, and what a difference a few days makes. If you saw the article I wrote in Lessons from a Hard Slide earlier in the week, you will know that flying too big a kite and difficult conditions with big surf caused my kite to fall out of the sky. A wave hit it and one of the leading edge seams failed, causing me to have to roll up my kite and paddle against the current on my kite back to shore. Today I learned from that experience and had an epic session in the same conditions. The difference was that I bought a 38 cm Cabrinha Powerlock bar and set it up with 20 meter lines, and I was flying a 2005 Slingshot Fuel 7. What a combination! Except for the accidental kite loop while attempting a switch double back (pulled with the wrong hand, OOPS!), the session was carnage free. I did get smacked by a wave but I turned the kite across the power and it was so windy that the kite just sat there waiting for me to get my board and go again. There were probably 10 of us on every size from 5 to 9, and it was one of the most epic sessions of the year. Tomorrow promises to be windier down south, but I would be happy to fly my 11 in the surf! If this system follows suit with the last one tomorrow will be nuking in S. Florida, so break out you helmets and small kites and make sure your small bar is tuned perfectly. You will be much happier with everything dialed in for the conditions. Enjoy!

Eddie Toy
Extreme Kites
http://www.oceanextremesports.com

Thanks for the story Eddie and the cautions. It sounds like a nice day out. You guys are leading the state in higher winds. I am sure you know that with the aches and pains you guys must be accumulating!

Last Wednesday I spun out off of a wave, came up and noticed by lines were crossed. No big deal just spin the powerlock bar to uncross them. I wasn't planning on being picked up about 6 ft. off the water and slammed in 25 ft. away into the water and about 15 ft. off the beach. If the wind had been onshore that is where I would have slammed in. I think the combination of being near overpowered on an 11 m and the waves took a normal process and made if a lot more.

Being near overpowered in high wind is a bad idea. Best to rig the smallest size you can get away with and on the proper bar length for the kite as Eddie said.

p.s. - Hey Eddie, do you have any action photos up that way? It would be great to see some of what you are describing.

[ricki]

I'm not sure what it is this season, but it seems like the windiest I've ever seen it in St. Augustine. We usually have pretty consistent winds, but lately we have been flying 5 and 7 meter kites on a regular basis! Today was a repeat of last weeks onshore 25-38 mph winds, and what a difference a few days makes. If you saw the article I wrote in Lessons from a Hard Slide earlier in the week, you will know that flying too big a kite and difficult conditions with big surf caused my kite to fall out of the sky. A wave hit it and one of the leading edge seams failed, causing me to have to roll up my kite and paddle against the current on my kite back to shore. Today I learned from that experience and had an epic session in the same conditions. The difference was that I bought a 38 cm Cabrinha Powerlock bar and set it up with 20 meter lines, and I was flying a 2005 Slingshot Fuel 7. What a combination! Except for the accidental kite loop while attempting a switch double back (pulled with the wrong hand, OOPS!), the session was carnage free. I did get smacked by a wave but I turned the kite across the power and it was so windy that the kite just sat there waiting for me to get my board and go again. There were probably 10 of us on every size from 5 to 9, and it was one of the most epic sessions of the year. Tomorrow promises to be windier down south, but I would be happy to fly my 11 in the surf! If this system follows suit with the last one tomorrow will be nuking in S. Florida, so break out you helmets and small kites and make sure your small bar is tuned perfectly. You will be much happier with everything dialed in for the conditions. Enjoy!

Eddie Toy
Extreme Kites
http://www.oceanextremesports.com

Thanks for the story Eddie and the cautions. It sounds like a nice day out. You guys are leading the state in higher winds. I am sure you know that with the aches and pains you guys must be accumulating!

Last Wednesday I spun out off of a wave, came up and noticed by lines were crossed. No big deal just spin the powerlock bar to uncross them. I wasn't planning on being picked up about 6 ft. off the water and slammed in 25 ft. away into the water and about 15 ft. off the beach. If the wind had been onshore that is where I would have slammed in. I think the combination of being near overpowered on an 11 m and the waves took a normal process and made if a lot more.

Being near overpowered in high wind is a bad idea. Best to rig the smallest size you can get away with and on the proper bar length for the kite as Eddie said.

p.s. - Hey Eddie, do you have any action photos up that way? It would be great to see some of what you are describing.

[ricki]

I may be wrong in this, BUT ISN'T IT BLOWING STRONG BETWEEN ST. AUG. AND DELRAY??? I just looked at ikitesurf and it seems to be strong from Key West up to OBX+.

What sort of sessions are folks having? Inquiring minds want to know.

[ricki]

I may be wrong in this, BUT ISN'T IT BLOWING STRONG BETWEEN ST. AUG. AND DELRAY??? I just looked at ikitesurf and it seems to be strong from Key West up to OBX+.

What sort of sessions are folks having? Inquiring minds want to know.

[toykites]

OK, this is getting ridiculous. Today was the 3rd day in a row of 30+ mph winds in St. Augustine. I've never been really that comfortable on a small kite, but lately it seems we're becoming experts at high wind kiteboarding here! Once again, Matanzas Inlet was the spot and the boyz were on it riding 5, 7, and 9 meter kites. Luckily the direction switched more out of the north, and we were able to get out in the surf and ride some nice chunky waves approaching the double overhead range. I put up my new Flexifoil Strike 9 meter but with the current opposing the wind it became a little too much inside the inlet, so I only lasted a couple of hours. In the surf it was perfect and I had some really fun lefts down the beach. The new Strikes are a perfect combination of medium-aspect stability and unreal Flexifoil airfoil engineering, creating an amazing amount of lift but so easy to control. In the past I've had to fly a small kite back and forth across the power zone in order to control my descent on big jumps. With the Strike I just sent it and pulled slowly back in the direction of travel in order to land softly. What an incredible feeling!

The day wasn't without incident, as 2 different riders broke chicken loops and had to swim in. The first had to be rescued as he was in the surf and the current was sucking him out to sea. I grabbed his kite and he held onto another kiter's harness handle and was pulled back to shore. The second rider had the 5th element on a new North bar and managed to get back to shore under his own power with no twisted lines to speak of. Pretty impressive considering the conditions.

I did take some photos after I returned to the beach and I'll post them on the Extreme Kites photo gallery tomorrow sometime. Daryl Drown, owner of Extreme Kites, let me borrow his 2005 Airush Reactor 5 meter on a 12 inch pulley bar at the end and I must say that is the fastest kite I've ever flown. It's a little ridiculous. I was able to do 10 foot high kite loops in 35 mph gusts without much problem because the kite would loop on itself in less than a second. It would rip me for sure, but nothing like you would expect in that amount of wind, and if anything it softened the landings because the kite didn't overfly as bad. I'll be happy to see some mellower conditions tomorrow as NOAA is forecasting 15 knots out of the N. If it's anything like thier 20-25 knot forecast the past couple of days, it will be 15-20, which is perfect for my 11 Strike. Hope you guys have been getting it good down south!

[toykites]

OK, this is getting ridiculous. Today was the 3rd day in a row of 30+ mph winds in St. Augustine. I've never been really that comfortable on a small kite, but lately it seems we're becoming experts at high wind kiteboarding here! Once again, Matanzas Inlet was the spot and the boyz were on it riding 5, 7, and 9 meter kites. Luckily the direction switched more out of the north, and we were able to get out in the surf and ride some nice chunky waves approaching the double overhead range. I put up my new Flexifoil Strike 9 meter but with the current opposing the wind it became a little too much inside the inlet, so I only lasted a couple of hours. In the surf it was perfect and I had some really fun lefts down the beach. The new Strikes are a perfect combination of medium-aspect stability and unreal Flexifoil airfoil engineering, creating an amazing amount of lift but so easy to control. In the past I've had to fly a small kite back and forth across the power zone in order to control my descent on big jumps. With the Strike I just sent it and pulled slowly back in the direction of travel in order to land softly. What an incredible feeling!

The day wasn't without incident, as 2 different riders broke chicken loops and had to swim in. The first had to be rescued as he was in the surf and the current was sucking him out to sea. I grabbed his kite and he held onto another kiter's harness handle and was pulled back to shore. The second rider had the 5th element on a new North bar and managed to get back to shore under his own power with no twisted lines to speak of. Pretty impressive considering the conditions.

I did take some photos after I returned to the beach and I'll post them on the Extreme Kites photo gallery tomorrow sometime. Daryl Drown, owner of Extreme Kites, let me borrow his 2005 Airush Reactor 5 meter on a 12 inch pulley bar at the end and I must say that is the fastest kite I've ever flown. It's a little ridiculous. I was able to do 10 foot high kite loops in 35 mph gusts without much problem because the kite would loop on itself in less than a second. It would rip me for sure, but nothing like you would expect in that amount of wind, and if anything it softened the landings because the kite didn't overfly as bad. I'll be happy to see some mellower conditions tomorrow as NOAA is forecasting 15 knots out of the N. If it's anything like thier 20-25 knot forecast the past couple of days, it will be 15-20, which is perfect for my 11 Strike. Hope you guys have been getting it good down south!