I think I would've been okay powered on flat water... but in that choppy surf, wasn't so great... oh well, had fun.
And Z, you were at East Beach? It would've been side-offshore there, bad choice man... stay in side-on winds for now. Don't do anything with offshore at all, and bad idea to do directly onshore right now too. It's REALLY gusty at East Beach when it's an offshore day...
But, you'll learn how your kite should be trimmed eventually. And a lot of bars like to be trimmed differently.
All my kites I just use the second knots and the bars (pulley and 17" surefire) are setup just right for those second knots. When the bars are fully powered and unhooked there's no oversheeting, and when they're fully depowered the 17" is probably as far as I can go (rule of thumb for me is when I'm getting blown off my pulley bar on my 13m, I'll just change bars, then when blown off that, it's time for the 9m).
You don't want the back lines too short, it'll oversheet. But I think almost all C kites (ESPECIALLY high aspect ones) will overfly while in 12 oclock and will fly over you... you've just gotta keep the kite at 11.
And I wouldn't even try figure 8's with a LEI kite... figure 8's are for trainers and that's really it. You'll never do figure 8's with an inflatable.
If you can body drag proficiently, grab a board and try some downwinders on a N-NW day... start at Sand key and work your way down. Take the trolley back to your launching point. It's safest when you're in the water... but I'd recomend either heel straps, board leash(bad idea actually), or being able to body drag upwind before going on a really windy day... don't want to lose a board.
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