You might remember when I went to Wellington Point for a Sunday afternoon out, I got chatting to an Aussie guy about kite boarding. So what is kite boarding? Well, I think it’s more commonly known as kite surfing and it goes like this…..
What I learnt about kite surfing.
Jumps, which is what they call it you when you leave the surface of the water and go upwards, can last for around six seconds when you get good at it, and close to 20 seconds when you are really good. The downside of that is, if you don’t know what you’re doing, you can get dumped back down into the sea in double quick time. Ouch!
It’s all about getting a good balance on the board and waiting for a good thermal lift to get you going. But not all thermal lifts are equal, some are more like whoooaaaarrrghhhhh!!!!
It’s never too late to learn, apparently. My Aussie friend told me that there is guy at his club that started the sport when he was 60. So there is hope for me yet.
Or perhaps not.
Essential to this sport, which is apparently the fastest-growing extreme sport in Australia, is a good sense of balance. Have you ever tried standing on your left leg with your eyes closed for as long as possible?
I have, I usually last about six seconds.
So I might not bother embarrassing myself, but the rest of you may be interested to see just how easy it is to learn how to kite surf. At some point, after learning how to master your airborne kite from the safety of a sandy beach, you will need to venture into the water and perform a waterstart; here’s how that looks…
Too easy, as Aussies would say.
You heard it here first on BobinOz!
Only yesterday I warned of the expected storms to be hitting Brisbane soon. But not even I realised it would be so soon! Like today.
“Hail was reported in Brisbane’s northern suburbs about 3.15pm. Reader Bill McKeever reported hail at Mt Glorious, north-west of Brisbane, at 2:50 pm. “It fell for about 20 seconds along with really severe wind gusts. ”
There was also hail reported at Ferny Grove, Kedron, Enoggera, and, on Brisbane’s bayside, small hail fell at Lota and Manly.
Hail the size of five cent pieces fell at Mt Gravatt East.”
I took refuge in a shop doorway as the hailstones fell and an Aussie girl asked me if I thought it would ruin her car. Before I could even answer, she defended the question by saying “because I’ve lived in Townsville (North East Australia) all my life and we don’t get hail up there, we just get cyclones.”
Anyway, nothing worth getting my video camera out for yet, but it will be soon……
Stay tuned!
