Santa Cruz Season in Full Swing

The season has hit in a big way! The month of March has featured almost nothing but windy days and steady Overhead to 2XOH swell. After many more sessions on the Synergy it is even better than I originally thought--it has clearly improved my kitesurfing due to the greater responsiveness and range. Unlike previous new PL ARC models, I can't think of any areas of compromise in the design . . . It simply does everything better.

After beating my body back into fighting shape (probably doing what anyone reasonable would consider "over-training"), the six-pack is back, there's no more soreness left, and the last two days have been maybe the most skilled sessions of my life. Every time I make the short drive up the coast from Santa Cruz to Davenport/Scott/Waddell I'm just marveling at the perfection of our climate. So many sunny days with wind and surf: I'm definitely living in paradise :-). The experienced is enhanced further this time of year with the migrating whales starting to appear and heaps of dolphins swimming around outside the impact zone.

I know I've written of this many times, but more than ever before I'm now really towing-in to "catch" the wave and then surfing it whilst completely forgetting about the kite drifting over my head. Fortunately by holding it in a stall position it has so far always safely drifted until I cut back hard and re-tension the lines. I do now see more and more people experimenting with this style, but it just doesn't work as well with an LEI as total loss of line tension usually means it's Hindenburg time. So the LEI crowd is starting to enjoy using the kite as a spinnaker in stronger winds, by they dare not ride whole sections this way in light wind. Without a doubt, PL has a fundamental wave riding advantage due to this capability (not to say other brands don't have their advantages).

Peter Lynn Jr. has been coming down to Waddell on weekends as well and is really fun to ride with. I may be a pretty decent kitesurfer now, but watching Pete's it is clear he's on the level of the very best Santa Cruz world-class and pro riders. I hope I get there someday. One thing is for sure: if I don't, it won't be for lack of trying! It has been so great this month that I'm actually leaving my gear behind on my vacation to Puerto Vallarta tomorrow. I'll focus on family time on vacation as I'm getting far more than my fair share of epic kitesurfing at home.

Cheers,

Gideon

Peter Lynn Synergy 15 Session 2/24/08

Yesterday I had my first properly powered session on my new Synergy. The pre-frontal wind was blow from low teens to upper twenties on the outside, but more like 4-25 on the beach in the straight sideshore angle and a 40 foot bluff behind my launch at Santa Maria in Santa Cruz . . . shifting 45 degrees suddenly, dropping out, rotors causing updrafts and major over-flies, your basic launch nightmare.

Somehow got it filled, launched, and to the water. I don't think any kite I've owned in the past would have had a chance, and needless to say I was all alone on the water. Once actually riding and out of the beach wind mess the kite handled the shifty/gusty winds like a champ. 12 to 28 in 2 seconds? Well, even on an Arc that gives you a bit of a yank, but with the long-throw and some edging it was totally doable.

I had a fun 1 hour session mostly focused on trying to work my way directly upwind about a mile to Pleasure Point break and navigating 8 foot wind swell mixed with maybe 3 foot long period. In 20 minutes I covered 3/4 of the distance, but then the wind mellowed and the sky looked extremely weird . . . not trusting the wind near the beach or the weather in general, I stayed away from the (anyway very sloppy) break and used my downwind space to carve some turns and launch some floaters.

So my best session yet, but still just testing the limits of the kite rather than the limits of my riding. So far the kite is winning this race :-). Later this week three days of NPH 15-25kt wind and 10 foot swell is forecast, so maybe I can FINALLY write a proper review of some wave sailing.

BTW, today was one of the craziest scenes I've ever seen on the Santa Cruz beaches. Breakers were pushing 30 feet plus and breaking up to nearly a mile offshore . . . mixed with every period, size, and from S to NW directions to create what looked like a boiling cauldron of an ocean . . . huge surges of whitewater dropped multi-ton redwood sections and big boulders onto East Cliff Drive where it bridges each of the lagoons East and West of my house. One of these is the spot where I launched yesterday. The beach stretches 150 yards from the road to the water--not enough to hold the ocean back. Wow!