Update!!
The deep water clinic is at 3pm on Sunday afternoon 4Feb12 and will be held just past the boat ramp at about the 3mi point on the Texas City Dike.  See graphic below:

Feel uneasy with deep water operations?  Well many people do and the reason for it most of the time is because they learned in shallow water and have never had to do a full emergency release and self-rescue in deep water.  Another fear is losing your board in deep water.  Both of these items will be covered and practiced by each clinic participant in deep water on their own equipment under the watchful eye and instruction of Phil Midler from XLKITES.

We will cover each of the exercises on land, practice on land then do a actual board recovery and self rescue and pack down out in the deep water.  This class has a limited number of participants so if you’re interested email the shop at houston@xlkites.com or call 281-508-6485 as soon as you’re sure you can do it.  It will be run like a normal lesson so we’ll call each participant the day before to confirm the time on Sunday.  It will most likely be in the afternoon after everyone is done riding for the day.  Prerequisites for the class are:

1. Being able to ride upwind
2. Land/launch your own kite
3. Know emergency procedure theory (in shallow water etc)
4. Know how to swim (hopefully this is not an issue)
5. Have equipment with working safety release and safe operating condition

Price for the clinic is $35/person and can be payable the day of the clinic. it will be 1-2 hours long.

Another annual 30mi kitesurf ride on Galveston island was a success.  If you missed this one don’t worry we’ll have another one this year, we usually get two in a year.

We met at East Beach in Galveston to park everyone’s cars and transfer all kiteboarding equipment to the black van and drive to St Luis Pass.  We got to the pass around 9am and unpacked.  We were pumped up and ready to  ride by 930am.  These are the kites everyone had: 17m Slingshot Turbine, 17m Blade Fat Lady, 14m Slingshot Rally, 14m Cabrinha Contra, 12m Cabrinha Switchblade.  Boards were mostly Slingshot surf boards between 5’4″ and 5’11″.  The winds were light but it was plenty for the reach we had down the beach.  The surfing wasn’t too good because the winds were lighter…anytime you got on a wave you had to watch to make sure your kite stayed in the air.  The first group finished the ride in 2.5 hours and the second group in about 3.5 hours.  After we were done we drove to the Levee to get some more riding in as the winds were much better there for sure.

The entire trip down the beach, we were all just listening to our music, jumping, and carving on the wave faces…riding like this in the surf is one of my favorite experiences.  You don’t need to worry about heading back to where you started you can just concentrate on the ride in front of you.  When you ride with a buddy like this you also can take turns riding in front and exploring the beach line and the different parts of the Galveston area.

Everyone made it to the end of the ride just fine but we did have one brave soul who had a catestrophic pulley failure on his Cabrinha 12m about 2mi into the ride.  This was a no-fix situation so he had to pack it up.  Things like this happen some time kiteboarding so its important to be ready for unforseen problems.  You can be the best rider around and if a pulley on your kite breaks you’re sill screwed just like everyone else.  Things to practice if you’re looking to join the ride next time we do it:

1. Get in the surf and practice your skills riding in the waves
2. Practice getting your board back in deep water
3. Practice self rescue in deep water (when preforming a deep water self rescue make sure you wrap you your lines on the bar while swimming to your kite to prevent wrap up)
4.  Make sure you know how to self launch and self land incase you need it somewhere on the open beach

If you’re unsure about the above items or just want some additional help with your progression give the shop a call at 281-508-6485 and get some refresher lessons.  A cheaper way to do it is to sign up for your IKO level 3 certification ($40), when Phil takes you out for the practical test he will make sure you konw how to do the above items and can demonstrate…he can also give you some pointers.  Houston@xlkites.com

Thanks for everyone who came out for the ride it was fun!!

Here are some pics from the ride:

Yes!  We are still on for Monday….we WILL be doing the ride.

Meet at East Beach at 7:45am!  Meet at the last beach entry to the East…it is at the end of Boddeker rd.  Call the shop phone if you get lost we’ll have the cell with us. (281-508-6485)

What:30mi ride on Galveston Island
When: Monday 16Jan12 …Meet at East Beach at 7:45am and we’ll car pool to St Luis pass at 8am…bus leaves at 8am SHARP!  See you there!
How: The wind will be South so we’ll meet at East beach and car pool back to St Luis Pass then ride from there back to East beach…about 30 mi.

Remember to bring some floatation, hook knife, booties, cell phone in dry bag, water, keys. I always wear a small bag with waterproof audio, water, and a cell phone.  If you are very uncomfortable with losing your board in deep water a Reel type leash may be a good idea as well.  Remember NEVER attach any type of leash to your board at the handle or the straps!  This is very dangerous and any type leash should only be attached to a lanyard off the fin screws.

Surfboards are the easiest way to get down wind in the surf but if you’re more comfortable on a twin-tip that is probably a better option.  There are a couple reasons surfboards are easier to go down wind in the surf, but the main reason has to do with the location of the footstraps.  A normal twin-tip board has it’s straps located equidistant from both tips.  Going downwind in the surf on a twin tip you’ll need to keep the front of the board up and out of the waves so you’ll be constantly putting pressure on your rear foot.  Alternatively, a surf board has the straps already set to the rear of the board so you can maintain your normal stance while riding downwind.  The surf board will also have more displacement so it will float easier over the waves and swell.  It isn’t a big deal, but your rear leg will be tired by the end for sure on a twin tip.

Why is riding down wind hard for some riders?  When you’re riding down wind you’re riding with the wind so your kite feels less relative wind.  This lack of wind will test the skills of even an advanced rider when he/she is being pushed by a wave.  Also, the front of the board digging in is common as many riders don’t put enough rear foot pressure on the board when they ride down wind.  The keys to riding down wind successfully in the surf are:

1. Keep rear foot pressure on the board to keep the nose up.

2. Keep the kite moving to produce relative wind while you’re moving down-wind.

3.  Use your edge to put tension on the kite lines when you’re making large control movements…like a down loop or just the bottom section of a normal kite stroke to keep your kite out of the surf.

4. Stay relaxed…if you’re up tight the ocean will tear you apart…just like surfing keep your knees bent and stay loose so you can move with the sea.

5.  Have fun!

XLKITES has plenty of surfboards in stock that would be a good match for the Houston/Galveston area, here are a few:

2012 Slingshot Dialer 5’11″
This is a quad fin light wind machine.  Lots of buoyancy to keep you up wind on light days or easily glide over mushy Galveston waves.

2012 Slingshot Pit 5’11″

This is a narrow fast board and is incredibly agile in the waves.

2012 Slingshot Celeritas 5’8″ or 5’11″
This is Phil’s Favorite surfboard for 2012 in the 5’11″ size.  The 5’8″ would be good for someone who rides in high winds or is lighter than 170-180lbs.  This board is a tri-fin with a pin tail so it is easy to move around in the surf and cut back on the face of a wave.  It is also large enough that jibs are a breeze and you can get back up wind in lighter air.

2011 Wainman Gambler 5’7″
This was the go to board from Wainman for 2011, great in the surf and much lighter than any of the slingshot boards albeit not as strong/durable .  This is a really good fit for a kiteboarder that already surfs and wants to get into kitesurfing.

We hooked up with Fernando, Kent, Chris Clay, Chris Summers, and Me (Phil Midler) to do a bit of riding on the inside of Dollar bay. This was Friday 28Oct11 with winds about 20-25mph from the North. We were on 2012 Slingshot Rally 10m kites with a Lunacy 132cm and Ignition 140cm boards. We lauched off the Levee just to the South of the sea gate and down wind of the powerlines into a small buyou. Once in there we made our way down wind to the Dollar Flats riding area about .5mi down wind from the starting point. Chris Summers and Kent were screwing around so the rest of us left to meet them down at the riding area. Unfortunately after a few passes in the muck we determined that it was way to shallow for riding that day. Too Bad because the north wind was perfect! So we made our way back up wind to the Levee. Because of the power lines on the southern side of the sea-gate we crossed over to the north side and just walked over the Levee to the Galveston Bay on the other side. Walking up hill and up wind sucks for sure. Once on the other side we rode up wind some more to the Levee Lagoon riding area to see if it was any deeper. No luck there either so we just headed down wind and decided to do a down-wind ride to the Levee from there…maybe 3-4miles. It was a great time even though both of those site were too shallow to ride. It was cool to hang out with the new crew. Thanks for coming guys!

So once again we were busy at the shop all day and finally got loose around 5pm to head to drop my car at the northern part of the bay up by Morgan’s point.  The wind was very strong due to Tropical Storm Lee…not even a real hurricane, and was blowing from the north.  You can see from the wind report from that day that the wind was gusting up to near 50mph which is pretty spicy on an 8m…especially for 20+mi in the open bay.  Once we launched the winds were very gusty because they were blowing us directly off shore.  As we made out way out into the open bay the winds got cleaner and the swell grew until it was 3-5ft and great for surfing as we made our way south.  At a few points were were over powered even going straight downwind at close to 30mph…crazy!  There was a little bit of rain during our journey but for the most part we made it dry until the very end when the sun was setting and the rain started falling.  We arrived back  at the Levee at around 7:50pm…just in time as it was raining pretty hard.  The route we followed was along the channel islands past the tankers and Atkinson’s islands to Red Fish island and around Eagle point back to the Levee.  Great trip for sure!