I had already purchased and flown my own 2.5m land kite so I had some perception of how it all worked, bought a scrub land board and managed to move all of 3 foot along, so in theory I thought it’ll be a lot easier on water as there’s less friction, no problem!! So early one morning I kitted myself out with shorts, rash vest, gloves, boots and harness and prepared to launch my girlfriend’s 12m beastie! I could feel myself heating up through pure fear as I launched The Scorpio! As it made its way up into the sky it pulled all of 8.5 stone of me along with it, there was plenty of sting in this baby’s tail.
I made my way to the waters edge I was amazed, I didn’t know you could walk on the end of your toes, not too good for balance mind you, but hey I was doing what my kite told me to do at this stage. The cold water crept up to my tender bits as I squatted down and I made my first big swoop out towards the sea, I was attempting stage one in kite surfing, body dragging. My body launched out of the sea like a torpedo, I think I miscalculated the power of the wind and the kite came down with an all mighty bang. I saw the wincing look on my girlfriend’s face; it was like she could feel the pain the kite was going through. All regard for me had now been forgotten, as I was spun upside down through the waves. After 5 minutes of fighting with the lines and waves I managed to re launch the kite ready to try again. I swooped the kite again towards the shore and as I shot out of the water and moved the kite up to the top and repeated the motion again and again and again. I was so excited that I was doing this correctly I had neglected to notice I was now on land, my shorts were around my ankles and I was scooping small jellyfish into my pants, but I didn’t care I was on a roll. Eventually I came to rest half way up the beach, fortunately now quiet, with my pants round my ankles and exhausted, my girlfriend managed to grab my feet and de-power the kite.
Needless to say, these days I have much improved, got my own kite and board but it’s still fun thinking back.