air

After the usual out and back session at Alameda, I headed downwind to see how Chloe was doing. Along the way I noticed that the water was pretty flat, so I decided to take the plunge (literally!) and try to jump. We bought a beginners kiteboarding video called "Progression" which includes a long section on jumping, but I had been too focused on actually staying on my board to attempt it until now. However, watching the video allowed me to visualize all the steps, and I had been mulling it over for weeks. The first attempt went poorly: edge hard against the kite, steer the kite up hard... woooOOOOOP (sound of getting shot into the air)... SPLASH. IT was exhilarating, but a little painful. The second and third attempts were equally painful. Finally I managed to land one, and it was amazing. I repeated it several times, and soon I was way down the beach, looking at a long walk back to the launch.

no GPS track because I didn't press the "on" switch hard enough :(