Water in Winter - Kitesurf Session 110

With the thermometers going up again for a few days and a great windy forecast for the south of France, I took Julien's invitation to go down to Almanarre for this Monday and Tuesday. I had never been on the water this late in the season! But with the clear sky and warm sun, it didn't even fell like Winter...
Monday's session was heavy duty! I got my 9m kite out first, but didn't even take it to the water, after quickly realising the 5,5m would be the wisest choice (seeing how Julien was boosted on his 6m)...

At the end of the day, our bodies really felt the fatigue and we crashed heavily on the sofa, with a big smile and a little sunburn on the tip of the nose...
The next day, the menu was the same: sun, warm temperatures (for the season, around 13/14º Celsius) and strong wind. Fortunately, it was a little less powerful, so the 9m kite was the choice of the day, going from the flat spots for big jumps to the middle of the bay, to play in the waves created buy the winds.

Two great and unexpected sessions, with the added bonus of trying out the new twintip board I got myself for Christmas...

Sunny Supeyres - Snowkite Session 37

This Wednesday was one of those times when I'm grateful I can have the day off in the middle of the week to enjoy perfect conditions... Already driving up to Col des Supeyres with Fred and Pejee, we could see that it had been snowing heavily in the previous days.

The temperature was quite low, so the quality of the snow was superb. The sun was shinning with no menacing clouds anywhere around and, as soon as we stopped the car, we saw the windmill turning fast, which meant the wind was in place too!
It didn't take much time to get into full gear and be riding up the hills...

With the winds changing direction (to a full 180º turn!) during the day and playing tricks with the shape of the terrain, it was technical at some points, but great fun all day long. I managed to pass through some places I hadn't explored before and, amidst all the fooling around, ended up doing the rest of the photos of the day in the "black & white" setting in my camera!

Béal and Supeyres - Snowkite Sessions 35 & 36

There have been big snowfalls this last week, so I took a couple of days to check our usual spots of Béal and Supeyres. Tuesday, the wind was quite strong and allowed for some nice runs, but with the low visibility we decided not to stray very far from the parking space at Col du Béal. The photos from this session where really lousy, so I just post here a couple of the shots from the "bonus run", at the end of the day, when we decided to snowboard down the road to the first village, since there was more than enough snow paving the way!

On Thursday, with much better weather on the forecast after another night snowing heavily, I headed with a couple of friends to Col des Supeyres, to taste the fresh powder...

Unfortunately, even if we where offered some sun and great snow, the wind never really picked up and remained quite light all day long, so it kind of felt we where kiting in slow motion...

Still, it was a fun day between friends and it sure beated being at work! And with more snowfall to come in the next few days, we'll soon go again for more!

Powder in October - Snowkite Session 34

It's not often we can say that the snow season has started, when we're still in October! But a huge depression, accompanied by very low temperatures and a lot of precipitation, had as result a huge snowfall in some parts of the Alps, last weekend.
The winds were also very strong, so higher and more exposed spots didn't benefit from this, but some protected areas of the Vercors mountains got as much as 60 cm of fresh powder, something rare, not only for this time of the year, but also for some of the spots in question!
So, seeing a forecast of sun and some wind for monday, I had to go with some friends to get the dust of the Winter gear and officially kick off the snow season for 2012-2013...

We chose to go to Lans en Vercors, a small spot, but with a nice hill to go up and down and particularly well oriented to accumulate the heavy snow falling on the previous days. And the choice was a winner, with so much snow that I didn't even scratch my snowboard (which is very common on those first sessions of each Winter) and could even enjoy some refreshing powder slashes while speeding downhill!

While most of the guys around were kiting, one decided to fly over our heads, but at the end everybody was wearing the same big smile over their faces (as you can guess from my Instagram picture below). Welcome back Winter!

Short session back home...

There's still some more to write and show about my trip to Mauritius, but I haven't had the time to go through all the photos and videos, since I've been 2 weeks in Turkey and one in Portugal since then...
In Turkey I wasn't kitesurfing, even if I spotted some good potential in the Bozborum and Datça peninsulas (the locals told me it only works well in the hot Summer days, since it's mostly thermal winds). But, back home in Portugal to visit the family, I was hoping to get some good sessions! I always manage to get some days of good conditions, but this time I wasn't so lucky...

It was the Indian Summer in Santa Cruz, a great spot near where my parents live, with temperatures over 20 degrees Celsius in the first days of October, which is nice, but the wind was turning and weak all the time. I only managed to get a small 2 hours session, with a light southern wind (that was actually fun, since the normal direction here is north to northwest). Still, it was nice to be back on the water, to get my new surfboard wet and only sharing the waves with my little brother! Better luck next time...

Up and down Mauritius' eastern coast

One of the biggest potentials of the east coast of Mauritius is, without a doubt, the possibility to go up and downwind along the beautiful lagoons, protected by the reef (which you can sometimes pass to play with the waves), exploring every corner, with beautiful vulcanic mountains in the background.
Olive's GPS tracks from 4 different sessions give a good idea of the distance of coast we managed to explore... Since we where staying in a nice villa in Trou d'Eau Douce, with a beach on the backyard (just check the first photo below - yes, you can see stars, since it was taken at 23h30 with a 25 seconds shutter speed), there was an exploration we repeated a couple of times: going upwind to Ile aux Cerfs, a beautiful island not far but with a lot of ground to cover around it (Olive and Chris pushed it all the way south to Pointe du Diable, the Devil's Tip).

(check Marguerite's video for an idea of what our backyard looked like...)

Besides going up and down and all-around Maude and Julien's spot, we took advantage of their guidance to go downwind (which, with the dominant southeasterly winds, means north) from Palmar Beach to Poste Lafayette. We didn't have to insist much to get them to leave their kiteschool for a couple of hours and come with us!

But, by far, the best downwind we did (and, probably, the best session of all the trip) was from Roches Noires to Anse La Raie, all the way in the north (check my GPS track), passing by Amber island. Again, our friends Maude and Julien showed their skills as guides and organizers to rent a bus to get everyone to the starting point (we where 18, with a couple of their friends joining our group, so imagine the amount of gear!) and then come get us at the finishing line.

It all started near a small private peninsula...

And from then on it was all about fun!

With Maude and Julien leading the way, we passed through beautiful reef, mangrove, small beaches, the wild uninhabited Amber island and a very cool wave spot near the end, finishing off with big smiles at the bay in Anse la Raie (click to enlarge the panoramic).

(thanks to Olive for the last 4 photos)

I just want to leave a special thought to Rudy and Nathan that, due to kite problems, had to abandon  us early on in the downwind... I'm sure that, since both live in Mauritius, they'll soon have the opportunity to try it again!

Paradise riding - Kitesurf Sessions 99 to 105

August is a great month to be in Mauritius... The wind is quite consistent and, since it's winter here, the weather is not too warm or too humid (but enough to be in "beach wear" all day long) and the number of tourists is very reasonable. With 11 days of kite out of thirteen (and that was only because we decided to do some sight seeing too), we can say the statistics have been kind to us...

 

We've been mostly kiting around Maude and Julien's spot, in Palmar Beach. They run a school, Kitesurf Paradise, on a beautiful lagoon protected by the coral reef, perfect for flat water fun and for beginners looking for a nice place to get into the sport.

As with any big group of friends kiting together for days in a row, we've been pumping each other to improve our riding and try new tricks. For me, it was the kiteloops! No more fear to rotate the kite and a lot of fun when I get the power boost and land at a nice speed...

With everybody staying from at least 10 days to a month in Mauritius (three weeks for me), it was easy to start to lose track of time and completely escape from daily routine. The days are organised in a very relaxed spirit and the pace is set by the wind.

Mauritius, the beginning! - Kitesurf Sessions 95 to 98

This Summer's kitetrip had a paradise destination: Mauritius! With a group of 13 friends (lucky number!), we filled our boardbags with as much gear as possible (and with the quantity of clothes reduced to the strict minimum) and hopped on an Emirates flight, first to Dubai (38 degrees Celsius at midnight!) and then off to dreamy Mauritius... I had 48h off advance over the rest!

 

After 4 days (2 for the others), we've been mostly kiting, taking advantage of the good conditions. We'll visit the rest of the island once the winds dial down...

 

(thanks to Sigo and Olive for the first photos)

Lake ride! - Kitesurf Sessions 93 and 94

Last weekend, not wanting to "eat" sand for two days due to the very strong winds expected on the coast, we decided to try something different... With some friends, we headed down to the Naussac lake, in the Lozère region of France.

It's a beautiful spot, with a great camping site nearby. The surroundings and the possibility to explore all the corners of the lake compensates for the less than regular winds (from 10 to 20 knots on saturday and 11 to 28 on sunday, I would say).

It's definitely not a spot for beginners and I was happy to have a kite that sustains the wind gust so well (my 12m Cabrinha Switchblade) and also offers a great low end power, otherwise I wouldn't have enjoyed the ride so much!

With Ghis not at ease and Chris less motivated due to the gusty wind, I ended up doing most of my ride with Olive. We'll keep a special "souvenir" from the session on sunday, when we both went exploring up the lake and then did a beautiful downwind along the western coast...

A really cool and funny weekend with friends on a great spot that we'll test again, with NW or SE winds, the best orientations due to the lake's configuration. A special thanks to Olive for most of the photos, except one done by Mathilde and another by Sigo!