To Porquerolles and back! - Kitesurf Session 90

With a couple of days off from work, me, Steph and Cyril decided to visit our friend Julien, that recently went to live near the spots of Almanarre for work reasons (and, of course, a big "kite" motivation)...
With no wind on the first day, we went for a SUP (Stand Up Paddle) session and a walk around the Giens peninsula.

From the eastern tip of the peninsula, we could see the island of Porquerolles... I must confess that for a couple of years I'd been dreaming of making the connection to Porquerolles by kite, so even if the forecast wasn't very good, I was hoping that the next day would offer some wind...

On the beginning of the afternoon of the second day, a breeze from the East started to blow, so we headed to the La Badine spot, hoping for some luck. As soon as we got the gear ready, a steady wind started to blow and, against all odds, I managed to fulfil my dream and go to Porquerolles and back by kite!

(I didn't take any photos on the second day, so Olive gently offered two from a very similar session he recently did to illustrate this post)

(with all the hurry, I also forgot my GPS, so here's a rough sketch of our session)

Waveriding in Santa Cruz - Kitesurf Session 89

The last session of my vacations in Portugal was also the best! Even if Santa Cruz, some 70km north of Lisbon, is an ideal spot for kitesurfing (nice waves, regular winds and endless beaches with enough space to set up your kite and launch without bothering the "beach bums"), the sport is still somewhat of a rarity around there...

(panoramic view - click to enlarge)

For me and my brother, it's just perfection, 5km away from my parents house! And, for once, all conditions where reunited: sunny day, 15 to 24 knots side-shore winds all day long, 1.5 to a little over 2m waves and nobody else on the water.

I never had so much fun on the waves and this was definitely one of the best (if not the best) session of the season so far! Made me think of my "wave loving" friends back in France, with whom I would have loved to share this session... And it made me think that I really need to buy a surf board!