Saturday, June 08, 2013

Rock Da Flat! - Kitesurf Sessions 114 to 116

Some friends with three days off, a camping-car and a forecast for sun and strong wind... That was the perfect combination to head off last Sunday down to the south of France, with Julien, Adèle, Julos and his son. First stop, Frontignan, to try out the spot at the Étang d'Ingril (a good flat area, protected by rock barriers and a road all around).


 
  
The wind was very gusty, but we still managed to get a good session before packing the gear and taking out the beers... The next day we decided to head further southwest to Gruissan, but we couldn't get the camping car through the access to the spot, so we ended up at La Palme instead (another flat spot, kind of like a huge saltwater pond with waist deep water and separated from the sea by a strip of land)...
 

 
With winds busting at 35 knots, we took the 6 and 7m kites for a good spin, with Julos blasting some mean kiteloops across the air. Not bad, but again with gusty winds (enough to "offer" me an involuntary jump forward at one point).
So, to finish of the day, we drove the short distance to Leucate, to check out the spot of the "teleski" (cable park) in Barcarès.
 

 
And that is where the real fun begun! What a totally perfect flat water spot! Even with winds blowing from 28 to 35 knots or more, the water was like a mirror (but still deep enough no to hurt yourself on a bad landing) and the surroundings are beautiful. It was around 19h, so the local kiters where finishing up and we had the place just to ourselves. It was such a dream session that we only got out of the water after 22h, well past sunset...
 
Julos, rockin' da flat!
 
And taking his kid for a spin...
 
A big thank you to Adèle for all the great photos!