There’s so much more to consider when kiting in the ocean than in a lake or without a rescue boat. There’s the constantly changing tides and the current that goes along with them. The wind direction has become crucial for me since there’s no way I’m kiting in an offshore breeze. On the flip side, an onshore breeze in a very strong wind has proved to be impossible conditions for me. I have to either walk very far upwind into the water since I still have trouble staying upwind, or the wind is so strong that I’m overpowered and I can’t even make it far enough into the water to even start riding. And then there’s the waves. We have a surf report app, but it hasn’t been very helpful as of yet. I just haven’t figured out waves. I can just get pummeled by them so much that I give up and come back in. The one good thing about them is that when you see a big one coming at you and you’re still in the water, it’s a great impetus to get your water start going immediately. All I know is that my happy zone is 15mph cross on shore winds at low tide with flat waves. And I have learned that if it’s over 25mph, I’m outta there.
My board skills are coming along, but the wind has been so sketchy for the last week that I haven’t really been able to get any consistent runs in. I still have a bad habit of wanting to edge too quick after I water start. And I still find myself wanting to start off going too much upwind whenever I’m headed back to shore (I’m fine going away from the shore for some reason).
We have two main places to kite at Huguenot, one on either side of an island that runs SE to NW. The east side of the island is the Atlantic and the west side is sort of a huge tidal pond that we have nicknamed The Sewer. The Sewer is obviously flatter than the Atlantic, but it is not ridable in low tide. The bottom of The Sewer is disgusting – there are oyster beds in places, and inexplicable areas that you step in and suddenly you’re knee deep in muck. The smell at low tide is powerfully bad. But at high tide with the right wind direction, it’s like a playground. It’s big enough for lots of kiters and the flat water just makes my day. We are unfortunately going into the phase in which it will be low tide all week in the afternoon, so no sewer riding for a while. It’s nothing but waves in my immediate future.
girlkiter 