This is my current hobby of choice — kiting.

My ambition for the summer is to get some lessons in kitesurfing, and maybe, only maybe, invest in the full kit myself. It's quite pricey, so I'm not sure I'll get that far, but being in the land of perfect conditions for this sport, it seems stupid not to at least give it a shot.

I'm so lucky to live about 5 minutes on bike from a coastline very influenced by the tide, which means that there are vast plains of sand at low tide, making it perfect for kiting. Today I went for my third kiting sessions (just the kiting, no surfing yet), and with wind speeds of 28-30 km/h it was fantastic! Previously, the wind has been around 9-12 km/h, which makes for some nice practicing, without too much traction on the kite. The above video was filmed Thursday evening under conditions like this. You can like, totally, fly it one-handed for a while, without messing it up too much.

But today, holy crap, wind was soaring, and I was a bit afraid before putting up the kite, but boy did it pay off when I got it launched. The kite I have is a 1.8m² foil kite, and provides plenty of traction for a beginner like me. Reading this humorous description of the Beaufort scale explains why it was so much fun today. I was being pulled, dragged and lifted every time I got close to the power zone, and most of the time, I had to keep it steady on the edge of the wind window, because it was just too much. But feeling the pull of the kite going through the power zone, making a turn on the edge, and bringing it back in, was effing brilliant. I reckon I got pulled across the sand approximately 5 meters most of the time, for a sequence like the one describe. Excellent entertainment! (:

On the other days, I've been able to kite for about two hours, without getting tired in my arms or body in general. But today, with these wind speeds, I was completely knackered after 45 minutes. It felt as if my hands could reach my knees without a problem, and my legs was tired from getting pulled across the tidal plains of Sandymount beach. It was simply genious.

The wind is supposed to continue tomorrow, so I'm planning on another outing. I'll try to bring the camera and get some more video, but if I go alone, it won't be that easy.