TAI'S KITE DIARY

8th November 2005
Tai's kite gear finally arrived! He has a nice red and yellow 4m Wipika Core kite, a second hand serum 120 board and a Wipika waist harness in extra small. Tai has been very interested in kiting since I travelled to Noosa in March this year and got some lessons with Bec and Dave at Traqua. I subsequently got an 11m matrix kite and SS 135 board and have been enjoying learning to kite on the islands, both here at home on Magnetic Island and also at Lizard Island in the far northern section of the Great Barrier Reef marine park. Tai usually comes down to the beach to observe the sessions, and he has watched the 'complete kiteboarding guide' DVD from front to back about 5 times! He has been flying the Wipika trainer kite for several months now, and is also inspired by videos of Gisela Pulido, women's world champ at only 11 years of age. So with his 9th birthday on the 11th of November, and some skating and surfing experience already under his belt, we decided it would be a great thing for him to start learning on a real power kite.

12th November
The first few sessions with the kite have mainly been getting the lines dialled in and the kite handling properly. We wanted the full 5 line setup on the kite, so Tai would be familiar with a modern bar that has sheeting, a depower strap, and most importantly, the CLS safety system. So we have spent a few hours in 8-10 knots launching, observing the kite, landing and tweaking lines, then repeating the process. Tai has learnt to handle the kite on the beach, to layout the bar and lines and connect the lines to the right pigtail knots, to use the quick release safety system, and to hold the kite properly for launching and landing. Towards the end of today's session we had the little core kite handling sweetly, so we walked out over the reef flat into waist deep water and Tai had his first experience flying the kite solo (with me holding his harness firmly!). The CLS is certainly a great system for beginners, as they can stay unhooked with only the safety leash attached to the CLS ring, and simply drop the bar if they can't control the kite. Tai did this a few times, and was soon confident that he was in control of the power of the kite. He finished with a short unhooked body-drag for maybe 20 meters and came back to the beach with a big smile!

15th November
Nice weather for beginners today, a 10-12knot NE breeze and shallow water over the reef flat. We continued with the kite-lessons after school and homework were done, starting with safety drills - I want Tai to be so familiar with pulling that quick release that he can do it with his eyes closed. We worked with the bar on the beach for a while, and then launched the kite and moved out into the water. Tai got some more flying time, and did pretty well controlling the kite at the edge of the window in the fairly light breeze. It luffed a few times and crashed to the water, so we were also able to practice water relaunches and wingtip balancing out on the edge of the window. Tai had a short solo flight fully hooked in to the harness, and pulled the quick release on demand, so I am happy with his progress on the safety side of things.

Stoked dad.

Tai hails from Magnetic Island in Far North QLD. He looks pretty happy with his new Wipika kite and board, Tai is only just starting out but for sure he is having as much fun as any of us. His brother Felix and kiteboarding dad will be out there with him. Keep up the good work lads.