Tag Archives: Italia

Kiteboarding

Italian Kite Festival

IMG_7049Every year, there’s an unusual gathering on the Italian kiting scene. It’s called Foilpride. Getting its name from a mostly foil kites dedicated forum driven by a bunch of very passionate people, it brings together an explosive mix of characters from all over Italy.

Finding myself at the end of an unusual stay in Italy (for the season), I was curious to attend. I put the idea to Peter Lynn headquarters and they decided to send some kites to demo at the event.

And so I headed to Capalbio camping in the hope to find some wind and some open minded kiters. (I had a range of kites with me from Twinskins to LEIs.)

The beach was tightly packed with foils and Tube kites of every brand, and the wind was on the light side… And to my delight the participants were eager to meet, try and share ideas.

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Sure there was the usual “brand pimping” going on, but then again is it possible to have a kite event without it?
All in good faith as the spirit of fun and unifying passion gladly prevailed.
Kiting was king and the food of course…

So people tried kites, swopped boards, laughed, crashed, swam, flew and had a grand time. It was also nice to catch up with some old acquaintances and making new friends along the way.
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Saturday gave us the strongest breeze (13 t0 16 knots) and I managed to put a 15m Phantom up. We even got a 9m Swell into the action, showing off its bottom end.

Sunday was definitely lighter and the Fury lite 15 and 17 were constantly on the water swapping hands.
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I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere and sharing stories with these “addict”.
A big thank you to the organizers for putting such a wonderful event together.

Perhaps next time in Cannon Rocks?

Enjoy the Gallery, thanks to Tania Romagnoli for taking pics… again…

Ced

Kiteboarding

Spring time in Italy

IMG_4299edit2So here I am in Italy… Work commitments have dictated that this year my European visit will be a tad earlier and that the summer will be spent somewhere else.

So for the first time in years, I am in the med wearing a full suit. Other peculiar thing is that because of the lack of users on the beaches during the winter around Rome, authorities don’t bother cleaning the beaches until late April. The result is that beaches look more like rubbish dumps than kiting beaches. Ostia (beach closest to Rome) was particularly bad. So you have to watch where you put your feet and land your kite.
Quite a shock coming from the remote beaches of Cannon Rocks.

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Fregene Beach, looking towards Macarese

The Wind has been on the light side. I was hoping to find a little more. On one outing I did managed to use a 7m Swell which I brought along in an optimistic outburst. But I don’t think it is going to be a normal occurrence.
And when the wind blows, it gets busy even though the temperature is still pretty low!

Otherwise it’s been a lot of 11m and 15m Fury days. Takes a bit of time to get comfortable again with big kites. But it is either that or no kiting…

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During the last few weeks I reverted back to an old 128 Squadron Board that I have as a back up  in Europe. The board falls short on some of the new technology, however still great fun for Board offs being so small. But for cord offs you need wind.
After so much wave riding in South Africa, it does take a bit of time to get tuned in again. Here are a few shots from a couple of sessions.

 

But the postman brought a package the other day … And it’s all smiles this side. More about that in the next post.

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Glad to report as well the release of the Swell video produced By Gunnar Biniasch who has returned to the Peter Lynn corner. Some clips from South Africa made it in there.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fQEKBrxp6E&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

I will also be releasing two “Cannon Rocks” videos of the Swell focusing mainly on wave riding in the next few days. So keep an eye on the Ced Youtube Channel.

Ced

 

 

 

 

Kiteboarding

New Toys part 2: The Fury

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2 Weeks ago, I received the Fury range from Peter Lynn Kiteboarding. 11m, 9m and 6m are to be my companions for the next few months. On top of that I received a 15m and 17m Fury “Lite” to get me going in the light winds.

My first outing was with the 11m in very trying conditions: Onshore underpowered and very messy water conditions with short interval waves making going upwind really difficult. In the Water with me was a few other kites all around 11 m – 13 m . I guess it was a good sign that the Fury was the only kite staying upwind.

My next two outings were with the Fury “Lite” in unfortunate conditions where the wind dropped after 15 minutes in the water.

A trip to Talamone in Tuscany last week-end gave me a chance to try things in some decent winds.

Saturday

I arrived in Talamone to be greeted by a gusty 20 knots cross offshore (gusting to above 25) and a tricky launch situation. Practically there is no beach. So you need to know what you are doing.  I put up the 9m fury without problems, and set out to sea.

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The wind was gusty, but the Fury handled beautifully. It jumped, it looped it did everything I asked from it. Smooth turns, depowered, responded. Even in the gusty conditions, I had a lot of fun. I stayed away from unhooking and also took it easy with the mega loops. Got a lot of kiting to do in the next few weeks.
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Sunday:
Sunday the wind started on the soft side. I decided to put up the 15 Fury Lite. But quickly the wind picked up to around 15 knots. At 70kg I was well powered. Again smooth flying. This was the first time I was out with such a big kite. Normally I find an 11m huge. So a 15m felt like a giant. However it still turns surprisingly fast. I even managed to loop the kite coming out of a dark slide.
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I then decided to put up the 11m as the wind had increased by a knot or two,
What a pleasure. That 11m was turning like a 9m. Bar pressure was just right, and in the gusts, I was getting plenty glide to try some Old school tricks:
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I also tried some Raileys ( been a while) and the kite has good pop. I’ll be unhooking some more in the next few weeks…
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I think I will be heading back to Talamone in the next few months. If you see me in the water there or anywhere around Italy, come try this kite, I think you gonna love it! And it deserves to be tried.
Thanks to Tania Romagnoli for the pics.
Next week, Sardinia!
Ced
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