After way too much time on the road (and in airports), I’m finally heading home. The summer and windy season is the call, and I am flying to it, even if a little late on my swallow friends. Cannon Rocks here we come
The last 3 weeks in Rome were very disappointing wind wise. with only one decent session… if one can call that decent…
Got a feeling the next three weeks will be different. Time to kite, cross train … and play music!
Every 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.
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.
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.
I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere and sharing stories with these “addictâ€.
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
So 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.
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…
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.
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
