Big Bay - Thursday 30.1.14

Heard that the Red Bull competitors were going to practice in the afternoon around 4 p.m. so I went down to the beach to see what was going down. The wind was south east around 20 knots but gusting to 30 knots and a beautiful sunny afternoon. There were many kiters out and also a number of windsurfers - so lot's of action. The red bull guys only  started rigging about 4:30 or so, so I took pics of some of the other kiters and windsurfers enjoying themselves. 

Limbering up with a stretch

Merry go round

Windsurfer doing a backward roll - told you these guys have stoke

Relaxed and straightening the lines after a loop

Red Bull jet ski clears the area where the guys will practice

Robbie Naish announces himself  and the practice session

Practice jump

Kite and the tell tale sign of wind in the backgound - cloud streaming over table mountain

Red Bull kiters out at practice

Big Bay Saturday 25.1.14

Cape Town is cooking. The top riders on the planet are here for the Red Bull King of the Air competition. The waiting period started today. The wind was light in the morning but around 17:00 hrs it picked up enough to entice the world's no 3 kiter, Cristophe Tack to do a bit of a warm up. Here are some of the pics of the session. Cristophe is in the dark wetsuit. Sadfly for Christophe he is not in the line up for the Red Bull event. There was an unidentified kiter in a blue wetsuit that was also pulling some really good moves. The wind was between 16 and 18 knots so huge airs were not on the cards.

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Christophe Tack of Belgium

Sedgefield - Myoli Beach

Have been holidaying in Sedgefield, a town about 500km east of Cape Town. It is located on what is known as the Garden Route, a beautiful stretch of land consisting of forests, mountains, lakes, lagoons, long beaches and coves. There are some very good surf spots such as Victoria Bay, Buffels Bay, Lookout Beach and Mossel Bay. There are however few good kitesurfing spots, partly because of the lack of really powerful prevailing winds and partly due to the topography relative to these winds.
Myoli Beach is the best. It is located in Sedgefield. The south east wind blows cross shore here and there are some cliffs on the east side of the beach which tends to focus the wind so it generally exceeds the forecasts. The sea here is open to the ocean with no peninsulas etc to block or tame the swells. There are sand banks that shift with storms and the tides. The result is a fairly random series of beach breaks, with generally a larger outer break and an inner break. However from a kiting point of view this adds to the fun and challenge of the session.


Was here last year and we had kiteable wind on average every second day. This time the wind was less forthcoming. Here are some pics from one of the few sessions.

A rider amongst the fairly random swells and breaks. 

On the one of the beach breaks.

A more overall view

   

Haakgat, Cape Town - Sunday 22.12.13

Haakgat is a waveriding spot, about 7km north of Blouberg. There is a rock shelf and a kelp forest that clings to the rocks that forms a good left hand break. The wave is favored by windsurfers and kiters alike. When the wind exceeds 25 knots the windsurfers are in the majority. The prevailing south easterly wind is slightly off shore at this spot which is good for cleaning the wave face but adds a bit of risk should you drop a kite.The windsurfers sometimes struggle out through the white water as once brought down in the breaking zone, to take off and get momentum between walls of white water takes skill. Those kiters with more skill can hoist themselves over the breaks.

On this day the swells were 3.2m deep sea with a 14 second wave period. This resulted in sets of between 5 and 6 foot, with 10 to 12 foot wave faces.

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Between the peaks

Whitewater can get intimidating

On a wall

The wave can run for up to 100m or more to the left.

First photo of a windsurfer on this site, but I figured they actually deserve a feature, as the skill involved is substantial and they have what it takes - STOKE.

In the car park - "Hey mom that's my dummy "

Kite Beach Cape Town - 21.12.13

Kitebeach, Cape Town. 21.12.13. A presentable swell running - 2.8m deep sea swell at 15 second intervals - resulting in 3 - 4 ft waves with faces double that height. Naish were having a demo day of their 2014 kites  and one of their riders, ex world champ, Kevin Langeree was doing his stuff.

Kevin gatecrashes a wave

A mutant kiteboard flies through the air ( Kevin in flight on a directional )

This guy passed by on a downwinder, but was really comfortable on a board

A twintip board surfing

Kevin cuts back

Kevin reverses

Kevin grinds the wave

Kevin airborne on his directional again

Brad executing a forward roll ( next 5 pics )