kitesurfing update

This blog is well overdue for a kitesurfing update. Within the past few months, Grand Cayman has experienced several windy weekends, and NS faithfully took advantage of the kiting weather.

These first few photos were taken during M&R's visit. Although he's made great progress since that weekend, we had an important mishap that is worth documenting.

He's cruising along; I'm taking photos; life is grand.

That was his last tack on a whole kite. Soon after, he decided to take a break and hang with all of us on the beach. While we were sitting and chatting, we noticed (and were almost tackled by) a couple dogs that were rough-housing on the beach. They almost appeared to be strays, because it was apparent that no one was watching over them. One in particular kept coming over to our group, trampling on our towels, and just pestering us in general. I'm not anti-dog, but I do appreciate canines with manners. These had none. I was tempted to take a walk down the beach and recommend that the owners leash their dogs, but before I could make up my mind to do so, one of the dogs chased the other down the beach right through NS' brand new 12-meter kite. The gaping rip that resulted felt like a hole in our stomachs as we thought about all the money used on lessons and gear, not to mention the kiting enjoyment that these dogs had so quickly denied.

I took off down the beach in a fury, but NS (typically) wanted to handle the situation solo. I decided instead to stand in the middle of the road leading out of Barkers to ensure no one would try to make a fast break at an escape. [They didn't. I later learned that my short-lived charge down the beach was pretty memorable (and might I say intimidating?) to the guilty parties. I can't remember; did I have my fists up? Oops.]

Long story short, NS estimated the amount of damage that was done, between repair costs and overall depreciation that resulted from a ripped kite, and negotiated payment from two different dog owners. Not a pleasant situation, but thankfully, the kite is fixed and is performing reasonably well on the water.

Speaking of performing well on the water, I ran down to the beach for a quick hour on a Saturday before work and caught some of the action:

MO just keeps adding new tricks to her kiting resume every weekend. Unbelievable.

I love this one: RL and MO on the water, naturally.

So many kiters! These windy weekends draw a crowd.

Once NS knew I was on the beach, he finally swept in from his usual place way out by the reef:

One-handed?

Easy.

In another non-photographed udpate, I successfully launched NS from our very own beach outside our condo, fulfilling one of his kitesurfing dreams. In true NS fashion, barely any preparation was necessary, making him very satisfied with the experience.

But when this is what your weekend looks like, what's not to be satisfied with?