Wind at the beach this weekend?

[charlie]

funny ollie and zeev play kiteing, like the LOTTO
you cant win it if you ant in it.
so if you dont go look.. you cant ride .
good job men!

[Pablito]

If Z and Ollie were winning at Lotto as often as they're getting wind, they'd both be billionaires

[OliverG]

I was there on the mountain board, pretty gusty but at this season you take what you get.

Ollie was that you on the white kite in the waves? This white kite turned really fast.

Yeeyahh boyyy! Yes, it was and I'm glad I went, it was pretty good. Not totally epic, but well worth it. Yes, the kite was a zippy thing.

I saw you guys on the boards, you were still going when I changed out, deflated and was leaving. Was that you with the headlight hat?

[dewey]

I got to get to OB with the mountain board. Elli what kind of kite were you using and what size?

[elli]

It was me and my buddy Jason, he had the headlight and the Frenzy 12. He was very powered nailing huge perfectly round slide turns. That guy is good, his board is always sideways throwing sand around. That Frenzy kick my ar$ once when I tried to jump it, serious tool.

I used a Flysurfer Maniac 5 which was tuned for low wind and acted crazy in strong wind, now it is in pieces in my kitchen getting a bridle update. It was fast, nervous and turned with a blink of an eye, not what you want in gusty conditions. Should have rigged the 10 instead.

Kites:
Normally I use a Flysurfer Warrior 9.3 with WAC, that is usually the first choice and is great for light wind (its actually WACed for light wind). For stronger wind Flysurfer Extacy 10 which is more modern but has higher wind range. Stable kite, good for gusts and grunt. Supposed to be "new school" which currently means nothing to me :)

For stronger wind Maniac 5 or Buster 4. Buster flies on handles so it's a heck of a workout, but it's a very well behaved kite. Good for learning and wind over 15. East gust like they don't exist, and with the handles it's a kids play in the sky.

A few tips for mountain boarding OB:
There is enough space to go comfortably on the beach when the tide is 3 feet and lower. When the tide is 1 foot you have a lot of space, and you can actually board across the beach in some sections. 1 foot and lower is excellent terrain. We normally don't go out when the tide is over 3, but its possible if you insist.

Wind is mostly from the west, and then it is usually good. In the winter it can come from all direction, and if it has east component it means gusts and power spikes that can make boarding not fun and even dangerous. The wind in the last summer had many 10MPH days, which means big kites (about 10 depowerable and 5-6 non depowerable). The wind quality in OB is not bad, actually in the summer it was pretty good and made learning easier.

If you park in the south end of GG Park (where it meets the beach) and cruise down the beach south, there are less people, so you have more freedom to choose your path. The northern part of the beach is more crowded.

You can do a downwinder. Bus 18 runs along the beach on 46th Av so you can get back to where you started. If you do two downwinders one after the other, you can even use the same ticket :) This is great for learning.

There are many people around, be careful. I use helmet and gloves which unfortunately have been put to the test :)

[Pablito]

So my Frenzy 7.5 is like a .... 3M non-depowerable for MTBing? That's what I was guessing.

[charlie]

.THANKSGIVING DAY...NW WINDS 5 TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 2 FT. W SWELL 5 TO 7 FT.
.FRI...NW WINDS 5 TO 15 KT...INCREASING TO 15 TO 25 KT DURING THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 6 TO 8 FT...BUILDING TO 10 TO 13 FT BY THE EVENING.

[friday]

look at the weather image, big lowpressure comming,some good wind fri,sat.

[Pablito]

Yeah, but they switched Sat. from NW to N.

My read of the technical forecast is that they really don't know what the hell is going to happen at this point. It's a boxing match between the big low pressure system and the big high pressure system, and the odds are even.

They'll probably change the Saturday forecast twice a day until Saturday morning. Here's to hoping.