Downwinder-Day

The build-up

Butterflies as I scout the Hayling island beach late on Saturday night. I want to make sure that I know where to go the next morning. The event starts registration at 7am so no time to be getting lost.

I wake up at 3am during the night, completely buzzing and take some time to settle back down. After a bit more sleep I am up at six am ready to go. The landlord very kindly has breakfast ready for me around twenty to seven and mid-way through tucking in I start thinking about the challenge and suddenly I can’t eat any more.

When I arrive at the beach there is already a queue for the registration. But before I can register I have to ‘buddy-up’ with two other kiters. I join a section of people who are in the same situation. I am honest about my abilities and eventually buddy-up with two older ladies who are concerned that they shan’t have the energy to complete the long distance challenge and like the idea of a man kiting with them.  We are now towards the latter end of the registration queue which means that we shan’t be setting off for a couple of hours yet. This is good in that it will give time for the wind to arrive and pick-up. It is a sunny glorious morning – hard to believe that a weather front is moving in.

Sir Richard makes an impressive entrance in his private helicopter – hard not to like the man!

At the safety briefing I get the chance to meet the brainchild of the event, four times British champion Lewis Crathern and congratulate him for his brave venture and thank him for organising the challenge. He is very modest and appreciates my comments. The ladies that I am with are well-known in the kiting community and although older in age appear to be very proficient kiters. I hope that I can keep-up! I am entrusted with a flare and line up to pick-up my personal GPS tracker. I am told to come back later when I have kitted-up. As I shan’t be in the water for a couple of hours I take my time collecting and checking my kit. I am then told by a volunteer that they want us ready by the beach ASAP anyway. This time when I go to collect my GPS I am told that they have given it to someone else. Now I am thinking that I can’t take part anymore!

 Man! Major meltdown!– I just stare at them in disbelief!  ‘Why did you do that?’ I say.

They all go very quiet and ashen faced. A mortifying silence hangs in the air.

It then transpires that the GPS tracker is not an essential part of the kit and I can still take part. Phewww!!!  I am so, so relieved.

Rollercoaster of emotions and adrenaline spikes are not doing my energy levels any good and I still can’t eat anything.

I meet-up on the beach with the two ladies by which time Sir Richard has led out the parade in style. A number of highly spirited kiters have dressed-up and are keeping the occasion fun and light-hearted. The youngest kiter is only ten years old. Another lad who looks the same age is physically held down on the beach as the wind has now started to pick-up to twenty knots. Fair play to him and once on the water he is off like a pro. Jumping in the mile section is not allowed as it may ruin the event if it goes wrong. Youth champion Olly Bridge ignores the prohibition and does an amazing jump trick.

If you are going to do it, do it in style – and that was awesome! – I hope the camera’s caught it. Lewis is compering the event and even he is impressed. It’s nearly two hours before I am allowed to set-up my kite. By now I am cold and on an energy dip! It turns out that the husband of one of the ladies is an instructor who gave me a kiting lesson two years ago and he remembers me. It’s good to see someone I know. The two ladies are launched ahead of me and finally it’s my turn. I ask the former instructor to double check my lines – the last thing I want is for nerves and cold to lead to a mistake. All good and I am launched. Off to the waterfront – pick up my board – finally the moment is here. No pressure as I am good to go!

On the water

My start thankfully is error free – the sea is still relatively flat which helps. The swells haven’t come in yet it’s just the wind breaking up the surface but nothing too bad. I hold my line and follow the parade. About a quarter of mile away at least I spot the kite of the second lady – the first lady is already too far for me to recognise in the distance. I concentrate on my posture and not doing anything silly to jeopardise the mile challenge.  After a short time I figure that I have crossed the mile marker – wherever it was - and can concentrate on the long distance challenge. I keep sight of the second kite and am gaining ground very slowly. I am heading for the headland tip of Selsey about ten miles away. My kiting technique for this angle to the wind is unfamiliar to me and puts lots of pressure on the back leg. I look around and see that other kiters have the same stance so am doing ok. The stance will not be changing for some distance so time to see if the leg workouts that my friend Martyn has put me through will stand me in good stead. But otherwise I’ m feeling brilliant and am grinning – I still can’t believe that I am doing this and getting away with it. Can it last?

A few miles later and I have my answer. I am now in deep water probably a mile off-shore. The sea state has changed dramatically. Big swells have built up and are steaming in; the tops are breaking off to white horses. I am kiting side-on to the swells and sure enough a breaker catches my board and I fall in.

Being in deep water without your board is a bit like losing your trunks when you dive in the pool. You really don’t want that to happen and you feel very naked.

There is a technique called bodydragging which as the name suggest allows one to use the kite to plough slowly through the water without a board. Time to see if the conditions will allow me to use the kite to bodydrag back to my board.

I tack once, twice and on the third tack I have it. What a great feeling!

Board collected and I am ready for my water-start. I dive the kite to the right and as I turn to look toward my direction all I see is grey. The skyline has gone and is replaced by a mass of water as several tons of it head my way.

Thankfully it’s ‘just’ a huge swell. Swells will lift you up and down like a cork. It’s the breakers that cause the trouble. As I climb-up the swell it puts extra pressure on my legs but I just manage to stand-up and tell myself to pick my moment better next time. I look around and I notice that some of the other kiters are struggling with the conditions and are falling-in. I also notice that I am the most southerly kiter i.e. the furthest out to sea. I don’t know why that has happened but I am reluctant to change my tack as I have a good line to pass the headland with room to spare. Soon I fall in the sea again but this time I don’t lose the board. However when I stand-up again I have now lost sight of the second lady’s kite. Not much I can do but continue and hope that she is doing well. I fall in a couple more times – the wind has really picked-up and the kite tugs away as the gusts hit it. I have to keep the kite high for my tack and one gust nearly lifts me off! That is new experience for me. Travelling down the swells is also sending my stomach up. I haven’t tried out snowboarding (yet!) but I am curious to see how it compares to this experience. As I approach the headland the sea is becoming more churned and the wind is very gusty.  A breaker on top of a swell finally has the better of me and I have lost the board again – as I fall I reach for it… it’s just two inches from my hand.. but I can’t grab it. Time for more bodydragging.

This time however I can’t get close to it. My first tack and I am a foot away. This is not good. Second tack and it’s a yard away. And it keeps increasing. I don’t know what to do. The current must be bouncing off the headland and pushing my board out – The sea is a churn of white water and the wind is treacherous – it makes it difficult to bodydrag and I am getting mouthfuls of water on my left tack – hard to breathe. I can’t see a rescue boat anywhere and as I am the furtherst kitesurfer out to sea nobody is looking my way as they have their backs to me.

I could just give in and body-drag back to shore. Due to my approach towards the headland, the beach is now closer than it was. But it’s still a long way and I don’t want to give-in or lose my board for that matter. I keep tacking hoping to either get lucky and the board start making its way forward or at least to stay nearby it so that I can alert a rescue boat should one appear. I am in the water for probably 15-20 minutes but it feels longer. Finally in the distance I spot a kitesurfer also on a far out tack. A few minutes later and he sees me wave to him. He has a minicamera mounted on his helmet and from his easy style I reckon he is a proficient kitesurfer. This turns out to be the case and after assessing the situation he travels about thirty yards upwind of me and collects my board. Yes!!!

He travels downwind of me and drops my board and hangs around nearby. I bodydrag towards my board – I have to tack downwind and I really, really don’t want to mess it up.

I don’t and after collecting my board I give the kitesurfer a thumbs up! I don’t know who he is but that was awesome. 

As for me it’s game on and this time I manage to keep my board and pass the headland. Now the direction of travel will change and I have to figure out the best way forward.

Very strangely the conditions have changed yet again. The massive swells have gone – can’t say I’ m sorry. That’s also because I have made my way closer to shore and the water is not too deep. The wind however is just as squally with the rain now coming down. The beach looks very bleak.I must be three miles away from the first point of call Pagham. I pass one kiter who has lost his board and could land on shore but is obviously determined to bodydrag his way to Pagham. I look for his board and tack back-up wind to do so. But I really can’t see it. He lets me know that he lost it some time back. I spot a rescue boat and they have seen him so I carry on.

It takes some time to tack forward and despite the gusty wind I am really enjoying this. I practice my toeside turns and pay for it a few times. It helps to know that shore is very near. There are only one or two kiters that I can see in the water and finally I spot Pagham.

The finish

As I approach Pagham to check in, one of the volunteers lands my kite. He then resolutely tells me that the event is cancelled and I can’t continue. Apparently the stormy weather has meant that the rescue boat has had to rescue lots of kitesurfers and they are running low on fuel. A few kitesurfers somehow have sussed this out and therefore avoided landing at Pagham much to chagrin of the organisers. I have to smile – what else can you expect?

Still I am happy to have made it this far… and suddenly I feel exhausted. I have been on (or in!) the water for three hours and haven’t eaten for eight hours.  The young man who landed me is one of the event organisers and I ask him if I am the last one in, quite likely given when I set-out and my time treading water. He says that I am – and I then congratulate him on having helped set-up such a fantastic event. At this point he breaks down to tears. The stress and emotion finally got to him and I find myself wet and cold comforting a stranger. I tell him he should be proud of what he has done and I really mean it.

I find out that the first of the ladies made it to Pagham whereas the other had to land earlier and got picked-up by her husband. At least both are fine.

It's great news and we have set a new official Guiness World record for the mile parade. That's me and 317 others!

I am fortunate and manage to cadge a lift in the back of a van from a friendly kitesurfer back to Hayling island. But the best part of the day was when I finally came back home. My daughter had waited up for me and we share a warm cuddle - I feel very lucky.

Thank you for reading and please consider donating to these great charities if you haven’t already done so.

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/StefanoBiagini

Friday the 13th

Well Friday was a very exciting day. Having got the news that the event was good for Sunday, I suddenly felt as if I just wasn't ready in any way. I've only known about it since May :) During the day the event organisers released a video on what's happening in fine detail, so that has really helped. Have booked a B&B for tonight and it's right by the beach and the landlord said I can leave my car there all day so that's great. Slightly concerned that I haven't booked a bus back to Hayling island once I land. But will figure that out on the day - it's a long walk back to get back to Hayling by road...about twenty miles I am told! Maybe I should keep my tracking device on land so you can see how I get on! The organisers I should have said will give us all a tracking device so that they can find us should we get lost somewhere on the channel.. http://www.tractrac.com/index.php?page=eventpage&id=337 and friends and family can follow progress in real time.

In case you don’t read till the end... thanks again for your support!

Feb-April

I started the year with the decision that improving my kiting would mean going out in the cold months and not just in the cozy summer days. My first session of the year was in the first week of February – it was snowing but I wasn’t the only madman out there. That session ended in a broken bar and a gash across my thumb. I mainly remember the cold!

 But let me recap. To some who are not familiar with kiting it may seem a scary thing to try. Please don’t be put off, it’s a fantastic way to enjoy the elements and it’s probably safer than base jumping, freediving or cycling. It consists of a series of learning stages the first of which is learning to fly a kite – not difficult if you have opposable thumbs. This stage is great and you very quickly in a day learn to drag yourself across the water using a kite. This of course only reflects your innate superior ability – bring on the next stage!

Then it’s flying a kite whilst putting a board on your feet. This is surprisingly tricky and undignified, as you spin around under the kite one foot strapped in the board, the other thrashing like a drunken breakdancer...with some effort you get both feet in the straps – only then you remember  that you are attached to a kite. If you are lucky it crashes, often you try and regain control and experience the first of many ‘air’ moments. Still… this stage gets easier after a few sessions and once the feet are in it’s time to try to stand up on the board and plane on the water. Ah!ah!  Finally time to look the part! Dreams of athletic poise and elegance flash across the eyes.

Unfortunately this is an even trickier stage and where a lot of people eventually quit.

Unless you are a bit stubborn that is and don’t mind flying in the air and crashing in the water several times an hour. You eventually get the hang of it... crashing that is... or as it is better know:  ‘faceplanting’. It’s a good time to have a cold as the salt water injections up the nose do wonders for the sinuses.  It’s a real achievement getting up on the water and the lure of finally looking the part is just seductively around the corner. No more having to say to people ‘I’m off kiting’ when really you know that you will just be slammed in the water and dragged in the sea for the amusement of onlookers .  Alas it’s all an illusion. You are still a way away from the dream.  Having got yourself on the board you now have to stay on it. Sometimes it comes together for more than a second and then you spend the rest of the session hoping to regain that Nirvana moment. Over weeks and months the nanoseconds of board experience add up. Now you can stay on the board for prolonged distances  - at least twenty, maybe thirty yards. It’s probably only on one side that this happens but who cares? You also have no control of where you are going... but again who cares? as you are doing spectacularly well just staying on the board. The cool image is sadly diminished by the distinctive stance adopted at this stage...rather akin to spending time on a Turkish toilet....

Going out for kiting sessions regularly is easy enough if you don’t have a job, responsibilities, the wind is strong enough but not too strong, or gusty and it’s low tide and you have a likeminded friend who also doesn’t have a job, a family......

Another delightful quirk of the learning process is that the wind has to be onshore – did I not mention that above? Never mind but anyway the wind should be onshore.. but best if it’s not directly onshore, cross-onshore is perfect. The beauty of cross onshore whilst learning is that you and your kite eventually end up some distance downwind of where you started. Not having yet acquired the skills to kite upwind you now have to walk back up along the beach whilst flying your kite. This is a beginner’s stage that all learners have to go through hence there is much appreciation and sympathy from seasoned kiters at the beach. The upwind walk is in fact affectionately known as ‘The Walk of Shame’.

Perhaps it is now clearer why at the start of the year I decided that putting time in when the beaches were relatively empty seemed a good idea. My level was such, that all being well, i.e. smooth steady gentle winds in flat chest-deep water, I could just about manage to stay on the board and sometimes go upwind. Any deviation from ideal conditions and I was ‘walking’ again. I should also mention that learning to stop and change direction is the next stage and not one that I was familiar with. So I managed to put in a couple of sessions in March, including one with St Michael’s Mount, Cornwall in the background and another one in West Bay near Margate with new kitebuddy Gordon. I don’t recall March as being very warm…, neither April for that matter where I managed a couple of sessions with Ernst (a seasoned kiter by the way) off Tankerton beach.

May

In May I found out that the kitesurfer who had jumped the pier (Lewis Crathern) was organising a charity mass kitesurf to claim a Guinness World record. It would involve 250 plus kiters sailing 1mile upwind. This to be followed by a downwind section of up to 45 miles starting from Hayling Island and ending in Lancing. Knowing that my kiting ability was still short of the required level… I naturally signed on. I ticked the box saying I would do the 1mile and then see how it goes.

I thought that this would be the incentive to consolidate my skills. To some extent this was true and more sessions followed with Gordon, Dan and Ernst budding-up and watching over me.  

June

A long weekend in June camping and kiting in Le-Touquet with Ernst was pivotal. Ernst gave me lots of tips and leant me some of his gear i.e. kite and board! and finally I seemed to have cracked consistent kiting upwind especially in lightwinds. After trying out Ernst’s gear I came back home and traded my lightwind kite for a different model. A few solo sessions back in Tankerton followed. These were excellent and I finally felt like a capable independent kitesurfer! J J

July

One gorgeous Friday evening the winds looked good and I rushed out for a session. All went well and I was enjoying myself when my kite collapsed mid-air - burst bladder! This required what is known as a self-rescue. By the time I got back on shore, I realised that my foot was ‘slightly’ tangled on my lines. An older lady who was kindly watching me make my way back was not amused and effectively told me off for practicing this sport. A photographer who had been taking pictures of me had called the coastguard who arrived five minutes after I landed. Thankfully the coastguard was very reasonable and realised that I had not been reckless and took a picture of me with my tangle to share with my friends. The photographer also sent me some of the pics he had taken which was really nice of him.

We were told by the organisers that the safety precautions had changed – the whole event was going to be more expensive than anticipated and we should raise more money! Also we had to decide how far we would kite. I decided to kite to Pagham which is still a 15mile distance. Of course I still had practice time left!

August

Reality setting in now. I had one session where going upwind was fine but I realised that I couldn’t go downwind very effectively. I had to pick-up my daughter so headed for the beach and did a reverse ‘Walk of Shame’ downwind. Good news was that the aquapac to store my mobile phone worked well and my old sailing watch was still water-tight. But I realised that I needed some instruction nd paid for a session in Camber sands. This was really awesome. Ben my teacher was in the water ahead of me showing me the downwind techniques and he is a most chilled guy. For the first ever I wrapped my lines around another kitesurfer – not entirely my fault but I did feel bad. Thankfully it all got sorted and Ben was brilliant at getting me back out on the water quickly. I also tried my first intentional sent jump…

..OK the less said the better!

September

Well here it is now – had a fantastic session with Gordon in Pegwell Bay – steady winds and my normal and toeside turns working well – upwind riding is good and am skimming off the chop. Also manage my first proper ‘air’ time JJJ

The following session and I am solo in Tankerton – wind is gusty (and cold) and there are big swells. My confidence is knocked a little bit as I am finding the conditions quite tough – but hey! Who said it would be easy?  Also wrapped a towel in three plastic bag layers and putting this in a rucksack to see if it will stay dry – no chance! Two days later manage to purchase a dry bag so hopefully am now prepared.

As it turns out that is my last session before the big event! It’s on for Sunday 15^th September!!!

Thanks again for your support – it really is appreciated. If you fancy kiting…let me know J