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Published: September 1st 2007
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kitesurfing
quite possibly the most fun you can have with your clothes on My next few days were spent in Mancora, a coastal holiday resort and party town with one of Peru´s finest beaches. Here a multitude of backpackers rub shoulders with the Peruvian jet-set. I had come here to fufill a major desire of mine, to learn a very cool activity which I had lusted after for years. KITESURFING! For those of you not familiar with kitesurfing, you are firmly attached by a harness to an enormous kite the size of a parachute, and then pulled along the water on a board at ludicrous speeds. Unfortunately my travel insurance did not cover me for this. I had specifically asked and they wouldn´t. Why oh why?? I am insured for mountain climbing, abseiling, snowboarding, parachuting, bungee jumping, rafting and a myriad of other things which involve falling, jumping, flying and generally being catapulted, dragged or propelled at dangerous speeds. But not kitesurfing. Perhaps it is deemed as more dangerous? But when have I ever let common sense get in the way of trying new things? So I signed up to a kitesurfing course.
Day 1 - Kite skills on land.
I had seen other people learning, and they started off with a normal
big badass kite
these fellas are very big and powerful, as I found out to my cost stunt kite, to learn how to maneouvre it. My instructor, Gustavo, had other plans for me however... I must have been put on the "fast track", because he got me into a harness straight away and started me with a full-size kite. (I also had to wear a ridiculously tight lycra surfing vest in shiny blue, which made me look like Daffyd Thomas from the TV show "Little Britain"). These kites are MASSIVE, and are very clever in their design. Along the back is an inflatable spine, so when the kite crashes into the water, it maintains it´s shape, making it easier to get airborne again. The mechanics of flying the beast are simple in theory. You hold a horizontal bar which has four tethers attached to the kite. By tilting the bar, the kite will swing down left or right. Pulling the bar towards you powers the kite, and pushing it away reduces the power. To begin with, the kite will be directly above you at "twelve o´clock", and will be calibrated so that you feel some tension and are almost lifted onto your toes, but do not leave the ground.
I started practicing on the beach, swinging
me and my board
I´m going to miss him. the kite between ten and two o´clock, whilst trying to maintain neutral power. Gustavo was holding onto the back of my harness, which was a good job because otherwise the kite would have lifted me away in the air on several occasions! I was getting the hang of it, and Gustavo let me fly the kite solo. Things were going well until I became overconfident and brought the kite almost down to nine o´clock, almost at ground level, and one of the highest "power zones". The kite started pulling me along and I panicked, pulling the bar towards me. This powered the kite even more, and I was pulled off my feet, landing on my face in the sand. The kite then proceeded to drag me along the beach in a tangle of limbs and a spray of sand. It was like a scene from a cartoon where someone is being dragged along by a dog on a lead. I must have looked hilarious to all the sunbathers as the kite flew along the beach horizontally, dragging me behind it, limbs flailing and heading for the sea! I actually started out to sea, splashing and coughing, before I got the
give us a wave
an expert catching some surf kite under control. Gustav waded out to take the kite off me and said "Hmmm, very strong wind today, and this is our biggest kite. Perhaps I´ll give you a smaller one, yes?"
Day 2 - Bodydragging
The next lesson was in water, without a board, to practice bodydragging. I was to head out deep into the sea and over to the bay on the opposite side. I waded in, powered the kite and was dragged through the water (intentionally this time!). I practiced my control of the kite for steering, and also practiced varying the power. It was exhilarating to place the kite directly above me, pull the bar for full power and be lifted clean out of the water! I would then ease off the power slightly and splash back down. On my second bodydragging run, I went very far out to sea, but was feeling in control this time, so all was good, and gradually headed back to shore.
Day 3 - The Board
Gustavo said I was ready for the board, and much earlier than most students, which I was quite chuffed about. The board itself is the same shape as a snowboard, but
airtime!
this is what I hope to learn next much bigger. Soon I was skimming across the water at breakneck speed and loving it! For about ten seconds anyway, before wiping out in a spectacular manner. I was too busy looking at my feet and the board, and without my attention, the kite crashed into the sea. I got the kite in the air again, but the board was a few metres behind me, UPWIND. Bugger. The solution is quite simple though.
1. Leave the board and bodydrag back to shore
2. Get bewildered looks from the sunbathers who wonder what´s happened to your board
3. Get amused looks from other kitesurfers who know exactly what has happened to your board
4. Walk along the beach upwind with your kite aloft, then bodydrag back out to sea to pick it up
This sport is very fast and furious, and I am now addicted! I can only do the basics so far, which involves going in a straight line for a few seconds and then falling in. But am looking forward to mastering some cool turns and jumps next month when I hit the coast in Chile. I think I may have found a new hobby!
Apart
from the beach action, Mancora was fairly pleasant without being outstanding. (Although it did have the most spectacular sunsets, although that is due to nature, not to the town itself!) The beachside areas are nice, but the main street is the "Pan American Highway". This is the backbone of South America, the major road which runs north to south, connecting most of the countries. This runs right through the middle of Mancora, is fairly narrow and is the only street! So you can be sitting outside a bar sipping a marguerita when a semi-articulated lorry might speed past in a rush of wind, giving you a fright and nearly blowing your cocktail over. But let´s face it, you´re here for the beach anyway. And the FANTASTIC kitesurfing x
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