Norm and Heather and the Running Crowd!
KiteSurfing Adventure:
I went out kite surfing last week at Crescent Beach. The southerly
wind was a little stronger than usual so I played on the beach and then did
some body dragging in the water first. I was a little apprehensive getting
on my board, but thought what the hell! I got out on the water around 6:30pm
and had a few 5 seconds bursts on the board, then the kite overflew me and
depowered. It ended up upside down and dragging me North. I tried to do my
first (out of my depth) water relaunch, but it wasn't happening. I think the
Recon bullet (kite relaunch system) wasn't popping out as it should. I kept
trying for the next half hour as I got slowly dragged NW across Boundary Bay.
I was becoming resigned to getting out on the North side of
the bay between Tswassen and the highway when I hit a sand bank and could
stand up. I relaunched the kite in a matter of seconds and started playing
on the board again. I managed to fly along for a while, but I wasn't even
close to tacking back to Crescent Beach. I was out of my depth again and decided
to do some huge body dragging/flying/bouncing North when I got on another
sandbank and saw that I could get most of the way back to the beach. I walked/ran
flying the kite across the bay until I got near Blackie Spit. I deflated the
kite and walked/ran some more to the deep channel where I started to swim
across.
Just I was getting in(around 8:30pm) some people on the other
side called out and said the coast guard was coming! I started walking out
on the other side as the coast guard boat came round the corner! I got out
and the people on the beach said they had called the Police and Coast Guard
and that they were thinking of getting the hovercraft out! I gave the CG my
name and number for their records then ran the km back to Fanny.
So for the record I didn't need rescuing. Boundary Bay is
quite safe to fly in a Southerly wind - you might just want to get a ride
back from the North Side. Having someone on the beach to stop them calling
911 and tell people "that's Matt he's fine, but feel free to laugh at him!"
would be a good idea. I need to learn how to water relaunch when I'm out of
my depth! All in all the most fun I've had on a Tuesday evening in a long
time!