GBF: Moved into a cool beach house!

THE GOOD – I moved into a sweet little beach house in Lancelin! I am living with Robyn (Canadian), Ros (Irish), Stevo and Thomas (Swiss). We each only pay $50/week for the place and it is so nice to have my own room once again! The house is just across the street from the beach and only a five minute walk to the kitesurfing spot! Visitors are always welcome in our casa, come on over!

To see more photos of my new casa and cool roomies CLICK HERE.

THE BAD – I crashed my kite and had to be rescued from sea!

I was having heaps of fun kiting with dolphins until I crashed my friend’s kite. I was unable to launch the kite from the water and because it was facing out to sea I found myself drifting further from shore. Thomas’ last words to me “winds are slightly offshore, be careful” played over in my head and I decided it was time to do my first self rescue.

I had been taught how to do a self rescue many times during my kiting lessons but I completely screwed up my first real attempt!  You are suppose to pull in the center lines to depower the kite and wrap all lines around the bar until you reach the kite. Then you flip it over and pull half over to make a sail, you climb in the kite and wait for the wind to take you to shore.  Sounds easy enough but it isn’t and I somehow managed to get myself completely wrapped in the lines! A very dangerous scenario in the event the kite were to catch wind and relaunch itself. When the kite fluttered slightly in an attempt to relaunch I panicked for the first time imagining myself being flung through the air or even possibly loosing a limb to a kite line (no joke, these kites are quite powerful!)

There are usually other kiters and boats on the water to help if you find yourself in trouble, but this day I was alone in the sea and Thomas was 100 meters away from me on shore. He realized I was in trouble and swam all the way out to me, untangled me from the lines and made the sail. We both climbed into the kite and made it safely back to shore. I realize I was quite lucky in this situation and it was a very good learning experience of what not to do when you crash your kite!

Many thanks to my Swiss savior, Thomas, for the rescue!

THE FUNNY – I am forced to wear this ridiculous outfit three times a week for reasons I can disclose on this blog. Feel free to laugh at me, I know I look like a big dork!