All good things must end and we are back from lovely Banna...
As always we had a great holiday, enjoyed beautiful Banna beach and had a chance to spend some quality time with Graham and Vicky! We even got quite lucky with wind...
Vicky & Graham
Arrived late in night on Friday, parked the bus and straight to bed, next morning we woke up to a windy and sunny day! Couldn't wait to get wet and was on the water before 10am! :) Pumped my 9m and didn't have to change the kite for the whole day. It was quite windy and choppy and I have to say I was riding really bad :( The more I tried the worse it was getting - couldn't land my backloops and frontloops, for some strange reason couldn't properly jump and even managed to loose my balance and faceplant few times on the choppy waves! At some stage got brave enough to try higher jump downloop transitions and I just got dragged by the kite and smashed into the water... had to check if all limbs were still attached to my body! Spend all long super sunny and windy Saturday on the water with no progress at all. Unhooking looks more and more distant...
On Sunday there was not a puff of wind and... Thanks God for that!!! I just couldn't move, I was in so much pain after kitesurfing for the 6h day before I could cry. Vicky was in high spirits and keen to show us some hidden local gems - the little climb to the blow-hole in flip-flops was definitely the highlight of the day!!!
On Monday we were on a wind chasing mission :) Off shore and too light in Banna, not a breath in Trench and Inch, but finally got a session on big kites in Ventry. 12m is getting good use :)Managed to hook up with Sibeal in Dingle and had a best seafood dinner ever! Vicky and GK welcomed us back with the bowls of ice cream before saying good night...
On Tuesday wind arrived in the afternoon and I just had the best session of my life. Will never forget it! We were on the water until we hardly could see anything. The waves were perfect, big-ish with massive flat sections, sun was setting into the ocean behind our backs and moon was shining in front of us. I really had to force myself to get off the water... Was bit underpowered on 6m but really liked the kite. The new bars made quite big difference!
Forecast for Wednsday, our last day was rather strong, solid 25 knots, but...there was almost no wind at all in Banna... Went to Tralee see GK and do more shopping in E&D Marine and went back... Wind finally arrived and we hanged around for a while watching the progress - it seemed to be pretty stable and decided to pump 9m kites just in the case it would pick up. I was really underpowered and almost went back to set up 12m...As well I was just too lazy - the wind came out of nowhere just in seconds and hit us with 40 knots!!! I was really scared, couldn't even touch the bar as was getting lofted, had no way to edge, digging hand in the water wasn't enough and most of the times wasn't even an option, lost the board and couldn't bodydrag to it as instead of being in the water I was in the air... Oh, I never want to repeat this experience... Thanks God Gavin managed to get me the board and then after the fastest and most out of control ride to the beach I was able to test my quick release and then land his kite. Gavin is very lucky to be all right - he had a nasty accident on the beach, and almost lost the finger and the kite...I recon wind must hit 50 knots - no matter how well we sanded our kites they were lifting to the air...
GK arrived after work and hoped on his 6m - it was a day for "big boys with small toys" :)
GK flying high on his 6m Rebel 09
So I left Banna bit disappointed as I arrived with mission to unhook and try new tricks - not enough I hadn't achieved my goals I feel I took few steps back. Only few days left to competition in Achill and I don't know if I will be able to do and land anything... :(
BIG THANK YOU to Vicky and Graham for your hospitality and making our holiday super special!!!
