East Beach and Oxnard 9m 128 board 11 may

[ChrisPSherwin]

East Beach in Santa Barbara sucks. I can't tell you how much time I've wasted there. Unless it's DUE west and guaranteed 20mph plus, do not bother. I went, rigged 11m and flew for about 30 minutes, got a few jumps in. Sensed that the wind was changing, yup, headed for shore, dropped the kite after a struggle. Said #%@ this! and drove to Oxnard.

Good call. Oxnard - 30 - 40 mph. 6-9 foot waves. 3 locals out. Energy drink and a Clif bar, rigged 9m, more than enough power, and the game begins. Caught a few big (scary really) waves and aired out of one of them to keep from getting hammered. Finally got my timing figured out and just had a blast. Rested, went out for round 2 and actually aired into a forming wave by accident. Good stuff. Every now and then a big wave would flatten out the chop and the water surface would look like a gigantic undulating green and white football field experiencing a massive earthquake, you could hear the board gurgle in the water, and then you would see another set of waves forming at about 9 seconds. Pick your wave and rally it in - repeat. The fun finally ended when I smacked a wave hard on landing - Ankle vs wave vs Kiteboard, and...ankle wins! Kiteboard cracks into two nifty pieces. Power the kite, body surf/skip to shore, recover board. High five all that were dumb enough to be out there and then head back to my buddy's house. I keep saying it because it just keeps getting better, but it was my best day of kiting ever.