14/07/2007 - The best kitesurfing summer ever?
So whilst June has been the wettest June in recorded history in the UK and July hasn't fared much better, one surprising turn of events has been that kite sports and kite surfing in particular have been a surprising beneficiary of summer weather gone mad.
The reason our weather has been so erratic is due to a gloriously hot and dry spring in April and May. This had the effect of substantially heating up the Atlantic and North Sea. In late May our average daily sea temperature was nudging 20C which is usually reserved for late July or early August. All this energy has had to go somewhere however and it has manifested itself in wet and windy conditions.
So whilst the majority of people are complaining about torrential downpours [and hail] and generally monsoonal conditions and how their barbeques have been washed out, kite surfers have been keeping well and truly quiet and been going out every day they can, riding while the going is good, convinced that at some point a return to light breezes and balmy summer days will reassert themselves.
One look around at students on kite surfing lessons or riders leaving work early shows a raft of exhausted faces amazed that the conditions are staying so good. Typically in summer time forum activity goes mad as light winds drive riders to the computer in a show of bragging rights that on their stretch of coast they had 11mph of seabreeze which enabled them to go out - this year the online forums are suspiciously quiet with only the ocassional photo being posted.
So the concensus amongst kite surfers and windsurfers at least is that whilst the in-laws barbeque has been rained off for the third time and the gazebo blew off down the park, that this is one of the best years kite surfing has ever experienced and is a great time to be involved in the sport.
Due to Andrew's exhaustion of teaching and riding, he decided to go and take some photos from one of many sessions been had over the last several weeks. A selection of the best [of nearly 500] photos can be seen in the gallery here.
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