Is it time to bite the bullet and try kiting (again)?

[Gwarn]

Make sure your easy chair is comfortable as it sounds like that as far as your going to make it.....

I't disappointing that you use the TV news to decide where your going to go and not go.....

After all the years of following you here your answer is a bit of a disappointment.

Nothing is a sure thing as you know so one must be willing to take a chance to get the reward.

I hope you find what your looking for.....

[isobars]

Sorry to disappoint you, but at some point we all have to face realities. So far my well-informed medical gambles -- especially refusing treatments most oncologists demanded -- have paid off. They, however, were made based on my own extremely thorough peer-reviewed medical science research most physicians can't keep up with. They have hundreds of patients; I have just one.

It doesn't take such extensive data regarding travel safety to dissuade me from going to Mexico again. Here's just one excerpt from several pages of just one of countless equally discouraging warnings, this one from the LA Times: "The U.S. State Department classifies Mexico’s states in four ways for would-be travelers. The most severe advice is “do not travel,” ...

The state of Baja California is in the second most severe category — “reconsider travel” — because of crime and kidnapping "

And that doesn't even address the areas just below most border crossings.

Chronic sleep deprivation is an even bigger problem. An 18-hour day of driving was once fun, but I can barely drive more than an hour or two anymore.

I've lived, worked, and played in safe areas all my life. I don't shut, let alone lock, my doors when sailing or sleeping in my RV. I leave my rigged gear on the beach for days at a time, even if I go home overnight to restock my fridge. My gear sat racked on top of my van at work and at home, ready for an evening session, for many years. I've never seen a discarded syringe, a pile of human crap on a sidewalk, anyone doing drugs, or a fistfight. City people apparently get numb to stuff like that, apparently wittingly and likely under the impression that it's normal and unavoidable. (Hint: it's neither.)

I prefer to choose and assess my risks and balance them with the rewards. Flying dirt bikes and snowmobiles at nearly triple-digit speeds in terrain horses couldn't navigate is a risk I took very often for many years; messing with cartels for a chance of some moderate windsurfing is not.

[isobars]

Did it post? Did it Post?

[isobars]

The whole kiting thing has lost what little appeal it had FOR ME. Ditto for windsurf foiling FOR ME for several reasons including weeds and that balance thing. That leaves winging on an SUP or dedicated "wing-it" board ... almost ANYTHING else to enjoy light winds (teens).

There's a growing selection of boards, especially inflatables, designed for use with wings. No foils ... just fins, often including a daggerboard to accelerate the learning process. I'm guessing my 8'3" 135 L Sea Lion light air windSUP wave board would be a good learning platform even without a centerboard, because it points very well.

Videos are encouraging for this niche, or at least WERE until they reached the how-to-jibe section. The barrier there for me is that they looked at their wing to jibe it, at least until it became second nature. There's that moving object again. One look at that, especially if it requires looking upward, and I'm completely disoriented.

Paranoid? Looking for excuses? Too conservative? Nope; just tired of falling down even on dry land when I let my gaze fall on moving objects.

[windward1]

It might work for you, Mike. Worth a try. You might find the sideways slip using a wing on a fin board a bit irritating. There is a center fin that glues onto the bottom of your board, such as your Sea Lion, that greatly improves the going to windward.

[feuser]

Hello Mike

Glad you're still around, kicking and trolling a WS forum mulling over trying kitesurfing.

Hope it all works out!

[Mgoetz]

Any thought to long boarding like a Kona One? It moves along nicely in non planing conditons and can sail it nearly anywhere. It has a step tail that will enable it to plane, not as nimble as a short board, but it's pretty stable. If weeds are an issue, you could get a weed fin and set the center board at an appropriate angle.

[isobars]

Not a bad idea when I get old or lame enough to need it, but my Sea Lion should fill the same niche plus the moderate and high wind regimes plus waves/swell plus very early planing. All it lacks is speed.

I talked for a while recently with a large crew of wingers about the prospects. They ranged from highly accomplished to beginners.

1. With their tutelage, I knelt on one knee on the lawn, extended my hands overhead, and began extending my legs to rise to a standing position. That part wasn't bad ... until I glanced up at an imaginary wing and lost my balance completely.

That's despite having quit last winter the supplement that clearly caused my years of several falls every day ... Melatonin.

2. They spent FAR more time in their lawn chairs than out in the really good winds, even leaving Labor Day morning despite a full day of some of the best mid-20s wind of the season from dawn 'til dark. They weren't old, and they lived just an hour away. That strongly suggests to me that, for many people, it's more like a convenient pastime than the highest priority in their lives.

That's not what I'm after ... yet.

[windfind]

Hi Isobars,

Please send me an IM when you have a chance. Maybe I can help you.

Mike Godsey
ikitesurf.com, iwindsurf.com, Weatherflow.com

[isobars]