Merry Christmas

I wish every one a Merry Christmas,

and a 

Happy New Year!!!

... and that we all get great kiting and surfing conditions in 2010!!!

America's Cup sailing

I was  lucky to go sailing today on one of the America's cup boats in the Auckland Harbor.  The 2 hours sailing went by really fast.  The sails are huge (205 sq. meters for the main sheet, and 400 for the spi!), and the whole boat is just amazing.

I had a really good time here in Auckland with my sisters, and the local kiteboarding crew.  It is now time to go back to Puerto Rico: home sweet home, waves and good bye wetsuit!

Rangitoto Volcano

My trip in New Zealand is coming to its end, and I am leaving tomorow.  As a good tourist, I took a day trip to the Rangitoto volcano in the center of the Auckland bay. The view was absolutely stunning from up there!

Raglan

Raglan is on the west coast about 2 hours away from Auckland.  There are 2 spots: the wave and the flat water one.  We kited at the flat water which is a river mouth with a lot of current.  The current was opposite to the wind, and pretty fun to just sit in the water and start going upwind! 

The weather was pretty bad when we arrived, but soon cleared up and the wind got steady around 20 knots: big jumps on my 9m. My sisters and I were able to all kite together...it's pretty rare, and we really enjoyed it.

Later on, we went to checked out the surf spot... but I decided to stay out of the water.  Too much current for me!

Little "Bucks" Bucklands Beach

The wind picked up early this morning... even before I was up! My transportation (my sister's cars!!!) was busy today, so I decided to give the "in front of the house" spot a try... and it ended up being quiet fun.  It was a little bit on the gusty side because of the wind direction, and I shared the space with the ferry... but I enjoyed kiting powered up on my 7m. Big jumps guaranteed! 

Shoal Bay, Auckland

 

Yesterday, South-West wind, my sister and I went to a spot called Shoal Bay on the North Shore of Auckland.

We met up with the WSP team there, whose shop is 10 minutes away.  We got really lucky with the weather: sun and wind. 

There was actually PLENTY of wind: I would guess about 30 knots!  It had been a while since I had not kited in that much wind, and it was really fun.  It was the "elevator" kite session!!!

I also tried those new  skate board that for some reason (probably to make it impossible for me to to dit) are split in 2!!!  The end result was not very impressive!

New Zealand Trip

I have now been in New Zealand for 2 weeks, and it's been a lot of fun: as much for kiting, checking out the island, and hanging out with my sisters.

The first week we checked out 3 different kite spots: Pine Harbour, Tamaki River and Waihee beach.... all kind of on the gusty side, but lots of fun on my 7m and 9m.  It's NZ's windy season right now, so there is no lack of wind.  I also met with Chucky at WSP store while kiting at Tamaki.  Since the wind forecast looks awsome for the coming week, we are probably going to get together to check out new kite places.  I am here with my sisters who know the island really well for kiting so it makes it really easy to know where to go and when (I am a little lost with the wind directions and tides!).
It's my 4th time in New Zealand, but each time I am amazed with how beautiful it is.  We've been taking small day trips to the cool places around Auckland.

This past week, we went to the South Island.  We did not take any kites there... because the water temperature does not go above 8 degrees celcius there... and that's kind of cold for me!!! We mostly hiked, took a lot of pictures, and sampled NZ's typical fish and chips!