Kiteboarding & Jugglers In Christchurch

I work for a few days. Remote maintenance, support, skype, web design…even from bed. Life can be really hard :-) I take the bus to the beach near New Brighton. Buses in Christchurch are good: frequent, good network and cheap with a Metrocard (day: €2). Unfortunately, the wind is only good enough for a few bounces on the beach…yesterday there were 45 knots here and several thousand households without power…

The 10-day Buskers Festival is currently taking place in Christchurch. The whole city is full of buskers. It’s great fun and delays my every move. Mimes, jugglers, high-wire artists, clowns – there’s something to laugh and marvel at everywhere. I walk through the pedestrian zone with my kiteboard and am looked at as if I’m part of the festival.

The next day, the wind looks much better. The trees are already swaying violently in the morning. I try to work…but that will have to wait for today, for better or worse. Wind is more important. I take the bus to the beach in New Brighton again. On the way: really broken housing estates and people, graffiti, drunks, filth. Then the beach: YES! Wind 17 knots full onshore. Swell: up to 1.5 metres, high frequency and quite steep due to the wind direction.

At first there are only a few surfers out, but as the afternoon progresses the water fills up with kiters too. They are all wave freaks here. They mostly ride Naish Helix and surfboards without bindings. How do they do it? I lose my board with bindings in the waves more often than the locals lose theirs without bindings. I definitely need to practise more in waves, even if I don’t like it. It’s too hard on my knees and back.

Another thing I’ve learnt: with a bit of luck, you can definitely ride over a 1.5m wave that’s just breaking from the front. It ALWAYS goes down the drain from behind. At least for me. I get washed a few times and flushed so much that my kite falls out of the sky. After 2.5 hours I go out again. Done. So that’s it for kiteboarding in New Zealand…