I Believe I Can Fly

The days on El Yaque fly by. A bit of work in the morning, then out kiting from midday. I increase the dose of kiting to three hours a day, sometimes significantly more. In the evening, a beer at sunset on the kite beach. Good tuna steak, good people and good cocktails.

The sailmaker needs a whole week to repair my kite. There were 20 others before me. But it’s no big deal. The wind chopped at 20 to 30 knots all week. In other words: the 10 Blade Vertigo is just perfect. Thanks for the loan, Jörg!

After three days of the usual small falls, I get hit by a heavy gust while cruising. The steel pin in the chicken loop breaks. I drop my board and cling with all my strength to the kite, which is fully powered up at 25 knots. I have just enough strength. After ten minutes, a lifeboat arrives. If the whole thing had happened just a few minutes later, I would have had no chance of saving the kite. I was the last kiter on the beach.

Martin returns from a week-long sailing trip. The first day he just sleeps, the second he has too much energy left. We go out at 11am in a weak 15 knots. A bit of jumping and cruising, vanity kite for pictures. From 12 no one has time for pictures, the wind is now back to a good 20-25 knots. The 12-knot session now has good power, the jumps are getting really high.

It’s funny: since the repair, jumping with the kite suddenly works really well. It always went up well, but I messed up practically every landing. Now everything works, even the jumps over five metres no longer result in arse bombs – at least half of them :-)

We cruise through the surfer armada up to the kite beach. The waves get bigger. Right at the corner in front of the headland, the wind picks up again. I jump off about 20 metres in front of a fishing boat, thinking the distance will be enough. I get higher and higher. I believe I can fly… Shortly before landing, a gust of wind pulls me up a few more metres. I land directly in front of the boat, do a hard turn and go ashore.