It’s the time of year when many kitesurfers are getting ready for their next holiday, on a beach somewhere with the hope of perfect wind and blue skies. For those of you less experienced with travelling to kitesurf here are a few pointers that will hopefully allow you to make the most of your next kiteboarding vacation:
- If you can, bring all your kites. As much as you may research your chosen destination and have been advised its always 12m weather, you can better your week in the sun is either nuclear or you’ll wish you’d brought the 14m! I’ve done it and seen it more times that I care to mention, you spend enough on kites, board, the trip itself, spend the extra £30 for an extra bag and cover yourself.
- Packing. Strip your boards down, foot straps and fins come off, far easier to get everything packed. For kites, roll them out and re-roll, you’ll be surprised how much smaller you can get them, compared to when you’re not rushing to leave the beach at the end of a session.
- Bring a pump! Everyone thinks, someone else with have a pump. You won’t believe the number of stories of groups of Pro’s turning up at a beach, no one else there and no one has a pump – you’d think they’d know better!
Drugs – paracetamol & ibuprofen – if you’re gonna be kite everyday or more than you usually do, and you keep trying all theses new tricks then you’d gonna get battered up. A few ibuprofen can make all the difference :-)- Set yourself some challenges – why come back still trying the same old tricks? What do you want to learn? Check out our post on the Rule of Three and come back with a few new tricks in your repertoire. Watch some tricks online to get you inspire and motivated – watching the same trick over and over really does help to get it imprinted in your subconscious.
Stretching & Warm up. Unless you’re in your teens, with super bendy bodies, warming up before your session with some stretching will not only prevent injury but also help improve your chance of nailing that trick you just can’t quite land. Remember a week of kiting can be a big shock for most of us! Focus on your joints – knees, ankles, back and shoulders. Even Aaron Hadlow, who never used to do any pre-session warm up, won’t even go kiting with our a short session at the gym and then some manic squats on the beach to get his knees moving – though he is getting old now at 24! Check out Kiteboarding Exercises stretching routine to get started.
Most important last – Pack some Gaffer tape! Never leave home with out, it repairs almost anything whether thats a ripped kite or damaged body!
What travel tip would you give your fellow kitesurfers?