Every now and then I get to mix work with sport. I have a piece in this week's FIT magazine about kite-surfing, and spoke to Catherine Etienne, one of the few female riders in Ireland. That's Etienne in the pic below, with her part of the article underneath that again.
And this is what I learned from her:
On Dollymount Strand in Dublin, Frenchwoman Catherine Etienne
explains the kite has to be at 12’clock on that semi-circle shape when you
start. The kite hangs there – parked as Roche says – and only picks up power
when you drop it down. Into the ‘power zone’, obviously.
The next lesson is just called ‘body-dragging’. Etienne says
the key to having fun here is keeping warm.
“There are different thickness of wetsuit but generally
people wear the 5mm all year round and in the winter add a neoprene vest
underneath. In the summer the water can be quite warm so when it’s eight
degrees like now, you don’t feel the cold as much as you think in the water,”
she says.
Eight degrees – yes, welcome to an Irish summer. But she
says the wind always blows and that’s what counts.
Etienne came to Ireland on Erasmus six years ago
but fell in love with the winds on Dollymount and never left.
“It’s probably not the image of the Caribbean
but it’s actually the perfect spot. Flat water, shallow water, good wind all
year round and a very good community,’ she says, in the Pure Magic shop which
doubles up as a meeting-place for Dublin’s
riders and wanna-be riders.
One of the sports unwritten commandments is talking to other
riders to find out about wind currents or water hazards. This gives a real
communal feel to the sport says Etienne.
The third lesson is when you get introduced to the board. And
this is where it gets fun.
Yes, lots of fun but lots of hard work too. Holding the kite
upright requires solid core-strength, instructors tell you to relax your
shoulders so the power comes from your core.
Your legs are working as hard as on a surf-board to stay
balanced while your arms are at full-stretch against the wind. But don’t rush
to the gym to load up on weights as Mother Nature expects high levels of
flexibility.
And like most sports, the more you do the more you will
build up the physical skills you need. Swimming is pretty important for
beginners as you do spend a lot of time rescuing the kite and starting over …
and over and over.
2 comments
Great post. I love the feeling of flying a really powerful kite, and have been dragged about by both a quadrafoil and several sturdy dual-line power kites, though not on water. The notion of having to reset after dumping the kite in the water definitely sounds like a workout!
@Lisa - you power-kite too?! really? might have to talk to you about that - how do you find the time to do that as well as your own training?
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