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Steph and the kite chicks in Ireland

15 crazy chicks hit Ireland / Windy Women hit Westpoint / (Boo Blows Big in Ireland!!)

The quiet, quaint little town of Louisburgh, nestled amongst the stunning scenery of the west coast of Ireland didn’t quite know what had hit it on the weekend of 7th July as 15 girls- all kiting mad – descended on this rural village.

The weekend had been put together by 13 Irish girls all keen to improve tricks, riding and drinking skills. (I tagged along with) Steph Bridge, pro kitesufing instructor, whose plan for the weekend was to do more than just improve our kiting, but to get us flying, gave us some awesome tuition and the confidence to go for stuff we never dreamed we could do!! And what a fantastic weekend it was.

The weekend started off with a bang, after a long drive up from Dublin on Friday the Bulmer’s continued well into the night with the tricks and jumps we were planning becoming more and more outrageous as the night continued. Slightly sore heads on Saturday did not deter our enthusiasm – like brides in a wedding dress sale we careered down to the beach by 7.30am! Much to the bewilderment of the Irish onlookers, 15 kites were pumped and ready before you could say ‘I do’ on the beautiful deserted Carrownisky beach.

After some fabulous demonstrating b y Steph our aim was to all master a back loop. Some more nervous that others, especially for those of us that hadn’t encountered wave sailing before, but all dead keen have a bash.
The wind didn’t quite give us the lift that we needed, but by now we all had the idea, the technique and more importantly the balls/boobs to give it a go!

The afternoon ended up on stunning ‘silver sands’ beach, with amazing surrounding scenery of Irish mountains and a wide-open sandy beach all to ourselves. We went through vital safety techniques and self launch and landing demonstrations as well as various relaunch tips for different kites.

Still with not much wind, we took this perfect opportunity to sneak in a crucial ‘abs session’ on the beach, as well as some crazy swimming in the Irish Sea. Enthusiastic on endorphins we hit the harnesses again and nailed our self re-launches and safety pickups.

After a long exhausting day we decided it was pub time, but not before Steph and I had an adventure run across Irish coast path and bog land. Kiteloops might be a strong point – but navigation –I’m not convinced!!

Sunday was more technique and classroom work, looking at heel to toe side carving, pops, pop transitions, back loop transition and back loop kite loops. Fired up, ready and raring we hit a perfect lagoon spot to practices what had been preached. The only down side was not quite enough wind to fuel our enthusiasm. We all mastered our self relaunch, and started attempting some unhooked flying and handle passes in the safety of the shallows with a few on big kites managing to carve up the lagoon on heel and toe side.

As is always the way the wind kicked in just as we had to head back for our flight from Dublin. Still I always think its good to leave a party when you’re desperately wishing you could stay……..I now cant wait to get back!!!

(Roll on October weekend!!!)