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Thursday 29 December 2011

Another belter of a day here in S.Wales


This winter has been the best that I have know..ever!

It's been incredibly mild and the winds have been constant now since October...through November and now all of December too!

Each week has thrown another week of solid strong conditions....and plenty of surf too!
These are some stills taken from the video above
Kite is Epic Renegade and Wainman Magnum 5'7


Sunday 25 December 2011

Happy Xmas everyone!

Hope you all have a great holiday!
We managed a sweet session today at rest bay and then a downwinder to coney beach just in time to see the Xmas day swim....thousands there too!

Video to follow, possibly!?

Wednesday 21 December 2011

Saturday 17th December - The day the snow arrived!

We made the effort to get up the Brecon Beacons on Saturday 17th December, fueled by the weather forecasts for our 1st snowfall of the winter so far. We arrived to find only a small amount of snow covering the lower areas near the carpark.

We met a few other keen kitesurfers eager to try the snow but as the snow cover looked so bad they headed off back to the coast, we decided to walk the dog up the mountain anyway and once up higher were pleasantly surprised to find plenty of depth to the fresh snow.
We then had to hike back to the van to get the kites and boards etc and once again trek back to the top - it was worth it though!
We had a few hours playing in pretty strong winds on the Epic Renegade 7m kite before we packed up to head back the 45mins to Porthcawl.
Rest Bay greeted us with a nice strong cross-shore wind and a super nice 3-4ft wave.We all had one of the best sessions i can remeber with the sun slowly setting on an amazing day here in S.Wales.
As it happened we had the Blast Xmas Bash that evening so by 7.30pm we were out with good freinds in the local pub for a well earned meal and one or two drink's too!
All in all, an amazing day!

Friday 9 December 2011

GoPro HD2

So we just got hold of the latest GoPro HD2 the new updated version of this now classic little video camera.

These camera's have been making shakes in pretty much every extreme sports due to their compact and yet rugged nature, oh and their amazing quality footage too!

We have just had some amazing conditions and it's a shame we didnt have it here in time for those epic sessions but we have plenty more coming next week. Today we had some nice beach break fun though and was perfect conditions to play around with the camera and get to grips with exactly what it can do.

We managed to get some awesome footage and also some half decent photo's as seen here:
Today's session was also the first time we have had the chance to try the all new 2012 Blankforce Advisory Carbon Board....this board has a lot to live up to but...WOW
This board seems even smoother than the last one but still has an insane amount of pop. These boards just make you want to try new stuff...every session.

Monday 5 December 2011

South Wales Point Breaks...............

We are so lucky in S.Wales to have so many reef and point breaks scattered along our wonderful coatline!
These also work on our predominant S.Westerly winds and provide clean wave faces but the winds can still be hoofing in.

Today we lucky enough to have a visit from 3 x Bitish Champion Will Bennet all the way from deepest pasty land.

We met at our house and Blast HQ for a catch up and a quick brew, Will had already had a sneaky peak at another point break on the way to ours and reported a decent swell and some strong westerlies too.

Anyway Will, Sarah and a mate Daniel and I made the short trip to our local Point Break..about 500m from our Blast HQ, we were met with a nice if a little small right hander firing off clean waves ready to be smashed!

Here are a few pics that my daughter Katie took for us, pretty sweet job especially considering she'd never take kitesurf photo's before....proud of me girlie!
Will Bennet

CLICK ON THE PHOTO'S TO ENLARGE

Wednesday 30 November 2011

Grannie Dee

Whilst in Hattaras USA recently I was lucky enough to meet this old lady at the beach and offer some assistance in her desire to take up the wonderfull sport of kitesurfing.....



Sunday 27 November 2011

Don't know what to get for your loved one this Xmas?

Link here:

This can be a 1/2 days lesson or for the full blown 2 Days lessons. Just let us know what you would like an we can supply you with a VOUCHER that can be used any time in the next 12 months!



Looking for a gift with a difference?
The perfect gift for Christmas!

Gift vouchers are available for all of our courses from the Basic Taster Session to our Full Monty 2 Day course.
How to order your Gift Vouchers
■First choose which lesson you want.

■Then check out the lesson price.

■Finally, post a cheque made payable to 'Blast' for the correct amount to the address shown below and don't forget to enclose a note stating who the voucher is for and the address you would like us to send it to.


OR....simply Choose your lesson and click the "buy" button, pay online and state that it's a voucher for a present and we will forward the voucher immediately.

Redeeming Gift Vouchers
Vouchers can then be redeemed by simply contacting us via
email info@blastkiteboarding.co.uk
or
telephone 07810862268
to book a convenient date for your kitesurfing lesson.

All vouchers are valid for 12 months from the date of issue.
Note: All equipment is supplied and we offer courses 7 days a week, all year round.

Blankforce Advisory Carbon 2012

Blankforce Advisory Carbon....First Pics!

We have a few pre-production boards arriving this week when we will post up some more photo's and information!
This is the board that won over so many loyal fans offering a legendary super smooth ride but with insane pop and perfomance, not a board that you'll quickly tire of and grow out of like so many others.

Monday 21 November 2011

Circle One - Bamboo Directional Kitesurf Boards

We have been testing the Bamboo boards from Circle One over the past few months and have really got to fall in love with them.
Full on performance and at a stupidly low price too!                                                                                                                                                                          More details here:


£399 for the board fins and pads!
What IKSURF had to say:



Circle One 5'8" Kite Board Independent Review by www.iksurfmag.com

Circle One have been a major player in the surf industry since 1969 and they have a long pedigree. It is very exciting therefore to see a true surf brand recognise kiting as a market worthy of their presence. For years now kiters have been trying to get recognition from the huge surf industry and bit-by-bit it seems we are getting there. Circle One have developed 4 boards for this season, a 6’6” Quad Fin Square Tail, a 6’3” Swallow Tail, a 6’ Diamond Tail and finally the 5’8” Round Tail that we have here. In that range there should be something for everyone, if you are new to the kite SURFboard market then a good rule of thumb is to choose a board 2 inches shorter than yourself. This will allow you to have enough size and buoyancy to be able to gybe it, but also mean the board will be big enough to be able to surf the wave, rather than just kite along it.

Jeff Townsley who founded the company way back when has shaped the 5’8” and he is one of the more experienced shapers out there. The board is quite narrow at 17 and three quarters but there is a good amount of volume under the feet just where you need it. It utilises a lightweight construction with vinyl reinforcing and although as with all surfboards it will need looking after it certainly withstands the knocks of day-to-day riding. The fin set up is the classic thruster lay out and high quality honeycomb fins come as standard. The great thing is that although the fins aren’t FCS the fin boxes will take FCS fins, so should you find yourself hitting the reef in a far-flung location it shouldn’t prove too difficult to get a replacement! The overall finish and look of the board is excellent, the graphics are simple and the board looks like a surfboard should, not like some 9 year old has been let loose with a set of crayons

Sunday 6 November 2011

Epic Kites - Dealer Week USA

I have just returned from an Epic Dealer Trip to Cape Hattaras in North Carolina USA.

Screamers & Renegade

It gave me the chance to try each kite back to back in a huge range of conditions, ideal testing grounds!

We were provided with amazing accomodation right on the beach in Nags head and each day we'd check the conditions then decide which beach to head too....flat water slicks on the Sound side or head high surf on the Atlantic side.
Dimitri is, well he's Dimitri!!
Crazy, on and off the water he's simply 100mph. This made for an action packed week with non stop kiting every day.
His enthusiasm is amazing and very very infectious, it was amazing to see and witness so many people who tried the kites there. There were so many genuine stoked people loving the kites and boards.

There are basically three kites in the range:

Renegade: Do-all kite, beginner, freeride, wave

Screamer: Old school boosting machine (the highest I have jumped)

Judge: New School Freestyle C Kite
and then there is also the Infinity Light wind kite, a true light wind kite that you can still have fun on inc jumps etc

Renegade....
Judge C Kite

Screamer 10m LTD

Friday 4 November 2011

Quick Update

Sorry everyone, we have been so so busy lately that we simply have not had time to update our Blog, however we will do so over the next week....

So much to tell you about from the past month or two inc. SKA Beginner w/end, Epic Dealer Trip to USA, BKSA Wavemasters in Cornwall, and much more stuff in between!

Wednesday 21 September 2011

Portugal Sept 2011

We have just returned from an "epic" trip to North Portugal where we scored an awesome swell from the tail end of Hurricane Katia... 7 days trip, 7 days strong winds!
We also scored some sweet flat water sessions during the week in between swells!

Wednesday 24 August 2011

Saturday 30 July 2011

Blankforce UK Photo Shoot with ExPix

Over the past few months we have been trying to sort out a date with Ian from ExPix http://www.expix.co.uk/  for doing a lifestyle photo shoot arranged by Blankforce Boards!


Sarah doing her best Catalogue pose!

Eventually we had the whole range in...each size and model comes in a different colour so there are lots!
We were up in Mid Wales testing the latest Epic Kites which we had just taken stock of and had to set off early back home to Porthcawl. Ian on the other had was on his way back from the Atlantic Games with Hannah Whitely and Will makinson all the way back up too Manchester.

They had a horrific trip up to us with one traffic accident after another and finally arrived with us at about 4pm. The light was pretty poor and the wind virtually non existant, however this didnt stop Ian cracking on with the job in hand.


Ian setting up another perfect shot!

Ian got a load of sweet lifestyle shots on the rocks over near my favorite wave riding spot. This was with aid of our two resident "models" .....Tom Butler and Sarah Eager (both Blast Kiteboarding Instructors and team riders)


Later we thought it worth checking the wind as it was now looking (slightly) prommising. Tom quickly pumped up his Mutiny 12m P.Series and Sarah her Genetrix Origin2
Ian eventually ended up to his waist in the sea snapping away in what was pretty poor conditions with a very flat light and very light winds too.
However Ian gave us a few sneak peaks at some of his shots, both lifestyles and action...WOW
I cant believe the quality of the shots Ian was able to get..simply awesome.
We'll post some up here once we get permission to use some but believe me they make mine above look simply pants!



Tom & Ian getting close and personal


Blast Kiteboarding mini Road Trip

So we had no wind forecast pretty much for the whole of the UK this past week so we thought we'd take a trip up to Mid Wales to meet up with some freinds of Sarah's. The first day was a scorcher and gave us a great chance to chill out and check the latest Blast kit from Epic Kites. There was just enough breeze to fly the kites on the beach so we had a fun few hours in the sun.



Rachel

Later we got a call from Rachel to meet up with them for a session with the wakeboard boat in the estuary, the conditions were awesome....flat water and hot! We spent the next few hours blasting about with both the doughnut and wakeboards, tired we headed back to Rachel's family place nearby for a cold beer and a well earned curry!


Sarah


Me getting my arse handed to me on a plate!

The next day was a bit overcast so we went for a "full English" in a local cafe before heading back to the estuary for a spot of Stand Up Paddlesurfing. The conditions for this were ideal...flat shallow water.
Whilst playing on these for a while the wind seemed to be picking up so I pumped up the Epic Renegade 11m which we'd heard so much about, especially it's low end wind range. Sarah took it out 1st but it was pretty light, she was just holding upwind which in itself was good especially as now the tide was rushing in and taking a lot of the ooomph out of the little wind there was.

We even managed to both be out on the SUP and kite together which was really cool. Monty even thought he'd have a go and joined me on the SUP for a closer look, his 1st time on the board.
Me, Sarah and Monty!

The Epic Renegade 9m....wow!
Gradually the wind strengthened however and we both had a play on both the Renegade's 11m & 9m. These kites are pretty stunning, not just too look at which  they most defiately are but also to fly, we had a great few hours playing in the flat water lagoons before heading back for more cold beers and bangers and mash!



Sarah Epic & Blankforce

The next morning we had to head off home to Porthcawl to meet up with Ian from Expix for a photo shoot for Blankforce Boards....more on that to follow!