We’ve got Sam now and we’re staying at the Torre De La Pena 2 campsite in Tarifa
We picked Sam up from Malaga airport on Monday. Malaga airport was a nightmare; the parking for arrivals seemed to be non existent and everything looks like a building site. In the end Lucy had to wait in the van on the side of the road while I went into the airport to meet Sam.
On the way down to Tarifa we stopped off at a shopping centre. There were loads of British shops like C&A, Top Shop H&M and a few familiar fast food restaurants. So we spent a few hours there looking at the shops, eating and cooling down. The weather seems to get really hot now and the van has no air conditioning so cool, air-conditioned shops are a god-send. Once in Tarifa we decided to stay at the Torre De La Pena 2 campsite as it has wifi, a pool and is right across the road from the beach where the Telefonica Movistar PKRA kite pro competition is being held.
Apart from one day when we visited Tarifa town to stock up on food and have a spot of lunch, we’ve split our time between the van and the beach. I’ve managed to get in a few days of kiting. The PKRA kite competition is being held on the Valdevaqueros beach right across from our campsite, so some of the area is marked by buoys for competition use only but that still leaves plenty of room for others to kite.
My kite surfing is progressing nicely. The first session was a bit of an upwind struggle, after about 5 minutes I was so far down wind that I had to get back onto the shore and walk back up the beach to my starting position. This carried on for most of the day but by the end I was managing to hold my position better and roughly get back to the beach where I started without all that walking! Kiting is tiring enough without trying to walk up-wind on the beach, the kite constantly tugging you back down and then feeling like your getting in the way of every other kiter near the beach.
My next session was much better. The first run had me walking back up the beach to get back to my up-wind starting spot, but after that I was staying up-wind and getting back to my starting position without any walking. The wind seemed pretty strong and the waves were the biggest I’ve seen in Tarifa, crashing down on the beach and making it very difficult to get out and back in again. It was a very good day though and by the end of it I was able to turn on the water without sinking and even pop a few small jumps off the top of the waves.
There are 2 days left of the competition here and the competitors must be praying for wind. Yesterday was virtually still and when we left the beach at around 4.30 there had been no kites on the water all day.
Providing the wind is strong enough I will be out on the water again later today. Hopefully staying well up wind, changing direction without sinking and maybe popping a few jumps!
July 6th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
say hello to Sam and say I hope he has a lovely holiday . got your blog yesterday but could not get your write up until this morning hence my late comment. I hold my breath when i read about your kiting it must be a wonderful experience ssomething I would never have dare do hope you bcome a pro.