401-30

Paraglided in the morning and kited this afternoon.  First time on the water in quite a while.  The wind was ENE and just a little gusty on the beach.  Flew a 7m kite and it was always powered enough to stay up wind and often very powered up.  It's funny here.  When they say the wind is 15, they mean that is the base and every gust is above that.  Today they said the wind was 15 but my legs were getting sand blasted on the beach.  Most people were on 6m kites and some of them were jumping 20-30 feet in the air.  If the wind was 15 at home, I'd be using a 13m kite or I'd be slogging on a windsurfer.  There were about 100 windsurfers out today and they were flying.  I think the wind was actually about 20 to upper 30's.

Most of the beach parking lots are still closed after the tsunami.  The lots look fine.  I don't know why they aren't open and they don't seem to be in any hurry to do what ever it is that they are going to do before reopening them.  Not only are the lots closed but they've put up no parking signs on the street so that people can't even park there and walk in.  Everybody does anyway, but I heard that they've ticketed some cars.  I'd be really bummed if I came here for a week to windsurf and found these conditions.  Actually the parking lot for the windsurfers down at Kanaha is open.  I guess it's just the scummy sewer sucking kite surfers who really don't matter.

For the last couple of weeks they've been burning sugarcane at night.  This is what it looks like in the morning before they get the fire put out.

                                                               Burning Sugarcane