Performance Kitesurfing in Tarifa, Spain.

Posted on July 8, 2013February 7, 2018 by Tantrum — 2 Comments

Kitesurfing Locations

Once your up and riding fairly comfortably one of the first things you’ll look at is what exotic beach can you visit (and rip on). The choice is pretty mind boggling and it’s pretty difficult to know the pro’s and cons of one spot from another. While we’re not going to make an exhaustive list of all the spots the world has to offer (although we do have a bloomin good go at it), we will highlight some of the considerations you may make and talk about some of the more famous spots.

Before you go anywhere you need to decide what is your outcome and what you are looking for. Whether you’re a freestyler, a wave rider or just like riding up and down throwing the occasional jump will all vastly influence your choice of destination.

There are several things you might want to consider and we have a quick look at all of them here:

Flat Water: Often the benchmark of choice for most people because everything is so much easier on flat water. There are no waves to throw you off the board and and many locations flat water is found in waist deep lagoons which make getting back to your board after you come off as easy as standing up and walking. That said there are several reasons to be wary. Flat water is easy…much easier than even a bit of chop and this can mean frustration when moving back onto waves or even chop from flat water ad many of the tricks that were soooo easy now seem almost impossible. in our Tarifa centre we often find people coming from Egypt or Dakhla telling us they can ride only to find in Tarifa conditions they can’t even get the board on their feet. Conversely learning the other way around people have their heartache during the learning process but can then cope with anything Mother Nature throws at them.

Waves: Are generally sought out by the more experienced riders. Waves are a LOT of fun when you can handle them but try to tackle them too early and you’re setting yourself up for a world of pain. My advise is if you’re looking to get into wave riding start with small waves, a trip to Portugal for the uninitiated (or even a hardened kitesurfer) can be intimidating with its rocky bays, brutal rip currents and powerful waves. That said if you’re a hard core wave rider there are few better places on Earth.

Bump & Jump: Often offering the best of both worlds bump & jump location will often have small wind blown chop or small waves with flatter sections in between. Perfect for the all round rider who wants a bit of everything.

Want It All?

Note many locations will offer 2 or even all 3 of the above conditions depending on which beach you go or what time of year you go. Brazil for example has huge flat water lagoons and great wave riding action to be found within a stone’s throw of each other.

The Most Important Ingredient

There are several other obvious factors which will influence your choice of location the most obvious being wind!

Many locations (in fact most) have a definite season when it is windy. In Europe the more reliable winds are generally to be found in the summer there the thermal properties of the wind make them blow consistently day after day. As soon as it starts getting colder wind tends to brought in by the low pressures sweeping in from the Atlantic and becomes more difficult to predict. There are several exceptions to this Tarifa for example doesn’t really have a windy season…it’s just bloomin windy all year round, it’s wind being due to the unique topography there.

It is obviously of vital importance to know what the wind is expected to do at that time of year before you book your holiday. Many a friend of mine has been sunbathing all week as a result of getting this wrong. Some places are windy all year round and it’s just luck of the draw as to whether there’s wind during the time you’re there. It is important to remember that wind is NEVER guaranteed at any location and if you go with a few no wind plans in place you’ll never come back from you holiday desolate because the wind failed to perform…this for me is crucial.

Wind strength is another obvious factor which you need to consider before you go. A week in Capetown during their season when it’s regularly blowing 35kts requires a very different mindset and very different kites to a week in Kenya where typically the wind is much lighter.

Guaranteed Wind..Pull The Other One

As we mentioned earlier wind is never guaranteed and you might want to check out what other activities are on offer before you commit. If you’re fine chilling on the beach reading a book, great, but if you get hyperactive doing nothing then a few active non wind related past times in the general area are probably crucial.

Ok so having covered the basics where are these places?

Year Round Location List

January

Western Oz
Cape Verde
Cape town-South Africa
La Ventana – Mexico
Boracay – Philipines
Namibia
St. Louis-Senegal
Copal-Costa Rica
Mui Ne Bay-Vietnam
Auckland-NZ
Nashiro-Japan
Baja
Barbados
Kenya-mombasa
BVIs
Carmelo-Uruguay
Buenos Aires – Argentina
Hong Kong
Tarifa
Puclaro-Chile
Yemen-Red Sea

February

Margarita
Western Oz
St. Louis-Senegal
Cape Verde
Melbourne
Hua Hin – Thailand
Cape Town – South Africa
La Ventana – Mexico
Boracay – Philipines
Cap Chevalier-Martinique
Zanzibar-Tanzania
Copal-Costa Rica
Mui Ne Bay-Vietnam
Belize
Florida-USA
Nashiro-Japan
Baja, Barbados
South Padre Island-(TX)USA
Esbjerg-Denmark
Cabarete
Bonaire-Carib
St. Lucia-Carib
Whitehaven-Whitsunday Islands
BVIs
Noordwijk ann Zee-Netherlands
Tarifa
Puclaro-Chile
Yemen-Red Sea

March

El Gouna-Egypt
Cape Verde
St. Louis-Senegal
Cabarete
Margarita
Western Oz
Hua Hin – Thailand
Cape Town – South Africa
La Ventana – Mexico
Esbjerg-Denmark
Antigua
Goa
Cap Chevalier-Martinique
Zanzibar-Tanzania
Copal-Costa Rica
Mui Ne Bay-Vietnam
Belize
Florida-USA
Barbados
South Padre Island-(TX)USA
Bonaire-Carib
St. Lucia-Carib
Negombo-Sri Lanka
BVIs
Ibiza
Ireland
UK
Cape Hatteras-USA
Tarifa
Puclaro-Chile
Yemen-Red Sea

April

Margarita
Western Oz
Hua Hin – Thailand
Antigua
Cap Chevalier-Martinique
Belize
Banff-Canada
Barbados
South Padre Island-(TX)USA
Safaga-Egypt
Bonaire-Carib
St. Lucia-Carib
Whitehaven-Whitsunday Islands
Negombo-Sri Lanka
Ibiza
Ireland
UK
Tarifa
Cape Hatteras-USA
Puclaro-Chile

May

Margarita
Antigua
Cape Hatteras-USA
Leucate-France
Essaouira-Morocco
Iraq
El Vaque-Venezuela
Ras Sudr – Egypt
Rhodes-Greece
Porto Pollo – Sardinia
Fuerteventura
Cabarete
Bonaire-Carib
St. Lucia-Carib
Whitehaven-Whitsunday Islands
Ibiza
Aruba-Carib
Tarifa
UK
Puclaro-Chile
Mancora-Peru

June

Fuerteventura
Tenerife
Cabarete
Raratonga
The Gorge – USA
Bol-Croatia
Foddini-Italy
Ponto de Oura-Mozambique
Seychelles
Maui-USA
Fiji
Essaouira-Morocco
Guincho-Portugal
El yaque – Venezuela
Rhodes – Greece
Levkada – Greece
Dakhla – Morocco
Corsica
Rhodes-Greece
Pirlanta-Turkey
Paramali-Cyprus
Porto pollo-Sardinia
Lanzarote
Bonaire-Carib
St. Lucia-Carib
Sri Lanka
Tarifa
Aruba-Carib
Puclaro-Chile
Mancora-Peru

July

Cabarete
Fuerteventura
Tenerife
Mauritius
Naxos-Greece
Raratonga
Leucate-France
The Gorge – USA
Pirlanta-Turkey
Bol-Croatia
Foddini-Italy
Seychelles
Solomon Islands
Maui-USA
Fiji
Tahiti
Essaouira-Morocco
Guincho-Portugal
El yaque – Venezuela
Rhodes – Greece
Levkada – Greece
Dakhla – Morocco
Corsica
Paros-Greece
Porto pollo-Sardinia
Lanzarote
El Gouna-Egypt
Safaga-Egypt
Sinai
Eilat-Israel
Paramali-Cyprus
Sri Lanka
Maui-USA
Aruba-Carib
Puclaro-Chile
Tarifa
Mancora-Peru

August

Cabarete
El Gouna-Egypt
Fuerteventura
Tenerife
Brazil
Mauritius
Cape Verde
Naxos-Greece
Raratonga
The Gorge – USA
Bol-Croatia
Pirlanta-Turkey
Foddini-Italy
Zanzibar-Tanzania
Guincho-Portugal
Seychelles
Solomon Islands
Polynesia
Maui-USA
Fiji
Tahiti
Essaouira-Morocco
Corsica
Rhodes-Greece
Paramali-Cyprus
Paros-Greece
Lanzarote
Safaga-Egypt
Eilat-Israel
Sinai
Sri Lanka
Maui-USA
Aruba-Carib
Tarifa
Puclaro-Chile
Mancora-Peru

September

El Gouna-Egypt
Tucus-Brazil
Mauritius
Pirlanta-Turkey
Zanzibar-Tanzania
Seychelles
Solomon Islands
Polynesia
Sumbawa – Indonesia
Maui-USA
Madagascar
UK
Corsica
Ireland
Canada
Germany
Israel
Sinai
Noordwijk ann Zee-Netherlands
Puclaro-Chile
Tarifa
Mancora-Peru
Cumbuco Brazil

October

Tucus-Brazil
Western Oz
Sumbawa – Indonesia
Madagascar
New Caledonia
Chile
UK
Esbjerg-Denmark
Ireland
Buenos Aires-Argentina
Carmelo-Uruguay
Noordwijk ann Zee-Netherlands
Cape Hatteras-USA
Tarifa
Puclaro-Chile
Mancora – Peru
Cumbuco – Brazil

November

Melbourne
Cape town-South Africa
Tucus-Brazil
Western Oz
Namibia
Sumbawa – Indonesia
Auckland-NZ
Madagascar
New Caledonia
Buenos aires-Argentina
Carmelo-Uruguay
Hong Kong
Leucate-France
Noordwijk ann Zee-Netherlands
Tarifa
Puclaro-Chile
Cumbuco Brazil

December

Melbourne
Tucus-Brazil
Cape Verde
Western Oz
Cape town-South Africa
La ventana-Mexico
Namibia
Copal-Costa Rica
Mui Ne Bay-Vietnam
Auckland-NZ
Nashiro-Japan
Baja
New Caledonia
Boracay – Philipines
Buenos aires-Argentina
Carmelo-Uruguay
Monastir – Tunisia
Hong Kong
Leucate – France
Cape Hatteras-USA
Tarifa
Puclaro-Chile
Yemen-Red Sea* – means varies depending on the island or side.** – monsoon season this is the dry side of the island

Feel free to add you’re own suggestions in the comments below:

Posted on June 28, 2013April 4, 2018 by Tantrum — 2 Comments

Pick Up Your Own Damn Board

If, when you were at school, a teacher asked you a question and then deliberately gave you the wrong answer to that question, in full knowledge that this was the wrong answer, would you be surprised?

If you went to school in the Western world, the answer to this is most probably, “Yes.” Western-style methods of teaching dictate the teacher gives the students the answer almost before the question is asked, avoiding struggle, conflict and difficulty at all costs.

Learning Through Struggle

If you went to school in Japan however you are likely to have a very different outlook on this. The example above is not uncommon in Japanese schools where more emphasis is placed on the experience of learning through struggle. Of rationalising and coming up with your own solution.

We’ll call this the Eastern method of learning

The idea behind this philosophy of teaching is that by coming up with the answer themselves through struggle and logic, the student then owns the answer.

Let’s put this into context of learning a new skill in the form of setting the kite and bar up. The Western method of teaching would have us simply demonstrating to students how to set up a kite showing at the beginning of the first day.

This style of teaching results in much more rapid rate of perceived learning initially as the student certainly feels if they are progressing much faster as they tick boxes off at a rapid rate. The problem arises when the student is asked to perform the skill later or the next day when often they stand around blankly wondering where to start.

Take Responsibility For Your Own Learning

In contrast an instructor using the Eastern method may just say to the student here’s your kite, here’s a picture of what it’s supposed to look like…get busy.

This will see a much slower rate of learning to start with as the student bumbles their way through figuring out how to set up a kite. Once they have learned the skill however it’s in there forever. The Japanese-style also allows much more flexibility within the skill set. So for example if the kites changes, or a different bar is used the student generally still has the knowledge of the principles of putting together a kite and so can adapt easily to new situations and environments.

Use of the Japanese style of teaching forces the student to take responsibility for their own learning and it leads to a slightly slower progress initially but once you learn the skill it is better ingrained, much more flexible and crucially has less skill fade. That is not to say the Western style of learning does not have its place (our lessons would take forever otherwise) but the 2 must be used in conjunction if the skill is to be adaptable, useful and deeply ingrained.

Take The Red Pill

Thus, when at times instructors or coaches may seem heartless as they watch you struggle with a new skill that you’re mastering, (probably having a bit of a chuckle to themselves at the same time) remember that you are responsible for your own learning and as Morpheus said in The Matrix,

“All we we can do is show you the door…you have to walk through it.”

Posted on June 26, 2013July 6, 2016 by Tantrum — 2 Comments

How To Attain Kitesurfing Mastery

Our teaching philosophy at Tantrum Kitesurf consists of 2 major elements, (actually it also incorporates a third element of Total Immersion but we’ll save that for another time).

Deep Practice
Learning In A Peak State

What is Deep Practice?

Deep practice is a method of learning.
It’s the principle on which our entire training is based.
It enables you to learn months with material in minutes.

(We have gone over the next few paragraphs in the blog post on becoming a Kitesurfing Rockstar. So if you read that you may want to skip ahead.)

Scientists have recently made some major breakthroughs in the science of learning. The discovery of the function of a substance called myelin has been foremost in this revolution.

Myelin is a white substance found in the brain. Up until now has been very uncertain what the exact role of myelin was. Recent advancements in neuroscience have indicated that myelin has an absolutely crucial role in skill acquisition. We all know that to do anything a sequence of neurons needs to be fired in the brain so for example if you want to use your right hand to pick your nose – that action starts in the brain with a series of neural impulses traveling down from the brain and nervous system into your arm and finally your finger.

What myelin does is coat this pathway so every time that skill is triggered (i.e. every time you go to pick your nose) a little bit of myelin is produced which wraps around the neural pathway that links your brain to your chosen picking finger.

This myelin sheath isolates the pathway from interference and speeds up communication along the pathway turning what in effect is a dial-up modem connection into an Internet superhighway over time and repeated practice. By making the pathway faster and more precise we can fine tune our nose picking until we become experts in it. The more myelin path is coated in the faster and more precise the corresponding action will be.

Talent Isn’t Born…It’s Grown.

The quite startling implications of this is the talent isn’t born, it is grown. From while certain people may have obvious physical advantages i.e. fitter, stronger, more flexible there was really no such thing as born talent what we are witnessing and we see people who appear to be naturals in a new sport is generally a mix of physical advantage combined with crossover skill sets.

So how do we get the brain to produce myelin and then get the right pathways coated? You’ve got it…Deep Practice.

A simple definition of deep practice would be purposefully operating at the edge of your ability, forcing yourself to screw up, working on your technique, seeking constant critical feedback and focusing ruthlessly on shoring up weakness.

That’s all great but how does it apply to kite surfing?

If we take a skill such as learning to water start. The 1st thing we need to do is define the mega circuit. The mega circuit is the entire movement in one large chunk. For our example the rider going from being sat in the water to gracefully exiting the water and starting to ride.

If you watch this movement over and over and over again and simply absorb it and then practice the movements our nervous system starts to get a feel for the movement (and myelin starts flowing) even if no equipment is involved.

Reread that last line as it is crucial.

Spartak tennis club is a tiny tennis club in Russia which over the last few years has produced more top 20 women’s players than the entire United States and is responsible for nurturing the talent of players such as Anna Kournikova…I know it’s a poor attempt to justify my inclusion of a picture of her, but the link is there…however tenuous!

At Spartak the girls don’t play a competitive match for 3 years (competition gets in the way of skill acquisition) and during those 3 years much of the practice is spent without a ball. The coach simply has young ladies practice the motion of hitting the ball over and over and over again…dry (ie with just a racket no ball, net or opposing player) focusing ruthlessly on the technique. When a ball is eventually introduced the mega circuit is firmly in place. This method removes other distractions such as chasing the ball, anticipating the spin etc and concentrates solely on the skill in question.

From the mega circuits we then break the action down to its smallest definable parts, memorise these pieces and then string them back together again. To go back to our example of the water start we could break it down into putting the board on your feet, practising the power stroke, raising up out of the water, pointing your board in the correct direction, and ensuring your body is in the right position as you move off to ride.

From there we can play with time to slow down and then speed up the action to discover its architecture. Performing it at a glacial pace and then at real-time speed. This enables us to really get inside the skill and know it inside out.

And there lies the formula for deep learning.

There is one caveat with deep learning. When you leave your deep learning zone you may as well quit. And most people can stay in the deep learning zone for an hour or 2 at best.

The Power of Peak State

Your brain is simply a lump of meat until it is activated. The most powerful way of activating it is to put yourself into a peak state. A peak state is when you feel any emotion intensely – however in our case we are looking for positive emotions, excitement, joy, ecstasy, happiness or determination.

Why Is This Important?

Because being in a peak state allows you to stay in your deep learning zone for longer.

So how can you put yourself in a peak state? The simple answer is to celebrate. Celebrate all your victories even the little ones, heck, especially the little ones (then you get more chances to celebrate!). How you do this? After every exercise or learning attempt look for the good in what you have just done no matter to how small it may be. If you can combine this mental celebration with a physical act all the better. What do I mean by that?(and I fully concur…this is where we get a little American) giving yourself a little pat on the back, a solo high-five, a fist pump and I defy any of you, that any of you to stay in a bad mood whilst you’re grinding your hips with that oh so sexy look on your face.

What Do These Actions Do?

They immediately change your physiology and if combined with the shift in focus onto what we have achieved (as opposed to what we screwed up) we can anchor the desire to learn and the feeling of achievement deep in our nervous system which in turn craves more and so keeps us in our deep learning zone for longer.

This may seem silly and I admit some of our clients do look rather silly on the beach as they grind their hips and I’ve lost count of the amount of passing girls that have got the wrong idea as I attempt to get people to do the grind, but the philosophy is the sound.

By keeping yourself focused on what is going well, by keeping yourself in a peak emotional state you are able to stay in this deep learning zone for longer which ultimately means you progress quicker, cheaper and with more enjoyment than your non grinding partner.

Posted on May 23, 2013February 29, 2016 by Tantrum — 1 Comment

How Are Waves Formed?

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They are formed by the friction generated as wind blows over the surface of the sea, the greater the strength of the wind and the longer it blows over the sea for the greater the energy in the wave and so the greater the size.

Something to clear up straight away is that as long as the wave is not in the process of breaking, the water does not move. Instead think of the water as simply the medium through which the energy (the wave) is transmitted. As we’ll explain in a minute it is only when the wave starts to break that the water itself actually moves.

As waves are formed they tend to be fairly chaotic things, however over long distances the larger waves swallow up the smaller waves, meaning there are fewer, larger waves as they travel further away from their place of birth. This same action also causes waves to separate themselves at fairly regular intervals.

Waves formed in this manner are what we refer to as swell (waves formed and ‘sorted out‘ over many hundreds of kms). This is very different to chop which are the messy type of waves we often experience on windy days at the beach. These waves are formed over a few hundred meters and are characterised by being messy, disorganised and possibly coming from several different directions, often leading to classic bump & jump type conditions for us kitesurfers.

Chop is how all swell originally starts, in that this is how all waves behave when they are initially born. They are still chaotic and haven’t had time or distance to swallow each other and arrange themselves into sets. Given time and distance chop would eventually become swell.

Titanic Syndrome

The captain of the Titanic made a monumental error in failing to appreciate just how far under the water an iceberg extends…the same is true of waves. Waves are not solely experienced at the surface of the water but continue under the water in a circular shape as shown in this diagram.

As the wave reaches the shore and the space underneath it gets less, the bottom of the wave starts to ‘catch’ on the bottom of the ocean floor. When this happens the top of the wave starts to ‘jack up’ in response. As this happens you’ll notice the wave starts to get steeper and “stand up” in a C type shape and then as the ground beneath the wave gets too shallow to support its mass, it crashes over in a froth of white water.

At the point where the wave starts to stand up but before it actually crashes, the potential energy of the wave converts to kinetic energy as the water containing the energy of the wave starts to move. At this point the wave becomes “catchable” by someone on a surf board…ie, you. The surface area of the board is propelled forward on this (now) moving mass of water and tends to cause girly type screams of excitement and impressive wipe outs for anyone fortunate enough to be on said board!

Posted on May 22, 2013January 9, 2016 by Tantrum — Leave a comment

Clash Reincarnation 138 Kitesurf Board Review

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As part of our investigation into the brands that are changing the face of kitesurfing we took a look at Clash boards “Reincarnation 138”.

A good friend of mine, an ex pro rider and the most knowledgable man I know when it comes to kitesurfing, handed me one of these to test not saying a word. After I’d given him my feedback, he told me with a fire in his eyes that it was the best board he’d ever ridden. Unfortunately for him he’s now sponsored by a different company and so cannot ride it but he still extolls it’s virtues to anyone who will listen, even over his sponsors boards.

So what did we think?

First up the board looks great. The graphics are stylish without being too showy and the finish is excellent, giving the board a very expensive look.

The first thing everyone checks (without really knowing why they are checking it in my experience) is the flex of the board. Flex basically affects 2 things,

the boards rocker, so as more pressure is put onto the board the board flexes more giving more rocker
the cushioning you feel when you land (as the board bends rather than your kneecaps)

These 2 effects then go on to effect a huge amount of other things which is way beyond the scope of this article. Simply put flex is neither a good thing or a bad thing, it depends on what you’re looking for in a board, in certain conditions for certain riders a lot of flex is a good thing change the rider and the conditions and little flex is better.

THIS BOARD HAS FLEX!

I’ve never seen a board that will bend so far and not break, it’s quite simply spell binding to watch as it just keeps bending and bending as you stand by just waiting for it to crack.

What this translates to on the water is a really smooth ride. Especially here in Tarifa where we can get very bumpy conditions this board carved through the chop like a hot knife through butter. Most of the other boards I’ve ridden here are much stiffer and they feel like they’re trying to throw you off (a little like riding a bucking bronco). This may not be a feel that everyone likes or that works in all conditions but in the choppy conditions of Tarifa it felt beautiful.

This abundance of flex also means that you can really ‘stack’ the board up before you pop, giving you a lot more power to initialize any tricks you’re working on and leaving your landings feel nice and cushioned.

The other thing you visually notice very quickly is that the fins are ever so slightly angled so rather than being at 90 degrees to the board they are very slightly pointed outwards, like you might find on a race board, but no where near as extreme. As a result the fins sit straighter in the water when you’re engaging the edge, and even though they are only angled maybe 10 degrees you really can feel the extra bite in the turns, allowing you to really crank those turns hard.

But…

One area I was disappointed was the pads and straps, they were bloomin uncomfortable and for the first session it felt like my feet were being sawn in 2. This did get better over a couple of sessions as they adapted to my feet but at the start they were agony. They are built like this for a reason and once they adapt to your feet they fit like a glove without the usual stretch, but beware for the first few rides. Another thing that we didn’t experience ourselves but have been reliably informed is that after a while the pads start to feel a little thin.

In Summary

The board has a stack of other features such as the V outline, Eclipse Rails etc etc which obviously all add to the feel of the board but I find going onto detail on these things often clouds the matter, and while they certainly change the way the board handles I cannot with any confidence say what effect that had while I was riding.

What I can say is that this board felt great in the bump and jump conditions we get here in Tarifa. It cut through the waves beautifully, handled like a prince, looked great and once the straps moulded to my feet was an awesome experience to ride.

Again the overwhelming thing about this board is the price and value for money. At the time of writing the retail price of this board, complete with fins, pads and straps is 499 €. Again this is made possible by the fact that Clash only sell direct from their website, so there is no middle man to take a cut and artificially inflate the price. My advise – go and buy one of these boards fast…they are the best value for money I have seen in ages and left me (who had been thinking about selling my twin tip in favour of my surf board) desperate to get out and throw some tricks again.