So as it always happens the swells drop and the wind comes up and the amazing run of cyclone swell becomes just a distant memory, put away in the bank with all the other swells that have come before.

Such is life and it’s always difficult to try and live in the now rather than relying on what’s past or on what’s to come for grounding. Is this man’s greatest mistake? Always trying to live away from what is happening right here and now because it’s so much easier to live according to what’s happened or what’s going to happen?

Surfers are the worst, we are always talking about the good old days or checking that next swell and we have to really concentrate on what’s going on today, this hour, this minute , clear as day right here in front of us.

And for me it’s even harder because they almost called the Mavericks event for Wednesday 18/03/09 on a VERY marginal swell because the sponsors are getting anxious and there’s much at stake to run the event no matter what, even if the charts are only showing 6ft @ 13sec of swell. It would have been a bad call and luckily level heads prevailed and the event is still on standby until the end of March.

And what that means is I can concentrate on my second love at the moment – Kiteboarding.

I have done quite a bit of travelling in search of waves over the years and from what I’ve seen the KZN coast is the best in the world for this sport and one of the reasons I love to spend time at home when I get the opportunity.

Now some of you are going to say its lame and like Towsurfing, Boogie Boarding, Windsurfing and SUP it should be banned for good and put on the shelf with Paddle skiing and Kneeboarding but there’s something about this sport that’s kept me intrigued for over 10 years now and still to this day I absolutely love it every time the wind gets up and there’s a bit of swell.

I’m not sure what it is that keeps me coming back but all I can say is that when the wind is 15 - 20knots and there’s a 6ft swell running which is very often in KZN, you can’t have more fun than on a 6m Cabrinha kite and a 6’0” Cyclone board. In and out, up and down, catching more waves then you could ever imagine and surfing harder and faster than you ever have.

It’s completely exhilarating, keeps you in the ocean and in great physical and mental shape for surfing big waves when the time comes. Just look at some of the old boys who excel at the sport, guys like Alwin, Gavin and Peter. These guys are fit and look 38 instead of 48 (ok...except the bald one’s ha ha) and they seem to have a new lease on life through kiteboarding.

I would recommend this sport to anyone who has a love for the ocean and the beach and who always complains when the wind is howling and they have to spend the day at home. Embrace the wind, it’s just another of natures gifts to us and go fly a kite!!

So here I am, sitting at home at 9am, hoping that the NE wind comes up and joins this little long period south swell so I can go and rig up on the low tide and enjoy the wind and sun on this beautiful March day in KZN.

Hang on; has anyone seen the new maps? Shit, I have to go.....

See ya
Twig

Grant "Twiggy" Baker is a former Mavericks Surf Contest champion and special contributor to TheExtremeScene.com.