Kite surfing

Our reason for coming to Thailind on this trip was to learn to kitesurf. Our original plan to do this in the Phillipines had to be shelved when we discovered they don't have wind at this time of year, but true to the form books, we've been blessed with a week of near-perfect sea breezes here on Thailand's east coast. The breeze gently builds through the morning to reach kiting conditions by about lunchtime, often building a little more through the afternoon (and only then dying on one day so far when some dark clouds killed the breeze).
So to the kiting. Or in fact let's start with our instructor. Having travelled halfway across the world we found that we were going to be taught by Colin from Slough - who had a remarkedly similar sailing background to Alistair (mirror dinghys, university team racing, a little bit of big boats) before discovering kite surfing and never looking back. Clearly an experienced instructor, we rapidly got used to his soothing voice in our ears over the radio as we rapidly progressed through learning to fly the kite, body dragging (getting pulled through the water by the kite) to trying to stand up.
This may make it sound somewhat easier than it was. Regular face/nose/mouth-fuls of sea water, various cuts & bruises (Sam currently has a particularly colourful collection - I promise it was nothing to do with me - honest gov!) and the occasional headache from being catapulted by the kite as it spiralled out of control kept us both at varying points on the fear to excitement spectrum.
Having completed the 4 day beginners course, we were allowed to head out by ourselves, for lots of practice, taking it in turns to kite/get blown down the length of the beach before the long walk back up. Day by day we have been improving however, and are now both at a stage where we can confidently (?) kite in both directions - a thrilling feeling as you skip across the surface of the water.
There's still lots more to learn though...including turning round and kiting upwind...and of course then jumping (it's amazing how high the good people can go) and foiling (we saw a couple of guys on the beach yesterday with foiling boards - that lift fully out the water when they get going - insane!). We've got a couple of days left and are going to be heading out again shortly, so watch this space...