Hardwater Kiter

Happy New Year!!!!!

2012-01-02T07:01:00.003-05:00

Happy New year everyone!!!

Molly New Years Chocorua

Well, I'm happy to say that our kite season here in Northern New England kicked off before the new year did. It's still a little "touch and go" with the wide temperature swings but it is ON! Monday of last week was the first day on Umbagog and the first on ice for me this season. It's never a good feeling to be out on the ice for the first time, wearing a PFD and hoping to hell you don't go swimming. Especially in light winds. But it was a good feeling ot be out.

A few days later we got some rain followed by a cold front. Cleared out most of the snow and set up the ice for some great high speed cruising. We got a day where the winds were nukin' so I decided to take a spin down and see if Chocorua was and good yet. The wind must have been a lot more North than NW because when I got to Chocorua it was dead calm. Wind was blowing everywhere BUT Chocorua. I jumped back in the car and headed north to Umby. An hour and 45minutes later I rolled into the parking lot and find Jim Cline out on the lake with his 3m Apex just haulin.

I was going to test ride some new Phantom 2's that I just got in from Peter Lynn but the smallest one that came in was a 12m. It's too early for me to try flying the 12m in the same wind Jim is flying his 3m. Fortunately I grabbed my 10m Charger on the way up.

The wind was way beyond the forcast. I measured 17mph at the launch with gusts of 35mph + out in the cut. I launched the Charger and pinned it for the other side of lower Umbagog. The wind was punchy as hell and I was glad to be on the Charger. I cruised out at about 56mph and then cruised back and forth before I ventured into the cut where things usually get a bit sketchy on days like this.

I came back across the lake in a tuck, I slowly sped up as I entered the cut but no real heavy increase in acceleration like I was looking for more of slow kind of "awwww man, this isn't going anywhere." accleration. But then i started speeding up.

What started as a mellow 25-40mph cruise was now devoloping into something quite different. Before I know it I'm in the mid 50's, 60's and now I see 70mph in Transcend GPS goggle. Then I see 72mph for almost 2 seconds! I Tuck a little more to get rid of some drag and the screen flashes 74mph!

At this point I have have to stop the run because I'm already too close to shore and if I crash I'm going to hit the rocks at probably about 50-60mph. So I put on the brakes hard, harder than normal and redirect my skis and the kite to depower the wing and gain some control.

It was a hell of a good speed day. Spent the whole day just cruising around ripping. I put in 30miles in just under 2hrs. Jim Cline put in 80miles and maxed out at 47mph on the 3m. A great day for both of us.

So does this mean that 74mph is my best speed ever? I'm not counting as such and here's why. First I only had the Transcends measuring my speed. I like to have more than one data source to draw from to call something like this official. Second, we're talking .5 MPH. On a GPS that's a pretty narrow margin in regards to accuracy. They can be off by +/- .5mph easily. For all I know I could have matched my personal best or increased it. Without another data source I can't really say for sure.

Unless I get an increase of a 1mph+ I'm not going to be toooooo excited. Just a little excited! I know it felt as fast as 70mph which for my second day on ice this season is enough to make my day.

New Years day Molly and I went down to Chocorua to do some light wind kite testing. There's not a lot of ice on Chocorua but enough to kite on if you know which parts of the lake to avoid.

Of course in my haste to get down there I forgot my boots so Molly got to be the first to fly the new big kite we just got in. There wasn't even enough wind to feel on you face and this thing would launch. We flew it side by side with the Flysurfer P4 19m SA and the results were very good. The Flysurfer seems to have more raw "Grunt" but the Arc is faster across the window and just absolutely rock steady.

I don't thin this kite is a light wind kite in terms of a 21m Speed 3 SA. But I bet it's a close second. And what it lacks in super low end it will make up with wind range. I'm looking forward to finding out what the wind range on this big rig is. It might just replace my 19m Charger.

It is a big kite, I think I'm going to name it "Reus".

It was awesome watching Molly lay it out and just rail an edge out on Chocorua. There's something very cool about seeing someone lit on a day when the wind barely makes our anchor flags twitch. Molly had a great day of riding and though I went back home and got my boots, what wind there was on Chocorua died out by the time I got back.

Damn.

A Turning Point

2011-12-27T10:09:00.000-05:00

It's about time.

Last snowkite season was the worst I'd seen in the last ten years that I've been involved in this nonsense. It was late getting here, the surface conditions were a mess most of the time and the wind, well there really wasn't any. Kitestorm didn't have any wind, Mille Lacs didn't have any wind, the wind we had locally was almost always southerly which kinda sucks for a lot of our local spots. It wasn't like previous years when my "go to" kite was a 13m Venom. No last season pretty well sucked. The suckiest suck that ever sucked.

And I would take it over this season in a heartbeat.

The ice situation this year has been non-existent. We get a cold stretch and then a skim on the smaller lakes then we get hit by a warm stretch and it gets wiped out. This keeps happening and I won't lie it's starting to feel like a punch in the privates everytime it happens. My only solice is that we aren't suffering alone and even up in Canada they have the same deal going on.

Apparently winter is in the mood to torture snowkiters, no matter what thier nationality.

It's not all hopeless though, Jim Cline rode a pond outside of Bethel Maine a week ago after skiing 37,000 vert and Sunday River. He's the first one of our riding circles that got out on the ice this year. He only kited 11 miles but his top speed was 27mph which is a hell of a good first day out for Jim.

Cline

Chocorua hasn't set up yet. Usually the first to freeze over around here and it's just barely maintaining a one inch skim. Fortunately it's been cold these last few nights and we're looking at temps below zero soon.

Yesterday I tried riding in a field. We only have about three inches of fresh powder on top of ground that just recently froze. We've been out a few times on similar conditions but not with the ground frozen. It feels exactly as you would imagine it. Every turn I made had to have a super flat ski or I risked blowing an edge out on the frozen grass, dirt and rocks just under the surface. I rode for a little while just to get my fix then bagged it before I trashed a ski.

Too bad, the wind was beautiful.

After that quick session I decided to head North to check out Umby and see how the ice is holding up there. I heard a report last week that it had about 2-3 inches on it but we've had snow since and snow sucks for the ice making process. There's no way to really know what's going on with a lake without actually checking it out in person.

WRX dash cam.

I opted to keep my gear on and bring my kites in hopes that there was an odd chance of getting out on the ice.

On the way up I passed a place along the Adroscoggin where a lot of people ice fish. Out on the ice were two guys, each with a beer in one hand and an axe in the other, chopping holes in the ice. I pulled over and asked how thick it was. One guy put down his beer, reached in and said it was about 4-5 inches. Had it been less I probably would have turned aroud there and saved myself the extra 40 minutes drive but this just fueled my optimism that I might get to ride ice today.

I jumped in the car and continued north.

I got to Umby and the wind was blowing straight out of the Northwest at about 10-12mph. The lake looked awesome but it also looked untouched. That makes me the test dummy. I grabbed an ice screw and began making test holes in the ice. It's a time consuming process but worth it if you want to assess the ice. And it's not a great assessment either because what could be happening here may NOT be what's happening on the ice a mile of so off shore.

But it can give you some sort of baseline.

My first hole was over 8" of ice. This was a very good sign. Iwent out 100' and drilled again, same. Another 100', another hundred etc. and the thinnest ice I found was 4". And this is all BLACK ice which is the strongest ice. I went back to the car and got my gear on.

I decided to fly Big Blue because the wind was dying as I was drilling holes and I didn't want to fall through the ice and be underpowered if I had to self rescue. This made things a little interesting at first. I launched, took off along the shoreline at 28mph with Blue directly overhead and me below, skimming, just barely on the ice enough to hold an edge. I was a wee bit overpowered but happy in the thought that I'm not putting much load on the ice. I cruised the shoreline for a bit and decided make the leap and head out into the broads.

Big Blue on 30m lines and almost ZERO wind.

After a few passes back and forth across the broads of lower Umby I saw that the ice was at least 3" thick and that a few pressure ridges were beginning to appear. This was a good sign that the ice was relatively safe. I maxed out at 35mph in one short light wind sprint and I decided to head north and see if I could get to the farm just before the cut that heads out onto big Umby. I made it about half way before I turned back as the wind was quickly calling it quits on me. One thing I've noticed about Arcs in bigger sizes. They seem very resistant to the effects of weight like other kites in large sizes. If you get Blue in the air she tends to stay there.If it wasn't for Blue I would have been stuck out there which was the last thing I wanted to do.

It's one thing to kite, at speed, over thin ice. It's another to have to skate without a kite in the air to save you if things go bad.

So, I'm happy in the fact that the season has finally reached a turning point and is actually starting to happen. We have some rain comming and then a hefty cold snap so that will clean the ice off and give us thicker ice afterwards which will be awesome. Hopefully some localized ice will appear and we won't have to travel so far to get the goods. But in the meantime we can at least get out and ride.

That's all for now. Sirius is telling me it's time to go out and drop his payload so on that note.....

Snow nose.

Patience is a Virtue.

2011-12-15T11:27:00.000-05:00

Well the season isn't carrying the momentum we hoped for after getting a jump start back in freakin November. People are running around spouting "global warming" assuming these last two unusually warm months are because the Earth is getting warmer. But we've been noticing that the spring months have been colder the last few seasons so it appears to me to be a shift in the seasonal cycles.

At least that's what I'm going to keep telling myself. Otherwise I might become suicidal at the thought that my snowkite seasons might be getting shorter.

I've been playing with various Arcs that I haven't had much time on and cruising on my Coyotes (off road skates) as a substitute for skis and snow. The Coyotes are actually a hell of a lot of fun but I use them rarely because they dig in a lot if the ground is a little soft and I don't want to tear up anyone's fields.

But when the surface is firm they're a hoot.

Mo and Jo

Molly and I have been static flying a bit these last few weekends and teaching our friend Jotham (A.K.A. Mr. Oliver) how to fly. Molly has been doing most/all of the teaching while I've been flying and riding. Jotham is picking it up quickly in and it's awesome watching the progression. It'a amazing how learning to fly a kite instantly turns a full grown adult into a little kid. You can just see thier eyes light up when that kite's in the air. It really is like magic.

It's also great to see a new rider learn because it reminds you of when you were in the same boat. You see them do things that you remember doing when you were learning and you just have to chuckle to yourself. And it's interesting to see how some things really challenge them while others don't. Everyone is a bit different and it's striking to me to see Jotham totally nail some things that I remember having trouble with when I started while struggling with things that came naturally to me.

Sure, having someone there to walk you through it could have something to do with it. Still, it's always great to see kiting again through a beginner's eyes.

Jotham is progressing fast though. I get a kick out of watching him make the classic beginner mistakes like sheeting the bar in (pulling the bar in) all the time and steering the bar like bus driver with a steering wheel (turning the bar clockwise/counter clockwise) instead of a like a boxer throwing punches (pulling one end of the bar while pushing the other away).

"Steering the Wheel", fully sheeted in, flyin into the ground. D'OH!

But before long he'll be able to fly without any assistence. Then it will be a short jump to get him up and riding on snow. Once he gets out on the snow and gets a taste of that action he'll be hooked. Especially since he lives near some really great kiting areas.

DUCK!

Of course teaching someone to fly is not without risks. Always stay behind the new guy when possible!

As I said earlier I've been playing around with some of the Arcs that I don't fly very often. One I've been playing with is the 6m Phantom 2 Proto. I flew it a bit last winter and Molly flew the hell out of it a couple of times. It's a great little kite and for it's size, just like the Charger, it can build a ton of power if you work it. The other is a 10m Charger Prototype. Man what a sweet kite!

Looking up the Saco towards Washington.

I've been playing around a bit with my Drift helmet cam as well. I made a wingtip mount so I could see the actuation of the Phantom/Charger VPC system in flight. I also wanted to see how much spar deflection there is when you really work the kite in a hard turn. All the footage was static flying and I think it will look different when I'm actually riding but it is amazing to see how the wing responds and reacts to input.

Spar flex at Autozenith.

Spar flex in while turning.

Pretty wild I think. Pepijn Smit head Arc cat at Peter Lynn once told me to try running spars that allow for the most amount of flex without completely folding. This would allow for getting the most out of the wing profile if I understand correctly. My friend Mike ran some REALLY flexy fiberglass spars in his 15m Charger and it was pretty wild. They were too flexy and if you really flogged the kite she would go nuts and fall out of the sky.

Anyway, sorry I haven't had much to report on the snowkite front lately. Ol' Man Winter is droppin the ball on us here in the Northeast. Hopefully in the next few weeks we'll have a little more going on. My friends in Minnesota have ice, maybe a trip west would be prudent.

Self Portrait.

Until next time.

2011/12 Snowkite Season Day One!

2011-11-09T11:11:00.002-05:00

Here in New England we occasionally get hit with a certain type of storm refered to in this part of the world as a "Nor' Easter". To put it simply it's a hurricane like storm system that usually follows the eastern coastline heading North East and really pumps out snow and wind. With it's rotation winds come out of the North East and can be REALLY punchy, even for around here. They can make a hell of a mess but at the same time they can dump a ton of snow in a short period of time and with the wind they produce you can go from having no snow, no wind, and nowhere to ride to having plenty of snow, crazy wind and riding in the fields.

That's what we got on October 29th.

I heard the weather report a few days prior but didn't give it much thought. They said there would be a Nor' Easter and that some snow was expected but it's been unseasonably warm this fall, the trees still hadn't lost many leaves (in fact many were still green) and it just hasn't felt very "Fall like". I didn't give the Nor' Easter any thought really.

Well Friday Oct. 28th rolled around and all hell broke loose. The majority of the wind and snow was south of us. Rhode Island, Mass., Southern N.H. got it the worst. With all the leaves on the trees the wind and heavy wet snow brought branches down on powerlines and knocked out power all over New England. Some places got almost three feet of snow and some didn't have power a week after the storm.

We lucked out. We only got six inches of snow and the winds were pretty tame for the most part.

Saturday morning I woke to a fresh layer of white and a wind report that promised, if nothing else, to be interesting. The forcast was for 12-15mph developing to gusts over 40mph as the day went on. This put the pressure on to get out to one of the local fields and get some riding in before the winds got to be too much. Wind like that is fun on a speed day on a frozen lake but not so fun a freshly snow covered grass in the confines of something like a soccer field.

I grabbed my Rossi Phantoms threw a few Arcs in the van and headed off to find some riding.

I had spoken to our friend Jim Cline the night before and he had mentioned that he would head up to ride if we got snow. As I left the house I felt an urgency to get out and ride before the front came through and the wind got too burly. But as I got closer to the riding area another feeling of urgency started to come over me. FIRST TRACKS! I guess it's residual from my alpine ski days. Usually on the kite it's not that important to me but as this was the first day of the season I guess I wanted the first tracks of the season.

As I got closer and closer to the field I got more anxious. I kept expecting to see Jim at an intersection, pulling out ahead of me, and beating me to first tracks. I was getting rabid!

J.C. and me.

I was relieved when I pulled into the parking lot and no one was around. The winds were pretty good and the fields looked great. I was half unloaded when Jim rolled in. My relief has now turned into a big scramble to get out and get a kite in the air! I threw up my 15m Phantom 2 and Jim launched his 10m Apex 2.

Fortunately Jim has a tendency to pass his bar through the bridles when he packs up which makes for a hell of a mess when he unpacks and it slowed him down enough for me to get launched and get first tracks. Slow tracks due to the wrong wax but first tracks none the less.

The wind was off and on at first which is usually the case when you're between systems. The temp had warmed up to about 45f. and the sun had come out which made for just a beauty of a day. The riding was good when the wind was rockin but there were definate lulls in between. I usually fly my Arcs with all the internal settings at full loose. With the periodic lack of wind I decided to try maxing out all my internal settings to see how that would offset my wax situation.

Phantom 2

The Phantom 2 is a great kite. For my tastes I pretty much prefer it over the Charger. It has a lot of the qualities of the Charger that I like but some of the aggressive tendencies of the Charger (which I like in some situations) are toned down a little bit. That said, when I max out the internals on the Phantom 2 it develops a VERY "Chargeresque" feel. Which is just what I needed to get things moving in the sticky snow.

I went from poking along and feeling a little underpowered to ripping along and getting yarded off my edge a few times. It was awesome!

N.J. and Arcs

Jim and I tracked up the field for a few hours when Mike Elliott showed up with his fiance' Nicole and her 6yr old son Nicolas (aka NJ). NJ made a snowman, Mike threw up his 15m Charger, Nicole kept an eye on everyone and shot some pix.

Soon after Mike, Nicole and NJ showed up I noticed that the weather in the mountains to the NW was changing quite a bit. And the wind we had was getting steadier and stronger with occasional punches that made me want to stay well clear of anything downwind that I could hit or get tangled up in. I figured that the nasty wind was going to be picking up and it was almost time to quit for the day so I opted to try jumping a stream and riding in an adjacent field, track it up a bit, head back and pack up.

Mike, J.C. and me. The front in the distance.

Well, things start going awry at this point. I cruise in, jump MOST of the stream (my tails landed in the water), and immediately get tangled in the unmowed grass that was hidden under the snow. It was like kiting into quicksand. All I could do was put the kite directly in the powerzone and force my way slowly through. This worked well for a few seconds until a gust it and pulled me over. Now I'm tangled up in tall grass, skis up wind of my head, trying to get the 15m to the zenith so I can compose myself in time to get out of the mess before the wind gets even meaner.

And the wind was getting meaner. I got myself squared away and up just in time to look over to the other field and witness Mike cutting his safety while getting dragged downwind into a backstop and the treeline. The kite went down on the other side of the chainlink and depowered perfectly right in the edge of the trees.

Hmmmmm, not lookin good.

Jim Cline on the other hand was upwind of both of us and had room to manuever so he was in no immediate danger. He was just rippin back and forth, leaning hard in the saddle and hauling ass. I can't believe how far Jim has come in his riding. The guy is a damn machine.

After seeing Mike's debacle I decided I was going to swap to the 12m. I got myself turned toward the launch area and muscled my way through the tall grass to the stream where this time I didn't have nearly enough speed to clear it. I jumped, made it about half way, tips went under the water and a small grassy island, one ski pre-released and in I went.

So here I am. One ski gone, the other snagged under swamp grass, laying face down in the water with the wind picking up. I can't get out of my other ski and my pit zips on my jacket are wide open (because it's about 50f now) and they are allowing the rapid filling of water into my jacket and bibs.

I'm down in a gully. I can't see the kite as I bring it down to the edge of the window but I can feel where it is and I land it sight unseen. I know it's down when the lines go slack. I manage to roll over in the water and kick my other ski off and scramble up the bank. The water pools in my boots when I stand upright. I hate that feeling.

View from gully as water fills my clothing.

Nicole and Mike have his kite under control. Jim is now getting thrashed and has landed hiw kite, I secure mine and head back to the stream to get my skis. One ski is sticking out and is easy to find. The other I had to wade in and dig out of the mud.

This is just wrong.

Snowkitng is FUN!!!!!

Notice Jim in the background rippin'.

At that point Mike and I decided to call it a day. No point in getting hurt the first day of the season. Jim launched his 8m Access and got thrashed withing seconds. He bagged it too.

So at the end of the day I was soaked to the bone with 12 miles under my belt and a top speed of 31mph. No injuries, no damaged kites or skis and first tracks in OCTOBER. Not bad!

And I gotta say it's wicked cool to be snowkiting while there are still leaves in the trees. Green leaves no less.

Hopefully this early season jaunt isn't just a tease and we get a better season than last year. The ice will start setting up soon and we'll be on the lakes before we know it. Keep your fingers crossed.

Until next time!

2011-08-19T11:54:00.001-04:00

Early Morning Mini car and Mega Bike

A while back I said that over the summer I might sneak a mountain bike installment into this blog nonsense. What does mountain biking have to do with kiting? I’m not sure to be honest, they’re really very different activities. Biking builds strength and maybe more importantly endurance. Dh’ing (downhill riding) builds a lot of muscle both in the upper body and legs. I don’t do shuttle runs or lift access riding I either pedal up or hike with the bike up on my back.

Anyway I ride bikes. I’m a better mountain biker than a kiter but I have a few more years in the saddle than I do the harness and those years have mostly been spent riding here in New England where we have of some of the most technical riding on the planet.

As the saying goes for pretty much everything that people seem to do outside in New England “I you can do it here you can do it anywhere.”

I used to live, eat and breathe mountain biking. I got my first bike when I was 16 yrs old in a dirty deal with my brother. He bought the bike from a local shop but decided it was too much work to ride or something so I got it in exchange for sweeping a parking lot. No kiddin’, SWEEPING A PARKING LOT. Since then I’ve managed to make a living with bikes and cycling. I’ve been wrenching on bikes for about 20 yrs. Built DH trails for a local bike park for a few years and worked in sales at both the shop and distributor level for the last 20+ years. I started dabbling in road biking when I started working for the company that I work for now but I’m a "dyed in the wool" dirt rider.

New England Technical

I love technical riding. Riding over terrain where there’s a high demand on braking technique, speed, weight distribution and energy management. High-level technical riding has very similar feel to a martial art sparring sessionn but instead of sparring with a person you’re sparring with the terrain and your own fear. It’s also a lesson in puzzle solving. You have to be able to look at a pile of rocks, a steep section or a burly climbing section and figure out or “read” the line. That is to recognize the best path through a section that will get you through it smoothly and successfully. Usually at speed and on the fly.

Sirius Rocking the Pumptrack

Not only do you have to ride the line successfully, without crashing or hurting yourself, you do it without leaving hardly a mark on the trail. Preserving the trail is paramount other wise it will eventually be shut down to bikes. Beater’s (unskilled jackasses) skid trails.

Obviously kiting is my newest love. My goal is to get to the riding level on the kites that I’m at with biking and I think I’m on the right track. Kiting has a much shorter learning curve. Kiting is my primary interest right now but put me on a good technical ride and kiting slides into the backseat of my heart and the bike takes the wheel.

A couple of weekends ago I had a whirlwind trifecta of riding sessions. Sort of a “Let’s see if I can do it and see how the new wrist works.” In case you don’t know I had my left wrist fused twice in the last 2yrs. I was given the “green light” to ride (my surgeon didn’t really grasp what it riding entails for me) and the first fusion failed and broke the hardware. I didn’t know and I rode (in a reserved fashion) for a season not knowing that the pain and nausea was from the failure. In simple terms the wrist was broken but I didn’t know it. I had much better range of motion than I was supposed to after the surgery so I guess that and the pain should have been a good indicator that something went wrong. Last fall I had the hardware removed, new (and more) hardware installed and after 7 months the fusion seems to be intact. So last weekend was a big test of the new repair.

Starting Friday I rode Mount Chocorua (pronounced SHA-cor-roo-ah). If the name sounds familiar it’s the big rocky peak just north of Lake Chocorua where we kite. The mountain is only about 3500’ high but when you’re starting at about 400’ above sea level it makes for a big climb. I first rode Chocorua when I was 16 with the bike I got from my brother. It was a steel, fully rigid Specialized Rock Hopper Comp and it was AWESOME. Why did I take it up Chocorua? I don’t know, I guess because I figured nobody else had done it yet and I wanted to be the first. I’m seeing a trend here.

Chocorua in Winter

Chocorua isn’t a place most people would ride a bike. The National Forest Service said that they would likely never shut the trails up there down for bike use because no one in their right mind would ride there. (Again I’m seeing a trend here) The climb up is 2/3 riding and 1/3 carrying your bike on your back. This is a rough estimate depending on your skill level. I started on the East side on the Piper Trail.

On the way up I was stopped a few times to eat some blueberries and take in the view just below cloud level. In one of the valleys I could see a freshly exploded big pine that looked to be struck by lightning.

Just below the summit I got into the cloud layer. Everywhere below was sunny and warm but the summit was cold, windy and misty with light rain, conditions that suck for riding steep slabs of granite. Riding wet, steep granite, out in the middle of nowhere when you can’t see more than 40’ wouldn’t be a good move and I was getting soaked and cold so I got to the summit and got off it as fast as I could. In the thick clouds I got a little off course a couple of times but managed to get down the dome and to the Jim Liberty trail.

USGS Summit Marker.

Wet, Windy and Cold.

The ride down is a burly, nasty technical descent off the granite dome to an 8-foot wide trail of rocks, roots and drops. The round trip for what I call the Piper/Jim Liberty loop is almost exactly 15 miles. This trip took me 4.5 hours and I was hoping to get some footage of the ride but I got socked in at the summit with clouds, drizzle and high winds.

Jim Liberty Trail. It's like this for MILES!

I managed to ride the whole way down except a few short, really hard sections that I would normally hit but since I was solo and not 100% with the wrist I opted on the side of caution. On the other hand I didn’t crash once and the only mechanical issue I had was a flat tire, which was easily fixed on the trail.

I rode my new Trek Remedy and I have to say I’m very, VERY impressed with how it did. I prefer hardtails (bikes with no rear suspension) but the wrists won’t take it so now I’m on a Remedy, which has 6” of travel front and rear. I’ve been resentful of having been forced to ride a dually but in spite of the 6” dual suspension it climbs and descends as well as any bike I’ve ever owned and I’m getting to really love it. I got it in a size small (15”) because I like a short wheelbase. Think Jeep style.

2011 Trek Remedy

I heard a lot of thunder off in the distance but the forecasted storms held off until I got home. It turned out to be a perfect ride and for the first time in about 5 or 6 years I actually felt like myself again. I may not be riding like I used to but I’m still riding stuff like Chocorua and that’s a hell of a lot better than I thought I was going to fair after the surgeries. That ride really gave me the itch to be on a mountain bike again.

End of Ride. (Chocorua in the clouds)

Which brings us into Saturday. Molly decided she wanted to do a ride called “Red Neck Rock”. It’s another sort of backcountry style ride but not as technical as Chocorua. The hardest part of this ride is the climb to the height of land to start the descent to the actual “Red Neck” rock. The climb is almost straight up and about 1200’. After the ride on Chocorua I wasn’t sure I had it in me but I gave it a shot. I managed to climb almost the entire climb! I had to carry two sections due to mud but that only cut out about 200’ of the trail. There were lots of segments where you basically floated the front end about 2” off the ground and guided the bike around stuff. It was amazing! And it was slow. Molly portaged most of the climb and still beat me to the top by at least 10 or 15 minutes.

That climb was way harder than any of the notch climbs I’ve done this year on my single speed. Seriously, anyone who thinks climbing the notches around here is hard should quit whining and try climbing Middle Mountain. It’s a total bitch.

So I was psyched. I haven’t climbed that trail so well in almost 15yrs. And this was after the Chocorua “Batan Death Ride” the day before so I was really pumped. Tired but pumped. We then proceeded to ride down and found some new bootleg (illegal) trails. We call them “Rake and Rides” because they aren’t actually real, built trails but just raked paths. And people who have the worst eye for reading terrain that I’ve ever seen are building them. You can always tell when a rider with low technical skill has built a trail. Everything is just wrong.

So Molly and I spent about 4.5 hrs climbing back up to the top while exploring the new lame “Rake and Rides” (paths that have been only raked. Not properly built trail) We ate some blueberries and pedaled all over hell and creation. This was way more riding than I planned to do the day after the Chocorua climb but to my surprise I felt pretty good. Molly has had a lot less time on dirt this season than I have but she did awesome and her handling skills are coming back fast. She’s a phenomenal rider, one of the best I’ve ever seen. Not one of the best women, one of the best, period.

Molly in Kamloops B.C.. Just after a bad crash at Whistler.

This ride of course fired up my drive to be on the dirt even more.

Sunday we met up with our friend Curtis Savard over in Vermont to go ride the Kingdom Trails up in East Burke. You may recognize Curtis’ name from some of my other blog entries. He’s a professional photographer that I’ve done some work with. Don’t let his last name fool you he’s not related to Molly. Well, not directly anyway.

We had to leave the house by 5am to meet Curtis for breakfast at the Miss Lyndonville Diner. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem except for our inconsiderate, rude and disrespectful neighbors raising hell all night and well into Sunday morning. At one point someone called the cops and that quieted things down at around 1:30am but they didn’t really stop until 2:00am after I called one of them and complained.

Anyway, so we had to meet Curtis for breakfast in Lyndonville. I was in a complete daze, trying to stay awake for the drive up there but somehow we managed but I was a little concerned about how I would ride after 2 big days of riding and getting only 3hrs sleep Saturday night. (Thanks to some of our inconsiderate neighbors)

The Miss Lyndonville Diner has been our “go to” eating-place when we’re in northern Vermont ever since we were old enough to drive over there. I’m a huge fan of greasy, tasty, comfort diner food and this place delivers the goods. They have a kick ass chicken fried steak, biscuits and gravy and awesome pies. I was hungry so I ordered up the Biscuits and gravy breakfast AND the Big breakfast. I didn’t want to risk running out of steam out on the trail. If I did, with the lack of sleep on top of it, I would’ve had a short day.

The Bike Shop

The Kingdom Trails (www.kingdomtrails.com) are located in a small town called East Burke. The place is beautiful, with all the cliché beauty you’d expect to find in northern Vermont. Rolling hills covered in patches of woods punctuated by big green pastures. The nice thing about this part of the country for me is you actually get to see the sky. Here at home we’re always down in some valley filled with woods so all we usually see is the sky through the tree canopy. We don’t get that “Big Sky” sense like you do in other places, Vermont for example.

Molly and I haven’t ridden the Kingdom Trails in about 5 yrs. It was impressive then but they have really stepped up the quality of the riding there. All kinds of places like to tout that they’re the “Next Moab” or the “Mecca” of mountain biking for a given region but the Kingdom Trails seriously deliver the goods. The Kingdom Trails are more of a cross-country oriented trail network with miles of fast smooth single track to just rip on.

Floating the Kingdom Trails singletrack.

We rode after breakfast for 3.5hrs on all the sweet single-track goodness the KTA (Kingdom Trail Assoc.) had to offer. Molly rode her Soma Groove, Curtis was on a Gary Fisher 29’r that has a 21” frame, which I rode on it and looked like a 6yr old. We weren’t sure how Curtis would ride as we’d never ridden together. We were pleasantly surprised that the boy could rip.

To start off we got to ride a new trail called “Troll Stroll” which in spite of being freshly cut was a great ride. Fast and swoopy with some nice neat little features here and there to make it interesting. The thing about the Kingdom Trails is that they for the most part are smooth and fast. Great for beginners or XC racer types and thought they aren’t especially technical the technical level rises with the rider’s speed. You go faster, you have to have your wits about you to keep from crashing. After riding a ton of sweet single track we found a trail that wasn’t there last time called “Sidewinder” and the trip is worth it just for that trail. It was unlike any trail I’ve ever seen here or anywhere. Think of a giant half pipe descending through the woods. I can’t explain it. Molly described it as not so much a trail but more of a carnival ride. Seriously that’s the feel you get from it. As you enter the trail it seems very much like any other semi swoopy XC trail until you hit a berm to the left and drop into the ravine then the roller coaster ride ensues. You just let go a whoop and holler your way to the bottom.

Railing Sidewinder.

It’s a beautiful bit of trail work and a credit to the creativity of the trail builders over at the KTA.

Sidewinder

After the morning riding we stopped in East Burke for some lunch. We met up with Curtis’s friend Aaron who lives local to the Kingdom Trails and headed back out, this time with Curtis’s cameras and rode back out to “Sidewinder” to get some shots. We rode the hell out of that trail until we almost couldn’t ride anymore. We actually finished the day with a ride back on the road because I didn’t have any legs left to ride trails back to town. We had been out for another 3hrs or so. And to be honest, a ride back on a back road in Northern Vermont countryside is a hell of a treat in itself.

Map Mis-reading.

We got back to East Burke and said our goodbyes and headed back to home with a stop at Miss Lyndonville again for some food and their kick ass pie. It was a perfect way to end a perfect weekend of riding. I was psyched at how well my body held up and how well the Remedy performed. I love testing my endurance. Makes me want to see how I would fair in a 24hr race.

A lesson in Self Hate?

We'll talk about that next time.

Thanks to Curtis Savard (www.curtissavardphotography.com) for the sweet shots and the great company. Thanks to everyone else who suffers through this installment even though it's not one that covers much in the way of kiting.

I still hope you found it interesting.

Until next time......

A Successful Failure.

2011-07-25T13:51:00.002-04:00

As many of you are well aware the U.S. has been having a bit of a heat wave the last couple of weeks. It was in the Midwest roasting everyone from the Gulf Coast to the top of Minnesota (pronounced MinneSohhhta I think) and now the "Heat Dome" as the media likes to call it is apparently hanging out over my house here in New England. It was 101F in the shade (inspite of the fact that the local weather moron said it was 95f) I'm okay with it, there's nothing I can do about it and I have access to lakes and rivers to cool off in, I drive a topless Jeep Wrangler and there's a 7-11 down the street to refill my 84oz mega-gulp for around a buck. What else do I need?

Seriously, bitchin' and whining about the heat every 5 minutes only makes you and everyone around you more miserable.

So the interesting thing about this heat is I've never flown a kite in anything like it. There are some things that I didn't take into consideration, which in hindsight should have probably been fairly obvious. One thing is that an Arc really maintains air internal pressure well when its 110F in the open sun. And its pretty common knowledge that heat effects wind and weather. I know this, and my friend Mike knows this. He came down with me to see my mad ground boarding lack of skills. But neither of us gave any consideration to how the heat would be affecting the winds in a big open field.

More on that in a minute first let me tell you how my latest session went.

Well in a nutshell it went awful. Okay maybe not awful but it wasn't great. The wind was fickle as hell and this time out I decided to try my luck with the Phantom 2 15m. The kite was great but the wind just wasn't helping me out at all. It was blowing SE,SW,W,NW,N,NE and never for any serious length of time. I'd get moving and the wind would die or shift 180 degrees. It was really awesome chasing the wind constantly while standing out in that heat, NOT.

Not staged, actually moving. =)

So after about 45 minutes of repeated false starts and short runs the wind suddenly seemed to really die off for a moment. So Mike and I just sat out in the midday sun and sizzled like bacon waiting for the wind to pick up. Then we noticed something kinda funny happening in the NW corner of the field. The wind was picking up but it was seemingly blowing in every direction. Trees on the left were getting blown from the south. Trees in the center of our view were blowing away from us while trees to our right were getting wind from the north.

We were both remarking this when I felt the wind finally pick up behind me out of the north east. I launched the Phantom 2 and felt it power up slightly and I started for my board. Suddenly it powered up A LOT and the next thing I know I'm accelerating across the field. I managed two, maybe three running steps before I had to give up and slide for it. At that point Mike and I figured I was being pulled downrange between 20 and almost 30 mph.

Something very strange was happening. I worked the kite overhead to get it out of the power zone but to my surprise it didn't slow my speed hardly at all and now I was being lifted. I wasn't in any position to deal with being lofted, I pulled the safety on the chicken loop and cut the kite loose and it flagged out perfectly.

But then things got a little stranger. I've stopped the kite from pulling me into orbit and the kite is flagged out on the single line, but the kite is still flying. Not only is it flying but its maxed out the flag line and is now proceeding to fly in a big circle directly ABOVE me. The line was tensioned but just lightly pulling as the kite climbed as far as the line would let it until it was circling over head. I looked at the grass in the field and it was being blown in several directions at once. Oh, and in a rotating pattern.

Mike had stopped watching after I cut the chicken loop loose assuming that the show was over. I yelled over to him and pointed up to the hovering wing above us. Then the kite just fell out of the sky.

Mike and I were flabbergasted. Neither of us had seen or experienced anything like it in the last 10 years of kiting and couldn't believe how fast I took off and how the kite reacted after using my safety. After seeing the wind's effect on the ground things started to make a lot more sense. we got hit by some sort of vortex. Likely thermal induced or enhanced by the high amount of heat coming off the soccer field. Think "Dust Devil" without the dust.

At ground level, the activity in the trees should have been a clear sign of what was going on. The trees we were looking at weren't right next to each other some were closer than others and from above it would have been clear what was going on.

Bird's eye of wind direction before I launched.

I imagine that what hit us was akin to one of those types of dust devils you see out in big cornfields or out in the desert. The kind of devils that are about 40m wide and 300' tall. We get snow devils in the winter but they are much smaller and when you hit them there's nothing inside. The kite will die and immediately power up again after you've passed through.

This was completely different. I had visions of kite surfer Erick Eck who was caught in a thermal just after landing and walking up a beach. He got lofted several hundred feet into the air and landed on a hillside. He got lucky and got out of it pretty relatively unscathed. Here's the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMZcwo9PMhg

I don’t have nearly the jumping knowledge to be able to come out of that sort of situation in one piece. Maybe I’d figure it out but I don’t want to find out. Mike asked me how high I thought the updraft would take me.

Higher than I’d want to be I figure.

So as a ground boarding session the day was a failure. I was all set to install my bindings and give that a shot but we never got to that point. On the positive side we witnessed something that we’ve never seen before and I came out of it without injury and with all my fingers and toes. I’ll admit it got my adrenaline flowing a bit and I probably said “That was F&#*ing amazing!!!” about 100 times in about five minutes. I don’t get adrenaline rush much these days so for me this really was exciting.

I’m glad I lived it but I don’t want to try it again. I’ll wait for the cooler air to try getting back out on the board again. For the heat I think I'll paddle a bit.

Fun Hawg rig.

Until next time…

Third Learning Session and Paydirt!

2011-07-18T20:55:00.003-04:00

Okay so this last session went pretty damn well. (I think) I didn't get hurt, I had a ball and a learned some pretty important stuff (again, I THINK).

The wind was better this time around. Still kinda flaky but not bad and mostly in the same direction. It was lighter than the last time I went out with Molly and it was so punchy and strong I couldn't get on the damn board. My theory after that was big kite, light wind was the route. To improve my chances of getting moving I swapped out to some 9" wheels I had kicking around.

I decided to use the 19m Charger and tuned it down to steer a little slower. Much like the first time I tried this I powered up, jumped on and took off across the field with hardly a thought. This was followed by about 30 minutes of multiple failed and frustrating attempts. That's okay, I have a lot of patience.

After a while I got back on and flew back across the field. For me the ground board thing is a lot like the snowkite thing in the sense that after an infuriating string of failures you immediately forget about the failures as soon as you get moving again. The frustration just vanishes. Awesome.

Eventually I got long string of really good runs back and forth across the field. I gotta say it really is awesome. It's kinda like when I picked up Tele-skiing. It makes an area the I'm very familiar with, almost bored with, new again. A few runs I got lofted and ended up doing a few small 10 footers. Since I'm still just riding the board with grip tape and my 5.10s (http://fiveten.com/) every time I launched I left the board behind. The first time was a little unnerving but it's a lot better to lauch in motion that just static flying and comming down is a lot better. I just slide in like a skate crash, get up, walk back and get on the board.

After a while my starts got more consistent. I really had to focus on getting my weight back and low, power up, feel the board slide a little bit down wind until it hooked up and then I was off. It feels great! I can imagine that when you have it dialed that you can get really agressive with the starts.

I got the transitions (switching direction) from right to left down pretty good. Gotta work on cosistency but consistent wind would really help too. At one point I did a big sweeping tunr and came back across the field riding toe side. THAT WAS FREAKIN' AWESOME!!!! Then the wind let up just the slightest amount and I lost my balance and had to bail. But the turn and the ride up to that point were great. I never got another good pull like that the rest of the afternoon. But I'm looking forward to getting that again.

I had one "fast" run. And by "fast" I mean maybe 20mph. 20 isn't fast in the big scheme but when you're learning its plenty fast enough. So here I was humming along, heading to the edge of the field and running out of room quick. 10% of my brain was thinking "Okay, how are we gonna stop this thing?" while 80% was thinking "WOOO HOOO GO! GO! GO!". The other 10% was wonder "Hmmm, what's that buzzing sound?" Then I adjusted my front foot just slightly and heard a loud "BRAAAP!" followed but a sudden ejection off a suddenly stopped mountain board.

I apparently stepped on one of the front wheels. That buzzing sound was my shoe just grazing the tire tread.

I layed there for about 5 minutes laughing my ass off. I guess that stuff doesn't happen with the bindings on. Oh well, it was awesome up to that point and it solved my stopping dilema. I got up without injury. Grass is nicer to slap than ice. I didn't hit my head which is good as I already wrecked a helmet Saturday in a roadbike crash and I didn't want to have to pony up the cash for two new helmets.

I don't know why people don't wear helmets.

Anyway, I flew for a couple hours, rode for a couple minutes (hehehe). I learned a lot and now I'm thinking about hitting the coast where the wind is better and see how much I can progress with just haveing to deal with getting my board skills down.
Until next time.....

Hmmmmm, That Was Different.

2011-07-08T21:57:00.000-04:00

I'm going to make this short and sweet.

I finally got a chance to get the new mountain board out with a kite last night. There was pretty good wind blowing all day but I didn't get out till late and of course as soon as I threw a kite in the air the wind died out.

I managed to get a couple of good little runs. No turns, no airs, just trying to get the board rolling and powered by the kite. The grass was a little tall and the surface was uneven but I did get it moving in spite of the lack of wind and the rolling resistance.

I had to wait until the wind would spool up. Then I'd launch the kite, climb onto the board, loop th kite into the power zone annnnnnd "TA DAAAAA!" I was moving. I was moving and it was actually pretty damn cool.

I needed more wind. Tomorrow it's supposed to blow so maybe I'll get a shot at it again.

I can't wait!

A Cure for Boardom.

2011-07-05T21:48:00.001-04:00

A board. A mountain board to be exact. Picked it up today and played around with it tonight. The plan was to try it with a kite but the wind sucked so I was reduced to playing in the streets and on the trails behind the house.

I gotta say, boards have come a long way since '97. I can't believe how nice it is to ride. Really I did'nt think I'd consider riding it on a trail but after tonight I actually started thinking of the local mountain bike trails that would work well with this thing. Who knew?

I will say I took the bindings off. For now I don't need any hassle bailing off it. I was able to bail off with the bindings but I'm not airing out so I don't need to be locked in. Honestly I think if I ride it with my 5.10's it will feel almost as good as a binding if how they grip flatty pedals is any indication.

I played with the suspension a bit, suprisingly sensitive to adjustment.

I feel pretty good on it. It doesn't feel completely alien for sure and almost comfortable which I found odd since I don't snowboard, kitesurf, or skateboard. I can almost pump the board, goes great over all kinds of stuff (super smooth) and at this moment I have no skill at making the damn thing stop. We'll cross that bridge when we crash into it.

Thinking about taking it to the pump track. I don't know a damn thing about riding these things but I didn't know anything about flying kites when I got my first one. That seems to have worked out ok.

I can't wait for some wind.

Low Speed, Long Distance and a Blue Goose. Racing The Mille Lacs Snowkite Crossing.

2011-03-14T09:41:00.008-04:00

Snow kiting in New England is a bit of a “Love/Hate” thing for me. On one hand we have several options for places to ride and most of them are only 10-20 minutes away, which allows us to pick and choose our riding areas based on wind and surface conditions. So, we get a lot of sessions in. When you live in the mountains one lake may be dead calm but a 5minute drive to the next one and you have wind and having that kind of ready access leaves you a bit spoiled and unmotivated to travel very far to ride. That is the “Love” part. On the other hand our wind is often punchy, mean and in every direction at once or it’s the definition of “light and variable”. Yup, “Hate” right there.

The shifty/punchy makes for pretty hard flying some days but it’s better than no wind at all and I think it makes us better kiters.

We’re also isolated. We have tons of riding but very few snow kiters here (see “Love”) and little access to events without a lot of driving. Kitestorm is the closest kite event and it’s 3 hours away. As one of the few Peter Lynn Team snowkiters I really want to show what Peter Lynn kites can do and a great way to do that is to ride them in new locations with other riders who don’t get a chance to see an Arc in action. But beyond Kitestorm the only other venues are WISSA Events way up in Quebec (mmmm poutine) and the Mille Lacs Crossing in Garrison Minnesota. The Mille Lacs event appeals to me because it’s a timed endurance race. That, and Joe Levins, the first guy in the Stormboarding Speed Ranking to break 70mph on a kite, has been known (so I’m told) to kick ass in it. I have to say I really like the idea of endurance racing

Less B.S., more riding.

I’ve wanted to see what the Mille Lacs Kite Crossing was all about for some time. Lake Mille Lacs is pretty impressive and happens to also be the home turf of fellow Peter Lynn Team snowkiter Aaron “Rude Boy” Saude. Mille Lacs Crossing was one of my goals in what has turned out to be a less than stellar snowkite season. The weather has been about as sucky as sucky gets for kiting here. I coordinated with Aaron and before I knew it I was on a flight to Minnesota.

I used to love flying. But this nonsense half assed security, post 9/11 has pretty much killed it for me. To quote the great William Shatner “I hate flying, flat out hate its guts”. I’m pretty much right there with ya Billy. Travel on a plane with gear is a not a new thing for me but traveling with kite gear is a little different. I’ve been flying for years with bikes and all the gear that goes with riding bikes at a certain level and I was hoping this was going to be easier. I always ended up carrying my helmet on the plane with me when traveling with a bike. Hauling kite stuff turns out to be almost as big a pain in the ass as the bike thing. Imagine bringing everything you need for a ski trip. Then add 3 kites (Aaron had kites on site), protective gear, harness etc. and it turns into a decent project to get it all packed up. Fortunately Southwest doesn’t charge for ski equipment and 2 checked bags. I got everything in a ski bag and backpack but still managed to end up with a helmet with me on the plane. People look at you a little uneasy when you get on the plane with a full- face helmet.

Maybe it would be better if I weren’t wearing it the whole flight. Oh well, safety first.

Friday I flew into Minneapolis and was met at the airport by kiter Seth Downs. From the airport we proceeded to a tiny apartment in a seedy part of Minneapolis that he shares with his girlfriend Thea, a blond twenty something who tends bar in Minneapolis, a Tibetan Bar no less. I asked if it was full of Tibetans. I was told that it’s usually full of Somalis. Huh, who knew? Does that make it a “Tomali” bar? We got to the apartment and parked where we had a clear view of Seth’s rig incase someone messed tried to break into it and snag our gear. Apparently we weren’t in the “garden spot” of Minneapolis. I met Thea’s dog Helly who is apparently half pug and half Boston terrier but was described by Seth described as a pug/Boston terrier/pig/snake/rodent/ and a bunch of other unflattering things.

At least I think he was describing Helly. If he was describing Thea she’s going to kick his ass when she reads this. Sorry Seth. Helly is awesome. We shoe horned all our gear into Seth’s rig and headed to doggie day care to get Helly a room for the weekend and continued up to Garrison

We got to Mille Lacs late in the afternoon and when I got first sight of it I was not disappointed, the lake is huge. We have some big lakes where we live but they all have islands all over them so they don’t seem so vast. Mille Lacs is just empty-empty and huge. The lake is big enough that from the Southeast end of the lake I was unable to see the other side. Of course the whole drive up we saw wind and I was already “chomping at the bit” before we got to the lake and now that I see the lake I’m really getting fired up. We continue around to the west shore and I see kites.

Yeah, at this point I’m losing control.

We arrive at a log “cabin” right on the shore that has been rented out by Aaron’s and a few of his friends. I say cabin but this place is really just a ridiculously large log house. The room that Seth, Thea and I shared had it’s own kitchen for crying out loud. I can’t wait to get in my gear on and get out on the ice. Aaron and Jeremy are already out there riding. I want to get a feel for the surface and the wind before the race the next day.

Impulsively I open the door to the house without knocking. Danyelle, Jeremy’s wife and smarter half, was sitting on the living room floor with their daughters Julia “I can Take Brock any day of the week” and Lauren. She’s a little taken aback when this jackass from New Hampshire just walks in without even a knock. (Sorry Danyelle) I explain that I’m a guest of Aaron’s and she seemed a bit more at ease.

Aaron and I had been talking about what kites to bring and what kites he had on site. We discussed my second place finish at Kitestorm and we didn’t want to repeat that. The wind reports for the weekend were not great so we decided he should bring his 24m Peter Lynn Synergy just incase the wind was light like Kitestorm.

I got my gear on and met up with Aaron. The wind was blowing 18-20mph with some higher gusts. I decided I would try the 24m and try to get a feel for it before I had to race it. The wind was on the high end of what Aaron thought the kite would be useful for (he bought it to pull his Peter Lynn catamaran AKA, Kite Cat) but I figured I needed to know how high a wind I could handle with it. I was concerned that I could be over powered if the weather reports were wrong and I didn’t want to find that out in the middle of a race if the wind speed increased.

We launched the 24m just as Aaron’s family showed up. He went in to visit and I took off across the lake. I noticed a few things immediately. The wind was punchy, I was heavily over powered and I brought the wrong skis for the surface conditions.

Punchy wind, okay no biggie I can deal with that. Being overpowered, not a problem, I like being on the OP side of things and the Syn has a ton of depower. Half trimmed and I could muscle the kite where I needed.

The skis, well there wasn’t a whole lot I can do about that but just deal with it. The Rossi Phantom is a hell of a versatile kite ski but the conditions were ice/wind slab 40/60. I would crank on the slab and even with my edges razor sharp the powder ski side of the Phantom showed through on the ice patches. I just had to make it work.

Getting a feel for 24m of Syn.

I flew around for a while in front of the house just getting a feel for the kite. The big girl was awesome and after a few minutes I decided to fly upwind to the staging area of the event where some other kiters were flying. When I got there I noticed a blue and white Ozone Manta cooking along at a good clip, heading the same direction I was and looking like he was going to overtake me. I couldn’t believe he was catching me until I realized that I had the Syn partially trimmed.

So I let the trim off and pinned it.

I met guy on the Ozone later. His name is Mike, stout guy in his 40’s (I would guess). When he rides he appears a lot lighter than you would imagine. Good kiter and like pretty much everyone I ran into on this trip, a wicked nice guy. I rode until sunset and once the sun went down you could really get a sense of the size of the lake. Small lights on the other side glittered like little stars and vehicles on the lake seemed like satellites passing slowly by. All I wanted to do was pick a “star” and head for it. Just to see what was on the other end but it was getting late and I needed to save my legs for race day.

Once I was back at the house I got to meet everyone, get unpacked and grab a little grub. Later we went down to one of the local bars for the registration. I signed up, got my number (#03) and headed back to the house, tired and a little concerned about the potential light wind for the race day.

Saturday.

I woke up to beaming sunlight and to my surprise blowing wind. Blowing a fair amount actually, maybe enough that I could ride the 19m Charger I thought. We ate breakfast and made our way out to the Mille Lacs Kite Crossing staging area. The lake has a network of ice roads on it and the staging area was on one that came right out of Garrison. There were quite a few vehicles out there already when we arrived. It was a beautiful sunny day and the wind was blowing steady.

When we rolled onto the ice one thing became immediately clear. This was an inflato-fest. There were more Slingshots here than I’ve ever seen in my life. There were a few Ozone foils but mostly LEIs (Leading Edge Inflatable aka Water Kite). Apparently I was going to have the only Peter Lynn in the air. I was a Peter Lynn riding pilgrim in an unholy LEI land. I had no idea how this was going to turn out. I took out the Charger 19m and flew for a few minutes. I had power but I was on the verge of not having enough. Time to bust out the big girl!

Aaron helped me get set up and launch the 24m Syn. I got out on it, checked out what other riders were riding and got a feel for how things were. The Syn had me a little overpowered. I could handle it but it was at the brink of being too much and I didn’t know what the wind out in the middle of the lake was like. I rode it for a while to get an overall feel and scope out potential competition. I noticed two riders immediately. One was on a Slingshot Turbine 17m, Slingshot’s light wind rig. The rider was on skis and ripping around with a fair amount of speed. The other was a huge Cabrinha Crossbow. I was told that the rider of that kite has owned the crossing when the winds were light. With the current winds I felt I still had a chance but it was going to be tight.

But instead of starting the race while there was wind the race didn’t start until just after noon and just before noon, yes you guessed it, the wind went to complete and utter dog doo.

The wind was so light I could hardly keep the 24m Syn in the air. Of course at the same time I’m still watching that guy on the 17m Turbine rip around like it’s his job. What a kick in the junk. Aaron and I were not feeling good about my chances now and it’s looking like this was going to be another “bringing a knife to a gunfight” deal. I was really starting to think I was totally boned. It was looking like the Turbine and the Crossbow were going to be the top dogs in this race and that I would have to struggle just to keep the Syn in the air.

I wasn’t looking forward to skating with kite in tow for 28 miles. Worse, I didn’t want to let myself down or my friends or my sponsors. I had resigned myself to the thought that I might not win but I would push myself to collapse trying. Anyone who knows me knows how I operate. If I want something, I kill myself to get it.

We had the racers meeting and went over the rules, the course and how everything works. Figure 8-style course, which means crossing paths with other kiters heading in opposite directions. If there was wind I thought this might be interesting but since I’m going to be skating and dragging my kite behind me I guess I’ll be safe. Actually after the racer meeting the wind had all but died. They race officials even decided to cancel the race but of course as soon as they cancelled the wind came back and they decided to go for it.

The race was on and now it’s started.

I watched the line of racers head out as I tried to get my kite to stay in the air. One thing that was interesting was the manner in which they started us. It’s not a mass start instead we all have to pass through a “Start Box” which means we go one after the other and the timing starts then. It sounds a little sketchy but it worked amazingly well.

The flag at the start line was actually moving and I thought maybe as I got further out there would be wind. I passed through the start box and grabbed some of that wind that was making the start flags flutter. My hope grew as I built speed following the kiters that left before me and I thought that at the very least I would be able to finish the race with my kite in the air.

Yeah, those hopes took a kick to the “groinal region” when I ran into what awaited me just after I left the start area.

You know those scenes in movies after a battle or explosion when they have dead and wounded lying all over the place, moaning. People screaming “Mediiiiic!!!”? Yeah, welcome to the start of the 2011 Mille Lacs Crossing because that kind of scene is what I ran into after I left the start box. That wind at the start, WAS ONLY AT THE START. A bunch of kites left before me immediately fell out of the sky like moths killed by a bug zapper. Dead kites and riders scattered across the ice, everywhere. I’m still in the air and I’m skating to maintain my apparent wind but I have to slowly tip toe through the dead and down and as I watch the leaders pulling away.

But, they look powered. At least compared to these poor bastards that are dead in the water. I figure if I can get out to the broads I might get some wind and make some distance.

I pick my way through the “dead and down” and manage to grab just the slightest puff. Enough to build a little speed and get the kite to build more apparent wind. I know, I keep saying “Apparent Wind”. Here’s a quick explanation for non-kiters. Apparent Wind is airflow over the wing as the wing is in forward motion. When combined with the actual wind the kite can generate more power than if it is stationary and flying in the actual wind only. Does that make sense? How about, if there is no wind, and you run forward and feel wind in your face, that’s apparent wind. So if you have a little wind and you run forward it feels like more wind. That’s how it works with the kite. I think?

Anyway, the 24m Synergy I flew at Mille Lacs has the ability to KICK ASS on apparent wind. If I can keep it moving it will keep pulling. The biggest potential for a problem is when I have to turn the kite around. I have to nearly stop moving to make the turn and the kite will very likely fall out of the sky. Then I have to wrestle with it to get it back into the air and the people I’m ahead of while I’m doing this can gain a lot of ground.

http://www.reconinstruments.com/

So as I said I got through the carnage and now I feel like I’m actually in the race. I have it in my mind that I need to maintain a speed between 18 and 22 mph. I won’t get into the details of why I came up with this speed but let’s just say I used a Joe Levins run as a baseline. Anyway I use my Transcend GPS goggle like I would a cycling computer to make sure I maintain that range. If I started to drop down to 18mph I would work the kite and skis to maintain speed. If I got into the 20mph range I would lock the kite in position, cruise and regain some strength. This race was only supposed to be 24 miles. On a good day we’ll fly 100 miles so I figured I could just push hard and skate the whole race if I had to. There was a lot of skating, I mean A LOT of skating. More than once I found myself yelling to the kite that it didn’t have to pull me, just stay in the air while I skated. Damn I hate flying in low wind.

The first kiter I came across after the "battlefield scene" was Todd Hanson. Todd is the maker of the Switchblade, a bolt on blade for snowboards to allow them to ride hard ice. It works amazingly well. I met Todd the night before and he seems a really nice guy.

The next kite I saw was an Ozone inflatable followed by some kind of brown LEI. I don’t know who the rider was on the Ozone but he was working that kite pretty well to get some pull out of it. As I approached the Ozone I realized the large brown LEI had already passed him. It still looked like it was behind the Ozone, an illusion caused by the ridiculous size of the kite. Turned out to be a 21m Machine flown by Eric Oppen.

I passed the Ozone and closed on Eric and his Machine. Just as I was lined up to pass Eric brought his kite down to block my pass. I thought “You bastard, that-is-awesome!” This is starting to get fun now. I have three options. If I go up wind of him I’ll slow down too much to pass in a reasonable amount of time. If I stay on my current path I’ll pass him steady but I have to get my kite around him somehow. I could go downwind a bit to get around him but I would have to go off my line (off course) too much and have to make it up later to get around the marker.

I opt to hold my line and continue closing with a slight upwind drift towards Eric. My plan is to get close to him and under pass, which is squeeze below his blocking kite and lines. We fly close a lot at home. Close enough to punch each other or grab each other’s bars and nonsense like that. This won’t be that tight but if I mess up we’ll both be dead in the water.

I cozy up to Eric and then get a little closer. I’m close enough that I have to turn my head sideways to duck under the leader lines on his bar. The Syn, rock steady and smooth, slides just about a foot below the big brown Machine. I cruise by slowly, get clear and start working the big Syn and pull away. Wicked fun!

Cozy

The last person I had to catch was the lead kiter Peter Hill. And he was the guy on the Slingshot Turbine that was ripping around earlier. He was the leader and I figured, as it’s a timed race all I have to do is keep up with him and I’ll win. But I’m a little greedy and couldn’t be happy with that. There was someone in front of me and I wanted to pass him.

I almost had Peter at the marker. But of course as I approached the marker the already light wind was getting lighter, a lot lighter. About the same as the wind out the start area but this was worse because I have to turn the kite, which will make it want to fall out of the sky. Eric Oppen is still a long way behind me as I get to the turn. Peter is smart and down loops the Turbine and cruises around the corner. I’ screwed up and I’m too low to down loop the 24m in the light wind so I basically up loop it and fly it like I’m launching in zero wind.

I creep around the cones and glance over my shoulder just in time to see a big brown monster of kite closing in on me. Eric made up a ton of distance while I was turning and was threatening to pass. Fortunately I don’t think he had the room to squeeze around me and his monster of a kite slowed down a lot in the turn as well.

I’m around the marker and I see Peter with his wing locked in position cruising toward the start area. I work the big Syn and get some speed built up and start pulling away from Eric to close in on Peter. After a few minutes I get close enough to pass and drop downwind a little to get a little extra speed and then work to maintain it once I pass him. Peter and I exchange greetings (the finger) and I continue on toward the finish.

Okay, we didn’t give each other the finger I just wanted to make sure you’re still awake.

So now I’m in front. Great! Awesome! Who would have thought?! Uhhhh, where the hell are we going?! I can’t see the finish area I can only see a few incoming kites. I just keep heading in the direction that Peter was in hopes that I’ll get there. I look back to make sure he’s still chasing me so I know that either I’m going the right direction or I’m leading everyone the wrong way.

One of the few powered moments on the Syn.

The ride back was better than the ride out. I knew where there was wind and where I’d have to work. I opted to work in the “windy” areas as well to make more of a gap between Peter and me. I was following the tracks we made on the way out until a snowmobile came up to lead the way.

On the way in I passed a bunch of kiters. Some had kites in the air but a lot were down on the ice. Everyone was friendly though and willing to exchange encouragement though I have to be honest I pitied the riders that were still heading out to the marker. I didn’t have much hope for them getting back in on kite power.

One guy that I passed on the way out was still dead in the water on the way back.

I finally catch sight of the finish marker. I’m doing about 20mph, Peter is nowhere in sight and I have enough speed to actually make this turn into the second lap and maintain power. I cruise around the marker, down loop and fly through the start box and make my way back out for lap #2 still dreading how much I’m going to have to work the kite but happy with how things have worked out so far.

As I get further into lap #2 away from the start area and closer to the center of the lake I can see the long line of kites making their way back to the start. I continue on a little further and find that the wind has lightened and I’m working a lot harder to keep the Syn in the air. Then I look again at the approaching kites and I can see them one by one falling out of the sky in front of me. Before I know it the line of kites in the air is quickly turning into a line of kites on the ground. The wind situation is going downhill fast and the next thing I know my kite is almost falling out of the sky. And that guy that was down when I went out and was still down on my return leg was still down on my second lap. Bummer.

Helmet Cam Race Footage.

Soon someone on a snowmobile is closing in on me. They tell me the race is being ended dearly due to lack of wind. I look back at where the start is and find myself wishing they had told me when I was there instead of out here in the middle of the Lake. I watch as Peter and Eric set their kites down at the start area.

I get the big Syn airborne and limp back to where we parked.

Talking to the gang from Koti Kites.

The wind has died and we head back to the Cabin-Majal for some grub. Aaron’s wife braved the Wal-Martians and brought in a 50 gal barrel of Utz’s Cheese balls, which must have been laced with heroine because none of us could stop eating the damn things. Really, it was messed up. I couldn’t stop. And the level in the barrel never seemed to go down. It was a “Great Barrel Of Cheese Ball Plenty” that was just bottomless. We ate these things all night and they were the first things I ate when I woke up the next day.

HEAVEN

Okay, enough about the cheese balls, I’m getting the shakes just writing about ‘em.

After the race there was a banquet at the Garrison VFW. Dinner was made at the cabin and I opted to stay put and relax. I had been at the VFW earlier with Jeremy and his friend Mike. It seems like VFW’s are the same pretty much everywhere and I gotta say there’s a certain attraction. A bunch of locals sitting around drinking beers and sharing stories, the ladies playing that game where you rip tickets and win cash. I saw one woman in the VFW when Jeremy, Mike and I were there and we stopped in briefly after supper, 3 hours later and she was still ripping tickets. She had literally buckets of ripped tickets. Get some help lady!

Anyway the VFW was awesome. We met the woman who runs the place. She moved up to Garrison after she retired. She spent 30yrs in the city doing some corporate gig. After she took the job of running the VFW she realized that it was 30yrs she wasted and that this was what made her happy. We talked about kite stuff and Garrison and the talk eventually went to fishing. When I was a kid I used to fish a little in Wisconsin with my father and I really miss it sometimes. Here I was in the Garrison Minnesota talking fishing and something about it really struck a chord in me. Felt like home.

Then I spilled Jeremy’s beer all over myself and we left. It was really nice coming back to the cabin smelling like beer.

Later that night I was lucky enough to head out for a night on the town with Emily and Danyelle over at a bar called the “Blue Goose”. The boys agreed to take care of the kids. I’m not so sure that Emily and Danyelle were too sure about that but they both deserved a little time away and went for it. The post Mille Lacs Dinner Ho-Down was to be held at the Blue Goose and eventually kiters started filling up the place. The bar was big, the band was to our surprise, actually really good. There was a good mix of locals and kiters and it was great just people watching, having a drink with two of coolest women in the joint.

On Sunday the event was pretty much done. A figure eight short track course was set up but I wasn’t interested in another light wind race. I opted to just ride for a while until the wind let up. I just wanted to spend more time with that 24m Syn to be honest. Man what a ride! Snow squalls started rolling in and I kept heading out into the walls of white and cruising the big lake in low visibility conditions. I always stayed just barely in sight of the north shore to find my way back. Ran into some kid rippin around on a pair of twin tips doing speed runs back and forth near me. Turned out to be Eric Oppen. Came up and introduced himself and we had a good chuckle about the race.

Nice guy and a great rider from what I saw.

Working the 12m proto in Sunday's light winds.

I love that sense of desolation. I was never more than a few miles from the race area but it felt like I was in the middle of nowhere.

Around early afternoon we had the post race awards and then headed to Aaron and Emily’s home in Sandstone. I got to hang out for a while, eat all kinds of awesome stuff that Emily whipped up, and watch Cora and Brock do their thing.

Saude’s, you guys are great and I really appreciate your hospitality. And thanks for the photos in this blog installment Arron.

Monday morning Arron drove me to the airport with a quick stop at the “Pump and Munch” to grab Molly a T-Shirt. (I didn’t see the “Kum ‘n Go” or I would have grabbed a shirt there too.) I caught my flight and managed to get to Manchester early but Southworst lost my ski/kite bag. Never made it on the plane in Minneapolis. I guess you get what you pay for with those baggage fees. I’m just glad they didn’t lose my stuff on the way out.

I got it eventually so no worries, things happen.

So at the end of it all the Mille Lacs Crossing was a great experience. The race itself was fun but meeting everyone and the whole human element and getting out of my normal groove/rut really made the trip worthwhile. Maybe I'll get the chance to hit it again next year.

Maybe I’ll see more Peter Lynns in the air next time.

Low Speed and High Tech Pt.2

2011-03-10T08:24:00.005-05:00

Kitestorm 2010 by Susan Staples

Peter Lynns are phenomenal kites. Admittedly there’s a little learning curve when it comes to flying them but I challenge you to find anything that has such fine flight qualities. A lot of people like to spout off about how great their “XYZ” kite is compared to a Peter Lynn but usually when you ask them you find they’ve never flown one, only flown one briefly or only seen someone with minimal kiting skill fly one.

At the same time people think I lack objectivity because I’m a Peter Lynn team member. My response to this is I ride for Peter Lynn because I ride arcs, I don’t ride arcs because I ride for Peter Lynn. Peter Lynns became my kites of choice well before I was asked to join the Peter Lynn team. I really believe they’re the most underrated performance kites out there and I really think the current incarnation, the Charger, in the right hands, can go head to head with anything.

At least on snow I’ve found this to be the case.

Moore Rez.

But with all the great flying qualities, gust absorption, speed, lift, auto-zenith (the ability to hover overhead, without pilot control, with very little power. Handy in a crash) and huge depower there is one category that Peter Lynn Arc kites are not stellar performers.

Low wind.

They aren’t known for low wind ability. With some technique, awareness and muscle you can squeeze a little more low wind performance out of an Arc but not what you would see in a 19 Flysurfer Silver Arrow. The Silver Arrow seems to be the standard by which most low wind kite ability is compared.

One of the caveats of producing a light wind kite is there is a tipping point where the efficiency of the big wing is wiped out by the weight of the amount of fabric needed to produce a big kite. Often what happens is you don’t end up with a light wind kite but more of a “fat kid’s” kite. A kite that a “Clydesdale” size kiter can use in normal winds.

My fat butt just gets me into that “Clydesdale” category.

Mike and Big Blue

This being said there are anomalies in the Peter Lynn lineage. Last fall I went up to Minnesota to visit Peter Lynn Team Rider Aaron Saude, and did a “dirty kite deal” in giving him my 8m Venom 2 for a few odd ball kites that he had acquired. One was a big blue prototype, another a long thin 16m F-Arc prototype and a 12m F-Arc. Peter Lynn has produced some big 24m Arcs not so much for light wind as for use for sailing Kitecats. As the name implies, they’re kite-powered catamarans. Usually the largest recent production kite size in the Peter Lynn line up is 19m. There are larger special offerings but most people buy the 19m if they want a big Arc.

We own a 19m Flysurfer Psycho 4 Silver Arrow and it is awesome in light wind. Most people go for the Flysurfer Speed SA but the Psycho is a faster turner and a little more fun to throw around in my opinion so we went that route.

Big Blue and my 19m Charger

As I mention in the December post (about 10000 yrs ago) Molly and I were messing around to determine the light wind ability of the 24m Big Blue and the 16m F-Arc that I got in the dirty kite deal with the Saude. This is what we’ve found.

On clean ice with the least amount of resistance Big Blue seems to actually have the edge on our Psycho 4 19m. Big Blue builds a lot of apparent wind and flies as stable as any Arc I’ve ever flown. On the day we were testing Molly actually had to sine the Psycho while I just put Big Blue on edge and cruised. Sure I was bolt upright and only going about 12mph but if I had the room I could have cruised, without my hands on the kite, for hours. It was amazing and I was really excited about Big Blue’s performance. It’s a great kite but it has limitations, which I’ll go into later.

Then there’s the F-Arc 1600 (16m). I’ve heard all kinds of rumors and horror stories about these kites. For one thing they’re fairly high aspect ratio (meaning thin and long), which makes them extremely efficient but also very difficult to manage if things aren’t absolutely perfect. In the air it’s extremely stable. Turns surprisingly fast on my large Navi bar and when you jump it the glide is, for lack of a better word, retarded. It jumps and glides like the Psycho 19m SA.

F-Arc 12m (red) 16m (orange)

The most stunning thing I found about this wing is the high AR (The A/R of the F is 7. The new Speed 3 SA by Flysurfer is 6) is the kite’s ability to go damn near straight up wind. The Charger goes upwind great but the F-Arc is unreal. Mike and I rode Umbagog a few weeks back and he put on almost 10 more miles than I did for the day because he had to tack while I went straight up wind. I tacked once on the way up and once on the way back because I had to give my edging leg a break. It was sick and I felt like a damn rock star on that kite.

Upwind tracks of F-Arc 16m

In the few times I’ve ridden it with Paul Morse and the other Flysurfer riders and their Speed 3 15m SA the F-Arcs have proven to be almost unbeatable. The key word here is ALMOST.

First test flight on 12m

The F-Arc has a very interesting wind range. It’s great until you get to the upper end then it becomes unmanageable. On the low end (we’re talking really low) it will smoke a FS Speed 3 SA 15m upwind but on the cross wind it falls way short and downwind it damn near falls out of the sky all a result of the high A/R.

In the races at this year's Kitestorm we had another miserable low wind situation, even worse than last year if you can believe it. I decided to use this as an opportunity to put the F-Arc, Big Blue and the Charger 19m up against the FS Speed 3 SA 15m in real world conditions. I learned a lot in the process and even though I didn’t take 1st place this year and Paul Morse beat me with the Speed 3 I really appreciate the learning experience.

Each kite had it’s own advantages and disadvantages. The F-Arc allowed me to go to the upwind marker in two tacks while Morse had to do at least 4. In the first heat there was some confusion and the only person to start was Paul. He had about a 15 second head start on everyone and I still smoked him to the first marker. But there was almost zero wind and the snow was deep and it proved too much for the F-Arc. He caught me on the downwind leg and dusted me on the crosswind. It was a brutal crawl to 2nd place.

Next I tried the Charger 19m. Pretty good off the line, and close to the Speed 3’s upwind but in the deep snow I was out gunned on the downwind and the crosswind again. It was a closer finish than on the F-Arc. What it lacked in low end I was able to make up with turn rate and sinning but in the deeper snow and less wind this year I still couldn’t keep up with Paul with his bigger kite and lighter build.

If I had 5mph more wind maybe it would have been a different story.

Big Blue test flight

I recently took Big Blue out in some moderate winds and found myself easily overpowered. She has a lot of trim but once trimmed the steering all but disappears and you’re almost better off just keeping the kite directly overhead and skimming the surface. At least then if there’s a lull you can make use of some steering action. She’s a great kite but with limitations.

So what have I learned about the light wind capabilities of all these kites? I’ve learned that the F-Arc and Big Blue have pretty limited wind ranges. They both have amazing low end and worthwhile qualities but still fall short of matching the versatility of the Charger. Given that the F-arc is nearly 12yrs old and Big Blue is at least 9yrs old I guess that shouldn’t be a surprise.

They’re still a hell of a lot of fun to fly.

Stay tuned for my entry on the Girlstorm and Kitestorm events, my 70mph Sebago session and The Mille Lacs Snowkite Crossing.

Low Speed and High Tech Pt 1.5.

2011-03-01T08:12:00.002-05:00

On Champlain.
by Curtis Savard
http://www.curtissavard.blogspot.com/

Is two months too long between blog entries? Yeah, yeah, I know last year I was a little more on top of things blog wise. What can I say? This has not been the best kite season and as a result I just haven’t been feeling my “Kite blog muse”. Really, this season has sucked on a level of suckness that I have never seen. If my first kite season had been like this I probably wouldn’t have stuck with it.

To write about the frustration of what this season has been for us here in northern New England would have totally cost my blog it’s PG rating. There’s no way I could have described the weekly events and crappy sessions without dropping F-bombs like a squadron of B-52s. And since I found out just recently that our friend and local Bridgton Flysurfer disciple Paul Morse’s mother reads my blog I’m really glad I didn’t go off the deep end and write a slew of distasteful entries.

My first magazine interview.

But the season seems to have turned a corner. Finally! If anyone recalls from my last blog entry (those many years ago) we had a bit of a slush issue on our lakes. Until about a week ago we were still dealing with slush. This has been a season of slush, deep snow, DEATH CRUST (if you don’t know what death crust is, it’s exactly what it sounds like), and almost no wind.

Charger Ad on inside cover.

Shot by Curtis Savard.

Poor Molly didn’t get a real session in until just almost two weeks ago.

I haven’t been taking pictures because frankly there wasn’t anything shot worthy. I have been riding with my Drift helmet cam and getting footage with that. So the next few blog entries will have some video and I will pull some low rez stills from some of the footage for illustration purposes.

We just attended Kitestorm and after several people (rightly so) harassed me about my lack of blog action I’m feeling a little motivation to get moving on this and get at least a few blog entries in before the season ends. Up until recently there just hasn’t been anything I could write about without really getting worked up about how lame the season had turned out to be.

Second interview this season.

But the last few weeks have turned around. We went to Kitestorm, I managed 70mph on Sebago Lake, I had a bad crash at 50mph on Sebago Lake, Molly did an 85mile distance session, etc. I have material now.

Molly's photos have been published in both mags.

So here we go. I’m working on Pt. 2 of “Low Speed and High Tech” right now and I hope to have it up before this weekend when I head out to Minnesota for the Mille Lacs Snow kite Crossing.

Stay tuned….

Low Speed and High Tech Pt.1.

2010-12-24T22:17:00.005-05:00

Alright, so I've fallen miserably short of my goals for getting a blog entry in for each week in November. I was all hot and bothered but some distractions popped up and I had to prioritize a little. I had resigned myself to the fact that I would have to do short blog entries to meet my goal and in my defense I started several but as anyone who ha ever read this nonsense knows I prefer to drone on forever. Short and sweet is not my way. Save that sort of writing for the damn Twitter stuff.

I have a Twitter acct. by the way and I have yet to do a tweet. I just haven't seen the point yet I guess. I mean who gives a crap if "I just walked the dog!" or "I just bought new socks on sale!" or "I just had a prostate exam!". Really, doe's anyone need to know or even care. Maybe my assessment is a little broad and superficial but when I hear that Kim Kardashian has over 5 million twitter followers I find it a little annoying.

If she contributed in a positive way to the betterment of our society I wouldn't have a problem with it but I can, with a high level of confidence, assume that most everything she tweets is superficial, materialistic crap. Especially since it has nothing to do with snowkiting.

Moving on....

Beautiful and Deadly

So we've been a little behind our usual start period for riding here in New England. Even when we didn't have ice we usually have a few places to ride on land but one of the key ingredients in snowkiting is missing. That would be the snow. We've had great wind but no snow and until recently no ice. The weather just hasn't cooperated. Things were looking promising a few weeks ago for Umbagog. I drove up to check it out and it was about 3 inches thick but with a thin snow layer. It was only about an inch deep but enough to cause a real problem.

CRAAAAACK!!!

Ice obviously needs cold to form. The water needs to be cold and the air needs to be cold. But when the ice forms on the surface and the water isn't down to it's optimal temp and you get a layer of snow on top, bad things happen. The snow layer protects the ice from the freezing air while the water at the same time melts the ice slowly from below. This is the deal with Umby. It's had ice on it for weeks but you can't go out on it. It looks beautiful but the risk factor is too great.

For a few weeks we've been watching Umby. Mike and I went up last week to check and it was messed up worse. It has the "Slush Sandwich" effect going where it's a layer of ice with slush/water then another layer of thin ice covered in snow. Really unstable an almost impossible to freeze in any reasonable amount of time. This is the result of rain on the ice and snow that we saw 2 weeks before. Bummer.

Slush

Mike and I checked further north to the Connecticut Lakes. All three lakes were in the same state. Also they appeared o have lowerd the water level so that makes the ice even more dangerous. We drove around and checked all three lakes and decided that i would be another week before they would even be close. It's been a week but it hasn't been cold. I'm not heading up there for at least a month.

Fortunately good ol' shallow, Lake Chocorua has frozen up nice. 4-5 inches of black ice. Good for speed runs if the wind is right. Unfortunately the winds on Chocorua are, even by my loose standards, usually a complete mess. It's a small lake, gets a lot of wind and is up tight to Mount Chocorua. Wind reports mean very little when it comes to riding Choco. It is one of the hardest places I've ever flown a kite. But it's also one of the best when its good.

Chocorua early season

We've been flying Choco for the last few days and it's been a wild ride. One day the winds were super punchy and shifty. Wind range was 2-26mph. No joke, you were either dead still or completely lit. For my first day of the season I usually prefer mellower conditions. I actually flew my 12m Charger because I opted to be more cautious and not be completely over powered on the 15m. After a bunch of crashes (results of hitting holes on the wind and the kite dropping me) I managed to eek out a top speed of 59.1 mph for the day. I only rode 16 miles because I'm so out of shape still. Check the video above.

HD 170 on my helmet

Speaking of video I just got myself a Drift 170 HD helmet cam. A lot of people have never heard of Drift or the 170HD but after dealing with the Vholder last year (which the more I think about it the more I think it sucked) I decided to maybe purchase the new Go Pro Helmet. The Go Pro is a tried and true set up. It's obviously very popular and it does a great job. But I think it a little bit clunky and not very user friendly. No more so than the Vholder was for sure. So before I bought the Go Pro I did some research and came across the Drift 170 HD. I remember at work a few years back hearing about a new cam from Drift but nothing else. It wasn't up to par (at the time) with the Go Pro and since Go Pro is like the I-Pod of helmet cams and we never heard anything about Drift again.

But after doing some research recently I found the lastest version and decided to give it a try and this new HD version is awesome. Sure it shoots 1080p HD and its 170 degree wide angle but the key features for me are as follows.

1) It has an LCD screen. This is awsome because you can sight the camera AND you can play back footage that you just shot. No laptop, no tv you can watch it out in the field.

2) IT HAS A REMOTE! Yes, a remote. Turns the record on and off. Has a 15' range. And the camera beeps a different tone for record and pause. No Guessing, no missed footage, no pulling the camera off to check.

Not only is this a kick ass convienience feature but from a safety point of view it makes sense. For example if I have it mounted on a handle bar or my kite bar I don't have to take my hands off to activate or shut down the cam.

3) Lith-ion battery. Charges fast, anywhere (laptop, car, etc.) 2 hrs plus on a standard battery. An extended time battery is available as an option.

4) Adjustable iris and a low light setting. Both are handy out on the ice/snow and for the short winter days when we get sessions that go on until after sundown.

5) 4X digital zoom.

6) SD Card. I run a 16Gig because that's all the time the standard battery allows. It will take up to a 32gig.

7) Tons of mounting options because it has a standard 8mm mount.

8) The lens/cam assembly rotates in the housing! So pretty much no matter how the camera is mounted you can level out the image and get good footage.

9) You can get a remote mic for it.

10) HDMI connection. Just pull it off your helmet and plug it in to the T.V., no muss no fuss.

The only thing that's "bad" about the camera is that it's waterproof to (get this) .5 meters. Yup, that's what the manual say's. Not "splash proof" or "water resistant". Seems silly to say waterproof. If I go in the water with this thing doing what I'm doing then the camera is going to be the least of my worries. Full specs can be found at (http://driftinnovation.com/).

I'm really looking forward to getting some footage with this thing. It's so much easier to use than all the other cameras I've had in the past and as a result I'm actually motivated to use it and use it creatively instead of just for documentary purposes.

I shoot mostly in 720p because it's just faster to edit and upload with my crummy DSL. But in HD the images are stunning. Some other reviews I read said that the audio quality was poor. I'm not concerned with audio as usually wind at and beyond 60mph just sounds like white noise but I will say that the audio on my camera is actually damn good.

Another sweet piece of high tech goodness I've picked up this season are my new Transcend goggles by Recon Instruments (http://www.reconinstruments.com/) in Vancouver BC. If you've never heard of the Transcends they are the perfect goggle for what I do. What's so hot about them? Well, they're GPS enabled for one thing. Meaning no more missing the good gusts while checking my Garmin GPS units. I still carry those as well but the Transcends are my primary source of data now. It tells you everything you could possibly need to know. All you speed info, tracks, location, elevation, temp and how high you jumped. And here's the kicker.

They tell you all this in realtime on a display inside the goggle!

Goggles and Chocorua

That's right, inside the goggle on a very small screen. You can scroll through the menu with the use of buttons on the right side of the goggle. The buttons are big and glove friendly. The display has been refered to as a H.U.D. (Heads up display) but it's more like a dash board. The data isn't projected on the lense, but is on the screen.

Screen

And if you're wondering if I was overly distracted and constantly watching the screen instead of what I was doing I am happy (to my own relief) to say that was not the case. I have the screen set up so I can see my max speed and average speed. So I just look after I have a good run. When I get home I can load my data to Recon HQ and see my tracks, stats and keep them on record.

They come with a regular tint or a photosensitive lens that self adjusts to lighting conditions. My expirience with this kind of lens has been mixed but I will say that this lens works the best I've seen so far. They're comfortable and helmet friendly. Thanks Heather Hendry and the good folks at Recon Instruments for providing me with such a kickass piece of hardware. I've used them two days and I feel like I can't live without them. Very few things impress me this much.

Well, I think I've droned on enough for one night. I'll do part 2 soon I promise. We'll cover a low wind session that Molly and I had today where I got a chance to pit my 24m "Big Blue" Peter Lynn Arc against Molly's 19m Flysurfer Psycho 4 SA DLX. Let's just say that I'm very happy with "Big Blue".

More on this later.

Road Trip!

2010-11-05T13:31:00.006-04:00

What does a 7000 mile road trip in late summer have to do with kiting? Well, not a whole hell of a lot I admit but there are some kites involved. Kite buggies vanishing into thin air in the desert on the Cal/Nev. border, Peter Lynn Venom 2's flying over petrified dunes in Moab and some dirty kite deals made with some questionable characters in the dark, seedy corners of northern Minnesota. We drove an electric roller skate, dodged tornadoes, forest fires, and floods. Add a broken spatula handle and Molly's appetite for lamb's brains and entrails and you have a pretty interesting story right?

Interesting? I can't really make that judgment. It seemed interesting while we lived it but you'll have to make up your own mind.

First a brief explanation on how the trip came to be. Molly's sister Lora came home from Pahrump NV to have a her baby. Lora drives a Toyota Prius which, after driving the "car" back to Nevada, I've decided it is less of a car and more some sort of bastardized car/golf cart hybrid. More so than a gas/electric hybrid. Sure it gets almost 50mpg but it's freakish to drive, annoying to be seen in and uncomfortable as hell. I will admit it handles well and has a little more giddy-up than I would expect but I'm not sold on the whole hybrid thing. The Honda Civic CRX from 1986 averaged 46mpg and was a hell of a lot more fun and comfortable than the Prius.

Vampire Baby

Anyway, Lora owns a Prius (heheheh) and she came home to have her baby (a vampire baby). She had the kid and was going to drive back to Pahrump Nevada with Molly as co-pilot, the baby, the baby's stuff, Lora, Lora's stuff and a Chihuahua named Princess. That's right, "Princess" and no I did not make that up. All shoe horned into the Prius. Tight quarters for sure. When the time came to actually head back to Pahrump it was decided the night before that they should take the Odyssey and leave the Prius. More room, more comfort and more protection. Then in the fall we would head out and pick up the van, drop off the Prius, and drive home.
I won't bore you with too many details about the drive out. The first day we we're cruising through Ohio at about 11:45pm when I got bagged for doing 80mph. I was passing a double trailer aggregate truck that was drifting all over and just happened to do it while passing an Ohio State Trooper. The speed limit was 65mph.

When he pulled me over he didn't ask for my license and registration. No, the first words out of his mouth were "Sir, you WILL be receiving a ticket this evening." Then he asked for my stuff. He asked me if I knew how fast I was going when I passed him. I said "As fast as I want to fly my kite!" and started laughing.

He pulled me out of the car at that point and threw me to the ground. Even while his boot was firmly planted upon the back of my skull, pinning me to the cold pavement, I couldn't stop laughing. It was too funny.

Yeah ok, I made that up. I did get a ticket though and the Trooper had NO sense of humor. I suspect the Prius had some bearing on the situation. The ticket was for $124.00. As far as drifting trucks go there were a ton out there. I haven't driven across the U.S. since cells and texting have become so prevalent and I hate when drivers are on the celly or texting while they drive. But now the young truckers are doing it in semis pulling multiple trailers? Jesus that's stupid. Hang up and drive people.

Sorry, I'm getting a little of topic. Moving on....

Car Camping

Dog Breakfast

So day one I got a ticket which put me on edge for then next 3 days. We spent the night in the Prius (worse car camping ever) and the next morning we were heading for Nebraska when we ran into some weather. Molly had run into weather in roughly the same area when she and Lora went out and said it was the worst storms she'd ever driven through.

And this weather looked to be the same. You could tell that we were in for a hell of a wallop.

We checked the weather reports and all hell was breaking loose. Tornadoes, bad hail, torrential downpours and flooding, the whole lot. We had to pull in under an overpass for a brief period while a hail storm passed by. There were a lot of cars under there with us but some were forced out by some minor flash flooding. While we we're down there we looked at the map and found a northern highway to skirt the weather. We figured it would be slower than the interstate but safer.

We left the overpass and continued on. As we turned onto our off ramp to the northern route I watched the rest of the traffic continue south. It was striking. The sky looked as ominous as could be as those poor souls headed right into it.

Crazy Clouds

Our route was perfect. Sunny, warm and always just north of the storms. Our route eventually brought us back to the interstate just missing the tail end of the storms. Once on the interstate we saw some of the carnage left behind. Cars and semi trucks spun completely around and blown off the roads by the winds. Reports on the radio about all kinds of storm damage some right where we were and all of it along our original route.

Looking South

Looking East

So we dodged that mess. Onto the next mess in Utah.

Eisenhower Tunnel

We had stopped in Green River for the night. The next morning the news report said that the interstate was closed due to a forest fire that had been sparked by lightning and raged for the last month. The fire had made it to the highway. In Green River we were over 100 miles away but you could see the smoke clearly. It made for awesome sunsets. We ate breakfast and made our way along the interstate to where they had it closed. We got lucky and in spite of the thick smoke they had reopened the highway.

Smokey Sunset

It was slow going but it was better than taking the detour.

Molly and Emalyn

Sirius and friend Mia.

We got to Nevada and swapped out the cars. Things were tight in the Prius all loaded. All our stuff and Sirius made for tight space in that thing but when I took it all out and put it in the van EVERYTHING fit behind the van's third row seats. Stupid Prius.

We were going to be cruising in luxury now.

We didn't stay long in Nevada. We did head out to a local dry lake while we were there, to check it out and maybe fly a kite. The Oddy did great off road as long as you picked your lines well. When we got out to the lake I could see something hauling ass on the other side. It was kicking up a huge plume of dust like a dirt bike or a car as it went along. Then I noticed that they seemed to be following something, something that wasn't kicking up dust. I realized it was a buggy and a kite. I'd never seen a buggy on a lake bed and I really wanted to go see this. We shot across to the California side in hopes of getting to talk to the buggier. By the time we got there however the buggy was gone. No wind, no kite, no buggy. We drove down the route we saw them take but no luck. Poof! they were gone.

Desert Dog

We left Lora's the next day made our way back to Utah to visit Moab. We started going to Moab in 1995 after we saw some inline skaters riding the "slickrock" sandstone there. I was recovering from my first shoulder surgery and wasn't riding bikes at the time. The mountain bike thing was just starting to build momentum there. I love Moab. I'm sad to see how it's been built up and lost a lot of its character and been reduced to catering to the lowest hanging tourism fruit. Feels just like home!

We stayed at the Motel 6 one night. I'd been carrying around an old spatula handle for itching under my cast. I know they say not to do that but this cast was really itchy.

Anyway they also say that you could break something off in the cast scratching. Yeah, well I could hear Deb (my caster) telling me that when I snapped the spatula handle off scratchin' in the motel room. D'oh!

We spent a few days there. Hiked the La Sals, some canyons and Flew the 8m Venom 2 on the Slickrock trail. I wish I had a Ground Board to ride the sandstone. I know a few places out there that would be epic kite ground board action. Maybe someday.

Molly

After Moab we went north to South Dakota and the Badlands. Along the way we passed through Wyoming and some of the biggest open spaces you've ever seen. I don't know how much snow they get out there but the kite touring would be amazing. No power lines, minimal fences, huge open spaces.

We then passed through Custer and Sirius got his first look at a buffalo. I think he thinks HE's a buffalo.

We got to Wall SD and stopped in at Wall Drugstore. A tourist trap on a grand scale but also a place to get homemade donuts and 5 cent cups of coffee. If you like coffee and donuts it's a damn good time. While we were there Molly and I took turns riding the giant Jackalope (antelope/jackrabbit hybrid). Wall Drug has a series of fountains that are timed to music. Molly challenged herself to walk through the musical water fountain area without getting sprayed. A crowd gathered as she attempted this feat and to all our amazement she made it through without getting wet. But there was one fountain that she didn't see and had stopped right in front of at the end of her walk through. That one got her. We all laughed.

The Jackalope and freshly sprayed

We left Wall and went to the Badlands National Park. We hadn't been in a while and it's changed a lot. It's still beautiful but you're pretty much stuck sitting in the car these days. No hiking off trail, no exploring. We stayed maybe an hour and a half and headed to east to Minnesota to meet up with the Saude. Aaron Saude.

LEVINS!!!!!

Ahhhhh Minnesota. We passed through the town of White Bear Lake where Joe Levins beat me to the 70mph mark a couple years back. We stopped and checked out the lake and hit a coffee shop the whole time yelling "LEVINSSSS!!!!" while shaking my fist in the air. I was hoping that on some off chance we would run into him but it didn't happen. That would have been awesome. White Bear looks like a pretty nice place to ride ice and water. The winds were awesome when we were there.

We continued north to Sandstone where Aaron, his wife Emily and their two future kiters Brock and Cora live. Brock is very much an Aaron 2.0 and Cora is friggen cool as a cucumber. Emily is awesome and has a solid handle in raising all three Aaron, Brock and Cora.

Molly, Emily and Aaron toasting.

While there we ate. I mean we ATE. Emily and Aaron are carnivores after my own heart and the clogged arteries that feed it . Yes there was bacon involved, there always has to be bacon involved. And marshmallows the size of Cora's head. They make for some serious smore action.

Hard to go wrong with chocolate, pizza and donuts.

For the last few months I've been hearing about a project that Peter Lynn and others are working on from time to time called the SLArc. SL for "single Line". Yes an Arc that flies on one line and is self correcting. There are several reasons for persuing this and I won't get into the details but it's a very cool and intriguing concept. Any Arc can be converted to SL and Aaron had a 16m V2 that he had set up for testing. His however is not purely an SL as it is controlled by a bar like any normal Arc. His is set up primarily for traction purposes.

Aaron spreadin' the Peter Lynn Gospel. (notice the bridle)

SLArc

We got to fly the SLArc while we were. The wind was light, shifty. Not great wind to fly in general but interesting winds to test fly in. I figured if we could get the kite up in the bad conditions and have it fly well then we would know that it would be useful in better conditions.

There was a lot of running involved. I didn't have my harness on and just had the kite attached to my belt. At one point I accidentally pulled the chicken loop safety and lost the kite. To my dismay she flew better without me than with me. As she drifted slowly away and towards the power lines it was decided that when it hit the lines that we would abandon the kite and leave the area immediately. Never mind that Aaron is the local Peter Lynn dealer. I can hear the cops now, "Uh Mr. Saude, are you sure you don't know anything about that kite that knocked out power just down the road from here?"

Aaron, shaking his head "no" with a mouth full of fist sized bacon wrapped marshmallows.

We didn't lose the kite.

While there Aaron and I also did a "Dirty Kite Deal" the 8m v2 Lives in Minnesota now and I'm the scared owner of a couple of F-Arcs and a huge light wind, that's right I said LIGHT WIND Arc. One F-Arc is ready to have the SLArc mod installed but first I'm going to get a handle on how the F-Arcs fly before I start changing them. Pretty psyched about flying them. They're ridiculously high AR compared to my other kites and seem very fast. The big kite (I call her Big Blue) is amazing. She's at least 24m square but only weighs just over 7lbs with the spars. The material seems very similar to the Skytex stuff you see on Flysurfer Silver Arrow series kites.

F-Arc (so skinny)

Big Blue (So not skinny)

I have garage envy. Aaron's garage is sick. We didn't stay long at the Saude homestead but it was very much the highpoint of the trip. Emily sent me off with a couple of "poop sticks" to scratch my cast with. They worked awesome Em, thanks!

Go Wilmot!

We headed south to Wisconsin to visit where I used to live and then on to Chicago to go to a restaurant that I hadn't been to in 35 yrs. On the way down there was a ton of rain and once again we skirted the weather and this time major flooding. We stayed a night in Wisconsin then headed to Chicago.

I was born in Chicago, in Greek town actually, and there's a restaurant there that my parents used to frequent called The Parthenon. I'm named after Chris Liakouras, the owner of the restaurant.

The restaurant has changed a bit but it is still recognizable to me. I had what used to be my favorite food, saganaki (can't go wrong with flaming cheese) and a gyro. Molly, feeling a little adventurous in ordered up the Lamb sweetbread platter. If you've ever watched the food channel you probably know what sweetbreads are. First of all there is no "bread" involved. Sweetbreads are also known as "organ meats" (brains, intestines etc.) No, I'm not kidding that's what she ordered. The waiter seemed a little impressed by her choice and more so by her decision to have it broiled. I overheard the order but I assumed Molly knew exactly what she was doing so I didn't say a word.

Chi Town.

Our meals came out and they were awesome. Molly's platter looked and smelled great and she dug right in. I sampled some of it and it was really amazing. After a while Molly commented how some of the meat was kinda chewy while other pieces seemed to have an almost creamy texture. I suggested that the chewy bits were probably intestine and the creamy bits were either brain or kidney.

She just looked at me for a moment and said "what?"

We then had the whole "sweetbread" discussion. That it had nothing to do with little pastries as Molly had assumed. She sat there for a moment digesting what I explained to her (as well as a few lamb brains) and responded with "Well, this will make a good story!". She continued to eat. After the meal I had the opportunity to introduce myself to Mr. Liakouras as we left. He's a very nice gentleman and I was glad to get to meet him though I don't think he believed me when I told him I was named after him.

Frosty

We left Chicago and were home the next day. We stopped at Robert Frost's grave on the way but beyond that pushed right through. The first thing I did when I got home was head out and throw one of the F-Arcs in the air. Very Interesting. I can't wait to get them out on the snow.

Next week "Out with the old in with the new."

Okay, enough screwin' around. Let's do this!

2010-11-01T17:47:00.002-04:00

Photo by Curtis Savard Photography

Okay before anyone jumps all over me I know. I know I said I was going to stay on top of this blog through the summer. I know I said I'd do gear reviews and a photo segment and other stuff. What can I say?, I dropped the ball. Some things came up this summer that had me preoccupied. Some things fell through, I didn't get on the water like I wanted and didn't get to do a bunch of other stuff and as a result I missed out on some sweet summer blog entries. (sigh)

I guess that's just the way it goes. The best I can do at this point is say I'm sorry, I suck, and I'll try to do better this time around.

Besides, there's a bit of time before the season starts here so there is still time to do some of the things I promised. I want to do a photo installment to recap last season. I want to do a gear review or two of the stuff I use to participate in this nonsense. I want to do an installment about some of my views on snow kiting which might piss some people off. Trust me when I tell you that if they do get pissed they probably, no, DEFINATELY deserve it.

Yup, I got some bloggin' to do. I've got extra time on my hands right now so starting this November I'm going to try to get an "preseason" installment in every week until the season goes off then it'll be whenever I get a chance like last season.

So stay tuned, I'll have something up by Friday. Really, I mean it.

I'm not kidding.

My Snowkite Season Finish at the Home of the World's Worst Weather.

2010-05-25T07:57:00.013-04:00

Okay this session isn't my usual search for speed but my schedule and the weather FINALLY worked together and I managed to get one more day of riding in on the summit of Mount Washington. Highest peak in the northeast and home of the highest wind ever observed. (well, up until recently anyway)

Wikipedia has good info on it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Washington_(New_Hampshire)

Our winds were a lot easier.

I've been waiting over a month to get a chance to hit Washington. Everyday that the conditions were right I had to work and every day I had off the winds were blowing the wrong way or too hard. Mike Elliott and I were going to head up a few weeks ago and backed out at the last minute because of a weather change only to find out our friend Mark Acitelli from Colorado bagged a session on the west side of the mountain. We usually have NW winds which works for the west side but the west side rarely has enough good snow to make it worth heading up. This season was different and there was a ton of snow on the west side.

Anyway like I said I've been waiting for a month. Frustrated by the uncooperative weather and my work schedule I've been spending my days relearning how to ride my bikes after taking a year off with the wrist fusion. All the time watching helplessly as the snow slowly disappeared from Mount Washington's summit. I know a few people like Mark who have schedules that are even laxer than mine had been getting up there and that just makes it even more frustrating. It was killing me.

Most of what is left of rideable terrain is on the eastern side of the mountain. Tuckerman's Ravine which is a popular tourist backcountry ski location still has a fair amount of snow in the bowl and even though the upper snowfields that stretch from the top of Tuck's to the top of Huntington Ravine had melted out there was still a substantial patch of snow atop Huntington.

Mount Washington from the East

A patch about 250-300 feet long but about a 1/4 mile wide. Enough still to ride on but pretty tight in the big scheme of things.

I got word that they had opened the auto road to the summit last week. I watched the weather every day since and finally last Sunday the conditions looked as good as I could hope for. East winds would be perfect but the forcast was for SW blowing 15mph turning S in the afternoon. Not ideal but usable.

Molly had a voucher for a free trip up the auto road that she scored at the 24hrs Of Great Glen race about 8yrs ago. I called up Mike and Mark to see if they wanted to head up with me first thing Sunday morning. Mike was committed to a belated Mother's day gig so he was out. Normally I wouldn't condone lying your way out of such a thing but we're talking snowkiting in late may in New Hampshire on Washington. With the abilty to shuttle up. These opportunities are RARE.

But Mike's a good kid and he hung with his Mom for the day. It must have killed him hehehe.

Mark

Mark on the otherhand was in. He met Molly and I at the house at 7:30 sharp and we loaded the Oddy and headed up. Molly came with to shoot photos and hang out even though she couldn't ride due to her recent wrist surgery.

We got to the gate house on the auto road at 8:00 just after they opened. Now I'm not a nazi when it comes to "earning your turns". Though I think you appreciate the expirience more if you work hard for it. I at the same time, have no more problem with loading up all the kites we have and driving to the launch area on a mountain than I do on a lake or field. Again this is a rare opportunity and I'd be a fool not to take advantage.

The Auto Road

We got to the top about 8:20 and were greeted by punchy 20mph+ winds.

The trail to the snow looking south

Huntington Ravine and the snow we rode

Riding on a ridgeline can be tricky because the wind often accelerates over the top but comes in light at the bottom. Like the top edge of an airplane (or kite) wing. And when you have jagged rocks at the top to crash into if you get lofted or a deep ravine several hundred feet deep to tumble down into if you get dropped the whole expirience feels a little uncomfortable.

Huntington from above

Inspite of the higher than forecasted winds I was pumped to finally be up on the "Rock Pile" as it's called and totally ready to get on the kite. Mark and I were getting out gear together and Molly went off ahead to check things out and take some pics. I noticed something odd on the ridgeline to the northeast of our position. For a moment I tought I saw ears, big ears. Like the kind you see on a moose.

"Hey, is that a moose?" I thought aloud as it dissapeared. What the hell would a moose be doing way up here? Then I saw it again. Comming around the ridge and crossing the road and sure as hell it was a moose. A young one tired and running right for us.

And I mean RIGHT FOR US.

I held my ground (where was I going to go?) as he ran around me and towards Mark. I didn't see it happen but as the moose approached Mark he let out a uber loud "YEHAAAA!" and jumped onto the back of the moose like a rodeo cowboy. It was awesome! All the bucking and growling! Okay so I made that up. It ran by him as well but if he did "Yehaaa!" and jump on the the moose it would have been awesome. He shot the above pic so that's cool. (I guess. Not as cool as riding it though.)

The moose proceeded to head down the trail towards Molly. We waited to hear her scream as it was carried over the ridge by the wind but no such luck. She's seen moose before.

Molly on summit

After that fiasco Mark and I headed down to set up. The snow was super creamy and the winds had settled just a little. The weather was beautiful and the views, though a little hazy, were awesome. A few skiers showed up and made some runs but not nearly as long or as fun as we were getting. I was on the 12m Charger and to the best of my knowledge this is the first time a Peter Lynn ARC has been flown on Washington. Mark took out Molly's Apex 2 and had a short but pretty heavily powered session.

Charger 12m

I really love flying up there. The views are stunning and you're always on an incline which adds a certain "3D" element that we rarely get elsewhere. It's super easy to launch and the temptation to toy around with gliding was really strong but the risk factor was too high given the conditions and my limited expirience with gliding off stuff. Next season we'll get up there when there's better coverage.

It was awesome but after about 4 hrs I was done. A few people showed up because they saw us kiting from down at the highway at the base. They actually paid to come up and check us out which I thought was pretty cool. We tried to be extremely considerate and didn't interfere with the skiers or the hikers in any way.

A woman at the top asked me how many runs I got in and I told her "About 10 miles worth." She just looked at me like I was an idiot.

We quit as the wind shifted more west and was getting really dirty, at one point was blowing down the hill which is not good and kinda sketchy.

There is always a certain element of risk with kiting and that risk is compounded on Washington. We had a great time and but make no mistake I am not condoning "willy nilly" kite trips on Mount Washington. The mountain is known for the worst weather in the world for a reason and things can go from good to bad before you know what's happening. We were up there during a long forcasted calm spell and had the benefit of being able to drive right up to kite and take advantage of the good weather. Usually it's a 2-2.5 hour hike if the weather is good.

The sunday before we were up the wind was average 40mph gusting to 60mph with a max gust of 74mph. From down in town it looked perfectly clear and calm as can be.

If you screw up on Washington you can get seriously injured or even killed. People die or get rescued on Washington regularly which not only puts you the individual at risk but the rescue people at risk as well. Best case scenario if something goes wrong is you live and get charged huge $ to cover rescue operation expenses. If

But if you plan accordingly, are well prepared, have the proper equipment, knowledge and the flexibilty to go when the conditions are right Mount Washington can be one of the coolest places you will ever fly a kite.

Keep it fun and keep it safe.

Thanks to Molly for coming up with us and taking all the sweet shots.

Till next time!

Long Time No See and Thinking About Going Green.

2010-05-20T08:15:00.005-04:00

I want to ride this.

The obvious thing about writting a blog about snow kiting is that when you lack the key ingredient of snow there isn't much to write about. For a while I was happy that I could take a break and decompress from the rapid fire flurry of activity that constitutes our snowkite season. Even with the recent wrist fusion and uncooperative weather this season we still got a ton of riding in and as a result I had a lot to write about. When the season "ended" for us I felt a little relieved. No more kite pre-checks, no more ski tuning, no more driving all over, no more pressure (self imposed or otherwise) to stay on top of the regular blog entries.

Well, now I'm starting to itch. Bike season is upon us. Molly just had her wrist repaired by Dr. Kasparyan (same surgeon that did my fusion. The guy's a rock star). I've been buying new bikes that have allowed me to ride at some level though not the level I'm accustomed to. But I still want to be on the kite.

Water isn't easy access and there's no place to buggy. So I've been looking at mountain boards. What's a mountain board? Imagine a skate board with monster truck wheels for riding off road.

At first glance it seems a little silly. Most of the time it seems really awkward and unmanagable from afar. Of course you can pretty much say the exact same thing about kiting too. I have a couple boards from the '90s when a few of the local ski areas we're renting them. I tried it a few times but as a mountain biker and in line skater I never had the time to really give it a chance and get good at it. As a result I simply lost interest.

However, you add a kite to the equation and suddenly the mountainboard becomes much more attractive to me. And you don't need a lot of room for it. Might be the cure for my itch and a good way to round out my kiting skills a little bit. I believe it's called Kite Ground Boarding when you ad the kite or KGB for short and it looks like a hell of a good way to make use of summer winds.

So this is my recent loose laid plan. Score a board and see if I can get some kind handle on it and maybe have some fun riding the green stuff. Simple plan, brilliant plan? Probably not but I think it's worth a shot. I still want to get out on the water this year but I'll wait until the water warms up a bit before I go that route. For now the grass will do just fine.

I'll post my progress in this venture as well as some gear reviews and a photo entry like I stated in the last entry about a month ago. I'm getting back into the mood to write more about this kite thing! Yee Ha!

Stay Tuned.....

The Last Days at Umbagog Pt.2

2010-04-14T09:20:00.009-04:00

Man, this transitional part of the season is really flying by. I’ve been busy dealing with bike related stuff and haven’t had time to get this entry squared away and I feel like I’ve been slacking but trying to write this entry has been in the back of my mind constantly. I now finally have a spare moment so here we go.

Welcome to part 2 of “Ski Massacres, Long miles and High Speeds”

As I mentioned before I thought the season was going to be over about a month earlier than it usually is. This crazy winter was a roller coaster of temperatures and precipitation and towards the end we got record amounts of rainfall and warm weather that wiped out a lot of our local riding spots. But Umbagog held up and not only did it hold up it got really good. In the last blog entry we covered the warmer final days on Umbagog. Now I’ll try to describe the days after the cold snap that hit and gave us a few more days of riding.

Jim's RV

Saturday Molly and I got to the lake at about 11:00am and Jim Cline was already out racking up the miles. He’s often the first rider out as he sleeps in his car and is usually there at sun up and gets the first puffs of wind. His car is all modified for snow kite use. It gets sick gas mileage; he’s removed all but the driver seat and built a sleeping platform (used one seat to build a kite buggy), modified the passenger floor heat and turned it into a boot dryer. He’s mounted two boxes to the roof rack to haul skis and kites in the winter and chainsaws and ropes in the summer when he works.

When I got out of the van I was taken aback by how cold it was. The temp was 14f and the winds were blowing about 17mph. If you do the wind chill math it comes out to FREAKIN” COLD. For the last 2 weeks it rarely got to freezing even at night and now it’s below freezing during the day. Ahhhh, New England. As my hands immediately started to get cold and stiffen in the wind chill I was both happy and a little concerned about the cold snap that we were experiencing. Though it helps conserve the ice, lengthen our season and gives a fast surface, which is what I like there is an increase in the element of risk as well. Sure the ice that was there is “safer” but there are places that had open water the other day that will now have a skim layer of ice on them. Not enough ice to support a kiter but enough that you won’t see it very well until you are right next to it.

Skimmed over

At 50mph or so you may not see it until you’re in it. Fortunately we had no issues.

The wind was supposed to be getting stronger as the day went on and I was rabid to get out and see what speeds I could get. Molly and I made our way out onto the ice, set up and launched.

The ice was hard. Commonly know as “Boilerplate” it’s very hard and very fast. Not the glass like ice from earlier this season like we found on Long Lake or Winnepesaukee but still hard like cement. The last few sessions were really wet and soft and fat skis ruled the day but now we’re back on the DH boards with the sharpest edges I could produce.

The wind was blowing pretty steady out of the West and we made our way up the small lake to get out to the big lake where the wind is steadiest and you have a lot more room to run. The cut getting to the big lake is pretty punchy wind wise when the wind is west. Its really narrow and the hills and trees kick out a lot of turbulence so you go from no wind at all to all of a sudden nearly getting your ass handed to you. Compound this by the fact that the route is a bit narrow and we are now dealing with open water it can be a little nerve racking. The ice was extremely hard and fairly bumpy until we got out to the big part of Umbagog. There the surface is smoother because there’s a lot less traffic from snowmobiles and ice fishermen. Once again we pass Jim Cline on the way out as he was cruising back and forth racking up the miles on the beat up, crappy, rough ice. I’m shaking my head as I go by.

Jim

The man just isn’t right. He’s not into speed or jumping he just wants to rack up the miles. His top day this season was 130miles in one day. Very impressive but he’s going to be pissed when I tell him a Russian named Stepan Kalichkin did 188 miles in one day. I have confidence Jim could do that kind of mileage but he’s going to have to resign himself to going a little faster to do it instead of poking around at low speeds for hours on end.

Good for Stepan though. He’s lucky he’s got such a big lake to ride. For crying out loud some of his tacks looked to be about 10 miles long! That’s pretty damn impressive.

You can see his GPS tracks at www.stormboarding.com in the speed ranking area.

Randy Berube and Paul Morse

Once we got out to the big lake the winds smoothed out considerably. Steady and strong enough for some really nice cruising we proceeded to rip around the lake. Not long after we got out there Paul Morse and Randy Berube showed up and were cruising around as well. The wind at this point was getting pretty strong and we all headed into the cove area where I got 73.5mph last season. We were all hoping to get some personal bests in there but the wind wasn’t in the right spot and was in fact diminishing. As usual the weather reports were wrong. Friday there was wind mid-day and into the night and there wasn’t supposed to be any wind. So my guess was the front was moving through faster than they thought and we were at the tail end of it. There was wind and we were going fast but we weren’t breaking any records. After a lot of ripping back and forth we all proceeded to head further north up the lake.

The wind was still good enough for lots of long 45-50mph runs back and forth and some really good just all around cruising. Eventually the wind started to pick up now and again and give me a little something extra. I had just started to get my hopes back up that it was going to be a really good speed session day when I noticed something strange was happening to the inside edge of my right ski.

I couldn’t engage it.

Having a solid, sharp edge out on hard ice is critical. A lot of people still tell me that you can’t ski on solid ice. Fortunately I know a little bit about tuning skis and I can make our skis hold on ice as well as any ice skate out there. If you want to ride safely on the “boiler plate” you have to have the right skis and the right tune. Being without edges is literally like being up a creek without a paddle, you are at the mercy of the wind and the kite. Without edges you can’t control the kite and you can’t direct you’re forward movement.

My first thought is that I must have hit something. When you have an edge that is nearly as sharp as a razor, it takes just the smallest hit to dull it. My second thought it I blew the edge (broke it) out. I pick up my foot and look down and the edge looked fine. There was some minor build up of ice shavings but that’s all I could see. I wiped off the shavings, started riding again and pressured the edge. No good. In fact now it’s worse than when I first noticed it. I reach down without my glove to feel and what to I find?

My base is coming off.

The plastic material that the ski slides on is coming off the ski and is sticking up just a barely a millimeter beyond the bottom of the ski edge. This prevents the edge from actually touching the ice and gives the effect of trying to edge on ball bearings. It’s just a small section but it’s enough to make the whole edge useless.

So now I’m faced with a dilemma. Do I call it quits and head back to shore and call it a day (I didn’t bring another fast ski) or do I just keep on going and just hope I don’t need that edge to ride or get back safely? It was too windy to take my skis off safely and swap them so I would have 2 good inside edges.

The wind is getting a little punchy now. As I’m trying to decide what to do I get hit by a couple of strong, swirling gusts that beat me up a little and make for a quick tense moment with the lack of one edge. But all went OK and I decide to suck it up and keep heading North and just ride with one less edge.

I start riding, pick up some speed, and lay into a turn only to find what do you know MY OUTSIDE EDGE ON THE LEFT SKI WON’T ENGAGE. Okay now I’m boned.

It wouldn’t do any good to swap skis if I could. Both skis have a blown base and it’s getting worse by the minute. Having one edge on each ski 5 miles out on hard ice in punch winds is not an ideal situation. I’m definitely heading back now before I lose all my edging ability. I take a last look at everyone heading to the far end of the lake as I head back to the cut. On the way back in I pass Mike Elliott as he’s just coming out. He worked that morning and was supposed to pick up Nicole but at the airport but her flight got messed up so she was way late. Sux for her, good for him.

As I made it back through the cut more of the base started to come off and I lost another edge. It made me feel a lot better about my decision to come in when I did.

As I got off the ice Jim Cline comes up to me and tells me that he also has managed to tear the bases off one of his skis and then Molly comes in a short time later with the base coming off her ski as well. At first I think, “What are the chances?” How can it be that all three of us had our skis fail on us? Then you really think about it and it doesn’t seem that improbable.

Looking at what all three pairs of skis have gone through it seems perfectly reasonable that they would come apart. Molly’s skis are one of my old pairs that she inherited. They probably have easily over 4000 miles on them over the last 3 yrs between she and I. They’ve been tuned so much that there is only about 1mm of side edge left. This was going to be the last season on that ski anyway. Jim’s skis were brand new this year but given that he has almost 3500 miles in for the season mostly on hard ice I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise his came apart. And my pair has a couple thousand hard miles on them as well. None of these skis are designed to be used they way we used them. They’re DH racing skis. Not even “everyday drivers” like a lot of skis. These things were never intended to be used like this.

It’s amazing to me that they hold up as well as they do.

So Saturday didn’t turn out nearly as good as I thought it would but we still had fun. It sucks that we killed 3 pairs of DH skis but that’s the way it goes I guess. To be honest it was nice to get off the ice a little early and get home before dark. And I needed the extra time to mount up and tune some fresh skis for Molly and tune Picabo’s for Sunday.

Sunday’s weather report was calling for 14mph winds out of the SW. We get to Umbagog and of course it blowing 17-20mph out of the E/SE. It’s still cold as hell but the sun is out so that takes the bite out of the cold a little bit.

Today it’s the usual suspects again with me, Molly, Jim (slept in his car again), Randy and Paul with the addition of Eric Heath. The surface is still “boilerplate” and the wind is awesome. All I can think about is getting out to the big lake as fast as I can and seeing if maybe today will be the day for beating my fastest speed. Randy took out his Peter Lynn Venom 2 13m without a back up kite; Paul was out on his 12m Psycho 4, Molly was on the new Montana 5 9.5m with her trusty Apex 7.5m on her back and Jim was out on his 7.5m Apex. Eric was on his 8m Outlaw. I took out the 15m Charger with out a back up. The wind was stronger than forecasted and I hoped maybe it would get even stronger. Again I was relying on the huge depower range of the Charger to get me out and back if it got too windy. Besides to get the speeds I’m looking for I have to have a kite that will have me overpowered some or most of the time.

Heath

It was slow getting through the cut. The winds in there are almost useless until you get out to the big lake and then it’s a different world. I headed out first and slowly made my way to the channel between the small and big lake. There was still a lot of open water there and with the cold and the wind a few pressure ridges had developed. Some were filled with water. I crept around the corner of the channel and once I got into the open the fun really began. Dizzying acceleration, sport bike fast acceleration. I went from creeping along in the wind shadow of the east side trees to absolute hauling ass in mere seconds. It was awesome. Randy was out there and I flew by him doing 62mph right out of the gate.

At that point I could tell it was going to be a fun day.

Paul, Randy and I were charging all over that damn lake. The wind was awesome, the surface was awesome, and the kites were awesome. We had a few close calls and near misses (which happens when you find a good channel of wind and you have three idiots all trying to go fast in it) but all in all it was really good. The only problem was there was a lot of open water where the river inlet is and a lot of exposed rock at the north end of the lake where the wind was really whippin’. Almost every speed run was cut short by water or rocks. Yup, frustrating and fun all at once.

Eric

We spent most of our time in the middle section of the lake. At one point when we were at the north end Molly showed up on the Montana 9.5m. It was a lot of kite for her in these winds and in fact Eric (200lbs or so) was out on the big lake briefly and came back in because he was over powered a little. He saw Molly on her way out and tried to warn her off from the high winds. She just kept right on going, which I think is awesome. She would normally be on her 7.5m Apex 2 or the 12m Charger in this kind of wind but she wanted to try the M5 in higher winds.

It’s good to push your limits once and a while. Over the years I’ve made a conscious effort to go out once and a while and practice flying overpowered. It really pays off. My perception of what overpowered really is changed and I found that most of the time I thought I was really overpowered I was just a little overpowered or even powered just right. You just have to get comfortable with the power. It’s why I’m willing to risk being on a kite “too big” for certain conditions. I’ve practiced and feel that between my experience and the amount of depower my kites have and can get caught in high winds and still be “safe”. The more you get used to it the safer you’ll be when things do go bad and the winds get strong while you’re out.

So Molly cruises out to the center of the big lake on the 9.5m and got out there in no time looking REALLY overpowered. I was having some issues of my own (we’ll get into that in a second) and was too far away to see exactly how she was doing. Eventually I saw her land the kite and set her ice screw and anchor the kite so she could pack it up a switch out to the 7.5 Apex. When I finally got over to her it was too windy to hear each other speak but she gave me a “thumbs up” to let me know she was fine. She packed up the 9.5m M5, launched her 7.5m Apex and proceeded to tack back toward the south end of the lake. It was perfect. She packed up the one kite, set up the backup, pulled her screw and was off in no time.

At the end of the day Molly told me about her trip out on the M5. She was overpowered and did a big down wind leg at 50mph without even trying. Even after she switched to the Apex she still had to work at it. Her mileage getting out to where she switched kites was about 6 miles but tacking back to the launch area she put in 40miles.

Gives you a good idea how hard she had to work to get back.

As I had mentioned, while Molly was wrestling with her kite I was having an issue of my own. I had just finished a speed run and was in the process of stopping. When I stop on the boilerplate at high speed I can’t drive my edges hard like I would on soft snow. That would eventually result in tearing the edge out of the ski. Instead I tend to edge just a bit light and spin my body into a reverse position. This allows me to “feather” my edge as well and positioning me to be able to bring the kite around to a position where it’s at the edge of the window at reduced power. Basically I’m skiing backwards when I stop. I know it sounds retarded. But that’s the best way to describe it.

As I’m doing this stopping backwards thing I’m still doing anywhere from 30-40mph. This is when I caught my edge and things went bad quick. Since I was not longer upright I lost me edge and my body was now sliding in a straight line at the same rate of speed I had fallen at. I had already started to slow the kite so the result is I over shoot the kite and go slightly under it. Now the kite has no tension on the lines and is just blowing along with the wind out of control. To make matters worse the lines are so slack that they are on the ice and being dragged under my skis, my ridiculously sharp skis.

I start flopping around desperately to keep my edges from touching the lines. All they have to do is come into contact and a line will definitely get nicked if not cut clean through. The kite finally comes down and is now on the ice with the leading edge down. The lines go tight as she catches the wind and I franticly inspect them for damage. Not a nick. Somehow I kept my feet up and off the lines.

I’m psyched. I though for sure I was going to be screwed 6 miles out on the big lake but the lines came through unscathed. But now I have a new problem. As the kite is upside down on the ice it’s still pulling me. Not only is it pulling me it’s pulling me towards the open water. I dig in my edges and hold my position and begin trying to relaunch the wing. The wind is strong and pretty steady and for some reason it doesn’t want to relaunch. It’s in what we call “clamshell” and the two wingtips are stuck together. I try all my usual tricks to get it air born but she’s fighting me and dragging me. At one point she bow ties and starts spinning. After some substantial swearing and wrestling I eventually get it squared away.

Here's the video...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R16M6gjpZv0

I started riding again and realized my harness wasn’t on right. When I crashed I broke one of the buckles used to tighten the spreader bar straps. So now my spreader bar (the thing you hook the kite to) is up around my rib cage instead of around my waist. And when I turned to the left my center of gravity would get all screwed up and the leg loops would give me a damn “Super Wedgie”. I was able to rig the straps to keep the spreader in position for the most part but wasn’t quite right.

Shortly after my crash Randy has a really close encounter with the open water. I still can’t believe he did this or that he didn’t go swimming. Again I had just finished a speed run and had stopped at the north end of the open water. I was a little too close for my tastes and was heading back out when Randy goes screaming by. He’s got a good run going and he’s hell bent to ride it out. Unfortunately he rode it right into a small cove just south of where I stopped. Rode right in, on a strip of ice MAYBE 25 feet wide dividing the north end of the open water into two pools. So there he was standing on this ribbon of ice when he realizes what he’s gotten himself into. He gingerly worked his way out and came away dry but if he were any heavier he surely would have gone through.

Birthday Bonnets

Paul and Molly had gone back and Randy and I ripped around for another hour or so. Paul got back first and when Molly showed up he asked her if she was ever so happy to get off her kite. Apparently Paul’s Psycho 4 was beating him up out there. He looked like he was riding smooth but he was pretty tired when he got back. He told Molly that he figured Randy and I were screwed and weren’t going to make it back now that the wind was stronger. Molly rides the Peter Lynns enough to know that they thrive in these conditions. In fact Randy and I didn’t even notice the gusty stuff. It all felt smooth to us so we stayed out there for a few hours more.

I love those damn kites.

Randy, Paul, Molly and Me

Eventually Randy and I headed in. We put on some miles and everyone had fun hauling ass around the lake. My GPS got knocked out when I crashed so my personal best for the season was 67mph. Paul and I think I might have touched 70mph for the day but the GPS didn’t catch it. I didn’t get to my goal of 80mph for the season and I didn’t even get the 70mph barrier recorded but I had fun trying.

Kite Van Clean Out

It was a pretty good season in spite of the weather and I had fun and learned a lot. From here on out I'll be doing periodic entries. It will probably be mostly gear reviews and stuff like that. If I get on the water I'll have some good stuff to write about I'm sure. Next week I'm going to do an entry of mostly photos that we took over the season. Some you may have seen and some you haven't. STAY TUNED!

Ski Massacres, Long Miles and High Speeds. The Last Days at Umbagog Part 1

2010-03-29T13:45:00.011-04:00

Well it looks like this is it for our local snow kite season.

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks and I feel bad that I’ve slacked off on the blog but at the same time I’ve been scrambling to get as much kiting in as I can and get my best speed for the season up before the season finally hits the end. It’s been a weird season to say the least. The weather has been all over the place, the weather forecasts have been useless, and we thought we were going to be without ice almost 3 weeks ago and then it turns out we have conditions we usually only see in February. There’s been some discussion that we might make it until April but after the last few weeks and the day we had on Sunday I’d be happy calling it a season. It’s been pouring rain for the last three days and it’s supposed to get into the 70’s on Friday.

Mike

I don’t know where to begin to describe the sessions we’ve been getting the last few weeks. It’s been absolutely unbelievable really. We all thought we were going to lose a whole month of riding but in classic New England weather style we suddenly find ourselves riding through March in everything from prime spring conditions to prime winter conditions. That’s right, we went from spring conditions back to winter. One day it’s sunny and warm with temps in the 60’s and then the next day it was 17 degrees and with a sub-zero wind chill. We see stuff like this all the time in New England but I never fail to be amazed by it.

That cold snap saved us from losing ice for last weekend.

We’ve had a lot of rain this month. The last two weeks especially and as rainfall records were being broken all over the place I constantly kept an eye on the weather radar for Errol to see if they were getting hit as hard as we were. Fortunately they were getting mostly mixed precipitation, which sustained the ice and turned into one of the best surfaces I’d seen all season.

Launch

There's a lot to write about and I don't want to keep everyone waiting so I'm doing the end of the season in two parts. The first part will cover the warmer days we had and the second part will cover the last and colder days.

Part 1.

Paul

The first couple of days were warm. Molly,Paul, Randy,Mike and I had a sweet couple of days of jumping. Molly got a Friday off (almost unheard of) and came up to get in on the “jump-fest”. We had a couple close calls while playing around and Randy and I bumped into each other. A while later Molly almost jumped on me. Got it on video now I need to get it on here but more on that later.

Oh, and in regards to my progress this year with jumping I’ve gotten comfortable enough on the Charger that I don’t need to look at the kite much when I’m in the air. The jumping is starting to get intuitive! Mostly because of the steady winds at Umbagog but this is great because I’ve been trying to get some helmet cam footage and get some shots from up in the air.

If you’re wondering how that’s working I have to admit it’s not so good. The helmet cam was mounted to my goggle strap so it’s a bit shaky. And to be honest my jumping in general lacks style sometimes but when I’m jumping to get footage I have about as much style as a fish on a hook. Okay maybe not that much style. But I think I might have gotten a little footage that I’ll post pretty soon.

Molly and Randy

The next day we were out we got an early start. Molly took the 12m Charger, Randy had his 13m V2, Mike had his Synergy 12m, I took my 15m Charger. It was basically a Peter Lynn Fest with only Paul on his Flysurfer Psycho 4 12m. We all went straight out to the big lake to get some more of the great surface and great wind. Jim Cline on his Peter Lynn Scorpion decided to stay in closer to the launch area and do his routine of racking up miles.

Molly

We had another great session of cruising. We raced across the lake and heading north as far as we could get which is about 6 miles as the crow flies from the launch. It’s awesome crossing the lake in solid wind in a group like this you get the sense of being like a pack of wild dogs or a squadron of fighters just pinning it across the lake. I especially like the fact that you can actually get a sense of the speed you’re carrying. When you’re out on a big lake it’s hard to judge speed because everything is so far off in the distance. That changes a bit when you can see other kiters moving in front of the background or when you pass each other in opposite directions.

Mike and Molly

The weather that day was awesome. It was warm but not too warm and the sky to the North was engulfed in a dark overcast. The kites were striking in their bright colors against the stormy background. Again there was a lot of jumping and ripping about. When I get out there I just forget everything. Nothing bothers me; I’m completely in the moment. I’ve kited thousands of miles and hundreds of hours and I’m still surprised at how the whole experience sort of “decompresses” me. Even if I’m out on a speed quest I still feel an overwhelming sense of relaxation. I don’t know how to explain it.

Molly

We flew for a few hours and the wind started to lighten up. It’s funny when you have a bunch of experienced riders together and conditions start to change. I often find that most everyone pays attention to the same weather cues and make similar decisions based on those cues. In this case the winds started to lighten (we could tell by the changes in the consistency of the wind velocity and direction) and without speaking a word to one another we all collectively started heading back to the launch area. And of course none of us wanted to get trapped six miles out without wind so again like a patrol of P-51s we hauled ass back as fast as we could.

About a mile out from the boat launch and parking lot we came around a point just south of the cut that heads to the big lake. While we were all out a few ice fishermen had gotten together for a last day of ice fishing. Jim Cline was out there poking around when they got there but I’m pretty sure they didn’t have a clue that the rest of us were out there. I bet it was a heck of a sight when the group of us cruised through on these crazy, big, kite things with lines whistling and our wings filling the sky. They all stopped what they were doing and watched us go by.

It felt really good.

Paul's Helmet

I'll cover the demise of several pairs of skis, some speed sessions and various close calls in Part 2. Coming soon maybe with VIDEO!!!

Stay tuned!

All Stacked Up. The Last Days On Golden Pond.

2010-03-17T07:33:00.012-04:00

Stacked 15m and 19m

Since I got into this kite thing this is always a weird time of year for me. The snow kite season is coming to and end, the weather is getting warmer and the days have gotten longer. While my co-workers are bubbling about the warm weather and up coming riding season (I work in the bike industry) I find myself getting depressed about the rapidly approaching end of the snow kite season. This is compounded by the fact that our season is ending about a month early and we’re already scrambling to find the last bastions of kite-able ice. We still have ice at Umbagog and we’ll probably make it until April but it will still be a short season. This entry is a bit long because I've added a story with some valuable information in regards to safety. I apologize in advance if this seems a bit too long.

Last Friday Molly got the day off and she, Mike and myself went down to Squam Lake to check the conditions and see if we could “safely” squeeze out a few more sessions on it. My original plan was to go to Umbagog but the wind forecast for Umbagog was bad and the Squam forecast was not much better. I called Randy and told him our plan and since he had never flown Squam he said he’d come down and ride with us. Jim Cline had been on Squam a few days before and said it was great which we all found rather unbelievable since every body of water anywhere near Squam, including Winnepesaukee, was done for the season. The only water that we thought might still have riding was Chocorua. And to ride there you would have to swim to the ice.

Molly and I met Mike at the town parking lot. The winds were light and straight out of the East at maybe 4mph. The ice looked amazing! Mike checked an ice fishing hole and the ice was still almost 20 inches thick, at least where we were. The ice can always be thinner just a few feet away if there are springs, inlets or outlets, or if it’s shallow. The Fish and Game authorities are always on alert this time of year because people are going through the ice left and right. As we were unloading our gear two NH Fish and Game officers rolled up to see what we were up to.

I laugh a little bit when I try to envision what we must look like from a non-kiter perspective. They must have been driving by, feeling a state of relief knowing all the ice fishing huts are off the lake and they probably don’t have to worry about any ice fishermen needing rescue, when suddenly they see a couple of cars on the beach with people wearing ski boots, some crazy strapped on diaper looking things, full face helmets and we appear to be pulling piles of what look like tents out of the backs of our cars like we're going to set up some kind “of Burning Man-esque” tent city. They pulled in and we all expected them to be aggressive, give us a hard time, and tell us that the ice was unsafe and that we had no business being out there. In fact they were super nice and told us that there was still a ton of ice out there with just a few bad spots. They were really pumped about the kite thing and psyched to see us ride. Who knew? They even played with Sirius a little before they left.

Highlighted big hole

The wind was still really light, borderline non-existent in fact. Molly suggested that we try stacking a couple of Chargers and see how that goes. Stacking is something you can do with Peter Lynns in light wind conditions to get more power. Essentially you connect the kites in series, one above the other effectively giving you more wing surface and more power in light winds. We’ve seen video of it and have talked about wanting to do it but never really got around to it, until Friday. After all there was zero wind at this point so why not mess a round and experiment? We got some kites out and our spare parts bag that has all our line extensions in it and hauled everything out onto the ice.

Mike, me and the Chargers

We decided to try the 19m and the 15m Chargers and see how that goes. Again we didn’t really think this through too much and were just making it up as we went along. The only thing that I remembered reading about stacking was that the smaller kite goes behind the bigger kite. This didn’t make any sense to us because it seemed the big kite would wind shadow the small kite and make it not fly. Just like when you’re passing someone racing. But on the other hand the kite in front will dictate the turn rate of both kites and if you put the small kite up front the kites won’t turn in sync. So we tried stacking 19m/15m first.

Pre-launch

If nothing else it looks impressive. One big kite always looks cool but two kites look freakin’ awesome. It was overcast but still bright out and the contrast of the colors on the kites against the gray sky and the gray ice was stunning. There was still no wind and I didn’t know if we were going to get them airborne but we were going to try.

Randy showed up shortly after we started messing around and walked out to give us his expert opinion on what we needed to get the stacked set up a good chance of working. Apparently the magic ingredient is wind, which we had none of. The theory with the stacking thing is it will help get you moving in light wind. But as we found it doesn’t really work in zero wind.

Mike, Randy and me

So we gave it a try and learned some interesting things. First if there were any wind I would probably have had my ass handed to me. Even in what felt like absolutely zero wind I had to work hard against the pull of the 2 kites together. Second we found that having the small kite in the back did shadow the kite too much and the smaller kite spent much of its time as dead weight stalling the 19m. We switched the kites around and had better results but we could see how the turn rates would be out of sync. Third I was surprised at how well the kites behaved. It really didn’t make much of a difference in the ground handling. You could land them, launch from a “clamshell” (closed up) position, roll them over, anything you wanted. It was really pretty amazing.

Me launching the Charger short stack

The problem came with the flying part. You just can’t fly if there isn’t any wind.

Some success

After a while of playing we bagged it. The wind started to pick up and I decided that I would rather actually be riding at this point than experimenting. So we all went out and had a late day session in some decent wind. The lake was in surprisingly good shape with very little open water apart from a big hole out in the center of the lake. Late season kiting has some added risk. For example the hole out in the middle of the lake was nearly invisible in the overcast light. If it was windier and good for doing speed runs one of us could have ended up taking a swim. At 50mph+ speeds you can be on a hole like that before you know it and be swimming.

Of course you don’t need a hole in the ice to be swimming this time of year. I don’t know about other kiters but every spring when the ice starts getting sketchy we always convince ourselves and TRY to convince others that if, on the off chance we DO go through the ice, our kites will pull us out and pull us to safety. That has always been our “security blanket”. None of us had actually put the theory to the test.

Until we rode a little lake named "Keoka"

Let me set the scene. It was really late in the season and all of our local ice was done. There was no ice anywhere; there wasn’t even bad ice to be found. Even Umbagog was questionable. One night Paul Morse calls me up and tells me that he and Seth Merriam found a place to ride not too far from where they live over in Bridgton. My response was a sensible "No friggen way. There is no way you guys were riding anything anywhere south of Umbagog. There's no riding anywhere less than 60 miles north of here."

But Paul insisted that they rode and that the ice was good. The only trick was to get onto the ice. They managed to get on by tearing apart an old rotten dock and making a REALLY sketchy bridge with parts of the dock and a water ski tow rope. Sure, this sounds awesome! I mean really what could go wrong? But Paul swore that it would be good riding and that they were going to ride it the next day and that I should join them. I reluctantly agreed and told Paul I would meet them there in the morning.

The following day I left the house fairly early. Even though it was early the temperature was already in the low 50's and the day was supposed to be really sunny and I knew it was just going to get warmer. I seriously doubted that I would get to ride but thought if Keoka was a bust I would just head up to Umbagog. I left the house and headed to Bridgton. The whole drive there I passed several bodies of water and there wasn't a trace of ice in any of them. The entire drive I kept saying to myself "There's no friggen way there's any riding there!" I said it so many times it was almost like a some sort of mantra or religious chant. I couldn't believe I was wasting my time.

About 45 minutes later I find Keoka. It's a tiny little lake in the town of Waterford Me. and even though the lake I passed less than a mile down the road had just a trace of ice on it Keoka was covered in ice. And the ice was completely tracked up with ski tracks from Paul and Seth (and I think Randy) from the day before. It didn't make any sense! Paul and Seth were already there and we all got our stuff on and headed across the sketchy little bridge and onto the ice. The whole scene was freakish.

By the way, the water under that rickety sad little excuse for a bridge was black as oil. It didn't make you feel good about the idea of going in it.

Before I knew it we were riding. The temp at this point was 69 degrees and the wind was really nice and steady. The runs were relatively short but they were still fun. There were pockets of thin ice on top of water on top of thick ice and every once in a while you would punch through and sink about 4 inches but nothing major. After a while you got used to it and it didn't startle you anymore. Any reservations I had were gone as I flew back and forth without fear across that little lake.

After about an hour or so of riding in the early spring heat the ice had turned from a nice frosty white color to more of a dark ash gray. The sun and the heat was taking their toll on the surface and now the wind was letting up so I decided it was about time to pack it up. I decided not to push my luck much further.

Ever hear the term "candle ice"?

I turned my kite back toward shore and made my way back to my anchor. I was following the same line I'd be riding all morning and was about halfway across the lake when once again my skis punched through a layer and into some water underneath like had happened a hundred time already that morning. I didn't think anything of it as I was moving forward until I felt the ice come up past the normal level at the top of my instep and start hitting the cuff of my boot. Then it was hitting the top of my boot cuff, then my knee pads, my lower thighs, my waist until I ground to a halt when my chest plowed into the ice. Then I sank up to my neck in the water.

I couldn't believe it. I had actually fallen through the ice and was swimming with my damn skis and boots and everything. I felt around with my ski tip for the bottom. Nope no bottom. As I went in I noticed what sounded like wind chimes. I looked behind me and all the ice I had crashed through was floating and making a very distinct glass "clinking" sound. The ice I went through was about 10" thick and was comprised of long strands of ice or "candles". Thus the term "candle ice". A type of rotten ice that is extremely weak even though it can be as thick as the ice was at its strongest time of the season. I'd never heard or seen anything like it. It's defiantly something I take into account when I consider going out during the late season.

At the time I was riding my 19m Venom and it had gone to auto-zenith (hovering directly above me) and was waiting obediently for me to make a move. Fortunately I had my PFD on and all my armor which is made mostly of foam so I was in no danger of sinking in fact I was bobbing like a cork. It was a new thing for me to have my bar under the water and just see my lines coming out and up to my kite.

Okay so now I had to make a choice here. I thought to myself "Time to put your money where your mouth is." and see if all the theorizing about how we'd use our kites to pull us out if we went through. The last thing I wanted to do was try to live down being rescued by Maine Fish and Game.

I yelled over to everyone to stay clear of my location. Seth looked like he was going to come try to help me which as nice as that is on his part it would have ended up with both of us in the drink. I waved him off and got set up to try to self rescue via kite. The wind was getting lighter when I went in so I figured I better make this count.

There are several important things you have to do when in this situation and trying to get out of this situation. They are as follows.....

1) Do a "back scratcher". If you're on skis you'll need to do this to get out of the hole without getting hung up on the hole's edge or without losing your skis. You DO NOT want to lose your skis. You'll need them to spread your load across the ice when you get out of the water.

2) As you're in "back scratcher" position down loop the kite to build power and use it to pull you out of the hole and continue down looping until the kite has pulled you well away from the hole. When I first tried it I just got myself out of the water and onto the ice right next to the hole. When I tried to get up I broke through and was back in the water again.

3) Get the hell off the ice ASAP.

Shazam! Kite self rescue!

I'm not sure how this works with snowboards but I suspect it would be very similar.

I was most concerned after I was out and packing up my kite. I didn't know if the ice I was on while packing up was going to hold or not and if I fell through while packing up I wouldn't have my kite in the air to pull me out. That was the scriest part of the day.

We almost couldn't get off the ice it melted so much.

We call Keoka "Krug Goes Through" Pond now. The air temp was around 70 degrees and I changed out of my wet stuff and into some shorts. Even after being submerged for a few minutes my left foot still never got wet. Weird. It was a hell of a day.

Anyway, back to Squam.

Clouds on Staurday

Saturday turned out to be a hell of a good day on Squam. The wind was out of the East at about 15mph gusting to about 17mph and the surface was simply awesome. Molly and I got there first and just 200 feet down the road the local rescue squad was out on the ice practicing ice rescue procedures. Seemed a little funny to me that we were setting ice screws just 200 feet from them as the crawled across the ice with their floatation "thingy" and "Gumby" (survival) suits.

I'm sure they were thinking they'd be pulling us out of the water before too long.

Hole in the ice

Hole highlighted

Molly and I flew out to the broad part of the lake. She was sick but decided to come out anyway. The surface was fast and the wind was good. She rode the 10m Charger and got some good speed runs in. Her top speed for the short time she was out was 52.8mph. After a while she decided she was too sick and headed in. I stayed out and continued to make speed runs on the 12m Charger. The holes in the ice were still almost invisible. Most of my runs were between 44 and 56mph with a few over 60mph with one at 62mph. Too fast to stop in time if I lost track of the holes.

Randy Berube

Just after Molly went in Randy came out on his 10m Venom 2 and was completely lit. Randy isn't a big guy but he rides like a big guy. He's got a lot of heart and he's not afraid to be overpowered at times on a kite. He has the nerve and tenacity to make a kite that may be a little too big for certain conditions work. He came out and ripped around with me for a couple hours until the surface started to get too soft. He had a lot of fast runs and at the end he was on my heels at 58mph and some change. The wind was getting stronger but I was too tired and the surface was too sticky. We headed back in and finished our last day on Squam for the season.

Charger 19m Sunset

It was a great day. We all went fast and best of all nobody went swimming.

Until next time.

By the way, sorry for any typos. I was a little rushed. =)

Moore Reservoir Dogs

2010-03-07T20:48:00.091-05:00

I was going to race the Mille Lacs Crossing, an endurance race out in Minnesota, this weekend. It was to be the last one ever and I would have liked to have a shot at winning it but the wind forecast looked really bad and I bagged it at the last minute. I heard they really got "skunked" with 50 degree heat and no wind. They had to cancel the race.

It sucks but it's okay because I got to stay home and ride one of my favorite places to throw a kite in the air. Moore Reservoir.

"Luke, I am NOT your father."

It’s been two weeks since Kitestorm and there’s been a sudden terrible downturn in our local riding conditions. Just after Kitestorm we got hit with a storm that dumped almost 4 inches of rain in some locations and also got some snow, which left us with several inches of slush on top of the ice. You can’t reasonably kite in slush because it’s too grabby and too damn messy. To make it worse the storm has been followed by unseasonably warm weather and both Chocorua and Silver have been un-ride able since the storm. Winnepesaukee had some riding but has now melted from the shore so much you have to swim to get to the good ice. Jim Cline got the last days on Winnepesaukee and he and I got out on Lovewell Pond last week but it’s done there now. It’s as though we jumped straight from February right into April. We’ve lost almost a whole month of riding.

It’s been a messed up season to say the least.

Mike at boat launch

That’s okay, we can’t always have 5 months of snow kiting. Hell most people are lucky to get a month or two. When spots get lean here we know where the riding can be had if we don’t mind driving a little. Moore Reservoir and Umbagog are still a good bet and will be for a couple more weeks. If you’ve been following the blog you’ll remember my mention of Moore Res. in an earlier installment. That’s where we rode this weekend and it was awesome.

The Cove.

(those mounds are over15 feet tall)

First a little history on the area.

Moore Dam

Moore was created back in the 50’s by damming a section of the Connecticut River, the river that defines the Vermont/New Hampshire border. Unlike most water bodies in New Hampshire, Moore has very good public access with several boat-launch areas and parking right off the interstate. It is also one of the most publicly visible kiting areas that we ride allowing people who have never heard of snow kiting to get a glimpse of it. Moore is a fairly large area at over 3000 acres and becomes a kiter’s playground when they drop the water level in preparation for the rise in water level in the spring. There are numerous terrain features such as sand bars and large granite out cropping under the water that support the ice when the water level is dropped. This produces hills and ramps of ice that a kiter can ride over, jump up or glide off. These are terrain elements that we don’t usually get to play with unless we build them ourselves. And even if we were to build them we could never build them to this scale. These features are pretty damn big. Some years the level is lower than others. Last year it was really low.

The window of opportunity for riding Moore after the water has been lowered can be just a week or two so when it’s good you have to get in as much riding as you can. As it turns out the window of prime riding this season was just a few days.

Read yellow sign.

Friday Mike and I showed up at around 11:00 am. The wind reports were saying NW winds and as usual this season they were completely wrong and the wind was coming straight out of the East. I can’t believe how bad the weather people have been this winter! Anyway so the wind was out of the East and we were parked on the North East side of the lake so we were in a decent spot to launch. Mike went out first and set his screw while I got my stuff on and shot some shots to show a little scale. Moore is pretty big and judging things as far as size or distance can be a little deceptive. I’ll try to illustrate the scale of things with photos but unless you see it in person it’s hard to translate.

That speck in the center is Mike setting up.

Moore is big but you only get to ride certain parts depending on the wind direction. Mike launched and shot over to the other side and up onto the shore to ride along the tree line. Something that is always in the back of my mind when we ride Moore is the fact that under the water is the former location of a town called Upper Waterford. Upper Waterford was flooded when they built the damn and where we’re launching from was once the main road that ran North/South through the town. For more info on the history of the town check out this link.

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vtcbarne/UpperWaterford.htm

With East wind we can ride the bulk of the lake that runs East/West. It’s really nice cruising and scenic but the best part of the lake is the cove area that runs NE/SW right along the highway. It has most of the fun stuff to play on and lies about 40 feet directly below the highway. Unfortunately I’ve never seen anyone down in the cove when I’ve been driving by but it must be stunning to be cruising by at 70mph on the highway and seeing these huge colorful “things” floating up and disappearing from view at road level just on the other side of the guard rails.

15m Charger across from highway.

It would make some great video footage.

Mike and his 19m. (for scale)

After a while of cruising on the long section of the lake the winds picked up and started to shift more North. Mike and I had decided to change to smaller kites and with the wind shift we’d relocate to the NW part of the lake. This puts us in a better position to take advantage of the wind shift and gets us much closer to the cove. The down side is the wind near the NW shore is really “dirty” or turbulent. Depending on how strong the wind is it can be a really tricky launch. The kite can be fully powered one second and in a blink it can be falling out of the sky. But once you get out there it’s really an amazing place to ride.

Mike and his 19m Peter Lynn V1

We couldn’t ask for better conditions. The weather was perfect. The sun was shining and the temperature was about 35 degrees. The surface was awesome! About ¾ of an inch of firm, crystalline corn snow. You just felt like you were on rails. The winds had shifted NW by the time we launched again. The cove works really well with anything from straight North to straight West. Mike and I immediately headed down to the cove.

One of the mounds from the van pic at cove level.

(the ice chunks are S.U.V. size)

The water level isn’t as low as it could be but there was still plenty of terrain to play on. The sandbars, the granite mounds, the plates of ice on the shoreline all make for pretty fun stuff to play on. It’s almost like a terrain park. It’s almost like a mix of mountain biking and kiting. You get to ride through the rocks and stumps and you pick your lines like you would on a bike. Except when you glide off a mound. This year we were able to ride farther south into the cove than ever, which was really cool. It’s amazing how tight and big the area seems when you ride there.

What is equally amazing is how soon cars start pulling over to watch. Two of the bigger mounds are right under the highway and one of my favorite things to do down there is to do “step up” style jumps off the flat part of the ice up to the tops of the mounds. I like it because I can jump 20 feet into the air and I don’t feel too uncomfortable because even though I may be 20 feet up I’m usually only 10 feet above the top of the mound before I land. It’s fun, looks cool and is well within my comfort zone. And once I’m up there I bang out a turn and haul ass down back the mound, rip across the cove and back up the mounds on the other side.

Mike on the bank.

We rode for hours like this with Mike on his 12m Synergy and me on my 15m Charger.

Molly and the M5

The next day Molly, Mike and I all went up and we had almost a carbon copy of the day before. But this time we had even better wind. Molly was excited to try out the new 9.5 Montana 5 that I had won at Kitestorm and I was interested to see it in action as well. The wind was perfect for it and we still had the perfect surface that Mike and I had the day before. The wind was blowing W/NW and at about 12mph steady for the most part with occasional punches about 15mph. Not bad considering the wind forecast was for NO WIND. Again, the weather people were wrong and for once this season I was happy about it. Mike and I were wondering about the ice thickness. Any concerns we had were gone when several vehicles drove by where we parked and straight out onto the ice. While our ice is melting fast they are still driving on the water up north. Crazy.

Today Mike brought his helmet cam and hopefully he got some footage. If he did I’ll set up a link.

We put in almost 70 miles in for the day. The weather was perfect and Molly rocked the 9.5m. At first there were some minor issues but we fixed some things and it seemed to fly just fine. Well enough that Molly spent the whole day on it. The M5 turns much faster than the earlier models of Montanas for sure. We had a ball and again a ton of spectators on the highway. I really get a kick out of racing along side the highway and trying to match the speed of the cars and seeing the passengers looking out the windows in apparent amazement that we were almost keeping up. Fun stuff.

Charger pulling me to the top

After riding all day without even taking a break for lunch we were famished and stopped at the Littleton Diner for dinner. The food is great and so is the service. The diner has been there forever and is worth the visit. The meatloaf special is awesome.

Molly

On the third day Mike had to work and Molly and I met Randy Berube at Moore. He rode Umbagog on Saturday and said it was unbelievably good. It’s a hell of a long drive for Randy to get to Moore and we were hoping that the wind would be good. The forecast again was calling for no wind but we saw wind all the way there and there was wind at Moore when we got there. It was sunny again and the surface was still pristine.

Randy

Unfortunately we didn’t get as lucky with Sunday as we did the previous days. The wind wasn’t cooperating and it was much warmer. Randy got to get a taste of riding the terrain but the wind didn’t really get going until late in the afternoon and the heat and sun had really taken a toll on the ice.

Randy

Eventually we were riding in slush and huge puddles. We rode until we were basically soaked and decided to bag it for the day. I felt bad that Randy drove all the way to get so little quality riding in. I always have a loose ratio in my mind concerning drive time vs. time on the kite. If the kite time is greater than the drive time then it was a worthwhile trip. If not then it was a waste of time. But there are exceptions. For example if I drive an 2 hours but get some really excellent riding in then it wasn’t a wasted trip. I think Randy’s visit is "on the fence this time." Anyway it's a pretty loose ratio.

Molly, Randy and me on the fence.

Take a look at the morning vs. the afternoon ice conditions.

Before

After

That’s basically our adventures at Moore in a nutshell. It's a great place to ride if you know what you're doing. There are some "unusual" risks to riding there and I wouldn't recommend a visit without someone who knows the area.

I’m not sure where we’ll be riding next week. If we get some snow maybe Moore again. If not then we’re up to Umbagog. We’re losing ice here at an alarming rate and my hopes of making my goal of 80mph this year are fading fast. I learned some things about the Charger that will help me go faster but I may have to wait until next season the way things are going. My best bet was probably Monday and I had to work. That’s how it goes with this whole speed thing.

You have to be at the right place at the right time. I just have to be patient.

We'll probably get out a few more times this season. I have a spot I want to hit at higher elevation and We'll wear life preservers on the lakes in case we go through the ice.

Until next time!

Round and Round and Round. Winning races by the skin of your teeth at Kitestorm 2010

2010-02-21T21:33:00.105-05:00

Okay let me start off by saying that I know nothing about kite course racing. I know even less about sailboat racing which kite racing gets most of its format and rules from. All I know how to do is go fast. It doesn’t have quite the tactical demands that course racing in a group has for sure. It’s more of a balance of finesse, brute force and luck and I’m okay with that. Course kiting is like chess. Speed is like bowling.

And we all know I like bowling.

In years past Kitestorm has always had a speed competition. This was always different than the regular weekly speed comp because some pretty sweet prizes are at stake. For example the fastest rider usually walks away with a kite, which is a damn good prize. If I didn’t win some of the kites that I’ve had in the past I wouldn’t be where I am today with my kiting. I sure as hell probably wouldn’t be a Peter Lynn Rider if I didn’t win my first Peter Lynn Venom 1 13m way back when. I hadn’t even really heard of Peter Lynn before I won that kite. I almost had my ass handed to me that day because it was the first day I flew my new 11.5 Flexifoil Sabre 1 and the wind was way too much for that size wing. I saw James (Lyne) who I didn’t know at the time rescue a lot of people of the ice that had been overpowered by the unexpected winds and haul them in on 4 wheelers and snow machines.

My stupid pride wouldn’t let me get rescued.

I limped the kite back up wind to my anchor and landed it. Molly found me and grabbed my GPS because there were just a few minutes left before the deadline to get your speed in. I won the contest by something like 3/10ths of a mile per hour and beat out the previous year’s winner. I won a kite, which was great, but I also got to meet Rachael Miller, James Lyne, Paul Morse and Seth Merriam that day which is easily better.

Rachael

Racer Meeting

This year the format was a course race. I had mixed feelings about it because it’s not something I’ve ever done and organized competition is a little out of my comfort zone. Put me out on a ridiculously windy day, with room to run and put me up against anybody with the only rule being go faster than everyone else and I’m happy as hell. But give me rules, boundaries, time limits and all that and I have a little different opinion. Rachael at Stormboarding was looking to freshen Kitestorm up a little this year and decided this race was a good way to do it. I think Kitestorm is a great event and I like to support it in anyway I can and this was an opportunity to do that and learn something new as well. Also an opportunity see how I stacked up against other kiters, head to head on a closed course where I had to actually think things through instead of releying simply on reflexes and instinct.

I figured I had chance of coming out on top if the surface was as clean as it was last weekend and if we had high winds. Conditions I excel in and a lot of people struggle in. Some people think that a kiter on skis can't go fast on hard, black ice. Well, we do and you're wrong.

Mike

My hopes of having a clear advantage diminished a bit when we got to Sandbar. The ice had a light layer of snow on it. And it hadn’t adhered to the surface so for me it was nuisance snow. It was just enough to hinder my edge from biting in easy and it also slowed me down because it was a different temperature than what I’d waxed for. As if that wasn’t enough there was hardly any wind and in fact at times there was NO WIND at all. Kitestorm was more like "Kite graveyard" with all the dead kites lying on the ground. This was not the situation I wanted to be in. Peter Lynns are not known for their super low wind flying ability. They can fly in low winds but you have to work them hard. The Charger has by far the best low wind capabilities of any Peter Lynn ever but this wind was beyond what the Charger can do with my weight on it.

Sometimes weight can be a huge advantage. This was NOT one of those times.

Peter Lynn Base

Aaron

Seth

Me on the 15m

Molly got her gear on and got us registered for the event and the race while I hauled out the kites and got myself dressed. We then walked down to the ice to the Peter Lynn Demo Site and met up with Aaron and Seth who came all the way from Minnesota to let people demo the new Peter Lynn Chargers. They’re a great couple of guys and I was glad to get to meet them. We talked for a while about the event and the lack of wind and whether or not they would have the race or put it off until Sunday for more wind and we figured there would be no racing on Saturday. But just before the end of the day the winds picked up a little and to our disbelief we were being called to the starting area.

No one could believe it. There was hardly any wind and the risk of it cutting out on us half way through the race was pretty damn good. A lot of us had already been screwed by the wind earlier in the day and had to do the “walk of shame” from a long way out on the lake and didn’t feel like doing it again. But the wind was blowing a little and we had to try to race while we could.

I couldn’t remember a damn thing from the race meeting earlier in the day.

The format of the race is a little weird if, like me, you don’t know anything about sail racing. First it’s a mass start with everybody milling about with kites in the air waiting for the countdown to the start flag drop. Once the flag drops it’s controlled chaos as everyone breaks out and jockeys for position. It’s especially nerve racking when you’re trying to move ahead through the pack and you get someone that knows less than I do about racing and they just creep along with their kite straight up in the air. This presents a pretty big problem because if you touch wings you both get disqualified. This was my biggest fear next to being underpowered. The last thing I wanted to do was come all the way here, represent Peter Lynn, and get disqualified for a stupid mistake on my part or someone else’s.

Now we’re off and running things get pretty interesting. I somehow manage to work my way up to the front and whom do I find up there but none other than Paul Morse from Bridgton Maine and our friend Mike Elliott. Two of the fastest guys around and all about 30-40lbs light than me on kites that have a much better time in light winds than mine does. I’m not diggin’ my chances at this point but I couldn’t give up if I wanted to. I knew I had a slim chance of catching up but if I wasn’t going to win I was going to make those guys work their asses of to stay ahead of me.

Start by Kate Neubauer

The first leg of the course is an upwind section. “Upwind” implies that there was wind and there was but just enough to keep the wing in the air if I worked my kite and skated. At one point we were all skating to get up wind to the first buoy. Mike and Paul were always just ahead of me but I just couldn’t catch them. We rounded the buoy and did the semi downwind leg to the next buoy. Paul and Mike still just out of reach. We rounded that buoy and all turned onto the home stretch, which goes directly across the wind. This is where my luck started to change. I hadn’t made any progress on Paul but I now was SLOWLY closing the gap on Mike. Even though he was lighter and had a 19m Peter Lynn Venom I was able make the Charger 19m build speed and power by sining the kite. That is by making it go up and then dive. This builds speed and power. But to do it well the kite needs to turn fairly fast which the Charger does very well. This is a prime example of using your equipment’s strengths to compensate for its weaknesses. I used the Charger’s excellent turn rate to offset its lack of light wind ability.

GPS tracks on course. (go counter clockwise)

I’m closing in on Mike and we’re both closing in on the finish, which Paul has just crossed.

Paul Morse

Mike knows I’m there. He starts sining and it’s not enough. Even though he’s on essentially the same size kite I am he can’t sine it enough to get the power to pull away. He starts skating and sining, and so do I. The Charger is turning twice as fast and I’m timing my skate strides just right and I’m now starting to pass him. He’s working hard but he just can’t keep me at bay and I pass him literally at the finish line. It was thin and hard as hell but I wanted it and with the help of the Charger I bagged second place. At the time I didn’t know it but this was a very important thing that just happened.