Oahu day 1

Awesome first day in Kailua! 6.5 and 104 in the morning (provided by Naish Sports Oahu), brief lunch and 5.8 and 95 L in the afternoon. I lest the water at 6 PM, unable to hold the boom any more. The conditions were massive bump and jump on the inside, and some beautiful waves on the outside. More to come.

Last post before the departure

I'm heading to Hawaii on Saturday. The bags are all ready; the cameras, the harness, the rash guards. The injured shoulder is not allowed to misbehave for a whole week. Only one thing is left to do:
Pray for wind.

Busy weekend (Montrose is open for business)

This was a pretty unusual weekend. Saturday's forecast was high teens to twenties from the NNE. The kitesurfers were going to Miller beach, IN, and I thought that was a good choice. Miller faces North, so Miller should have worked, but it didn't. We could not explain why but Chicago was cranking, and we didn't get anything. On my way home I stopped by Wolf, and to my surprise there was plenty of wind there, so I quickly rigged up and had my redemption session. 

Today I went to Montrose for the first time since the season started, and it felt great to be back on Lake Michigan. The wind was SSE, so about 500 yards outside it was great, but inside I needed more juice to feel safe, so I called after a few nice rides.

Spring is definitely here, and we have to enjoy it while it lasts!

 The crowd waiting for wind

The season opener

The birds are back, the ice melted and my car smells funky again. We are up for another season, my sixth, and what a better opening than good ol' Wolf Lake on a chilly, 13-20 mph NNE day. I hope this year brings more toys (I could really use a new mast), more friends and more fun.

See you out there!

First ride

Remember the first time you rode a bicycle? How about the first time you got up on a windsurfing board? This weekend was packed with work for me so I had little hope of going out; but the wind picked up right during my tiny window of opportunity, unbelievable!
With 18 mph wind, I was going to take it easy, again, and work on flying my kite. But my buddy Jim had another agenda to get me out of the mental block. So he put a board on my feet, gave me a few invaluable pointers, and sent me riding on a broad reach like a madman. My first ride on real gear.
 For the rookie kite rider, every fall is a massive crash.This learning curve will be a steep and bumpy one...

Kiters heading to the playground

Maurice and his trusty Flysurfer

Base camp

Whare am I?

This is a picture of Lake Michigan taken from my window today . It reminds me that not so long ago (in geological terms, of course...) the lake was a giant glacier. No snowkiting this weelend, maybe next week.

Snowkiting in Grass Lake

We finally got some snow here in the Midwest, and on Friday night I heard from Maurice that he and his buddy Jim were going to hit Grass Lake for some snowkiting. We arrived to the lake at 10 AM, and stayed until 4 or so, and I must say that the place was incredible. There must have been eleven kiters out on the lake, all sharing the stoke. I spent most of the day flying Jim's 3m foil, and learning kite etiquette. Maurice was on a 8m Flysurfer foilkite, and Jim was on a 12m Cabrinha. The wind must have been 11-12 mph gusting to 16 or so, and there were around 4 inches of snow on top of black ice. By the end of the day I was feeling comfortable enough to put my Liquid Force up in the air, but the wind had died, so I flew it just for a few minutes. The thing flies beautifully, so next time it'is play time!
Some final comments: For those conditions, 12 meters was OK, but people were asking for a little more wind, or more kite, so maybe 15 would have been better for a 170-180 pound person.
Jim rigging his Cabrinha

Unknown kiter flying another Cabrinha

Maurice getting some...