Snowkites

Friday night on the way home from work I stopped to watch some snowkiters out on the lake. There was a beautiful sunset lighting the sky red and I was able to take a few shots in the final light.

There were some guys learning to fly a kite on a setup that was too big for the winds present. It was quite entertaining to watch one of the guys get pulled 20 feet across the lake harnessed in. The other guy augured his buddies kite straight into the ground at 50 mph. They were all getting a laugh out of it, so I guess no harm done.



After watching the activities Friday night, I decided to get out my training kite Saturday morning and give it a try in the winter conditions. After much coaxing, I convinced Susan to come out onto the lake to be my launch assistant. Wind was gusting to 30, and it was snowing quite hard. She was a trooper for about the first 30 minutes, but the cold was getting to her as she had to stand face first into the snow for a re-lite every time I crashed.

I convinced her to try it and she caught onto the idea of flying the power stroke pattern almost immediately, in very gusty conditions. She really seemed to enjoy it, but the cold got the best of her, and we had to close down the operation early due to inclement weather.

I'm kicking myself for not getting serious about this sooner, I've been playing with the training kite for a year now, saying I'll get serious once I can find time. Well the time is now. I'm going to meet with a local kite board shop owner this week and start making plans for the spring. It's truly a year around sport, and I believe it will complement my hang gliding plans quite nicely. On the days it's too windy to fly, it will be right for kiting. Early spring and late fall are also good times for kiteboarding, extending my 'play' season.

This is the year I get serious about kiteboarding.



My longest flight today was about four minutes. The smaller kites are extremely responsive in high winds..


Susan gettin' the hang..


Susan steerin' right, but goin' left..