The kite I brought back from Hawaii is filling up my free time. I have gone out three times to try to get her to fly. The first time was too light, the second super gusty. The kite is so powerful it picks me right up off the ground and launches me directly downwind. If you hadn't seen me in the field I was in flying the kite you wouldn't have a clue what went on there. You would see a deep impact crater with another one 10 yards down, then another, then another, with no tracks in between. It is a steep learning curve to fly this thing.
Last weekend Sarah, Maddie and I went up to Traverse City to stay at my parents house and do some kiteing on Lake Michigan. The south end of east Grand Traverse Bay is extremely shallow due to the water table being so low in recent years. One can go a half mile offshore and only be waist deep. Perfect shaky ice conditions to go out on. No worries about falling through. The wind was blowing about 7-11 knots which is perfect for about a 10 meter kite. I have a 16 so I rigged up shorter lines to take away some of the power. It was perfect. I was ripping back and forth on the snowboard. It is amazing how much power can be generated from a kite relative to a windsurfing sail. I did get a couple of small, but controlled airs. The big guys can get 30 feet or more easily. I was only about 12 inches but a two second hangtime at 12 inches for a beginner was awesome. I had a friend from school meet me on the ice and he took some pictures. I have attached them to this email so check them out. I'm looking forward to getting back up there in the next couple of weeks for some more.
Sarah and I also were able to take Maddie out for her first snowshoe session last weekend. I have included one picture of her in the pack. She did very well. It was cold, only about 15 degrees so we were only out for about 35 min, but Madeleine did well and seemed to enjoy being out and up high in the Kelty KIDS pack. It felt good to get out in the winter snow as opposed to being cooped up at work in southern MI. Pass on the pic of Maddie to E and let me know how Tyler is doing.
Hope all else is well and keep in touch.
Let it blow!
-Weston