Day 23 of the 2014 season: Lexington lucky longshot - kited in 15-20

A first session of the season at Lexington. A fun 2.5 hour session on the 11 meter.
Nice swell on the outside and silky smooth on the inside.
Harry on 6.5, Craig on 12, and Tom on 11 and 2 other kiters.

11 meter on the beach with dredging going on at the breakwall

Highlight of the day:   Carving on the wave faces and silky smooth carves on the inside
TOW:     2.5 hours from 2:30-5:00
Gear:   11 meter and Mako 140
Conditions:    Nice swell on the outside and silky smooth on the inside
Weather:    Mostly sunny, upper 50s
Wind:    15-22 MPH a few degrees west of north. NNW
Schooled:  Timing the turns in the waves

Port Sanilac wind data

Day 22 of the 2014 season: Windsurf - An unexpected delight

An unexpected delight.

Had an ear out for possibly wind today but the rain was heavy all morning and it didn't look appealing. Around 1 pm the heavy rain stop and my ears perked up - the wind was alive.
Headed to Metro Beach and was pleasantly surprised with white caps and steady strong winds.
Definitely a windsurf day, decided to rig the 5.0 with the 101 RRD FSW, (didn't have my 85 liter board). The next hour and a half was mostly powered up more so on the outside. Riding the large spaced out Huron style swell. A great session with the deeper spring time water levels higher then normal - making the waves/swell mucho fun.

Highlight of the day:  Well spaced SWELLS!
TOW:    1.5 2:30 - 4:00
Gear:  5.0 Ezzy Freewave and 101 RRD FSEW
Conditions:   Some mean chop and some of the best swells I've ever seen on LSC
Weather:   Lower 60s and cloudy
Wind:    S clocking to W up to 30 mph
Schooled: Swell riding
Image:  Wind data SCS

Day 21 of the 2014 season: First Hot Day of the season - Dooming kept the wind up high, but WOW, what a session!

Flying my 9 meter Z

Good session, really getting the feel for the 140 Mako board, upwind, ollies, toeside and carving on a wave face. Real fun and learning more every time I go out.
Heavy wind up high due to the colder water verses warm air temperature, dooming effect.
9 meter worked perfectly up high little lite down low and as long as I didn't drop it I was alright. Which I did toward the end of session and not enough wind to relaunch. Drifting toward the rocks I had to QR and wrap it up in the water. No harm done.


Highlight of the day:  Really loving 

Craig and Tom

the new Mako 140 
TOW:   1.5 hour 1:30-3:00
Gear: 9.0 meter Z kite and 140 Mako
Conditions:  Some organized swell and normal LSC chop
Weather:  Sunny 80s, water 70s
Wind:   SE to an estimated 30 up high - lite wind down low.
Schooled:  Really loving the new Mako 140, doing ollies,
carve turns, toeside carve turns down swell faces. Even did
 a toe to heel ollie.
Image:  Storm ending session

Storm that ended todays fun

Day 20 of the 2014 season: Cass Lake swap and Windsurfing

The Cass Lake swap was great, add a little wind to make it excellent.
Sailed the 5.5 on 100 liters for an hour and a half on Cass Lake.
Marysville type of wind conditions with Pamlico Sound flat water conditions. Was able to do hero jibes on both shores with the shallow flat water, reminiscing of Marysville.
Good to see all the windsurfing folks. And joined in with a few locals of Cass Lake and Brian and Jennie for a fun WS session.



Highlight of the day:  Hero Jibes on the inside flat water
TOW:   1.5 hour
Gear: 5.5, 100 liter
Conditions:  Gusty winds in the middle with flat water on each shore
Weather:  Sunny 70s, water 50s
Wind:   W to NW to 30 MPH
Schooled:  was able to review all of my tricks, light and high winds
Image:  Pontiac Airport data

Day 19 of the 2014 season: A quickie kite session on the new Mako

A quickie session on the Mako and I'm impressed.
I found that it smooth's out the chop, back leg not getting tired, no tip splash and carves deep into the water. Pulled off an ollie to toe side and then a quick heel side turn, it really digs in deep.
Kind of a lite wind day so I had a hard time keeping the toe side tacks going.
Eventually wind died to zero - had to walk in from shallow bowl area,
Overall a fun session with the water and air at manageable temperatures.

Highlight of the day:  New Mako 140 board - first time using it
TOW:   1 hour 11:00-12:00
Gear: Mako 140 Board
Conditions:  1 foot chop
Weather:  Mostly cloudy 60s
Wind:  SSE to 20 mph - squally winds with storms in the area
Schooled:  New board used - It's impressively smooth in the chop.
Image: New Board

Day 18 of the 2014 season: Opening Day on the Home Surf, (Kiting)

Really hard to get motivated today, gray skies, squally winds and cold water. And coming back from 17 days of bliss in the OBX.
Once on site at Metro the winds were up/down from the SW. Larry, 5.5 and Harry, 6.5 were on it then off it. Some big kites, 12, 13 meters were working while smaller ones, 9, 10 meters were not. Hmmm... what to do. I could rig the 5.5 and slog and blast or rig the 11 meter kite and see what happens.
I choose to kite with the 11 meter. Rigged at the beach with ugly looking and stinkin water. Lots of dead biological material on the beach, ugg! Had to wade thru this to get out to the less debris filled water.
Once out the winds were fluky and gusty to say the least. Working the kite in the rolling waves, I actually got off a few carves/turns in the wave troughs, never done that before. Riding the waves, WOW what fun!
After 45 minutes of this enjoyment the wind and the chop increased to the point of being uncomfortable and scary with a sort of lofting feeling with no control. Fully depowered by then and putting the kite near 12 o'clock just to try to get in. The chop and kite angle caused my board to lose it's grip causing me to slip out and crash often. Thought about QR but didn't want the kite to fall in the decomposing biological debris field and collect all of the dead stuff on the lines. Finally struggled to the beach and successfully self-landed the kite safely and all was well.
Actually suffered some eye issue after all was done. Suspect water gushed into my eye causing some fogginess vision. Rinsed with eye drops at home and by night time it appeared to clear up.

Highlight of the day:   The Swell to play in and overpowered out of control feeling
TOW:  1.00 hour
Gear: 11 meter
Conditions: Some organized swell with gusty conditions
Weather: cold, cloudy, 52 degrees, water 45 degrees
Wind: SW winds 10-30
Schooled: After OBX flat water the LSC chop was an eye opener.
Image: Dawg, Hawg and Bart on 12 meter