Day 29 of the 2014 season: New Venue - Maple Bay AKA Petabago Pond

Nothing beats waking up to 76 degrees, breezy , sunny conditions with the wind forecast looking promising.
Decided to head over to a secret spot? Called Maple Bay located on the east shore of east bay.
A quarter mile hike carrying all your gear from the parking lot to the launch site. A mosquito infested hike wearing a rubber neoprene suit, carry 30 pounds of kite gear man you got to love this sport to do this.

Once I got to the site I saw about 8 kites flying, 17, 15s, 12s and one 11M. I rigged my 11M on the wet sandy shore facing south. Had help from Jay to launch.
Found more wind up on top so the going was good. Kited along the south shore of the spit of land separating the main bay from the lagoon from 130-230. Easily worked my way upwind to some flat water. There I enjoyed water skiing conditions on butter water until wind lighten up.
Came in and took a break. At 300 it came back just enough for another hour of marginally kiting. Finally at 400 it was to lite to enjoy.
Never got a chance to get into the lagoon - ran out of wind and time.
Time to pack up and hike back to the car - another quarter mile hike thru the woods uphill.
Note: next time bring the boat to avoid the hike. Launch boat from Salor Park south of Maple Bay.


Open water side of sand spit

Lagoon side of sand spit
 



Highlight of the day:  extremely flat water with wind up high
TOW:   Kiting 2 hours
Gear:    11 meter kite with 140 Mako
Conditions:    flat water - driving the board up wind quite a distance
Weather:  Summer conditions, Mid 80s, sunny, water temp upper in the bay in the 60s
Wind:    Appeared mostly south 20 plus mph
Schooled:    Flat water carves

 

Day 28 of the 2014 season: Summer begins at Empire Beach - Classic Empire Beach Day

Four and a half hour drive from St Clair Shores to Empire got me on the water by 4:30.
Arrived at Empire beach and quickly rigged the 5.5 with the 100 liter board and at 4:30 was on the water.
Non-stop action until 6:00 when inside winds became gusty.
Good day - many hero jibes on the moving moguls outside and hero jibes on the smooth inside swell.
Got some of the best jumping action this year with the 3-4 foot swell.
Just as I was packing it up a kiter was launching - so time to rig the 11 meter and ride with someone else. The 11 meter was a bit to much, fully depower most of the time and still felt to much at times. Did get some good turns on the smooth inside swell but some of the time it was a struggle due to the gusty winds. Later I found out Russ was on a 9M kite and he was doing fine.
The day was almost a carbon copy of 6/2, Wednesday at Lexington.



Empire wind date 6-29-14

Highlight of the day:  Hero jibes windsurfing and carving the smooth swell kiting
TOW:   Windsurfing 1.5 hours, Kiting 1 hour
Gear:    5.5 Ezzy SE and 100 liter RRD FSW. 11 meter kite with 140 Mako
Conditions:   South winds to 25-30 from 4:30 till quitting time.
Weather:  Summer conditions - finally. Mid 70s, sunny, water temp upper 50s
Wind:    Appeared mostly south 20 plus mph
Schooled:    Hero Jibes and carving the waves



Blue water of Northern Lake Michigan

 

Day 27 of the 2014 season: Another marginally forecast that turns out to be a great Lexington day

Windsurfing:
Marginal forecast at best, 10-20 then downgraded to 10-15. All lies just to keep us off the water.
Started in the fog with the 5.5 and 100 liter board, great steady wind conditions, solid 5.5 for the whole time from 2:30-4:30. Nice north going swell on outside with smooth swell on inside. Many duck jibes and a few heli-tacks on the inside.

Kiteboarding:
At 4:30 fog was totally cleared, Craig was riding his 12 meter kite so it was time to kite. Rigged the 11 meter kite with the 140 Mako board. Kited from 5:00-6:30.Great flat water conditions on inside
with good wind up high sometimes overpowered.
Heading past the breakwall to the outside was a tiring workout, beating against the chop trying to head upwind in order to turn around and ride the swell in. Crawled in dead tired by 6:30, what a workout had to down a few advils to keep the pain at bay.
Water still cold, estimated temperature low 50s, used the dry suit to stay warm.
Larry, Harry, Craig and myself had it all to ourselves to enjoy.





Wind data from Port Sanilac 6-25-14

Highlight of the day: Duck jibing the outside swell and kiting the flat water inside.
TOW:  2.0 hours Windsurfing and 1.5 hours kiting
Gear:   5.5 and 100 liter board, 11 meter/Mako 140 board
Conditions:  North going swells past break wall and smooth swell inside break wall
Weather:  Foggy/Sunny 60s
Wind:   Mainly north
Schooled:   Riding the swell windsurfing, duck jibes galore with a few heli-tacks on the inside. Toeside and heel side carving on the swell.



Gear for the double event day



Day 26 of the 2014 season: Friday the 13th at Harsens

Marginal forecast at best -  took a chance and it paid dividends as wind slowly ramped up. Eventually blowing me off the water by 4:15. To tired to windsurf by then. It would of been a great 5.0 session for sure.
Over all it turned out to be an excellent day.

Highlight of the day: shallow water paradise
TOW:  2.5 hours kiting, 2:00-4:30
Gear:  11 meter/Mako 140 board
Conditions:  some uncharacteristic chop
Weather:  Sunny and low 70s
Wind:   Mainly west to north west to 28 MPH
Schooled:   toeside, ollies, carving, baby jumps


Mitchell's bay data 5 miles south of Harsens Island

Day 25 0f the 2014 season: Harsens EPIC!

Harsens EPIC! Not nearly epic but EPIC!  It's not often you get  a perfect day on the water. Like a
300 game for a bowler, a perfect game for a baseball pitcher, A trifecta in horse racing...etc....
Perfect action on the slick, smooth as butter water, able to carve super deep with out losing an edge. Creating some g forces felt good, fanning out some decent spray felt excellent.
I've never had conditions like this before  - kiting certainly opens up a lot more aqua terrain.
And as a bonus this is the second day in a row with EPIC and nearly EPIC conditions.

Made 2 upwind trips to the shallow, smooth slick




Wind data for 6-3-14


 

Highlight of the day: Butter smooth slick 
TOW:  3 hours kiting 1st session, (12:30-3:30) and 2.0 hours 2nd session, (4:30-6:30)
Gear:  9 meter/Mako 140 
Conditions:  Epic
Weather:  Sunny and mid 70s
Wind:   Mainly west to 32 MPH
Schooled:  Baby jumps and carving deep in the slick.

 Happy hour begins when the wind dies off

Day 24 0f the 2014 season: Kite and Wind Surf

Nearly EPIC day at the local watering hole. It all added up, warm, sunny, windy, what more could you ask for.
Started with 11 meter kite at 12:30 and kited steady until 2:30 when the wind became to much for the 11 meter. By 3:30 back on the water with the 5.5 and 100 liter board this lasted until 5:15 when storm clouds came rolling in and chased most off the water.
Great water sports day with winds, waves, and temperature all coming together at the right time, a rare day for sure.

Wind data for June 2, 2014 at MB

 
 
Highlight of the day:   Riding the swell at the shoal with windsurfer
TOW:  2 hours kiting and 1.5 hours windsurfed
Gear:  11 meter/Mako 140 and 5.5/100 liter
Conditions:   Inside chop with nice swell in the blue water shoal area
Weather:  Sunny and mid 70s
Wind:   South to SSW to 32 MPH
Schooled:  Baby jumps on kite board