Day 27 of the 2016 season: Day 2 - Metro Beach thermals fire up on a hot and humid day

Nearly a Carbon Copy of yesterday:
It didn't look windy enough, not a whitecap in sight, but people were flying on 11-17 M kites.
Rigged my 11 and had a semi- solid 2 hour session. Toeside was nearly non-existing and carving more then one turn was tuff.. Jumps were ok but not quite like yesterday.
Overall not bad for a mid-80 degree day at the local launch. About 15-20 kiters showing up and enjoying the conditions.


Gear: 11 M Z kite and TT board
TOW: 3:00 - 4:30
Weather: mostly sunny and mid-80s inland, a cool mid 70s on the water.
Water:  choppy conditions
Wind: SSE generally, 15+ up high,  10-15 down low. very humid conditions kept the wind up high

Highlights: lofty conditions resulting good jumping

Day 26 of the 2016 season: Metro Beach thermals fire up on a hot and humid day

Didn't look windy enough, not a whitecap in sight, but people were flying on 9-17 M kites.
Rigged my 11 and had a semi- solid 2 hour session. Mostly working the kite on toeside to keep it going and other times carving easily. Jumps were awesome with hang time in record territory.
Overall not bad for a mid-80 degree day at the local launch. About 15-20 kiters showing up and enjoying the conditions.
Got lucky and hit the small window of wind between 5 and 7.

Gear: 11 M Z kite and TT board
TOW: 5:00 - 7:00
Weather: mostly sunny and mid-80s inland, a cool mid 70s on the water.
Water:  choppy conditions
Wind: SSE generally, 15-20 up high,  10-15 down low. very humid conditions kept the wind up high

Highlights: lofty conditions resulting in long hang times

Day 25 of the 2016 season: EPIC Lexington - slicks and waves

Butter Smooth riding just a few feet from the jetty

An EPIC day at one of my favorite Lake Huron launches.
We had everything today, slicks, smooth waves and jumps galore.
About 10-12 kiters and 2 windsurfers enjoyed the epic Lexington conditions.


Gear:  9 M Z Kite and TT
TOW: 10-12 and 1-4, 5 hours total

Wind: N-NNE
Water: slicks at the jetty wall and smooth waves at jetty break
Weather: Sunny mid-50s
Highlights: slicks and jumps

The new Lexington station is on line and accurate

Day 24 of the 2016 season: Harsens Island Epic kite day

Cold and Blustery

Started out rigging the 6.5 Solo kite with gusty winds and choppy water conditions. It was lower end 6.5 conditions. After an hour it lightened up so I rigged up the 9 Z. Definitely enough wind for the 6.5 but I couldn't get enough confidence with the wind to head out to the slicks.
With the 9 rigged and Craig on his 9.5, we easily headed upwind deep into the middle channel to explore new slicks that were formed with the higher water levels. Super slicks, shallow water and clean wind for the most part. We have never been this far into the channel before - new territory for sure.
Explored this area until rain clouds started to appear off of the horizon and wind speed started to drop.
Definitely a spot to go back to on the next opportunity.

Gear: 6.5 solo for an hour then up to 9.0 Z kite for 2 hours 
TOW: nearly 3 hours
Wind: WNW to 35 mph
Water: voodoo chop near launch to
epic slicks in the middle channel
Weather: COLD for mid-May, mid 40s, mostly cloudy
Highlights: slicks, carving, jumping, boosting

Check out the tracks into the middle channel

Day 23 of the 2016 season: Cinco de Mayo - Lexington fires up for a 9M kite session

Got a late start to Lexington but it all worked out. The forecasted winds were higher than forecasted.
Unusual conditions, flat on the inside with some 2-4 foot swell off the jetty. Probably due to the NNW wind direction. Fun carving and boosting on the flat water section on the leeside of the jetty.
Great day with Craig, Jerry, Aaron, Mark and myself.
Cold water and a bluebird 50ish degrees for the air temperature.
Dinner at the Lexington Village Theatre in town - highlighted by peanut butter and raspberry stout beers.

Port Sanilac Wind data 5-5-16

Gear: 9 M Z kite and TT
TOW: 4 to 6 pm
Wind: N-NNW 20-25
Water: Unusually flat on the inside with some 2-4 foot swell off the jetty
Weather: 50ish Bright sun
Highlights: flat water carving at its best with some easy boosts and some swell to play on off the jetty

Day 22 of the 2016 season: Celebrated May day with a Downwinder from Pinconning to Hoyles

Killerny wind data

Four hours plus of drive time for 3.5 hours of kiting. That's a lot of drive time but well worth it today.
Kited at the Pinconning Site for 2 hours and then met up up with Chris and John for the downwinder.
Actual wind was light when they arrived so wasn't to sure about a downwinder. As soon as Chris and John stepped into the water the wind picked up and the signal was given to do a downwinder.
Ended up as a 1.5 hour downwinder with not as many slicks as you'll see later on in the season. But still well worth the effort.
John, Chris, Craig on 12M and Tom on his 11M. Good day, fun group with fun results.

Gear: 11M Z kite and TT
TOW: 2 hours at Pinconning and 1.5 hour downwinder to Hoyles
Wind: NE 15-30 mph
Water: slicks to LSC style chop
Weather: heavy clouds, mid 40s
Highlights: slicks

2 hours of riding at Pinconning and 1.5 hour Downwinder from Pinconning to Hoyles
MAX SPEED: 20.22 mph
AVERAGE SPEED: 13.36 mph
DISTANCE: 33.17 miles