Session 36 of the 2020 season: Full of holes Lexy kiteboarding session

2:49 PM on Thursday, September 17, 2020

Lexy kiteboarding session

11M with TT, Lexy wasn’t its normal self, gusting with holes in the wind field that left you wondering if your kite was gonna fall from the sky. Swell was forming but it was very confused. The slick winds were unreliable.

Pressed for time, I had to leave while it was still windy.

I hope it got better for the remaining kiters.

It was a big turnout with 12-15 kiters.

Sunny near 60 degrees with mainly north winds 12-22 mph.

Session 35 of the 2020 season: A fun day at Caseville County Beach with steady 9M conditions

11:39 AM on Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Caseville Kiteboarding sessions

A fun day at Caseville County Beach.

9M conditions with TT board, mostly played in the slick on the lee side of the break wall. Some big time jumping along with some failed jumps. Rode downwind to see why Craig was downwind, I’m thinking I’m missing some good swell but I didn’t find any. Closer to shore it was very gusty.

A sunny day, mid-70s, winds were SW 15-30 mph.

About 6 kiters and 1 windsurfer.

Distance: 48.25mi

Time: 3:32:50

 

Session 34 of the 2020 season: Near Epic 9M conditions at Caseville

9:47 AM on Sunday, September 13, 2020

Kitesurfing Caseville Beach

Near Epic 9M conditions,

Some slick action and some swell action.

Sunny, near 70 degrees WSW winds to 30 mph.

At least 30 kiters showed up to enjoy the very accurate forecast.

Session 33 of the 2020 season:

10:22 AM on Thursday, September 10, 2020

Kitesurfing session at Lexington

An 11M session with some clean rollers on the outside and good slick action on the inside next to the breakwall. The wind was erratic as far as consistent wind speed. But several of us made it work and had some fun.

Kite size varied from 11-15, winds mainly north 10-23mph.

Mid-60s and heavy overcast.

Session 32 of the 2020 season: Lexy, An ugly day but at least it was windy.

 3:30 PM on Tuesday, September 8, 2020

Lexington Kitesurfing Session

An ugly day but at least it was windy.

11M conditions with my new Mako 140 TT board.

Glad Keith and I took the risk to score a nice session.

Kited mostly in the flat water near the break walk, I did venture out to play in the waves for few runs. I didn’t trust the wind so I didn’t go to far downwind.

Actually had NE winds 15-25 mph, thick overcast and 62 degrees.

Session 31 of the 2020 season: Early start, near epic Platte River session (exception, lost board)

8:54 AM on Friday, September 4, 2020

Kitesurfing Platte River

Another near epic Platte River 9M wave session.

With the exception of losing my TT board.

Finished the session on the directional board.

Session 30 of the 2020 season: Quickie Platte River Wave Session

3:06 PM on Thursday, September 3, 2020

Quickie Platte River Wave Session

A short but sweet session.

Used my 11M because it was in the 9M bag. I didn’t want to waste time walking back to retrieve my 9. Needless to say I was lite on it. Side shore WNW winds to 30 plus. On shore clean swells to play on. I made 4 top turns and 4 bottom turns on one single Lake Michigan wave..yahoo!

As luck would have it the wind ramped up to 35+mph after 30 minutes. I struggled to land the kite and out of nowhere Bill shows up to catch and secure my kite..thanks Bill, saved my life and kite.

Would of rigged the 7 but an evening with friends was in the plans.

Bill, Russ, myself and 2 others.

Tomorrow will bring more!

Session 29 of the 2020 season: Epic Platte River Point

1:24 PM on Wednesday, September 2, 2020

Epic Lake Michigan Kitesurfing wave session at my favorite Lake Michigan wave spot. (Platte River Pointe)

Solid 9M for 45 minutes with side shore wind and on shore clean well spaced 2-4 foot waves. Nearly Epic, too bad it was short lived. Well if I hadn’t gotten there so late....

Russ, Bill and one other had 2 plus hours in by the time

I got there.

Sunny, mid-60s, west winds to 30 mph.

So much fun!

Session 28 0f the 2020 season: Busy day at Caseville Beach

11:36 AM on Saturday, August 29, 2020

Kitesurfing Caseville

Not your typical summer day on the beach at Caseville.

30 plus kiters, warm water temps, warm air temps, WNW winds up to 40mph.

1st session on the 9M, 2nd session on the 11M and for the 3rd session 7M all with the TT.

On shore wind and waves, 75 degrees with plenty of sun shining. Somewhat disorganized swell, plenty of voodoo near breakwall. Occasionally you could find some smoothies.

Looking forward to more days like this throughout the Great Lakes.

Session 27of the 2020 season: A solid 13M session at HI, to the slicks.

2:11 PM on Thursday, August 27, 2020

Harsens Island kite session

A solid 13M sesh which easily could have been 9M.

Rode to the south side slicks with Craig and played there for awhile, awesome fun with some big boosts.

Absolutely the hottest day of the year on the water kiteboarding. 90 degrees, partly cloudy, west winds to 25+.

Had fun riding with the rest of the crew. Craig, Trent, Keith, Marley and Wayne.

Session 26 of the 2020 season:

4:13 PM on Saturday, August 22, 2020

Point Betsie, marginal kiteboard session

Very marginal 13M session with Russ (12M) and Wayne (14M).

Basically mowing the lawn, took a break, it picked a tad, went back out but still very marginally.

A first time for Wayne at PB, I’m glad he got a chance to kite here.

Winds from the SSW to 12-20 mph.

Session 25 of the 2020 season: A solid Pointe Betsy session

 1:24 PM on Thursday, August 20, 2020

Kitesurfing, finally a solid session at Point Betsy.

A classic Point Betsie day with it's sketchy launch and clean inside swell spaced 4 seconds apart. (That's classic PB)

Just 5-8 kiters and beach all to ourselves.

11 and 12M kites, winds 15-25 a tad more would of been sweeter.

Vince, Mark, John and others enjoyed an all day devotion to kitesurfing. 😎 and smiles all around Stormcloud for beers and dinner.

Session 24 of the 2020 season: Port Austin Harbor Kite Session

2:00 PM on Tuesday, August 4, 2020

Port Austin Harbor kiteboarding

Fun session, mostly flat water kiting in the harbor.

Ventured outside the harbor and found choppy conditions, voodoo chop. But east of the harbor in open water some carving swell could be found.

The mouth of the harbor had some short, clean swell rolling in. That was fun to play on. Good flat water boosts and downwind slalom runs with the kite parked in the wind. Plenty of flat water carving toe side to heel side.

Overall a good, harbor flat water day.

11m kite with the TT. Winds were north to 30+ mph.

Cloudy, some lite rain and 60ish degrees, feels like fall.

Session 23 of the 2020 season: Harsens Island with spurty winds (Mediocre session)

4:00 PM on Sunday, August 2, 2020

Harsens Island kite session

Wind spurts, rain squalls and swamp waters.

9M with TT, rain, lightning. 70 degrees and 3 spurty sessions of squally winds.

Session 22 of the 2020 season: Pere Marquette Harbor Kite Session

1:35 PM on Sunday, July 26, 2020

Kitesurfing Pere Marquette Harbor

Solid 13M session with John, Vlad, Andy, about 30 other kiters and 1000s of beach goers.

Launched from the south side and kited downwind to the harbor slicks. (Should of launched from the north side of the harbor with south winds).

Waves bouncing off of break-wall created voodoo chop in the open waters, so that’s why I played in the harbor all day. Not a wave day on the south side, just as well the slicks were like glass and boosts were phenomenal.

1000s of people on the beach created a launch hazards.

Sunny, hot 85 degrees with south winds 12-20 mph.

Session 21 of the 2020 season: Carving up some swell with Jeff Lovell at Point Betsie

10:59 AM on Friday, July 17, 2020
Kitesurfing at the former notorious Point Betsie
Point Betsie Launch has gotten better, more beach area this year.
Steady SSW winds to an estimated 20mph. Sunny mid-summer conditions.
13M conditions, with the TT board.
Carving up some swell with Jeff Lovell.

Session 20 of the 2020 season: Caseville Beach, better than expected

10:48 AM on Wednesday, June 24, 2020
Caseville Beach, better then expected
9M session, clean waves on the inside to play on, easy boosting,
Mostly sunny west winds to 30 mph.
12-15 kiters on 8M to 12M kite sizes.

Session 19 of the 2020 season: Epic and rare 7M Kiteboarding session at Harsens Island

4:29 PM on Tuesday, June 23, 2020
Epic Kiteboarding session at Harsens Island
Epic 7M session, 2 hours plus of lofty, swells and slicks.
So much better then expected. This one made up for all of the recent skunks.
Mostly sunny with west winds to 35-40 mph.
Jerry, Keith, Chris, Tom and Allen.
Larry, Lou and Harry windsurfing.

Session 18 0f the 2020 season: Fun day probably the best 11M day in Michigan for me this season

2:05 PM on Sunday, June 7, 2020
Lexington kitesurfing (turf to surf)
Good solid 11M with TT and Johnny B on his 12 with
TT.
Fun day probably the best 11M day in Michigan for me this year.
Pure Michigan sun and 60 air degrees.
NNE winds to 20 mph.
I didn’t quit because of the wind dying off. I stoop because I was getting tired.
Slicks were good, waves were nonexistent.

Session 17 of the 2020 season: Kite Harsens Island, better than expected

1:13 PM on Saturday, May 30, 2020                                      
Kite Harsens Island, HI (better than expected)
Solid 11-13m for most of the time. Mostly sunny, mid-60s.
Flew my 13m with my TT board and later with the surf board.
John, 14m, Chris 11m, Keith 12m.
The slider rope on my harness line came loose and I was riding/surviving unhooked. As I was headed in to safety land the kite I got hit by a gust and got yanked off my board. Without the ability to control the kite pull I gave up trying to retrieve the board and decided to body drag to shallow water. There I could reconfigure my bar and get hooked in. I did that and got control of the kite.
Then I saw Keith coming out to help. I landed the kite in the water and he grabbed it and walked it in for me.
Once on shore I put the alert for a lost board. John jumped into action and windsurfed out to find it. It was blown into the weeds a short distance from the landing.
Lesson learned: the stopper knot pulled through the eyelet on my harness. I put a new slider line on and it was thinner then the old line. I tied 2 stopper knots at the end of it but it still stretched out and pulled through.
Thanks to Keith and John for the assistance, good deeds will not go unnoticed.
Ended up kiting with the surf board as the winds lightened up a bit.
Overall a good day for the desperados.

Session 16 of the 2020 season: Lexi 11M slick action

2:34 PM on Thursday, May 7, 2020
Sexy Lexi Kitesurfing session
11M with TT board, mostly slicks with one down wind carving wave ride. (waves were not in the highlights again)
Pure sun, looked like 70 degrees in reality it was 45° with NNE winds 15-25 mph and trending down.
Keith, Craig, Aaron, Trish, Scott, and Motor City Kiteboarding.
A ho-hum session...although better than no session.

Session 15 of the 2020 session: Kiting the Linwood slicks

2:33 PM on Tuesday, May 5, 2020
Kite the slicks at Linwood in Sag Bay
To the slicks with the 11M and TT board. Met Bob there and discovered new slicks with the higher water. And gone were the old slicks (now deeper water by the ghost forest).
Fun day but cut short by lighter winds.
Bob, Keith and myself.
Mostly cloudy, 45° mainly steady NE winds steady 20-22 mph.

Session 14 of the 2020 season: Waited all day for this to happen Metrobeach turns on late

7:11 PM on Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Kite session at Metrobeach Park
Waited all day for this to happen.
Ended up with the 9M and TT board.
Nice surprise with some clean 2-3 foot breaking swell in the bowl area. Fun carving them up but got caught twice in there with lite winds... not fun. 😜
Winds were south 10-30, cloudy, mid 50s.

Session 13 of the 2020 season: Near Epic 9M Lexington session

1:17 PM on Sunday, April 26, 2020

Near Epic 9M Lexington session.
More for the flat water than the waves.
Sunny day, 50 degrees with north winds 15-30 mph. Used the 9M kite with the TT board.
Large Kiteboarder crowd today. Nearly 15 kiters at the peak.

Gear: 11M Naish kite with TT
Wind: Mainly N to 30mph
Weather: sunny, 50s
Water: not many waves to be found, mostly played in the slicks

Session 12 of the 2020 season: Cold,Conservative HI session

10:38 AM on Monday, March 30, 2020
Harsens Island kite session. Thanks to the always reliable Keith.
Gray, 42 degrees,
WNW winds 10-30mph.
Used the 11M Naish Kite with the TT board.
Played conservatively, no injuries please.

Gear: 11M Naish Pivot kite with TT board
TOW: 10:30-12:00
Conditions: Standard HI with WNW winds
Winds: WNW 10-30 mph
Weather: Grey and 42-45 degrees

Session 11 of the 2020 season: Opening day for the Michigan seasson

11:06 AM on Monday, March 9, 2020
Michigan Opener at Metrobeach, Kiteboarding with mid-50s
Mostly sunny, Mid-50s, SSW to 30mph
9M kite with TT board.

Gear:   9M kite with TT

Weather:   Mostly sunny, mid-50s  

Winds:  SSW winds to 30mph

TOW:  1.5 hours

Session 10 of the 2020 season: Stoney Creek Wing with ice skates

11:05 AM on Saturday, February 22, 2020
Wing & Ice Skates
Bluebird day, lite SW winds, 8-15 mph. Temperatures in the low 40s. Ice was lumpy and hard.
By far the best way to fly the wing is with ice skates.

TOW: 1 hour 
Gear: 4M Wing with skates
Weather: sunny, 13-30 degrees, SW winds 8-15 mph
Surface: mostly lumpy ice

Session 9 of the 2020 season: Duel sessions Stoney Creek 11M snowkite and 4M wing with skis

!st Session:

11:08 AM on Saturday, February 15, 2020
Stoney Creek Snowkite
11M gusty conditions, surface was 50/50 packed snow and smooth ice.
Weather was mostly sunny, 13 to 30 degrees with wind from the SSW to 30mph.
Vince, Craig and 3-4 other kiters.

TOW: 1.5 hours kiting
Gear: 11M Z kite with snowboard
Weather: sunny, 13-30 degrees, SSW winds to 30 mph
Surface: 50/50 packed snow and smooth ice.

Gear for today's session

2nd Session:

1:37 PM on Saturday, February 15, 2020
Stoney Creek Winging it with skis.
Second Demo of the 4M Cabrina kitewing. 
Good Demo session!                                              

Action Image

TOW: 1.5 hours
Gear: 4M Wing and skiis
Weather: sunny, 13-30 degrees, SSW winds to 30 mph
Surface: 50/50 packed snow and smooth ice.

Session 8 of the 2020 season: Snowkite Lake Cadillac, slog fest

1:08 PM on Sunday, February 9, 2020
Snowkite Lake Cadillac, slog fest. With Chris and Metrobeach crew from the TC kitefest
Bare minimum winds with the 11M kite
2-3 inches of new snow falling, 28° with lite winds. Decent surface conditions with the added fresh snowfall.
Kite sizes ranged from 11-17M and every one was dropping there kites during the lulls.

Gear:   11 M Z kite

Weather:   Cloudy, 28-30 degrees

Winds:  south winds, marginal wind speeds

TOW:  1.5 hours

Session 7 of the 2020 season:Duel sessions, First Snowkite and Crosswing sessions of the 2020 season

First session on wing 

Session 1, Snowkite: 10:55 AM on Friday, February 7, 2020 
(Attending the 2020 Snow Kite Jam on Lake Leelanau)
Snowkite on Lake Leelanau
11M kite, brutish conditions, to much ice until I finally found a good stash of refrozen consistent snow pack.
Cloudy, 25 degrees, NNW winds to 20 mph.

Gear:   11 M Z kite

Weather:   Cloudy, 25 degrees

Winds:   NNW winds to 20 mph

TOW:  11:00-1:00

Session 2, Wing session: 1:51 PM on Friday, February 7, 2020
New Game in town..Wing Riding

Demo of the cabrina 4M wing with skis.

Gear: 4M Cabrina Crosswing and skis

Weather: Cloudy, 25 degrees

Winds: NNW winds to 20 mph

TOW: 1 hour

Seassion 6 of the 2020 season: EPIC Kitesurfing Smyrna beach dunes

1:14 PM on Friday, January 17, 2020

EPIC Kitesurfing Smyrna beach dunes
A feel good 11M session at Smyrna Beach Dunes, FL.
Drive up on the uncrowded beach, park, rig, and ride. It doesn’t get any better then that.
11M kite with the TT board, on shore east north east winds 20-30 mph. So much fun carving up the 5-10 foot waves on the outside and nice easy pleasy 1-3 footers on the inside. Ocean spaced waves gives so much time in between the waves. (Unlike the Great Lakes).

Gear:  11M with TT

Weather:   sunny, 75 degrees, warm water

Winds:  practiaclly onhore ENE winds to 30mph

TOW: 1:30-3:30

Session 5 of the 2020 season: Another near epic 7M session at Indian River Lagoon

9:38 AM on Saturday, January 11, 2020
Another near epic day at Indian River Lagoon at the Stuart Causeway another awesome day on the 7M.

That's day 3 of 7M flat water conditions. 

Gear:  7M with TT

Weather:   sunny, 75 degrees, warm water

Winds:  practiaclly onhore SE winds to 30mph

TOW:  9:30-10:30