Session 49 of the 2019 season: Esch Beach Marginal Kitesurfing session

1:14 PM on Thursday, September 19, 2019
Esch Beach Marginal Kitesurfing
Marginal session with 11M with TT.
Side shore SSW to 25mph. Mostly 15-18mph.
Small swell conditions, barely a white cap.
Winds lightened up and switched to more south, which made it fluky on the inside. Ended up down wind on the beach walking the kite back.
High hazy clouds, near 70 degrees, water temp mid-60s.

Gear: 11M with TT
Weather: hazy sun, 70ish, SSW 15-18 mph

Session 61 of the 2018 season: Esch Beach - a confused lake full of giant swells

Gear: 9M Naish Pivot kite with TT Mako board

TOB:    1 hour, 3:00-4:00

Winds:   15-40 SW-SWS-W

Weather:  Sunny, 51 degrees at launch time   

Surface:  Confused 

Highlights: Checked out  Frankfort beach, too gnarly and no one there.
Went to Esch beach and it seemed a tad tamer. So I rigged up the 9M for a 

gnarly session, confused swell, gusty clocking gales. 
A quickie session that I must admit wasn’t all that much fun. Swell coming from 3 different directions, winds gusting from 15-40 mph. I couldn’t get into any rhythm. Jumping not good, even slashing the inside swell wasn’t right.
About the only good thing was it did get sunny with 51 degrees at launch time. 

Day 39 of the 2017 season: Esch Beach cures the kiteboarding blues

TOB: 3:45 - 5:45, 2 hours non-stop riding
Gear: 11M Z1 and Mako TT
Water conditions:  small SW swell with some clean inside waves, water temp nearing 70 degrees
Wind:  Up to 30 mph from the SSW
Weather: Mostly warm sunny, mid 70s
Highlights: Nice sesh carving up the inside clean swell.  Lofty conditions on the outside.
It felt good to be back in the water - It's been over 2 weeks since the last recordable kiteboarding session.

 A 200 yard walk upwind from the crowded Esch Beach I found an uncrowded launch site.

Empire bluff in the background

 

Day 63 of the 2015 season: Esch Beach again - New Kite

Another Esch Beach day - Practically the only spot near me where you find less people and a wide enough beach to launch a kite.
A decent day since it's been a week of no kiting and I was very anxious to try out the new kite.
Winds were fluky on the inside and gusty outside. I went from fully depowered to no depower mode throughout the session.
The Rally seems to have a better lower end then my Z, it seems to rotate slower. It seemed alright in the fully depowered mode with the higher winds which I would guess was up to 28 MPH.  Self launching it was the same as my Z. Lofting seemed similar but chop hopping, I definitely see more power there.
One thing I didn't like was when the kite was at 12 o'clock it wanted to overfly. My Z didn't do that even in fluky wind. Might of been the conditions near the shore since the winds were side shore toward the end of the session. Brian suggest a different setting on the outside lines. I was set at the middle knot he suggest last knot down.
Overall I feel it wasn't optimal conditions for comparison to my Z. So waiting a better day.....

New 2015 11M Slingshot Rally Kite

TOW:  4:30 - 6:00
Gear:  TT 140 Mako board and new 11M Rally
Water Conditions:  Small waves water temperature upper 60s
Weather: Bluebird day, near 80 degrees
Wind: gusty SW-S to 28 at best
Highlight: New kite
Schooled: Learning the new Rally kite

Day 62 0f the 2015 season: That's 3 in a row at Esch Beach - Kite Surfing

For the 3rd day in a row and 5 out of the last 6 days kite boarding was the rule.
Today turned out pretty good considering almost onshore, gusty extremely challenging  conditions with some sun, rain and ice balls thrown in the mixed. Knarly conditions on the outside but the inside was nearly perfect - the way the wind direction lined up with the shallow water swells was fun
A quickie session due to the cold air temperatures. Feeling a lot like late September.




TOW:   11:30 - 12:30
Gear:  9M and TT
Water Conditions:   Knarly conditions  - on shore wind and waves
Weather: mid-50s mostly cloudy
Wind: 20-35 WSW
Highlight:  wind and waves lined up for some down the line wave riding

Day 61 of the 2015 season: Esch Beach Is habit forming

Esch Beach again - it's habit forming when the wind is right.
I tried to launch the 11M at Empire Beach but it just didn't work out. Not enough beach area making it a sketchy launch. Discovered a tear in my canopy at launch so I immediately landed it "hard" and blew out a canopy section. So derigged and decided to head to Esch beach and use my 9M.
Turned out to be the right decision the 9M worked just fine. Lots of beach launch area to safely launch.
Enjoyed a couple of hours playing in the bigger post frontal winds and swells.

TOW:    430 - 700
Gear:   9m 140 Mako
Water Conditions:  2-4 foot swells
Weather:  Suns out mid-70s after an all day rain.
Wind:  15-30 WSW post frontal wind
Highlights:  A desolate launch no-one around

Launching the 9 meter at a desolate Esch Beach

Day 60 of the 2015 season: Esch Beach Classic Day

Esch Beach,  A Classic Southwest day - windy and warm are the proper ingredients

This is what I love about this area.  A classic southwest day - windy and warm are the proper ingredients to make this type of day happen. Didn't expect this today. The actual wind speed exceeded the forecasted wind speed.
A fun session on what started out as a desolate stretch of beach, that is until the throngs of beach tourist started arriving. Cant blame them they came for the sunny warm weather on their day off.
Two hours of TT riding with some of the biggest boosts to date and then got out the new directional board and rode it with the straps on. Wanted to get the feel for it  - couldn't switch feet so I had to toeside and heelside only. I enjoyed the ride, although I played it conservatively. It's gonna take some practice to get the necessary skills. And I must admit I love my TT...

TOW:    12:30 - 3:30 
Gear:   11m 140 Mako and  the Duke directional board with straps
Water Conditions:  Small 1-2 footers with smooth waves on the inside
Weather:  80s Sunny Classic Southwest windy day
Wind:  12-25 SW
Highlight:    Biggest boosts to date and direction board riding with straps

Day 57 of the 2015 season: Esch Beach is a great venue while other beaches are to small to rig

Esch Beach has the space for rigging and launching, A much bigger beach area then Empire Beach.
Otter Creek empties into the lake near this beach and that makes for a larger sandy beach area. Also that also makes it attractive for beach tourist.
A decent session, some overpowered conditions for a while but still a fun session. Smooth inside waves made it fun for carving downwind.
First session from 12:00 - 3:00 took a break and then the second session cut short by storm clouds











TOW:  12:00-3:00 and 3:30-4:30
Gear:  11M 140 Mako
Water Conditions: 2-4 foot swells
Weather: 80's mostly sunny
Wind: 15-30 SW
Highlight:  Warm, windy, sunny conditions
Schooled:

Day 44 of the 2014 season: New Venue - Solid Winds - Esch Beach

Esch Beach Location

 #3 in 3 days.....by far the best of the 3




Esch Beach Vista

Looking for better on-shore lake breeze today, Empire not quite enough. So time to travel to another venue.
First stop Esch Beach and last stop.  Perfect conditions side shore SSW winds to 22 MPH.
Rigged up by 3:30 and had non-stop action until wind dropped at 5:00.
Came in and cleaned the weeds of my lines and called it a day, a very satisfying day after 2 days of marginally conditions at Empire.
Esch Beach rundown, nice open beach lots of wide sandy areas. While other beaches are being washed away Esch Beach appears to be the recipient of the washed away sand.
This spot would be a good launch spot for a downwinder to Empire.
Down side many floating dune grasses that have been eroded away from other beaches.

Highlight of the day:    Unexpected good wind day  - Empire lite - Esch  Beach perfect.                      
TOW:  Solid non-stop (3:30-5:00)
Gear:  11 M Mako 140 board
Conditions:  Not much in organized waves - surprising more like LSC chop
Weather:   Sunny, mid-70s
Wind: SSW 18-22 MPH
Schooled: Load and pop, upwind runs and carving down the line 5 feet from shore

 

Sorry Chuckster - Keep your swimsuit on