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 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 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 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 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 63 of the 2019 season: Kitesurfing Harsens Island, solid 7M for 45 minutes

12:42 PM on Sunday, October 27, 2019
Kitesurfing Harsens Island, solid 7M for 45 minutes.
Gusting probably to 35-40 mph when I arrived. Keith getting his fill on a 9M, whoa!
This wasn’t in the forecast...waiting it out for a few and then rigging my 7M.
Launched in the slippery mud pit. Once on the water the 7M was perfect for me.
In fact it was surprisingly steady for the entire session. Gradually the wind was dwindling and after 45 minutes it wasn’t 7M any more.
Came in and was gonna rig the 9M but the wind speed crashed to 12M conditions and kept dropping from there. Oh well at least I got some decent TOW.
Just Keith and I with Jeff, Larry Windsurfing
Mostly Cloudy day probably near 50 degrees. WSW winds to 30 mph.

Gear: 7M with TT
Wind: Mostly west to 40mph
Weather: Cloudy, near 50 degrees
TOW: 1 hour

Session 60 of the 2019 season: Kitesurf Harsens Island (Not better late then never)

12:51 PM on Thursday, October 17, 2019
Kitesurf Harsens Island (Not better late then never)
Should of, could of arrived earlier.
Got there by noon and it was steady 9M conditions. I saw Craig and Mark at the slicks. The wind direction looked perfect for some slick action.
Hurriedly rig my gear, beelined to the slick with good solid 9M conditions.
Once there I saw Craig and Mark ripping it up. I joined them playing inside but the wind was lighter and holy. Craig signaled he was heading back, the wind had lightened.
I was able to make several runs through the slicks but every time the wind got flukier.
Better head back to the launch before it got to light.
Afterwards Craig mentioned that it was probably the best slick riding he had this year and when I arrived the wind lightened and change direction slightly.
So there you have it, spent most of my time getting upwind to the slicks and riding down wind back. Did have several runs in the slicks to make it worthwhile.
Craig, Tom on 9M, Mark, Keith on 12M.
Mostly sunny, near 50 degrees, NW winds 10-30 mph.

Gear:  9M with TT
Winds:  NW 10-30 and dropping
Weather: Mostly sunny, near 50 degrees
TOW: 1:15

Session 59 of the 2019 season: Harsens Island Wild Rodeo

3:40 PM on Wednesday, October 16, 2019
Harsens Island Wild Rodeo
9M conditions to start. Rode upwind into the misty rain to the middle channel slicks.
Once there the rain stopped and the wind ramped up to 40 mph with very gusty conditions. Instantly I was way over my head with the wind speeds. Time to head back to revaluated my situation. Once back safely on land I decided to end the session for safety reasons.
Ugly conditions, thick clouds, misty rain and 45-49 degrees and west to west northwest winds.

Gear:  9M with TT
Winds: Up to 40 mph
Weather:  ugly, grey, misting, cold
TOW: 1.5 hours

Session 33 of the 2019 season: HI slicks epic conditions

3:39 PM on Monday, June 10, 2019
HI EPIC Slicks
9M epic slick action in the middle channel and beyond. Spent most of the session there.
Mostly cloudy, 60s air and 60 water, NW winds to 30 mph.
Craig, Tom on 9M and Mark on a 12M.

Gear:  9M Pivot

TOB:   3:30-6:00  

Wind:   NW winds to 30 mph

Weather:   Mostly cloudy, 60s air and 60 water 

Surface: Slicks

Session 31 of the 2019 season: HI lights up - summer weather returns

At 1:34 PM on Thursday, May 23, 2019
HI lights up
70 degrees, bluebird day with 20-35mph warm WSW winds.
Near EPIC lofty 11M conditions for the 1st 11M session.
2nd and 3rd session were 7M conditions. Another amazing HI day with the local crew.
And of course a prized victory dinner and drinks at the Schoolhouse Grill.
Crew Mark, Keith, Craig, Chris and Tom

Gear:   11M and then 7M with TT
TOB:    3 hours of moving time
Wind:  Lofty WSW warm winds
Weather: Summerish in the 70s with bluebird skies  
Surface: Nice small well form swells could be found

Session 30 of the 2019 season: Harsens cold decent session

12:37 PM on Monday, May 20, 2019
Kitesurf at Harsens Island.

Cold, grey and windy...air temperatures were 20 degrees above freezing. Water temperatures were 13 degrees above freezing. Hmmm...it’s almost June.
2 sessions: Started on the 9M kite for the first session and the 11M for the second session.
Fun sessions, hit some slicks with the first session, middle channel slicks weren’t working, but other slicks on the way to the middle channel were.
Keith, Craig, Mark, Richard and Tom.
Kites sizes from 12 to 9.

Gear:  9M, 11M kites with TT
TOB:   2.5 hours from with a break 12:30-5:00
Wind:  West clocking to WNW 10-30 mph
Weather: cold, grey, 52ish air temp and water 45ish
Surface: some voodoo chop to nice little swell to play on

Session 28 of the 2019 season: Opening day in Michigan at HI

Gusty 7M conditions, but the slicks were Epic for Craig and I.

Mainly cloudy, 50ish, NW winds to 35mph.
Wind suddenly shut down on my way back from the slicks.

Opening day in Michigan at Harsens Island.

•••

Victory dinner with Keith, Mark, Bob, Tom and Craig

Gear: 7M kite with TT

TOB: 1:00-3:00

Wind: Gusty on the ride to the middle channel slick, steadier 25-30 at the slick.

Weather: Mainly cloudy, 50isg degrees

Surface: Some voodoo chop but the slick was sick

Session 69 of the 2018 season: Final session of 2018 - Winter solstice and back on the soft water

Six snowboard sessions and two snowkite sessions under my belt since the last November 7th water session. 
Winter solstice riding at its best. A 38 degree, gray day with Keith and Mark.
9M kite with TT board. NW winds to 30mph. 

Riding very conservatively and not varying to far from the launch.

A late start resulted in a quickie cold, soft water session. 

Gear:  9M Naish kite

TOB:  4:00-5:00, 5 o'clock darkness ended riding                

Winds: up to 30mph NW    

Weather: thick overcast, 38-40 degrees

Surface:  Typical HI small swell conditions

Total recorded mileage for the year 1,719 miles

Session 66 of the 2018 season: EPIC HI 9 Meter day

An EPIC 9M Harsens Island day. Reliable, steady and confident WSW winds to 30 plus.
Searching for todays slicks south and north of the middle channel. Even the middle channel leeward side had some space for downwind carving. The downwind ride back to the launch was a carving paradise with constant strong winds and some nice steep swells. An Epic day with Craig, Keith, Mark, Aaron and myself. All on 9s except for Mark on the 12.

3 different slicks with todays WSW winds

Gear:  9M Naish with TT board 

TOB:   12:30-3:00 non-stop action

Winds: 20-30 mph from the WSW  

Weather: Mostly cloudy, lower 40s

Surface:   Typical HI with some nice swell to slash on

Session 63 of the 2018 season: Mostly solid 9M at the slick and nearly pefect wind direction

Gear:  9M Naish with TT board

TOB:    From 11:30-3:00  with 36 miles of travel

Winds:   NW 15-30 

Weather:  Some sun, some clouds. Temps near 50 degrees  

Surface:  Flatter then normal. Slicks were awesome, nearly the wind direction wanted for the middle channel slick.

Comments: Solid 9M with TT board. Slicks were epic. Sunny 50 degrees.
NW winds to 30 mph. No lulls at the slicks. Reported lulls near the launch.

Fun loading and popping, speed runs, carving and opposite toeside practice.

Session 60 of the 2018 season: HI lights up with post frontal westeries

Gear: 9M Pivot and TT board

TOB:   2 sessions between 11:30 and 5:00

Winds:  West 20-30+ mph 

Weather:   cloudy and some sun, mid 50s 

Surface:  Some nice wind driven swell to slash

Highlights: A near epic HI session with the slick being the exception to an epic session. Lots of slashing and carving up the swell, jumping, boosting and olling.

Craig, Keith, Chris, Mark, Larry. Millard and 3 others enjoyed this near epic session.

Session 58 of the 2018 season: A well deserved day at HI

A solid 11M, TT session with Keith.
Starting out cloudy and mid-60s then sunny and mid-50s.
Winds were NW clocking to NE.
The wind was surprisingly a solid 15-30 mph through out the day.
One ride out to the slick, spent a short period of time there. The wind clocked from NW to NE ruining the slick conditions.  Overall a near epic day.

Gear: 11 M Pivot and TT 

TOB:   2 sessions between 12:00-5:00

Winds:  NW-NE 15-30 mph 

Weather:   cloudy then sunny near 60 degrees  

Surface:  small swell 

Highlights: A well deserved day at HI