Kite Yukon

By Michael Meandering

I know many people who disdain winter, and I've noticed that these people tend to live in parts of Canada where there is little, if any, snow, or where getting out of the city to enjoy the snow consumes the better part of the day. I feel very sorry for those people.

/Original is here./

We've been having a dearth of snow in Whitehorse, which has made the winter a little less enjoyable but, over the last two days, that unfortunate situation has rectified itself.

It got even better last night, when I read in the paper that there were going to be free snow kiting demos and lessons at Schwatka Lake today. Fawn and I registered as soon as we saw the ad. We both wanted to give it a try.

This morning, Fawn, Jade and I bundled up and went down to the lake. It was a beautiful day for those who dressed properly. There was fresh snow on the ground and the wind was steady - not too weak and not too strong - perfect for learning how to kite ski.

The event was hosted by Up North Adventures and a new business, Kite Yukon. Jim Welsh of Kite Yukon gave us instruction on how to use the 3m learning kites. I have to say, he did a great job. Everything was clear and understandable and within minutes we were zipping the learner kites back and forth across the sky. I was amazed at how much power could come from the little kite. When I zipped it low across the horizon, I had to dig my feet in or get dragged across the snow and ice. Sometimes I got dragged anyway.

Unfortunately, Fawn had to leave early so Jade could have her lunch and a nap, which meant that she didn't get to try the bigger kites. The bigger kites have a lot of power and require the use of a harness. I had a little more difficulty using the larger kites, but it was still a lot of fun. And I mean a lot of fun. This time, no matter how hard I tried to dig my feet in, the kite would pull me forward fifteen or twenty feet at a time. It was incredible to feel how much power could come from a sheet of lightweight fabric and a light breeze. I was having a blast!

I went and got my skis and then waited for another large kite so I could try zipping back and forth across the lake. There are a lot of similarities between kite skiing and sailing and, if you know what you're doing, it's even possible to sail into the wind. In fact, it's even possible to sail up mountains! The crew from Kite Yukon use their kites as chair lifts when they go into the mountains, kite skiing up and then skiing back down.

I tried to take pictures while I waited for a kite, but my camera batteries died in the cold. After warming them up, I managed to get a few shots before they died again.

Schwatka Lake was full of colourful kites, from little training kites to massive foils.

Zooming along on skis...



My favourite picture of the day - Practising on a big kite with Grey Mountain in the background.

I finally got a big kite and got to feel what it's like to zip across the lake powered by nothing but the wind. It was awesome. While I didn't quite master using the larger kite with the skis, I did enough of it to know that I want to do it again.

I hear that they'll be doing demonstrations and lessons again on January 5th. Woohoo!

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Ice Sailing Starts Nov 25 07 in South Keswick

Yup, I’m wearing my wet suit, red life jacket and red ski boots. Don’t know if this ice will last till next weekend, as a strong NW wind could break it all up. Most of it is already refrozen broken ice. Nonetheless, it was fine and we had about 10 guys out today.


Joe Albert

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The Wild Sports You’ve Got To Try

Pretty funny post on BlueZeal News which puts Winter Kiting and Space Travel together as extreme sports worth trying.

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Reminder.

Originally uploaded by MGL

The winter is coming and the 2008 WISSA World Championship organizing Committee is starting to prepare invitations. Please, send me your request if you need one.

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Dolzhanka. Day 1.

By Vladimir Zakharov

There is really something to `love` about this darn `Global Warming`. We need to stop measuring wind speed in knots but measure it in `girls`!

So, 4300 km and two and a half days our world was shrunk to the size of the steel box called `Isuzu Midi` (we called it `Mitjok` of course), and now it is over!


Ural, dear, I love you so! I did not have such fun in a long time. Artillery range with shell-holes of all kinds and calibers is called a federal highway due to some weird mistake. Night, rain, trucks in the ditch - it is all as usual, looks like Russia and good roads are incompatible forever.

We have finally arrived to the Azov Sea, Dolgaja Spit, Dolzhanka Village.

The South of Russia is not very friendly yet. It was warmer in Siberia. It is 9-10C of heat during the day and intermittent wind with gusts from under the storm clouds up to 15 m/s (30 knots).

The rain is over, the Sun is showing and my girlfriend wants to take a walk.. She opens the door of the cabin to scout the weather and instantly is thrown out into the nearest puddle by the gust! Yeah, the wind speed has increased. That is how we shall calibrate the wind in one `girl` and shall wait for summer kiting season opening until tomorrow. The forecast promises `global warming` and less wind.

In the meantime there is 4-5 kites flying around the Dolgaja Spit and around 10 wind surfers. Not too many people have come here this year, that is unusual!

The Surf Shelter camping where we live has surpassed all expectations - so far the difference between advertisement and reality is to reality's advantage!

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Saturday & Easter

What a weekend!

Lake Sunapee ROCKS! The nearly 1100 foot elevation makes for a different climactic designation for this unusual body of water. Everything south and down has melted, but Sunapee still has 12-14 inches of ice! Better still, the forecast is for more cold and a 10 inch dump on Thursday! This means that NEXT weekend is apt to be epic as well!

Almost Night: Shot by Charles Meding while flying the red kite in the foreground. We sailed all day on loose granular, and into the dark.



Last Year: Flying over the St. Lawrence River. By Michael Eudenbach

By way of reference, the sun angle and length of day is that of Labor Day weekend. Yep, that's right- count your days towards summer from the equinox and Easter is like Labor Day and next weekend is crowding AUGUST for sun angles! :)

Before I jinx the jet stream into a more seasonal pattern, I'll just give a quick weekend rundown and crash.

SATURDAY: Forecast- no wind. Reality- 10- 15 mph. Rick Hobbs had to skate with a 5,5 meter wing. He got some rides but he also skated and waited. It looked good some of the time, but I hate skating on skis so I changed teams and "took the kite".

With George Baskette and Charlie Meding as company, it is easy to see the potential of kites.

The surface was loose granular, and with a 4 line foil kite on handles it was fun to chuck the power of the kite around like a rock on the end of a string. Whip it up and down for speed, and send it back for a POWER jibe! Now TTHAT is fun- even if it does rip your arms and abs. BTW George with the 8 meter CA leader? Poetry in motion. And Charlie? How the hell can you fly a kite AND shoot photos?

EASTER SUNDAY: Arose and went to heaven. The overnight temperature was in the teens and the wind was a robust 15-25mph.

Bright sun, thin crispy snow atop hard ice with the new Kitewing Rage 5.5+.

Arose and went to heaven.

That docile powerhouse together with Volkl P30 Race Carver skis on such a surface IS heaven on earth!

The distance between Sunapee Harbor Lighthouse and Herrick Cove Lighthouse is just under 2 miles. I was making the run in under 5 minutes before I realized that I should start keeping track.

After about an hour I started blazing on a broad reach between the 2 points- [an approx. 4 mile round trip]-over and over while counting.

Long story short, I made 25 trips in about 5 hours. That SHOULD be about 100 miles, but without a GPS and a witness, it is quite unofficial. WHO CARES? I did it for me - not for the record books. That said, I plan to get a GPS this week. With luck, I'll have a dog in the hunt for the "Century Club" Award from the Chickawaukee Ice Sailing Club in Maine U.S.A.. before the season ends.

Happy Easter and god bless.

Winter RULES!!!!!!!!

Will

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