6-18 DC Amazing view of the Heber valley day....
Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 9:31 amI thought I should share this experence. Yesterday we were out on mid kite, many riders on 13, me on a 12. There was some wind and some gust, (I hope Jim posts his wind chart so I could see what it was really doing) just like always but it was punchy for sure.
At one point I saw a big gust coming and I like to jump in the gust and try and go big so I did. I was about 350 meters off the shore line lined up with the group of trees on Barb wire beach (and the exposed beach at the point of the trees) when I sent it hard.....And man was I rewarded...up I went in several bouncing 40 foot increases. When I got my stuff together and looked around I was very,very,very high. I enjoyed the Heber airport and a view of my nieghborhood as well as Wal-mart and well just the nicest view of the valley I have ever had while kiting DC but I was still climbing up and was now around a 150 feet high.. I tried to fly the kite at the edge and try and lose some lift but I was still climbing while sheeted out... I then tried a heloloop and was pulled up even more, it was clear I was way overpowered and still climbing, the view was great but I had never been that high before and as I started to discover the length and height of this jump was unmatched, my joyous view of the valley was replaced by the realisation that I my glide path was well over the land but even more amazing was that I was so high over the trees I was set to fly over them as well.....needless to say I went into panic mode thinking I was going to have to ditch in the trees from a massive flight, eveything slowed down and I went into fight or flight mode very high off the deck.
I maintained my cool and kept trying to come down but I was just so powered... I would move the kite down in the window and I would just get yanked foward and dragged behind the kite down wind like a weight on the end of a kite blowing off into the distance, I kept fighting. At this point I was making huge movements with the kite trying to lose lift and it was starting to work but I was still heading for a tree collision maybe even over flying the trees and having to worry about the powerlines. But now I was coming up over the point of land and had been in the air for 20+ seconds still blowing downwind with speed and a hundred plus feet over the deck with the ground now under me I made a massive kiteloop at the left edge of the window and had a massive swing under the kite that pulled me over the point of land and and I knew if I did one more I would swing around the point and be back into open water so I did and it worked I saw the water under me and gust backed down to were I was in control and starting to decend, I made a couple of helo loops and even landed it, a couple of feet from the shoreline. I cleaned out my drawers and went back to the launch and called it a day..
Is there a lesson here, maybe, take from my story whatever makes you feel right. I learned several things, but what really sticks is that you can find yourself in a pickle while kiteboarding. Hopefully we all find a way out of our pickles.....I am very glad I did. I could have gone very,very bad...
BB
At one point I saw a big gust coming and I like to jump in the gust and try and go big so I did. I was about 350 meters off the shore line lined up with the group of trees on Barb wire beach (and the exposed beach at the point of the trees) when I sent it hard.....And man was I rewarded...up I went in several bouncing 40 foot increases. When I got my stuff together and looked around I was very,very,very high. I enjoyed the Heber airport and a view of my nieghborhood as well as Wal-mart and well just the nicest view of the valley I have ever had while kiting DC but I was still climbing up and was now around a 150 feet high.. I tried to fly the kite at the edge and try and lose some lift but I was still climbing while sheeted out... I then tried a heloloop and was pulled up even more, it was clear I was way overpowered and still climbing, the view was great but I had never been that high before and as I started to discover the length and height of this jump was unmatched, my joyous view of the valley was replaced by the realisation that I my glide path was well over the land but even more amazing was that I was so high over the trees I was set to fly over them as well.....needless to say I went into panic mode thinking I was going to have to ditch in the trees from a massive flight, eveything slowed down and I went into fight or flight mode very high off the deck.
I maintained my cool and kept trying to come down but I was just so powered... I would move the kite down in the window and I would just get yanked foward and dragged behind the kite down wind like a weight on the end of a kite blowing off into the distance, I kept fighting. At this point I was making huge movements with the kite trying to lose lift and it was starting to work but I was still heading for a tree collision maybe even over flying the trees and having to worry about the powerlines. But now I was coming up over the point of land and had been in the air for 20+ seconds still blowing downwind with speed and a hundred plus feet over the deck with the ground now under me I made a massive kiteloop at the left edge of the window and had a massive swing under the kite that pulled me over the point of land and and I knew if I did one more I would swing around the point and be back into open water so I did and it worked I saw the water under me and gust backed down to were I was in control and starting to decend, I made a couple of helo loops and even landed it, a couple of feet from the shoreline. I cleaned out my drawers and went back to the launch and called it a day..
Is there a lesson here, maybe, take from my story whatever makes you feel right. I learned several things, but what really sticks is that you can find yourself in a pickle while kiteboarding. Hopefully we all find a way out of our pickles.....I am very glad I did. I could have gone very,very bad...
BB