Utah Windriders Association

Scurried out of work at 4:00 when the N started pumping down the Jordan River. All the trees were dancing around in Lehi at 5:00 and a bold windline was marching down the lake. Steve Forsgren and I rigged with whitecaps (!) just upwind of us at El Nautica. Oh, it looked like we were going cruising!

But it was not to be...by the time we got on the water, it had backed off to a real steady 6-8 mph. No lulls, but no gusts for a ride or two either. (I knew it was trouble when mosquitoes and mayflies were landing on me during the final rigging.) Still, lovely to be out on the water moving along, even if not hooked in or in the straps. Watched Timp change colors and saw lots of swallows and red-winged blackbirds. A beer on shore woulda made the evening.

Almost the same story at ULSSB

-Marty

nice efforts though. Dimitri, how big (wide) is your Roberts? how were the weeds at Saratoga? i'm thinking thermal at DC sbb this afternoon. betcha Marty goes to PV and outsmarts all of us.

same story at lincoln. bill and i rigged my 17 meter and flew it around for a little while. tried a 155 board with no luck, then brought out the surfboard. we had just enough wind to learn how to ride strapless. i'm hoping to get that thing out in some better wind. we were planing when the other lightwind board was not, so that was nice. jibing was an adventure with not much wind, but i think we both know what needs to happen when we have better wind. i was surprised at how easy it was to get the hang of getting up on the water strapless.

anybody else have experience with riding strapless? i'm excited to get out there on the surfboard with some swell- could be fun and have a much smaller kite. the board we are using is a mini gun- 7'1" pintail. anyone ever riden a smaller kite specific strapped surf board, or one with a bump squash or fish tail? i'm curious to see how the different shapes work with kites. it's making me wonder if other than jibing surfboards might be some fun on our big lakes....

Carl Christensen wrote: betcha Marty goes to PV and outsmarts all of us.

work, work, work,
work, work, work,
work, work, work,
work, work, work,

-Marty

PV isn't predicable enough to take a day off. IMHO

Mike-
I have been riding a 5'10" kite specific strapped surfboard lately. It allows me to ride my 15m Ozone Instinct in 20m weather. I love it. Jibing is really tough, however. I plan on riding it alot. There's no better way to kite on the ocean. Carving the swell is a blast, and you can jump them too. Need to get the fin box professionally repaired since Ryan's little mishap when we where down at millsite.

Mike,

Directional boards are fun in the swell and they are the ticket in the ocean on breaking waves. They are not as much fun for jumping and the jibing is more tricky. I actually learned on a 7'1" directional because there were not any bi-directional boards available. I remember how excited I was to get my first Litewave bi-directional board because it made jibing so easy. They are great for lightwind days, but if the wind is honking leave the big directional on the beach.

Kenny