7/6 G-ville - New/old kite spot?

[DimitriMilovich]

I was at Grantsville on Saturday with my girlfriend J who is learning windsurfing. With no fronts, flow and a big high pressure, it's pretty ideal for a long afternoon light-wind sailing. It has a reasonably steady northeast lake breeze wind, 8-10, some gusts to 12, but get this -- it's almost onshore along the whole west and southwest end of the lake and therefore it occurred to me that maybe it would be good for kiter-beginners, too, or people with big kites. None of the big rocks you'd have in a typical south wind.

Don't know if it's too light or not, but someone should check it out -- It's been blowing (well, "breezing" is better description) Friday, Sat., Sunday from about 12:00 noon to 7:00 pm. Seriously: 6-7 hours every day. I bet tomorrow is the same. The lake is low, but we were tacking almost along the whole west shoreline so the tacks were really long. Just kinda light. There were a lot of people there Saturday, swimming, picnicing (really) but I bet it's empty during the week. Even with a lot of people on shore, you could probably launch and land a kite OK.

[Kenny]

Dimitri,

It is a nice thought, but I noticed the same wind a couple years ago at G-ville. So, I went several times with my 21m/huge board combo thinking that the fresh water at Grantsville would be preferable to the Salt Ponds (Rush was a mud flat at the time). The problem with the wind there is that it is not a steady 8 - 10, it is more like 5 - 15. If Grantsville were either deeper or larger, that would not be a problem, but with such a short downwind reach if your kite goes down, you often will drift half the length of the lake before the wind is enough to relaunch your kite again. I had similar wind at Rush on Saturday. At Rush it is not a problem because I can just sit there and wait for the next puff without drifting downwind.

The Salt Ponds get much wind on a really hot day. However, the salt is super nasty, so it is no place for beginners.

Kenny

[DimitriMilovich]

Hi Kenny,

Wonder if you were on the northeast wind or not? Doesn't sound like it if you were drifting very far. With the way it has been blowing, out of the north lately (seems like NE more than anything), the reach is almost parallel to the main beach, at a very slight angle. In fact you have to really work on a windsurfer to get out upwind at all. You might be within an easy drift of it at all times. Not sure how or why you'd ever be drifting half the lake since you'd likely be within 30-50 yds at most of the beach, not out in the lake very far at all. But, that could be a problem , I see, if your kite came down that close to land again. Probably not good for the kite.

But I'm clueless about kiting, so forgive the uninformed suggestion. And if Rush has been sailable, that sounds better.

[Kenny]

Dimitri,

I was flying on a north wind. I will have to try the NE direction sometime. Though with a wind speed of 8 - 10, you still need a huge kite/board combo to make it work.

One real advantage that sailors have over kiters is the ability to slog through the lulls. The problem with a kite is that if there is not enough wind to fly, the kite falls to the water and the small amount of wind remaining pushes against the kite forcing the kiter to drift downwind (unless of course you can touch the bottom). Kiters need a good wind baseline or we end up drifting in big lulls.

The other disadvantage for kiters at Gville is the rocky shore. I have torn up more kites there than all other locations combined just launching the kite. Gville is just much better suited for windsurfing.

Kiteboarders can claim Rush right now and Windsurfers own Gville.

Kenny