9--Skyline 17m

The Superfly non event was happening,
all that meant was the NAST guys were filming each other.
They were clustered together in front of cameras.
OK with me, more powder and no kiters on the west ridge.
Matt and I camped in the RV and had a nice Kitequila event of our own.
I rode the Skis on the sunset session, felt like a dork on them.
Maybe I should hit the resort on the new shaped ski for a day.
Maybe I should shit can them....
But it was a great sunset session either way,
it was dark by the time we got back to the RV.

6-7-8--Skyline 17M

Snowkite Masters
Matt and I took the RV and sleds to Skyline.
Friday, kited all day, party at the Triangle Bar and RV camp at Schenk's
Saturday, more kiting until the wind died, then camped in the parking lot.
Full moon was out and we were hoping to moon kite, but no wind.
Sunday was early and light, fresh soft snow was still to be found.
Lots of out of town friends, lots of miles kited.
Good time.
I even put the skis on, idunno?

6-- sled above Viva Naughton

The hills above Viva Naughton lool like a snowkiting meca,
if there was just more snow.
We sledded to the top for a view.
Cool place.

5--Bondurant 17M

2 full days here, and not even kiting in the same area 2wice.

4--Bondurant 17M

Matt and I drove to Irv's Thursday night for the first cold overnighter in the RV.
Irv's cabin door was frozen shut, so the shots were in the RV.
Friday AM we were off to Wyoming to kite.
Bondo is like Strawberry on steroids. HUGE
The hill to the right in the photo is the big gliding hill.
We camped on the road by the kite spot -12ish.
Cold, but we survived.

3--Lake Creek 11M

Both Matt and I felt guilty for leaving work
since we are leaving for Jackson Hole Thursday.
That guilt passed fast once we were back at the kite spot
at the top of Lake Creek.
Probably my favorite place but the wind could have been stronger and longer.
Avy forecasters said it could blow in the 30's on top
and it was windy in the parking lot.
I decided to leave the bug kite and just take the 11M.
As sweet as it was to be back there kiting, it didn't last long.
Good news is that the sledding we did for the rest of the afternoon was
some of the best ever.

2--11M Skyline

Finally some pow to snowkite in.
Still early season conditions,
but nice to get out.
Some very fun hovering jumps with kiteloop out.
What a fun feeling.
Second ride on my Never Summer Legacy board.
Rode for hours, with no quad burn.
that also translates to supurb board smothness.
Normally it take me a month to get the quads to not burn.

1--Rush 9M, 5M

Reports from Rush were coming in that it was frozen and a little snow on top.
I thought it would be a goodwcall for Jim to get a taste of the winter kiting.
When we got there it was a Warm 54 degrees and strong winds.
Jim put up his 8M and I put up the 9m foil.
We were both overpowered, mainly because of the fast surface and no edge.
We then took turns on my 5M frenzy.
If I lived in the midwest and only had this type of winter kiting as the only option,
I be pretty bummed.

5--Monte Sled

Matt and I went with Bob for a very unexpectedly great day on the sled.
Bob knows Monte so good that we found powder stashes
even though it has not snowed for weeks.
We found a ridge that looks good for south winds to try to snowkite someday.
Matt rode my old sled to get the bugs out after winter and changing the front end out.
It runs really strong and the new narrow front end worked like a champ in the powder.
It feels like it needs dampening in the rear end. Time for a new shock.
That sled will be great for me to learn how to wrench on,
if I fuck it up I still have my XP and wont be out a ride.
And I need to put the man cave to good use!

4--Sled Soapstone basin

Matt and I rode the roads.
47 miles of nice snow.
It's so nice up there.
We just need lots more snow so we can get off the trails
without worry of damage by landmines and other hidden dangers.

3--Uinta Roads

Many Thanks to Jon for going on a 'road ride'. Snow was a little sparse for much off trail riding. The trail, however, was near perfect, almost as good as when they groom em. Traveled 44 miles. I had a great day. Beautiful sunny day, gorgeous scenery and views. So... nice. Looks like no snow for a while. Matt was driving down from a kite session as we were packing up.

68-11M Rush

Doug and Vern on 13M, I rode my 11M.
Very nice for late season session.
It's such flat water, I like it.

2-- Sled Uinta roads

Brian drove up and we unloaded at Mill Creek road.
We took many side roads and found some easy access to some future powder stashes.
The photo is At Lake Creek where we rig kites,
we have discussed a shelter for some years.
This spot in between many close together pines
and is where we are going to try to keep it dug out and
sheltered from the wind, we'll see how that works for us.
Over 50 miles today.

1--Sled Duchene Ridge

Matt and I drove to 9400' Wolf Creek campground
and unloaded the sleds for a sweet early season road ride.
We ended up at Lake Creek.
There were patches of good coverage
but mostly air pockets under the sagebrush.
So we decided against snowkiting.
There were a few grassy areas that we could get off the roads with the sleds and make some carving turns.
It was colder than expected, or we both just still have thin blood.

67--Rush 11M

Me and Doug and Todd
got the slickwater at Rush for a great November session
before the cold north wind and storm came in.

66-10M 7M Willard

After the boardshorts and warm water in SPI
it was hard to climb into the big bulky drysuit.
Comfort kiting quickly became overpowered kiting on the 10M.
I was about to ditch the kite behind the wind shadowed trees
when Dave drove up and landed me.
I quickly rigged the 7m but was stalled by a dude that had a hard time getting out,
he came back in and dropped his stuff on top of mine.
It flew away and over me, lines and all, I grabbed a line and it slammed into the power station,
ripping it in many places, I finally got his lines off my gear and went out
to a slightly under powered second session.
After kiting we hung out in the RV.
It was nice cause Vern locked his key in his car,
so we had comfortable place to wait for AAA.

65--10M SPI

Kitequila day.
More tequila than kiting.
twin tip then surfboared then rapid wind decline
then tequila.
Gulf looked very nice today, to light of wind, oh well.

64--10M SPI

Jon passed his cold to me,and I didn't get much sleep.
Jim left today, and we had to go to the airport to get our rental car.
Hammered and on dayquil, the session was short but pretty fun.
North winds brought out the rubber today. 63 degrees.

63-10M SPI

Jon and I chased up to the North wind kite launch area,
while avoiding the B&F'n wind surfers and found 10M++ wind and buttery smooth water. Like first tracks on the groomed corduroy. AHHH...

62--11M,10M

Very nicely powered early session.
The surfboard session in the flats sucked
because of weeds on the fins.
Surfboards belong in the gulf.
Probably won't happen unless I go alone.

61--11M SPI

I had 4+ Hours of kiting
It was very pleasant.

60-17M, 11M SPI

First Kitequila day is great to get in the books.
Light wind that rapidly ramped up.
Almost could have been on the 11M from the start.
(that's why Jon's 14m kept up with the Zephyr, ha)
Afternon session was on the 11M but could have been on the 10M.
The forecast was for dying winds, not increasing winds.
That is why I over rigged, twice!

Photo of Gulf, Padre Island, Laguna Madre, and the mainland.



Harlingen airport.




A flock of blue Zephyrs

59--DC 11M

Pretty strong winds for DC.
Colder than I dressed for,
so after a few crashes and getting chilled,
I Kited up to ride with Sarah and Linda windsurfing.
Then it started to lighten up and the race back was on.
I didn't quite make it all the way back in,
floated the last 100 yards or so.
Good thing the launch is straight onshore.
Now it's time to pack gear for SPI !!!

58--17M PV

The building high pressure was in place
But not as clear as we wanted to see.
It came in late, like 4 ish
The few clouds made it gusty, lully stuff.
We only got to ride for about an hour.
Hiked in to middle inlet.
There is finally enough beach to launch.
Just me and Vern.

57--Willard 10M

On the water by 10 and the rain ended my day at noon.
Twin tip first but the surf board rode the chop smoother.
Would be nice to have 2 hours of kiting by noon every day.
Hope this cold weather coming kills Rush weeds.

56--DC 11M

Lots of kiters at DC today.
Typical puffy inland lake stuff,
not the smoothies like last week.
11M was to much work early on,
but nicely powered for the second half of the session.

55-DC 17M

Really good day at Deer Creek.
I could have been on my 11M.
My timing was off and crashed and splashed.
But since even a small jump looks cool to bystanders,
I went over where cars were watching by the turnout on the road.
Then my timing and confidence came back.
What a show off,,,ha
The second half of the afternoon
I rode my surfboard, even jumping it.

54--11 SC

Looked like a Pineview day, so I went up for the first time this
year to check the beach for launchablity.
No real launch at Middle Inlet, maybe a downwinder from windsurf beach is possible.
Any way, Jon Guay called as I was driving around PV.
Asked about Sulphur, and off we went.

Lightly powered, and gusty, lully stuff.
rode with John, Todd and Jason, K
for about an hour when it died off.
It came back for a short time, but no one trusted it to keep blowing.

53--17M ULLB

Doug and I did light wind day at Lincoln.
Lots of new kiters floundering in the light winds,
and walking back from the reeds.

52-- Rufus 7M

Best Rufus swell ever!!
Bus size from side to side.
I'll never be the same, life changer.
Quite the workout, only had one session in me.
The surfboard in that, is the real deal.
Slashing and carving like in my dreams.
Not quite blown off the water,
but really would have been sweet on a smaller kite.
The forecast is lighter wind Thursday, yeah!