I have alot of great photographs from throughout the year of most of our local riders and a few out of town riders as well. These sequences weren’t the greatest exposures but alot of the other shots from this year have turned out bright and crisp. I’ll get these posted over the week or so in my free time after work.

Cheers

Jim

The next week or so looks to be very nice with temps in the high teens, maybe they will generate a few more south winds before the season ends. However I wouldn’t mind another gale force day before the season ends either.

Knowing when to pack it in can prevent serious injuries and ensure access to our favourite places.

I thought it might be a good time to remind everyone about the importance of kiting safely, not only for personal reasons but also to ensure the continued use of our favourite locations.

Use the following safety guidelines when kiteboarding:

1. Do not kitesurf without a safety release system that allows you to disable the kite at any moment.
* Traditional kites cannot be fully depowered while the kitesurfer is attached to the kite (chicken loop or chicken loop line). When things go wrong, the kitesurfers activate a safety release system that detaches themselves from the kite. While this system works when you are conscious and can react fast enough, it DOESN’T when you are not conscious or don’t have enough time to react to a dangerous situation (a few kitesurfers have had serious or fatal accidents in the past due to these devices). Use such kite and safety release system with care and only do so when you are out in open water. Also make sure that you test your safety release system properly as described latter on in this page.
* The new generation of kite (e.g. Flat LEI) can be depowered fully by simply dropping the bar. Such kites are safer as once the control bar is dropped, the kite become more manageable and the kiter can have more time (and chance) to activate the safety release to detach from the kite.
2. If you use a traditional kite which cannot be fully depowered while hooking in to the chicken loop, do not hook in before launching and landing. Depower your kite using the trim strap before launching or landing. If you use a “spin leash” or “swivel bar”, use the modern bar that allows you to launch and land unhooked.
3. Don’t launch, ride or jump upwind of people or hard objects. Give yourself at least 1.5 line-length distance from those obstacles.
4. Check your kite, lines and the set up before launching your kite.
5. Don’t ask a non-kitesurfer to assist you in launching or landing a kite (it is safer to launch and land the kite yourself than having a non-kitesurfer to assist you).
6. Attach the safety leash “permanently” to your wrist or harness using Velcro tapes or a quick release.
7. Don’t kitesurf near power lines or airport.
8. Don’t kitesurf before, during, after a thunder storm or in stormy weather.
9. Don’t kitesurf in offshore wind.
10. Make sure that there is a “friendly” beach downwind from where you start.
11. Don’t kitesurf in crowded water. Get out to the open water or any un-crowded area as soon as you can.
12. Do not kitesurf in very strong wind if you are a beginner (in 20+ knots) and be careful even if you are an experienced kitesurfer (in 30+ knots).
13. Wear a life jacket or impact vest
14. Wear a helmet.
15. Flying lines can cut when the kite is flying. Never let yourself or others even having a chance of getting tangled up with the flying lines (e.g. do not fly your kite over other people, never wrap flying lines around your hand).

courtesty of http://www.kitesurfingschool.org/safety.htm

www.windalert.com

You can sign up for free and even download a free app to notify you of predetermined wind speed an various locations – very cool.

The site also includes a newly discovered wind tower reporting from the mouth of the Kam River south of the Marsh.
Check it out – I have also included a new page for all the latest stats on current wind, wind stats etc.

The spring has been slow to warm up but it appears warmth is right around the corner and we have still been receiving plenty of windy days – plenty of gusty,  shifty wind days and a few very steady wind days.  However, the crew here in Thunder Bay has been making the most of it.  Young Daniel Muller (14 years old) has been getting out on the weekends and logging serious hours of riding along with Liam, Larry and Sean who seem to be competing for most hours logged on the water this year – I think Liam has got Larry and Sean on this stat.

We have seen some new faces down this year from the likes of Mike, Kyle and his girlfriend, Chris and Tai or Ty? We hope the sport is treating any newcomers well and hope that you are enjoying it to the fullest. Remember the safest and most responsible way to get in the sport is to get lessons from a qualified, educated, knowledgeable instructor who can present the theories and technique of the sport to you in a logical and concise manner.

Here is some action shots from the past month or so of kiting down at Mission Marsh. Pictures are usually taken by me when I am either taking a break from riding or not feeling well. This past weekend I was the volunteer kite launcher and I am sure everyone enjoyed having my sorry ass down there launching and landing. Such a bummer to be missing out on the strong, warm afternoon wind on Sunday. But having been under the weather it was best not to head out – instead I took some photos of the guys who were out (Julian, Liam, Paul, Andrew, Sean, Dan and Larry, sorry windsurfers you guys were too far away from me for good pics.) and even included some shots of Julian’s cute little guy Simon. Simon was enjoying the warm afternoon sun, searching for crickets and various other bugs in between taking breaks from watching dad and the rest of the crew zipping around on the water like little water bugs. About a month ago Julian had Simon trying out the trainer kite. AWESOME! Starting the interest early! I think he is excited to get another try at Julian’s trainer kite. . . maybe one day the Rise . . . or Zephyr hehe.

I hope everyone continues to have a good season and wish everyone safe and happy kiting. Cheers!! see ya at the beach! Julian after nearly wrecking your kite the other day I hope you enjoy the pics of you and Simon, sorry for the inconvenience the other day

Enjoy the pics guys!

Also anyone interested in doing a Saturday afternoon beach cleanup? A few rakes and garbage bags we could get a lot of crud cleaned off the beach and make for safer self landing and launching.

It has been quite an eventful spring kiting season here in Thunder Bay. Most of our “core” group of riders have been out on the water at least 5 or 6 times with some lucky riders having had over 12 sessions already – - some of us with rides in exotic and warm locales (Paul – Bahamas, Jim – Cuba, and Sean – Barbados). Although the early water season has seen plenty of wind the past week has been somewhat dull and I think we are in our typical May long rain season – hopefully this will soon pass!!

Today is windy and I am hoping to get out for an after dinner ride if the wind hangs on.  But in killing some time after work and before dinner I thought I would select a few photographs of some of our local riders charging hard in the cold, early spring waters of Lake Superior.

Here is a few shots of riders Jim, Liam, Paul, Larry, and Darren from April 29th and May 3rd and 4th.