Wow what a weekend. Never have I experienced such an amazing 3 days of riding in Minnesota. What a gift. It was fun taking in the weekend with so many others.
As I drove to Mille Lacs on Friday I fought any expectations…it will be what it will be I thought to myself. The forecasts had been all over the place. First Thursday was looking like the big push, then maybe Friday. Saturday and Sunday looked pretty light in the forecast through the week, but on Friday morning the isobars looked stacked through Saturday….no expectations, it will be what it will be.
Terry D had called and said it was looking pretty light at Reddy. Deep Breath…it will be what it will be. Keep driving.
Pulled into Reddy and it was full on caps. Scott R. and Rob were skying high on their14ms. Most were coming in and rigging down. I rigged the 11m Rev.
Classic Reddy Creek. It was a bit SE so Port ramps were coming right at cha. Took a bit to adjust timing but after a bit of tweaking it was pure heaven. Everyone was going off. Leah showed up and grabbed a sweet session toward the end of the day. About 5 the western end of the lake started looking really dark. I came in a started derigging. Scott stayed out and was boosting big as the storm chugged across the lake. Eventually lighting started dropping from the sky and everyone cleared the water.
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As we drove to Carlsona there were tornado warnings over the radio. Then the rain came…came down hard. Carlsona is such a well built structure you couldn’t really tell there was a serious storm rolling through outside. The waitstaff were on the phone…with Ron I think, and advised everyone to move away from the windows to the center of the building. We got a call from Michelle and Seth in Garison who said “things” were flying through the air. Then the lights went out. Definitely an exciting night.
Eventually the storm blew through and the sun peeked through the western side of the lake. The sunlight ignited the bright white caps that stretched across the dark lake. A partial rainbow appeared right over Malmo…with what looked like rays of sunlight but they couldn’t have been since the sun was behind us. Maybe it was a sign of the weekend to come, a visual opening ceremony…whatever it was it was pretty amazing.
- The sign
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Bryce and I had the same idea….we gotta pump up. Randy and Peter rigged their sails. We had a short session as the wind faded and clocked more and more westerly. Each tack had such a unique character. Dark water and white caps going out, and bright sky full of color heading back into a setting sun. So easy to loose yourself in the moment. It was funny I thought to myself how odd it was that someone invented the concept of time. It is really needed?
- sunrise winds
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Saturday morning we awoke to cranking winds. I felt for those who had slept, or attempted to in the dancing tents strewn out on the hill below Carlsona. Following Crazy Katie’s lead we hit the café at sunrise for breakfast. Feasted we got to the lake and were pumped up by 7:30. Pumped up the whole quiver of Slingshot toys for people to demo. Everyone came back stoked.
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The wind was cranking 20+ by 8am and 9ms were the call. Slowly more and more kites and sails filled the water and the shoreline. It was unfortunately too strong for many people’s skills or equipment and being on shore was a challenging. Stoke was oozing from every cell in your body but you felt like you didn’t want to make it worse for those not able to ride.
- Chris
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- Chris
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- Chris
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By noon it was a frickin circus out there. It was amazing being on the water with such talent….and such courage. Kurt, Avery and Chris were kissing clouds they were going so high. Everyone looked so great, Steve, Jerry, David, Katie, Randy, Seth, Michelle, Adam, Hunter, Bryce, Jim, Denis, Eric, Mike, Terry, and so many more were going off, hooked and unhooked. It’s one thing to see these guys go off from shore but when you are out on the water with them, not only are you looking up at them, you also see their downwind trajectory, it’s like they’re a missile launched in a water explosion, then they follow an nice arc skyward and slowly decend, ….sometimes exploding on impact with a huge spray of water that goes up and then immediately downwind.
- Kurt
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- Kurt
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The huge swells that turned to waves at the edge of the sandbar were a playground for windsurfers and kites alike. Peter Hill was boosting huge forwards on his windsurfer…still can’t imagine doing a catepult intentionally while 15 ft in the air. Randy and Scott and others were ripping it up out there, many times only the tips of their sails appearing as they dropped into the deep troughs.
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Finally everyone was worn out and hungry and we headed to Carlsona to feast. We took over the patio and refueled. The joyous laughter and dialog was quite noticeable as you moved from inside to outside. The stoke was high.
We presented Ron with the great poster that John Pedersen had put together in appreciation for letting us take over his lawn each year. Maybe he’ll put the poster up in the bar for all to see. If you stop in, take a moment to thank him.
I heard the festivities lasted into the later hours at Carlsona and down in Isle but I was fast asleep by 10:30. We went to bed thinking it was going to be 15mph on Sunday. NOPE.
- 8am on Sunday
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We awoke to a repeat of Saturday. Bright white caps stretching as far as the eye could see. This time we slowly worked our way to the lake. Baskin was already on the water and ripping it up. Seeing him got me stoked. I rigged my 9m.
- Baskin
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- Baskin
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Once on the water, I was amazed at how the waves were coming right at you. The wind had just clocked to NW but the waves were still flowing West to East from the last two days of 25+mph winds. At first I thought it was sorta a pain to be running right into the waves, specially since Starboard is my bad side. Then I looked downwind and saw the troughs extending as far as the eye could see. OMG. I quickly went in and swapped out my boards for the Fuse and headed back out. Once at the end of the sandbar, I flipped to toeside and headed off the wind. Unreal to have those conditions in Minnesota, where the wind is running sideshore to the waves. You could ride one wave forever downwind. I counted 11 turns on one wave!!!! Unbelievable. Up, slash, down, lean in and turn back up, to slash back down. I’d ride for about a mile downwind, hop the wave and take a tack upwind out into the lake a mile or two then come back upwind to do it all over again. So much fun.
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Eventually the waves got a bit chaotic and then cleaned up rolling through from the NW with the wind. Still fun to ride but nothing like that morning session. I was so lost in my own zone, I have no idea if others discovered that ride as well…I hope so.
Judd and Dave Rothman joined in on Sunday. Always fun to watch those guys.
- Chris
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Around 5 on Sunday the winds finally backed off a bit. Brian, who had patiently waited all weekend, finally got out and scored some rides. Jim, also was able to get a kite session in after riding his poleboard all weekend. It was nice just winding down, sitting lakeside, looking out across the shimmering waters.
Even though I was amazed at the hardcore riders going off this weekend, I have to say I was more impressed by those riders who I know have never ridden winds like that, yet who pushed through their fears and dialed some epic sessions. Crazy Katie was one of the first on the water on Saturday and Sunday, rode nearly 9 hours on Saturday and was getting close to 10 feet of air. Michelle was rippin it up with the rest of us. Shooting upwind, downwind, and helping out when not riding. I’m sure there are more.
I have to say I am also impressed by those that trusted their gut and decided not to go. It must have been extremely hard, and it was a wise decision. The conditions last weekend were some of the more challenging conditions we’ll ever encounter. If it doesn’t feel right it is best to hold off for another day.
As usual there never is enough time to catch up with everyone. But then again, we’ll do that when the wind’s not blowing. Thanks to all those who shared the stoke on and off the water this weekend. It is one I will not soon forget.
- the peanut gallery
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JRN