Finally

Tighe · Post by **Tighe** » Sat Jan 18, 2003 6:59 pm

It was so nice to be on snow again. Arrived at Cannon about 12:00 and Eric was ripping around on his small foil and snowboard. Pete was rigging his 6.5 Free Air. I rigged my 9m Fuel and grabbed the skis.

Thank you thank you Mike, for finding snow. It was mostly covered and sticking though as the afternoon wore on, the ice patches got a bit bigger. With the wind change tomorrow, the NW corner may still have some significant snow cover...and be warmer : )

At one point there were quite a few kites in the air. Mike W, Eric, Pete, Scott, Dennis, Bill and myself. Lots of color filling the incredible blue sky.

The open water is still there. It runs completely across the lake and is maybe 100 ft wide. Odd to see blowing snow and whitecaps at the same time. The ice is plenty thick though. We drove our vehicles on the ice.

Hopefully tomorrow afternoon may be a repeat. : )

I may have some video to post later.

tighe

Eric S · Post by **Eric S** » Sat Jan 18, 2003 7:54 pm

Man, it was so SWEET! thanks Mike!

For snowboards I'd give the area about a 6, It's the second best I've been on this year (North Long Lake was number one...)

The guys are skies were boosting HUGE!

Cannon on the south end is about 80 pecent crusty snow, the rest is ICE. All of us were haning so good out there with the wind and sutff. It was awesome!!!

Here are some pictures:

http://www.downhaul.com/kites/

Tighe and Mike W were boosting so high that I needed to hit my record on my video. I hope to have a good vid within the next few days.....

perhaps tonight....

scottchapman · Post by **scottchapman** » Sun Jan 19, 2003 12:31 am

Great to be on snow again...about 20 miles today max speed 30 mph.
it was great out there today. but you had to be careful in the middle and not slip on an ice patch before the big white fish house in our path. I though about jumping over it but......nahhhh.

foxx0171 · Post by **foxx0171** » Mon Jan 20, 2003 11:06 am

Ok...had a quick question. Was going to head out to Canon this weekend but found myself a little to busy on Sunday. Question was this: I'm a newbie just coming off an introduction a few weeks ago by Tighe and a few seesions out on Calhoun skating. At the moment I'm using a Windwing 330 (between a Slingshot B3 - B4) and seem to have plenty of power when I'm on the ice. How do you guys thing it will perform on snow? (FYI I'm 5'10" 175lbs)

I'm not looking and don't expect to be jumping or anything just yet, but wanted to make sure I could get out and have a good time. Will this be possible on 10MPH+ winds with conditions like those at Canon this weekend?

Thanks in advance,

Michael

Tighe · Post by **Tighe** » Mon Jan 20, 2003 1:00 pm

Ice has so little resistance that you really don't need much to get going and then your movement through the wind fools the kite into thinking it has more wind. I think you may have found the kite a bit small this last weekend. The smallest kite down there was Denis on his 440. He seemed mostly powered enough to ride. Denis?

Yesterday most of us were on 10-14m inflatable kites or B5 or B6s. Your first time on snow it's a good idea to go a bit smaller. You'll learn to use the edging advantages of the snow and be able to hold down a much bigger kite, which you'll need to stay upwind. If you are flying the kite in the power zone in order to have enough power to move, then you could use a bigger kite.

Your kite will eventually be your highwind kite for 25+ winds.

You should have come down. Just trying would have answered your question more accurately than I ever can. Also, I had other kites I could have let you demo, to give you a feel of what the larger sizes and types fly like. It is actually easier flying powered up than underpowered.

foxx0171 · Post by **foxx0171** » Mon Jan 20, 2003 5:06 pm

Sounds good...I'll definately be out next weekend (the calendar is already reserved) on snow if there is any, ice if that is what I have to do.

For any other beginners out there I am almost of the opinion that a 440 is the way to go for your first kite. It seemed about as easy to learn on (in the majority of wind conditions) as far as dryland kite flying goes and in the end seems like a little better value.

Thanks for the tip and the lesson Tighe, it has been great getting in to the sport!

Michael

Denis · Post by **Denis** » Mon Jan 20, 2003 5:55 pm

Yeah, I agree with Tighe that a Windwing 440 (4.5m) was barely enough to ride. Had a tough time going upwind and I could certainly not jump. In the conditions we had this weekend, I think that a slingshot B-6 would do nicely.

Also, Michael, I'll be in NYC next week, so if you want to borrow my kite and harness to try it out, just let me know.

Denis

LAKAWA

Finally

Finally

Afternoon Delight

Next weekend...

Sounds Good...