Classic Waconia.

[Tighe]

I arrived to an empty parking lot at 9am. Full on white caps, not a cloud in the sky. The air smelled windy...or maybe it was just morning air. Jim Arnold pulled in within a few minutes, then Mooney, then Doug then Larry. For the first hour it was a 40+ crew.

I started on my 13m, way powered up. Jim was on his 10m. It was one of the best sessions I have had on a kite to date. Big rollers to ride, sunny skys, fully powered, everything very light with a big loft factor.

At one point I was in the water at the launch and looked down the shore. I saw Jim flying horizontal about 15ft in the air directly toward shore, his board in toe. He landed in the water, what seemed like 10 feet from shore, then was lofted horizontal again right into the trees, I looked up on the bluff and saw the power lines running along the ridge. It was intense, I thought he might be dead. I raced along shore, Larry drove along the ridge to find him. As it ended up from my perspective I couldn't see that the shore cut back 20ft more just after the boat launch. He did hit the bluff, some 10 ft up, luckly not the trees. The kite went into the trees not the lines. He is very lucky. It was quite a scare.

He had 5 Quick Releases. All of them jammed. Nuff said.

Larry let me demo a new Slingshot GTO 11m. The 11m is comparable to the 9mFuel. This is THE highwind kite. It is considerably lower aspect than the Fuels though still depowers well and is plenty fast. The main thing I loved about it is that you can ride swells to your heart's content and the kite just follows you. Other kites tend to drop back in the window and lull, only to surge foward as you crank up the face, the GTO just sits there. Want to ride downwind a bit on a face, it just sits there, like the lines were rigid. Very reassuring. I don't remember ever being out in 30+ winds and feeling so in control. Check em out.

It was great to see so many faces that have been absent since the last BIG day. Everyone seemed very stoked, the parking lot was full, and the dogs were running about. Just like the old days...

Big thanks go to Chris Mooney, who helped make my last session possible.

Thanks to John, Larry and Jim for the launches and catches. Thanks to everyone who tolerated that crazy kiter out there. You all were styling.

And Jerry, sorry bout the scare.

thank you, thank you, thank you.

tighe

[john mooney]

greatday, it was fun doing 30 on a windsurfer again! Sorry the mille lacs crowd got rain and no wind, a very strange place to forecast. It is 930 pm and it is still blowing 25+.... it was an epic day!