Friday/Saturday/Sunday! 5/13-15/11

[Artem]

Hey guys, it looks like a cold front will be moving through on late friday, saturday, and sunday. It'll be north those three days so I'm planning on doing a downwinder from Z to Keegs. Lemme know who wants to join me.

[West]

Oh yeah buddy.....that's going to be the call, that's for sure!!!!!!!!!! Remember that the water is still a bit Chilly, and those North winds are going to be hammering....just hope the hot tub is a crankin'

NOT the time of year, and NOT the forecast for "messing around"...gonna b ALL BUSINESS in that stretch of water come Saturday sunrise.....shorepound and potentially gusty winds, (probably very gusty at Waukegan if it stays N, like projected)!!! If you have not done that downwinder, BEWARE, cause it will be 5 miles of Madness, don't take it lightly!! IF you depart from Zion and break down before the power plant, then you must hike the several miles back UPWIND along the beach....quite a walk after having to swim in, don't forget that!!!

Having given my initial SAFETY talk of the year....I am heading out to the garage to check and double-check my equipment for the SPRING BLOW.....gotta check all the lines on my bars, tighten my footstraps and fins, and grab all my hankies.

Looking at Saturday bout 10 for me.....gonna try and get ol' Red Legs, V, Ivo, the Madkiter and friendz, and Steve-O on dat rollercoaster....get some rest, and get ready, cause it is gonna be on like DONKEY KONG!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Artem]

West, I have done the downwinder plenty of time and I know what your talking about. Dude I just got a new high wind kite and it's NOT A C! So I'm ready for those crazy 6-7m days!! If the forecasts hold I'll be at Zion at 10 too so we can do this downwinder. Or what I was thinking if you want I can leave my car at waukegan and you can pick me up and we'll head over to zion so we'll have a car when we get to waukegan? Lemme know

[V]

You know you got it good if you got up and personal with these terms:

bird shit island, the hot tub, M-16, Military guards, the questioning room, policeman with an attitude, national security

gonna be good brah!

[lebeda12345]

I will come to Zion in morning 9- 10
Peter 773 909 2523

[rkelly]

Bonkers is fun
Bonkers is nice
Bonkers is never the same game twice!

[Artem]

I got it good today from 12-4ish and then it got too north for Waukegan. I spent the whole day in between the jetty's getting that butter flat water. Wind was around 25-30 so I was out on my new 7m nemi. I'm beat up and sore but ready to hit it early tomorrow!

[V]

Keegs reading 30-40mph. Small kite day. Should be some fetch at birdsh.t for the boys. I hear the kitebus might be waitin today too!

[IVO]

Keegs reading 30-40mph. Small kite day. Should be some fetch at birdsh.t for the boys. I hear the kitebus might be waitin today too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3eOuK_-c34

Heading out

[West]

Meter is pegged at 30 knots........hooooocheeeeeemamammmaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Safety talk was not directed at you Artem, although it is a reminder to allllllllllll of us. I know that you know the Place, and that you understand it's nuances.....GLAD you got a 7m, gonna watch you rip it up today HI-FLIER.........

Hope to see some familiar faces, and some new ones as well today at ZION, should be quite the gathering....in years past a day like today would see about 3 guys on the water, and a dozen others onshore.....I expect to see most kiters on the water today. A tribute to the great kites on the market, and the expanding skill level of our Lake Michigan kiters.

I just emptied the truck of tools, and will be loading my kite gear soon and departing for Marley Country......gonna meet Greg at Keegs to drop a vehicle, and then let the Games begin!!!

Hang out all day if you can muster the strength, and there will be a caravan to the local hang-out to swap stories of the day, and to plan the next assault!!! Can you say a STRONG NOR'Easter!!!!

Get ready Sheriff, the train will be pulling into the station tomorrow!!!!!

[West]

7m INSANITY.....dwndr was fabulous......hdn back up, Round 2, dwndr from ZION at 2......bring your hankies.......

[Artem]

It was a blast riding with you guys today! I just wanted to say what a solid crew you guys are!! Greg was smacking the lips like a madman, west was flying high over the beach impressing the crowd, IVO just going down the line smack smack smack. Great day overall even though I had to make the walk back from bird shit island Greg thanks a lot for all the help getting back to shore and everything. I checked my phone and I didn't get your number so call it again.

[Northerner]

Sheboygan was agian in full bloom yesterday. I started riding around 3 and overpowered on my 8 and surf board. Waves where nice and clean, though not as high as I thought with the wind we had over two days, but still over head at times. Got out there with ben, herbie and jens. Was a bit powered on my 8, so I tossed up my wifes 7 nano. Really was on the mark with that, I still think that is one the best waves kites out there. Rode until almost 7:30 and wanted to get a quick downwinder set up, herbie followed. When Jens came running up and said we had we got a problem. Ben got disconnected from his kite out past the pier heads and out bobbing around. We called the coasties and I went out kiting to find him. Coast Guard got him in 10 minutes and even dropped him off at the launch. Even with the wind at NNE his kite drifted way out to sea.


Jens has some sweet shots of the day.

Looking good right now with more to come this afternoon.

[gbleck]

You know you got it good if you got up and personal with these terms:

bird shit island, the hot tub, M-16, Military guards, the questioning room, policeman with an attitude, national security

gonna be good brah!

HA. Yea I'm so glad Henry picked me up before I got to the MPs last season.

[West]

Well, well.......3 daze of MADNESS!!!!! Downwinders every day from Z to Keegs.......phenomenal, different every day. ALL on my 7m.........What a Spring Blow, hope everyone got a little bit, several of us got a hell of a LOT!!!

We were piling 5 to 6 guys into Greg's grey Ford Ranger and making the trek back to Zion daily.....a few equipment failures, but the BUDDY SYSTEM prevailed and we all were safe and accounted for......

If you decide that you want to do a downwinder on Lake Michigan, pick your buddies carefully, cause it ain't DISNEYLAND out there on the BIG LAKE. Chances are that someone, sometime will break down, and your buddy just might have to save your arse....just BE PREPARED, and don't go about it WILLY-NILLY!!!! There's some magic along those shorelines....

Our group consisted of Ivo, Greg, Artem, and myself from Chi-town, with the Mad-crew of Jens, Ben, and Greg making the trip over....the stories are damn near endless, with everyone pushing their limits.....the highlights are many....but one, in particular, stands out and will be permanently etched in my memory.....

On the windiest day (DAY 2), we almost didn't even rig, but with prompting from Ivo and Artem, Greg and I rigged the 7's and we all held on as best we could....The downwinder was every bit as much as we could handle, and by the time we landed in Waukegan it was gusting near 50, with the sand BLASTING down the beach....we got back to Zion, and the wind had backed just a bit, so we rigged 'em again for a sunset sesh. The sun, which had been hiding for days, just started peeking out of the clouds. Ivo, Greg and I hit it again, just staying around the hotel, which was difficult due to the "killer current". It was breaking as far out as I had ever seen at Zion, with wavepeaks in the 10 to 12 ft range. The inside sets at head and a half were damn near barreling right off the beach. And though a bit gusty, it was smooth, smooth, smooth in between waves....we kited for bout and hour and a half, trading waves and hooting and hollering all the while. Greg and I ended up below the Hotel where it was just funneling in the crazy ass sets, one after another. I came to shore finally to try and land my kite, and with no wind shadow and the wind blowing 40, I decided to wait for Greg to help me. As I was standing on shore with my kite flapping madly in the wind, I waited and watched as Greg tagged the last sets of the day. What a sight it was.....the sun, fully out now, was lighting up the wave faces with that orangey, sunset glow, and the mango-colored spray was "misting" off the backs of the waves, as Greg came down the line, just "LIGHTING IT UP".....he caught several in a row as I stood mesmerized by it ALL....he kicked out of wave, and tagged one of the Bigger outside sets....he then proceeded to absoultely annihilate it....setting up upwind of the peak, he timed his first bottom turn perfectly, shooting back up the face to the peak, then fading hard after his cutback, back into the curl, on down the line, carving off the bottom, slashing off the top, and fading hard back into the steepening face, turn after turn, with the sun just shimmering off all the spray he was throwin'....he continued on down the line of this peeling, smooth-ass wave that just wouldn't stop. After bout a half dozen, pocket-huggin' mind-blowin' turns, he laid into a drawn out screaming hand-draggin' final bottom turn, and headed back up the face and smacked the lip of the wave as it was dissipating the last bit of it's energy onto the Lake Michigan Shoreline; and so ended the best waveride I have ever seen on the BIG LAKE....like some famous old coot said a long, long time ago: energy don't just disappear, it gets transfered (just take a look at Greg smiling the next time you see him, and you tell me where you think that energy went...)

After the last sesh on day 3, Greg and I went from Z to Keegs to look for a bar and lines that Greg had left between downwinders....As I was coming down the hill off Grand Avenue, the sun was setting at my back and the glow off the Power Plant was right out of a painting....everything was in shadows but the plant...the hot tub had been running for daze, and now the plant seemed just as majestic as any Medieval Castle anywhere in Europe...I hesitated at the stop sign and turned my gaze toward the lighthouse off the pier at Waukegan, and lo and behold there was the yellowish Full Moon rising out of Lake Michigan between the lighthouse and the plant.....I texted Greg who was on the beach looking for his bar and lines; simultaneously he was texting me "FULL MOON", we got a chuckle out of the timing of the texts as they "came through".....I met him on the beach as a lone kiter was downing his kite, and there was no sign of the bar and lines....Greg wasn't fazed, he knows that "equipment sacrifices" are inevitable: so we just watched the rising moon, amid the blue and purple painted sky, laughed at the 3 days of downwinders we had enjoyed, and headed off to the SILO for the best pizza around and a glass of Guiness!!!!

[ChicagoGlobeRider]

sorry but no long story just one word...CASINO!

whoooweeee