10/4/12 - Thursday in west Michigan

[sailfish]

Is anyone planning to ride at South Haven Thursday in the early afternoon? I will be on my way through heading north and at various points today the predicted wind was looking good. I'm keeping an eye on it. We are traveling up past Muskegon so according to Sailflow a little later a little farther north might be better.
Dave

[West]

gonna be a rockn sunny windy time it appears.....will be up around the Mecca for a downwinder or two with Jerry and da Crowdpleaser..... may go ballistic on Friday a little farther north, might just have to check that shiz out if it stays SW......

happy kiting wherever you go Dave, somewhere between Muskegon and LSP would be a good call for Thurs.

[FSP]

whooooweee capn chi. Gonna have to roll this one way south... Mc looking set for the other foot, compliments of some cooooool westerlies. Might even b sum SUPper time Sunday. b there all four days if need a report

[adseguy]

I'm willing to travel tomorrow, but what about storms? I see some on the Illinois side. Anything on Michigan?

[xwindsurf]

The amount of driving looks a bit overwhelming for those with attachments...
Anybody thinking Wolf Lake, if t-storms are not too close?

[sailfish]

Noaa nmf is calling for scattered tstorms after noon along Michigan side, good call checking that. Bummer!
Dave

[adseguy]

Looks like the rain isn't coming, but neither is the wind. Any updates? I might take a little SUP ride in Diversey Harbor and on to North Ave Beach.

[WaWaZat]

I hear the leaves-a-rustlin' here down South now! Those doin' Wolf...what time?!

[xwindsurf]

2 pm or so, if the rustling continues

[adseguy]

Ok, it's picking up now. It looks like it will stay SW and then turn really West and then click over to North West by the end of the day.

[jpavy]

Going to Waco Beach in Bridgeman be there about 2:30pm CST

[xwindsurf]

Wolf Lake delivered in its typical non-poetic manner - no smoked salmon, scents gardens, or downwinders on deserted stretches of the shore - but plenty of (not very steady) wind, nice crowd, with a little bit of WS domination, warm water, very warm air, and a 30 minute ride from my Chicago NW side home. A Very nice afternoon.

[adseguy]

What size were you guys riding on?

I actually took the SUP into Diversey Harbor and paddled around for an hour. Had a good time enjoying the sun and taking in the sights. Hope to catch a windy day on the next one

[WaWaZat]

Had a very limited amount of time and since the range on the water was 10-14M, I quickly decided on an 11.... as I was pumping, was wishing I was pumping a 13... rigged and launched the 11 on the bike path and the sucker lit up as I was doing the quick step half way across the field towards the parking lot until a brutha kiter caught up and grabbed the back of my harness... dragged me to the shoreline and I brought the kite low as I was waiting for clearance from all the onshore wind traffic... the kite back stalled and bow tied.... anotha brutha to the rescue, relaunch and I was standing there, feet practically hovering above the ground... made about 4-5 short tacks, again careful of all the near shore buzzing, catching air on transitions a lil too close to the shore.... looked towards shore, patted my head... lived to kite another day. Ow Ow OWOOoooooooooooooooo.............

[sailfish]

For a variety of reasons I decided not to bring kites today, but was kicking myself through lower west Michigan. NOAA was dead wrong about the first half of the day today in regards to precipitation and thunderstorms. The sun was blazing and judging from the tossing trees and flags it was a good wind. For the record, the weather channel had it nailed yesterday for this area at least about the clear skies. I guess the freemarket weather prophets won this round.

It was a glorious day to drive through Michigan except for that gnawing feeling of leaving ridable wind on the table.
Dave

[FSP]

Saw a lot of people who just really dont belong at wolf 2day. I call it lucky for many cuz those riders just dont have the reaction time or skills to transition or maneuver among or away from all the other kiters, WS, obstacles etc..

Ive spent many years here and somewhat know where people are headed and can predict their intentions which is pretty critical for not causing a big problem so consider this intuition befor just having a go. Another suggestion, is to jam out of the launch area, or when its not working, rather than hangout, taking up valuable real estate, slogging or getting dragged to just put ur kite down . The only riding we could do was near shore, so again if its not working then put it down rather than keep trying-its not the place for that.

I know for a fact many of our newer kiters were simply hoping for the best wanting to be on the water-which will catch up with you! If your not able to ride super aggressive but in control and unable to smoke ur transitions at any given point in time with all the traffic, then consider a wsw 80 degree day somewhere else for your own safety.

[xwindsurf]

Harsh words, Scotty... Many consider Wolf THE SAFE OPTION - probably not true on a day like this.
BTW, getting further out was the way to go, somewhat cleaner wind, and much more space.

[zulutimer]

had a pretty good late afternoon session at Wolf after the party starting breaking up when winds started decreasing. (missed the stuff mentioned above) ended up being the lone rider, winds picked up again and was working on some SBends when this happened to my leash.....
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m317 ... 8a3fd1.jpg

kite floated away into the high brush at the corner of the park (no problems)

have had the sliding cuff split open couple times before but never had the stainless steel locking clip get stretched out .
anyone else?

[Pier]

Holy cow, I'm glad to hear that both you and the kite are safe.

IMHO a failure like that means that either the material was really crappy or the load was much higher than the maximum allowed per the original design.

What brand?

[4w7s]

Seen it happen several times.

Those particular "carabiners" (if you can even call it that) are rubbish.

I wouldn't trust it with more that 100kg, if that.

Time to look at better a leash system.