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Instruction: Tacking a Kite Surfboard.

2012-05-17T18:54:40Z

Here is a great video on how to tack a kite surfboard. Tacking allows you to gain a little bit of extra ground upwind instead of losing ground with a Jibe. Its a great technique for racing an geting back upwind to ride that next wave set too.

Here is a slightly different version called a duck tack were its more like a back roll and a tack.

Tacking takes lots of practice to get it down. Start with a larger sized board in flat water and before long you will be impressing your friends with your cool new transition.

- DC

SUP - Save your sholders

2012-05-04T18:47:36Z

Paddle season is just starting as warm weather ruturns to the north. Here is a great post I found on how to strengthen your sholders to help avoid possible injury this season. Thought it might be a bit more important this season with the addition of a raceboard to my board quiver, I'll be on the water a lot more paddling much harder.

PADDLE HEALTHY: SAVING SHOULDERS WITH JENNY KALMBACH

In this installment, elite paddler Jenny Kalmbach gives us the inside scoop on shoulders and how to save them from injury so you can keep on paddling. “Early on in my paddling career I struggled with a recurring shoulder injury. I thought this had to do with overuse, but apparently, it’s not that simple,” Kalmbach said. “I recently had the opportunity to sit down with movement specialist, David Darbyshire and trainer Mary Mullahey, who explained to me that shoulder injuries are commonly seen in standup paddlers due to the body’s physical limitations. These limitations can be a result of a number of factors including habitual posture, repetitive movement patterns and muscle imbalances,” Kalmbach added.

To start, Darbyshire and Mullahey explained that most shoulder injuries occur in the rotator cuff. The rotator cuff consists of the supraspinatus, subscapular, teres minor and infraspinatus. These muscles hold the head of the humerus into the socket of the shoulder and aid in stabilizing the shoulder girdle. The shoulder girdle needs to have both mobility and stability, and when this happens, it will allow for a more efficient and effective paddling stroke.

Read the rest of the artcle here: http://www.supthemag.com/features/paddle-healthy-saving-shoulders/

Spring South Padre Island Trip 2012

2012-05-04T18:27:22Z

April brings up my annual trip down to South Padre Island in Texas on the Gulf of Mexico. South Padre or SPI is one of the top places in the country for kiteboarding. The island offers warm waters great wind with spots for waves to flat water and beginner to expert, SPI has it all.

2012 has been a different year for weather all across the country and this effected the spring kite season too. This year the wind was running a few weeks late and I lucked out when I showed up in late April as I caught the first really good sessions of the season. Usually the season starts in march, but like the snow this year the wind wasn’t normal.

Trip summary:

Time on the SPI 10 days
Rideable days 8
20knt+ and 10’+ wave days 3
SUP surf days 2
Water temps Gulf 75, Bay 77
Days needing wetsuit - 0

The Highlight of this trip was three days of strong southeast wind that made for some classic SPI surf kiting on the Gulf side of the island. Waves were shoulder high on friday and by sunday well overhead in the 10-14’ range. Sorry no video, as I was having too much fun and didn’t want to lose a gopro if I happened to crash in surf that big.

photos to be added soon.

If you are looking for a warm late spring trip join us in SPI next year.

- DC

Remi Meum - Snow Kiting

2012-02-22T20:48:23Z

Check out this great video of what snow kiting on terrain from Pro Kiter Remi Meum.

Rems - Back on track from Remi Meum on Vimeo.

Video: Downhill Dash 2012

2012-02-18T22:10:19Z

In addition to kiteboarding we also ride bikes as a great way to keep busy when we can’t kiteboard. Here is a video from the recent Downhill Dash which was part of the Winter WOW Festival in Traverse City. We are riding down a slalom course on a ski run at Mt. Holiday. The Rider in the video is John Babka and he is riding a Salsa Mukluk snow bike.

It was a fun night of riding and no riders were injured during this event.

- DC

Weekend Recap - 2/14/12

2012-02-15T23:21:20Z

Its been a while but we finally got some new snow and decent wind. I was able to get out Saturday and Sunday this past weekend. We were rewarded for having to wait with a beautiful sunny Sunday. Take a look at some of the pictures from the Session.

We were riding our usual favorite spot for this time of year, The Boat Launch on South Lake Leelanau. We sailed all over the south lake from our launch spot. This included a expedition to the very south end of the lake in search of deeper snow. We found a great stash that was slightly deeper that allowed us to carve up the white canvas with great arcing turns.

In addition to the kiting we also had a Iceboat out with us that day. After my legs were dead from hours of kiting I decided to give it a try. So I swaped my skis for the tiller and went for a romp around the lake. Here is a small sample of the video I shot that day. More to come soon.

- DC

Great Lakes Winter Surfing Explained

2012-02-05T00:24:08Z

Here is a great video that I came across today that explains a bit about the mental preprarations required to surf the Great Lakes during the winter. I haven't been surfing yet during the winter, but I'm thinking about it with our lack of snow for snowboarding. Check it out, the Images are worth the few minutes. - DC

Great Lake Surfing from Theophil Syslo on Vimeo.

Monday 1-30-12 Condition Update

2012-01-30T21:06:00Z

We have recieved 2"-5" of new snow in the past 48 Hours and its been lightly snowing today. Several Lakes are reporting good ice conditions. Snow cover was heavily damaged due to last weeks warmup and rainfall. Lakes have partial snow cover currently with reports of 40 to 60% snow cover on most lakes. I would rate the current conditions C+ to B- at this time.

7 Day Outlook: Another warm spell is set to begin this evening and is expected to last for 48 hours. Only light rain and drizzle is currently in the forecasts, but as always its a wait and see what it will do to our snow cover. Colder temps return Wednesday with a slight chance of new snow. So hopefully we will have conditions worth kiting by the weekend.

- DC

Friday the 13th, Snow Day!

2012-01-14T00:41:47Z

After 10 days without snowfall the weather returned to something like winter. The TC area picked up 4" to 8" of new snow and might have a storm total closer to a foot by the end of Saturday. This is a great start but high winds and our lack of base still mean that snow kiting isn't happening. The good news is we have some real cold temps on the way with calm winds to hopefully freeze some lakes this coming week.

The fresh snow didn't go unappreciated though, we got up and scored a pow day at Schuss Mountain. The man made snow base is thick at the ski hill and the pow filled in deep in a few spots due to the wind. :) Michigan pow days can be found, just get up early and go get it!

More winter is coming, just keep your fingers crossed that it sticks around for a bit.

- DC

Winter (or lack of it) - Update 1-09-12

2012-01-09T21:58:41Z

I'm sure you have notcied the weather this winter hasn't been anyting like we were expecting. After a nearly perfect season last year with plentiful snow we were hoping to continue the trend this winter, Mother nature decided to keep things interesting and withhold our snow.

Now for the bad news, the current conditions in the Greater Traverse City Area: patchy snow cover with no base. No lakes are frozen with any snow cover. I have heard reports that Little Glen lake is frozen but has no snow cover. Lake Skegemog has partial ice, but no one is fishing meaning the ice is unsafe. Also the Ice Yacht Club is reporting no safe ice in the area. We have temps in the mid 40s for the next few days so beware of any ice that you find.

Outlook for the season, this isn't our first bad winter start. The lakes are cooling off and will freeze quickly if we get a week of calm cold nights. We are going to need a lot of snow to try and ride inland. with out any base from our previous snow events, we need a solid 18 inches to lay down enough base to coat the ground. If we get ice on the lakes that number drops to 6 inches. I think we will be game on for some good snow kiting in two to three weeks. Until then our Ski Resorts are making snow and have decent conditions even with the lack of natural snow. Boyne invented snow making and has a good base along with Crystal and Schuss mountains. So go ride the lifts and get in some practice on your board.

If things improve I will post and spread the word.

- DC