Round and Round and Round. Winning races by the skin of your teeth at Kitestorm 2010

Okay let me start off by saying that I know nothing about kite course racing. I know even less about sailboat racing which kite racing gets most of its format and rules from. All I know how to do is go fast. It doesn’t have quite the tactical demands that course racing in a group has for sure. It’s more of a balance of finesse, brute force and luck and I’m okay with that. Course kiting is like chess. Speed is like bowling.

And we all know I like bowling.

In years past Kitestorm has always had a speed competition. This was always different than the regular weekly speed comp because some pretty sweet prizes are at stake. For example the fastest rider usually walks away with a kite, which is a damn good prize. If I didn’t win some of the kites that I’ve had in the past I wouldn’t be where I am today with my kiting. I sure as hell probably wouldn’t be a Peter Lynn Rider if I didn’t win my first Peter Lynn Venom 1 13m way back when. I hadn’t even really heard of Peter Lynn before I won that kite. I almost had my ass handed to me that day because it was the first day I flew my new 11.5 Flexifoil Sabre 1 and the wind was way too much for that size wing. I saw James (Lyne) who I didn’t know at the time rescue a lot of people of the ice that had been overpowered by the unexpected winds and haul them in on 4 wheelers and snow machines.

My stupid pride wouldn’t let me get rescued.

I limped the kite back up wind to my anchor and landed it. Molly found me and grabbed my GPS because there were just a few minutes left before the deadline to get your speed in. I won the contest by something like 3/10ths of a mile per hour and beat out the previous year’s winner. I won a kite, which was great, but I also got to meet Rachael Miller, James Lyne, Paul Morse and Seth Merriam that day which is easily better.

Rachael

Racer Meeting

This year the format was a course race. I had mixed feelings about it because it’s not something I’ve ever done and organized competition is a little out of my comfort zone. Put me out on a ridiculously windy day, with room to run and put me up against anybody with the only rule being go faster than everyone else and I’m happy as hell. But give me rules, boundaries, time limits and all that and I have a little different opinion.  Rachael at Stormboarding was looking to freshen Kitestorm up a little this year and decided this race was a good way to do it. I think Kitestorm is a great event and I like to support it in anyway I can and this was an opportunity to do that and learn something new as well. Also an opportunity see how I stacked up against other kiters, head to head on a closed course where I had to actually think things through instead of releying simply on reflexes and instinct.

I figured I had chance of coming out on top if the surface was as clean as it was last weekend and if we had high winds. Conditions I excel in and a lot of people struggle in. Some people think that a kiter on skis can't go fast on hard, black ice. Well, we do and you're wrong.

Mike

My hopes of having a clear advantage diminished a bit when we got to Sandbar. The ice had a light layer of snow on it. And it hadn’t adhered to the surface so for me it was nuisance snow.  It was just enough to hinder my edge from biting in easy and it also slowed me down because it was a different temperature than what I’d waxed for. As if that wasn’t enough there was hardly any wind and in fact at times there was NO WIND at all. Kitestorm was more like "Kite graveyard" with all the dead kites lying on the ground. This was not the situation I wanted to be in. Peter Lynns are not known for their super low wind flying ability. They can fly in low winds but you have to work them hard. The Charger has by far the best low wind capabilities of any Peter Lynn ever but this wind was beyond what the Charger can do with my weight on it.

Sometimes weight can be a huge advantage. This was NOT one of those times.

Peter Lynn Base

Aaron

Seth

Me on the 15m

Molly got her gear on and got us registered for the event and the race while I hauled out the kites and got myself dressed. We then walked down to the ice to the Peter Lynn Demo Site and met up with Aaron and Seth who came all the way from Minnesota to let people demo the new Peter Lynn Chargers. They’re a great couple of guys and I was glad to get to meet them. We talked for a while about the event and the lack of wind and whether or not they would have the race or put it off until Sunday for more wind and we figured there would be no racing on Saturday. But just before the end of the day the winds picked up a little and to our disbelief we were being called to the starting area.

No one could believe it. There was hardly any wind and the risk of it cutting out on us half way through the race was pretty damn good. A lot of us had already been screwed by the wind earlier in the day and had to do the “walk of shame” from a long way out on the lake and didn’t feel like doing it again. But the wind was blowing a little and we had to try to race while we could.

I couldn’t remember a damn thing from the race meeting earlier in the day.

The format of the race is a little weird if, like me, you don’t know anything about sail racing. First it’s a mass start with everybody milling about with kites in the air waiting for the countdown to the start flag drop. Once the flag drops it’s controlled chaos as everyone breaks out and jockeys for position. It’s especially nerve racking when you’re trying to move ahead through the pack and you get someone that knows less than I do about racing and they just creep along with their kite straight up in the air. This presents a pretty big problem because if you touch wings you both get disqualified. This was my biggest fear next to being underpowered. The last thing I wanted to do was come all the way here, represent Peter Lynn, and get disqualified for a stupid mistake on my part or someone else’s.

Now we’re off and running things get pretty interesting. I somehow manage to work my way up to the front and whom do I find up there but none other than Paul Morse from Bridgton Maine and our friend Mike Elliott. Two of the fastest guys around and all about 30-40lbs light than me on kites that have a much better time in light winds than mine does. I’m not diggin’ my chances at this point but I couldn’t give up if I wanted to. I knew I had a slim chance of catching up but if I wasn’t going to win I was going to make those guys work their asses of to stay ahead of me.

Start by Kate Neubauer

The first leg of the course is an upwind section. “Upwind” implies that there was wind and there was but just enough to keep the wing in the air if I worked my kite and skated. At one point we were all skating to get up wind to the first buoy. Mike and Paul were always just ahead of me but I just couldn’t catch them. We rounded the buoy and did the semi downwind leg to the next buoy. Paul and Mike still just out of reach. We rounded that buoy and all turned onto the home stretch, which goes directly across the wind. This is where my luck started to change. I hadn’t made any progress on Paul but I now was SLOWLY closing the gap on Mike. Even though he was lighter and had a 19m Peter Lynn Venom I was able make the Charger 19m build speed and power by sining the kite. That is by making it go up and then dive. This builds speed and power. But to do it well the kite needs to turn fairly fast which the Charger does very well. This is a prime example of using your equipment’s strengths to compensate for its weaknesses. I used the Charger’s excellent turn rate to offset its lack of light wind ability.

GPS tracks on course. (go counter clockwise)

I’m closing in on Mike and we’re both closing in on the finish, which Paul has just crossed.

Paul Morse

Mike knows I’m there. He starts sining and it’s not enough. Even though he’s on essentially the same size kite I am he can’t sine it enough to get the power to pull away. He starts skating and sining, and so do I. The Charger is turning twice as fast and I’m timing my skate strides just right and I’m now starting to pass him. He’s working hard but he just can’t keep me at bay and I pass him literally at the finish line. It was thin and hard as hell but I wanted it and with the help of the Charger I bagged second place. At the time I didn’t know it but this was a very important thing that just happened.

More on that later.

After Mike a man named Charles Meding (who from here on out I will refer to as Charles “Menace” Meding because he was always right on me) crossed the line for 3rd and Molly, who we all thought was still only halfway through the course by the time we passed the last buoy came in a fairly close 4th place. We couldn’t understand how the heck she closed the gap and got in so fast. It was pretty amazing but not as amazing as what she did in the second heat.

Charles "The Menace" Meding

After everyone came through we all staged again for the start. Countdown “3-2-1!” and the chaos begins again. This time it’s Paul, Charles, Mike, Molly and me all in the front. The upwind leg was the same with some skating and some really ugly examples of kiting for the sake of getting up to the first buoy. We all get there and the wind is even less now than it was in the last heat. I somehow manage to get ahead and make the turn first. Molly is right behind me followed by Paul and either Mike or Charles. At one point I lose the wind completely and my kite falls from the sky and Molly who is flying her 19m P4 Silver Arrow cruises buy slowly but is still moving. Paul is struggling to keep his kite up and I manage to get airborne but he now is ahead of me again.

Molly has a substantial lead and shows no sign of letting it go.

Molly and her P4 19m SA

Molly crosses the line to take 1st place in the second heat. Paul was 2nd and I was 3rd followed by Charles nipping at my heels. The wind died out soon after we crossed the line and a few people got stranded out at the far end of the course. The decision was made at that point to put off the rest of the race until tomorrow. We were all pretty happy about that. Kiting in light wind is a lot of work and you get really tired quick when you have to work the kite a lot. In this race the lowest point score decides the winner and you get points in the order you finished. Example Paul came in first and second in the two heats so he was at 3 points. I was at 5 points and tied with Molly at the end of the day.

James

Race by Aaron Saude

Day two was already promising to be better than Saturday when we got there because we had wind and the surface snow had consolidated and stuck a little bit to the ice. We got geared up and I put a fresh edge on our skis before heading out to see Aaron and Seth. We had four more laps to go and the wind was much better so we were faced with the dilemma of which kite to bring. Saturday I was on the 19m Charger and Molly was on the 19m P4 (which everyone but Rachael thought was going to be too much kite) but today there was just enough wind I considered flying the 15m. I opted to stay on the 19m and risk being overpowered than underpowered. Molly went with her trusty 10m Apex.

We got the signal to get ready to start and headed over to the start area for the milling around bit. Today I decided that I wanted to try starting in the back away from everyone and come in at speed and pass the field while they all struggle to get power. I went to the outside of the pack and turned to build speed and head to the start line. I timed it just right and coursed through the pack and got to the front and into the lead.

And right up there right on my heels, Charles “The Menace” Meding and his damn zippy Concept Air kite.

Race by Kate Neubauer

It was awesome! The “Menace” and I we’re both working our kites and struggling to beat each other up wind. Paul Morse was behind us looking for an opportunity to sneak in and knock one of us out of position. Molly was just behind Morse nipping at his heels. There were a few times we we’re just a few feet from other, ducking under each other’s lines and dodging each other’s kites as we tacked back and forth. I now understood why James and Rachael were so pumped on the idea of this kind of race. I wish I could have seen it from a far.

Me by Aaron Saude

Every heat was much like this for the rest of the race. In one heat I had a substantial lead with the “Menace” in second and ahead by quite a way of Paul in third. I tried a new tactic at the third leg, betting on some wind that I had at the moment, and screwed myself out of first when the wind died. My kite lost power nearly falling out of the sky and Meding flew past me. But he also didn’t have much power and slowed down. Paul on the other hand got the hole shot and blew by both of us to gain as much of a lead as I had just seconds ago. The whole front of the field just flip-flopped and Paul got another first.

It was amazing. I didn’t know that it would be so dynamic. And it was always a battle between Charles, Paul and myself for 1,2,3rd and Molly consistently dominated 4th. She almost lost a 4th place spot to Gary Kjellerin but stole it away at the last minute. Molly had the best seat in the house because she got to watch Charles, Paul and I battle it out every race. There were little battles like this all through the field and on top of that there were all kinds of obstacles out on the course from XC skiers to non-race kiters and even snowmobiles. At one point or another one of us had to deal with something being in the way. According to James that’s all part of the experience. It made for even more excitement.

Charger

It was great to have good wind to race in. The 19m Charger was more kite than I needed a lot of the time and I had to trim it out to kill some power because it was pulling me off my edge. I probably would have been faster with the 15m Charger but I don’t know for certain. The extra power was pretty damn nice in the downwind leg of the course and it has as much de-power as the 15m so it was easily manageable. I just hate having to trim and de-trim all the time. But she treated me well and went up wind like a champ.

Before the final heat of the race Molly and I switched to the fresh edges on our skis because we could feel that our inside edges were burned out and we we’re having trouble getting them to bite. This was both helpful and a hazard for me in the last heat.

This start I decided to try starting from the front of the field standing still instead of a moving start. The count down was completed and we all piled out across the line. I was just starting to build speed when a guy with his kite blocked me, his kite straight up in the air at neutral. I don’t know what the hell he was doing but I was starting to really move and was at risk of hitting him and getting us both disqualified. I yelled to him to get his kite down but he ignored me and I was forced to throw my wing straight over head, cut off I don’t know how many people, and wiggle my wing around his missing it by just inches. It was so thin I couldn’t believe I made it work.

I threw the wing into the power zone and accelerated. I was worried that I would be playing catch up with Paul and Charles but to my relief Paul was having a similar situation with a guy on an Ozone and was slowed down as well. The “Menace” must have gotten a bad start as well because he was right there with me and didn’t have a lead. I was able to get out of the chaos of the start and make my way into my first tack. I decided to hold the tack a long as I could and build speed to try to make some distance between me and everyone else. In two tacks I was ready to make the turn around the first buoy. I turned and Charles and Paul turned as well. As we headed into the buoy I realized that I was going to make it comfortably up wind of it. Charles was going to be really close to it and Paul was actually too far down wind to make the turn. He was going to have to do one more short tack to make it. Paul and I were both at the buoy at the same time. He tacked; I down looped (spun the kite downward to build power), missed his kite by about six inches and took off to the next buoy.

I lost track of “The Menace” Meding at this point. I was focused on getting to the end as fast as I could and didn’t want to look around.

The wind still wasn’t great after passing the first buoy and I had to work the kite a little to build speed. As I was doing this I wasn’t paying enough attention and caught an edge. Down I went. Fortunately I had enough forward momentum to bite in and get right back up again. I still don’t know where Meding is or even Paul at this point. I’m just trying to get to the next buoy. This time I’m going to stay closer to it and try to get to the buoy as directly as I can. Once you round the buoy you catch the crosswind and it’s like someone flicked a switch. You have all the power you need for the home stretch.

I cut almost straight downwind just as I approached the buoy. This killed the power in my kite and I had to skate like crazy just to get to the buoy. Again my fresh edges caught and I went down briefly. I could see Paul and Charles were on top of me know and tacking out to make their turns to come around the buoy. They had a lot more speed than I did at this point but I was AT the buoy. I down looped the Charger and I was up and off like a shot. I just pulled away, let the trim all the way out and pulled the bar in just a little for some extra power.

For a second I thought I was going to miss the start line because I gave the kite too much power and was getting pulled of my edge and drifting downwind. I let the bar out and it was fine. Across the line I went with another first place spot. Paul and Charles came in soon afterward and then Molly right on their heels. So the race was over. I had completely lost track of how we all had been finishing and how many points everyone had but I knew the points for the top three had to be close and I wondered who was going to win overall and go home with the 9.5m HQ Montana 5.

I thought it would be funny if I won being that I ride for Peter Lynn.

We were told that the post race meeting would be at 1:30pm so we had some time to play. It was great to be able to just rip around for fun now and we took full advantage.

The wind at Sandbar is awesome. Super smooth and clean. It wasn’t as smooth as I’ve seen it but it was still a lot better than what we get at home. I think a lot of us were all pretty tired from the race but were unwilling to take a break when we had such good wind and good surface. It was great. There were a lot of people riding and I wish I had stopped to take some shots. Fortunately there were a lot of people with cameras and I didn’t have to give up sweet riding time for photos.

1:30 pm rolled around and we all met up at the registration area where Rachael would hand out the prizes to everyone. Gary Kjellerin won the Slingshot kite that was offered up for the snowboard division. Molly came away with a nice necklace and the pride of knowing she kicked ass racing with the “boys”. I’m really proud of her for committing to ride the 19m on Saturday and working the hell out of the 10m on Saturday and nipping at our heels.

Gary and his Bat Utility Vest

Rachael finally came to the last prize and the big one. The HQ Montana 9.5m ready to fly. HQ makes some nice stuff and Molly loves her Apex 2’s so if we scored this she’d be psyched. As I said before this race was based on points. Whoever has the least points wins and it came down to a tie between Paul Morse and myself. I was a little surprised that he didn’t win by one point but this is where beating Mike to 2nd place on Saturday paid off. It kept my points down low enough to match Paul. Apparently they have a system and for tie breaking in cases like this. They go through the points for each heat and see who comes out on top. Usually it’s one or two heats and you get the tiebreaker but amazingly Paul and I were matched for points in each one. The suspense was killing me and I suggested we wrestle for it (put my weight advantage to work) but Rachael wouldn’t go for it. I bet James would but not Rachael. So it came down to one more sailing rule for rare instances like this. Whoever took first in the last heat is the overall winner.

The kite was mine.

Pretty damn sweet. It was a win but by the “skin of my teeth” to say the least. Paul put up a hell of a good race and came away with a PASA certification, which is pretty sweet as well. Charles “The Menace” Meding was awesome out there. The guy is fast and was always a threat. It was great to race with those guys and I had a ball. Molly still impressed me the most. She rocked it and was always right in there with the top finishers.

For a break down of the results hit http://stormboarding.com/kitestorm2010.html

And we’re lucky to have Rachael and James at Stormboarding to put on these events. Thanks to them and Peter Lynn and HQ who were cool enough to send us demos to try and Slingshot and HQ for the awesome grand prizes. We also have to thank everyone behind the scenes that helped Rachael and James pull the whole thing off.

Aaron and Chargers

Jim Buoy

And thank the wind gods for taking care of us on Sunday!

Kitestorm 2010 was a good time for sure. We were tired and beat up but happy all the same. We said goodbye to Aaron and Jeff and a few others then packed up and headed for home. Along the way we stopped and grabbed lunch at where? You got it, AL’S!!!!

And get this, MIKE BOUGHT ME LUNCH!!! Miracles do happen hehehehe (Just kidding Mike). It was a great event and a great trip. I'm hoping to get more pics up at some point And will probably put them in follow up entry.

For more shots from Kitestorm please visit

http://www.letsplantrips.com/galleries/displayimage.php?album=28&pos=0