Ski Massacres, Long Miles and High Speeds. The Last Days at Umbagog Part 1

Well it looks like this is it for our local snow kite season.

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks and I feel bad that I’ve slacked off on the blog but at the same time I’ve been scrambling to get as much kiting in as I can and get my best speed for the season up before the season finally hits the end. It’s been a weird season to say the least. The weather has been all over the place, the weather forecasts have been useless, and we thought we were going to be without ice almost 3 weeks ago and then it turns out we have conditions we usually only see in February. There’s been some discussion that we might make it until April but after the last few weeks and the day we had on Sunday I’d be happy calling it a season. It’s been pouring rain for the last three days and it’s supposed to get into the 70’s on Friday.

Mike

I don’t know where to begin to describe the sessions we’ve been getting the last few weeks. It’s been absolutely unbelievable really. We all thought we were going to lose a whole month of riding but in classic New England weather style we suddenly find ourselves riding through March in everything from prime spring conditions to prime winter conditions. That’s right, we went from spring conditions back to winter. One day it’s sunny and warm with temps in the 60’s and then the next day it was 17 degrees and with a sub-zero wind chill. We see stuff like this all the time in New England but I never fail to be amazed by it.

That cold snap saved us from losing ice for last weekend.

We’ve had a lot of rain this month. The last two weeks especially and as rainfall records were being broken all over the place I constantly kept an eye on the weather radar for Errol to see if they were getting hit as hard as we were. Fortunately they were getting mostly mixed precipitation, which sustained the ice and turned into one of the best surfaces I’d seen all season.

Launch

There's a lot to write about and I don't want to keep everyone waiting so I'm doing the end of the season in two parts.  The first part will cover the warmer days we had and the second part will cover the last and colder days.

Part 1.

Paul

The first couple of days were warm. Molly,Paul, Randy,Mike and I had a sweet couple of days of jumping. Molly got a Friday off (almost unheard of) and came up to get in on the “jump-fest”. We had a couple close calls while playing around and Randy and I bumped into each other. A while later Molly almost jumped on me. Got it on video now I need to get it on here but more on that later.

Oh, and in regards to my progress this year with jumping I’ve gotten comfortable enough on the Charger that I don’t need to look at the kite much when I’m in the air. The jumping is starting to get intuitive! Mostly because of the steady winds at Umbagog but this is great because I’ve been trying to get some helmet cam footage and  get some shots from up in the air.

If you’re wondering how that’s working I have to admit it’s not so good. The helmet cam was mounted to my goggle strap so it’s a bit shaky. And to be honest my jumping in general lacks style sometimes but when I’m jumping to get footage I have about as much style as a fish on a hook. Okay maybe not that much style. But I think I might have gotten a little footage that I’ll post pretty soon.

Molly and Randy

The next day we were out we got an early start. Molly took the 12m Charger, Randy had his 13m V2, Mike had his Synergy 12m, I took my 15m Charger. It was basically a Peter Lynn Fest with only Paul on his Flysurfer Psycho 4 12m. We all went straight out to the big lake to get some more of the great surface and great wind. Jim Cline on his Peter Lynn Scorpion decided to stay in closer to the launch area and do his routine of racking up miles.

Molly

We had another great session of cruising. We raced across the lake and heading north as far as we could get which is about 6 miles as the crow flies from the launch. It’s awesome crossing the lake in solid wind in a group like this you get the sense of being like a pack of wild dogs or a squadron of fighters just pinning it across the lake. I especially like the fact that you can actually get a sense of the speed you’re carrying. When you’re out on a big lake it’s hard to judge speed because everything is so far off in the distance. That changes a bit when you can see other kiters moving in front of the background or when you pass each other in opposite directions.

Mike and Molly

The weather that day was awesome. It was warm but not too warm and the sky to the North was engulfed in a dark overcast. The kites were striking in their bright colors against the stormy background. Again there was a lot of jumping and ripping about. When I get out there I just forget everything. Nothing bothers me; I’m completely in the moment. I’ve kited thousands of miles and hundreds of hours and I’m still surprised at how the whole experience sort of “decompresses” me. Even if I’m out on a speed quest I still feel an overwhelming sense of relaxation. I don’t know how to explain it.

Molly

We flew for a few hours and the wind started to lighten up. It’s funny when you have a bunch of experienced riders together and conditions start to change. I often find that most everyone pays attention to the same weather cues and make similar decisions based on those cues. In this case the winds started to lighten (we could tell by the changes in the consistency of the wind velocity and direction) and without speaking a word to one another we all collectively started heading back to the launch area. And of course none of us wanted to get trapped six miles out without wind so again like a patrol of P-51s we hauled ass back as fast as we could.

About a mile out from the boat launch and parking lot we came around a point just south of the cut that heads to the big lake. While we were all out a few ice fishermen had gotten together for a last day of ice fishing. Jim Cline was out there poking around when they got there but I’m pretty sure they didn’t have a clue that the rest of us were out there. I bet it was a heck of a sight when the group of us cruised through on these crazy, big, kite things with lines whistling and our wings filling the sky. They all stopped what they were doing and watched us go by.

It felt really good.

Paul's Helmet

I'll cover the demise of several pairs of skis, some speed sessions and various close calls in Part 2. Coming soon maybe with VIDEO!!!

Stay tuned!