Slim Pickin's on the Planet of the Kite Apes.



Mike Elliott aka "Color in Action"



Anyone who lives in the northern hemisphere in North America is well aware that this winter has been the lamest winter on record.  Many of us last year said on more than one occasion that if our first snowkite season was like last season we probably wouldn't have stuck to it.

Little did we know how good we had it.

At least this season hasn't been a total loss and the frustrations of last season have definately tempered us for tolerating this "winter's" dissapointments.  You can't fight the weather and if your favorite activity is dependent on the weather, then too bad for you when the weather sucks.

Knuckle dragger

However inspite of the late season and the intitial lack of riding we've been "making up ground" and getting some really good sessions in while we're at it.  Lake Chocorua has been our primary location so far this season and Umby as our secondary.  A few other places have come into play as I write this and I got a report for Jim Cline that the broads of Winnepesaukee have finally frozen over.  We'll see if the ice holds.

So with the season being what it is, pickin's are slim and there isn't a lot to ride locally.  Paul has made the trip over to Chocorua four or five times and I always tell him that Chocorua is the place we go when the winds are supposed to be light because the place always has wind. Sure it's usually dirty, punchy shifty wind but it has wind most of the time.

Yet somehow when Paul shows up on Chocorua, the wind doesn't. Wierd.

He had one day out there a year or two ago when he got a glimpse of the high weirdness that Chocorua winds offer up. One image that stands out in my mind is all of us flying and not a single kite is facing the same direction. In fact many of us were top skin (the top of the kite) to top skin while going in different directions. It's like some kind of black magic out on that lake.



Paul Morse

 But a few weeks ago we had an absolutely bizarre (but kick ass) session on Chocorua.  Molly, Paul Morse and I got there early and we happy to find a warm, sunny lake Chocorua with winds blowing rock steady out of the West and Northwest at about 12-15mph.  It was so NOT like what we usually find on Lake Chocorua.  It was almost creepy.  No punchy, gusty, "I'm gonna knock your kite out of the sky" winds just buttery smooth "Hook in and Cruise" winds.  I've never seen anything like it on Chocorua.


 To add to the strangeness of the day Paul decided to ride his apline skates instead of skis.  This has been his thing lately and though it looks a bit rediculous from a distance the skates work really well.  Especially on light wind days.  I kept chuckling to myself as Paul would go cruisin' by at 40mph+.  It just looks like he doesn't have anything on his feet and he's got to be centered over the blades so his body position is, well, kinda wierd.



Kite Ape?

 

He looks a little "chimp like" like Planet of the Kite Apes.  Don't get me wrong, it's not a dig, that's just what it looks like. Compound that with him in a tuck, whippin across the lake on his Flysurfer Psycho 4 8m he looks like some sort of bowling ball just itchin' to take you out.  And everytime he makes his turn to redirect it always looks like things are going to go very, very wrong.

A when he crashes, he skips across the ice like a dead fish.



Molly and me. 15 and 12m Phantom 2's.

Molly was out cruising on the new 12m Peter Lynn Phantom 2 and making quite a menace of herself as well.  Head on straffing runs, hucking herself all over the place, fly by ass smacking and "bag tagging" people's downed kites.



bag tag.





Molly



She and I have been putting the new Phantoms through thier paces and I have to say the new Arc may be my favorite wing yet.  I'm usually on the 15m and just like the prototypes and the Chargers the 15m is still the sweet spot in the size range for me. 

 


 



15 Phantom 2



The kite just feels good.  It has all the great traits of earlier Arcs like the Venom or Synergy but the perfomance of the Charger.  Turn rate and power delivery of the Charger but faster and more forward in the window.  She's a little more forgiving than the Chargers, she lacks the "Charger Twitch" that some people have complained about and has the Phantom "Park and Ride" thing going.  She's give what you give her but you don't have to fly her agressively all the time.   

I haven't had any problems with the Charger. It's been a great kite for me but I really like the feel of the Phantom 2.  The last 2 seasons I barely rode my Chargers because I was enjoying testing the Phantom 2 protos.  But that said, everytime I bust out a Charger I still say "Wow!", I forget how great that kite really is. 


I spent most of my time cruising in the mid 40mph range on the 15m.  I had one run that I hooked in and managed 63mph.  The winds weren't above 20mph so I'm pretty happy with what you can get out of the 15m.   

 


Mike Elliott/ Peter Lynn Synergy







We had a damn good day that session.  It was great to see all the kites out on the lake at once and it was a real traffic stopper.  Thanks to Tom Mitchell for some of these shots.  He was out shooting landscapes and he found us out riding.

 On a side note, a while back we were testing a 24m Phantom 2. Yes, 24m. It's a great wing for sure and definately more powerful by far than a 19m Charger. As far as Arcs go it's as close to a light wind wing as I've ever had the pleasure to fly. Better than Big Blue, better than the 24m Syn that I flew at the Mille Lacs race. On the water the 24m would be insane. As you can imagine it has a bit of lift.

24m Ph2

Check back soon as I will be doing a series on installments about my WISSA 2012 road trip to the U.P. of Michigan.  I got to ride some new amazing places and meet some new amazing people.



 

Molly Rockin a Phantom 2

STAY TUNED!!!!