Summary
June
6-8 2008 will go down as the the first ever 3 for 3 kitestock
event, with 3 straight days of winds over 15kts. Over 250 kiters
hit the water over the 3 days and lots of media and spectators
were present to check out what all the buzz was about.
Friday
Many
riders made their way down to MBay early, skipping out on
work. They were not dissappointed as Friday was quite possibly
the best day ever on Lake St.Clair with riders powered on 10 and
12m's all day till dark, with the wind direction setting up the
NW slick (aka the dragstrip) perfectly. A highlight was setting
up a few picknick tables in the shallow's and using them as sliders
and also the "Windsurfing is cancelled" slider that got washed
away friday night. Even the riders that started rolling in after
work, only getting in a short session, could not stop talking about
how amazing the sessions was with steady lifty wind and
butter behind the slicks.
Friday Night
Kareoke mayham
set in at Bob N Bouys as Kyle (KK) from Detroit Kiteboarding made
his yearly appearance in Canada to cause chaos and was joined
by Mike and Joel. After a sick day of riding most were spent and
the evening actually ended before midnight as word started to get
out that the forecast was now looking like 15-20kts SW.
Saturday
The wind looked
like it was going to co-operate and the beach by noon was filled
with kites in anticipation of the afternoon SW thermal. It delievered,
kicking in per usual just after 2pm and continued all afternoon
with most riding on 12 or 14m kites in the steady SW breeze. Many
were hitting the sliders and kicker and riding down to the slicks,
which again were setup perfectly. Today was an amazing show of
talent with the young chargers stepping it up with lots of handlepasses,
kiteloops, moves to blind, powered no whip moves and big airs.
Riders Party
That evening
most riders were late making it to the Party having kited almost
till dark in the good conditions. The restaurant was not prepared
for the onslaught of hungry kiters and a mutany almost insued
when they threatened to stop serving food, especially for those
that had waited hours for their food. However, we got pizzas out
of the kitchen and everything started smoothing out. The Raffle
was again a big hit with the highlight being Brar (aka. dance
machine) winning the Splene lightwind board that he would be making
good use of at metro on those light south days. The party went
late and all had a great time if the number of empties is any
indication.
Sunday
Most finally
made it out of bed by 10am and headed to Parkside for breakfast.
Another delightful warm spring day was looking to unfold. The
wind was cranking first thing in the morning which is always an
indication of a thermal building during the afternoon and again
we were not disappointed. By 1pm dozens of kites were again on
the water in lighter but super steady winds. Most were on 16's
and with tired muscles and a slight hangover, that was quite alright.
Another great
day of riding continued but talk of bad weather started to grow.
In the blue sky, to the North a distinct cloud line was evident
and was slowly sinking South. Riders were alerted to the weather
closing in and finally called of the water as it became evident
that this storm was not going to miss the area. To close out the
best kitestock ever, a severe thunderstorm moved in giving a most
welcome farwell to those driving back up the 401, a 50 knot tailwind.
