Columbus Jeff's Hatteras Report

As Jill said in her short note, a few more TeamIndy folks are getting hooked on kites. What she didn't say was how much Mike's kiting has improved. He was ripping it up with Zacher on their new kites while the rest of us were straining to hold down our 5.5 to 6.2 sails.

Thanks to Zacher, Mike, and Big Ken's patient help, both Wayne and myself were able to get up on the kite boards for the first time. The Matt's also spent an afternoon flying and body dragging on trainers. They aren't hooked yet, but give them time. I also learned to respect the awesome power that can be generated by a full size kite when an intended body drag turned into a crowd pleasing tea bag that took me over Ken's head. Steve say's those are normal and I'll get used to it. Maybe...

On Friday, Steve hiked nearly a mile down wind coaching me through my first board ride and Mike did the same with Wayne. After that, they had Wayne and I split a down winder with one of us hiking and providing moral support while the other rode. Ken and I stayed to get in one last session Saturday morning. It was my first "solo" session. Ken helped me launch first and I managed to ride for an hour while only losing a mile down wind (hey, that's a vast improvement compared to Friday when I made a single out and back and lost a half mile). Mean while Ken tried to launch with Kevin's help, but the wind had shifted and/or faded too much near shore and he couldn't get the kite started.

I haven't had wind fever so bad since my first year of wind surfing. So, all you wind snobs who not getting the water time that you used to, give kiting a try and you'll discover that addiction all over again.

LL "projectile" CJ