ontario kiters..

[Dan Glyaire]

hey, anyone else get out today? lake ontario, solid 12m, 3-4' waves. jan 20... . kited til the toes were too numb, but it was good. great to get out again. stoked.

[smokey]

Taught my sister today and then decided to ride in the water +9c and 30km of wind best session I've had in weeks if not months, Feels weird to be on the water now that I've been used to the snow.

Smokey

[Dan Glyaire]

youve had snow!? havent had a good snow sesh since mid dec. crazy winter. pouring rain right now.

[KGN]

Its Pouring snow here right now.We actually rode the fields up here in the end of november,was good early season for a while.
You guys are fucked in the head going in the water,especially you smokey,as I know at allenwood you would have had to walk over that frozen sand/shore ice shit.Good for you,drysuit is paying for itself now...
Makes me glad I dont have a drysuit,,,,

[Dan Glyaire]

suprisingly wasnt all that bad just in a 5m wetsuit, just the cold toes. had been thinking of the ocean rodeo pyro, but dont think its all that neccesary now. of course i hate to be left swimming out there...
but desperate times call for desperate measures.
enjoy yer snow.

[MikeDobell]

ok. granted this was my second season kiting, but i called it quits in the h20 end of november. i was under the impression that winds in cold air temps like this were pretty unpredictable and could cut out very quickly. i was chatting to fabio about a time he and dimitri had to swim in 1/2 a k in drysuits and were pretty shaken by the end of it.

whats the deal with kiting in the water this time of year? i'd like to get some advice from experienced riders on what to look out for etc. i know the dutch and brits are out year round, the n atlantic cant be much warmer than the great lakes so whats the deal...? was it just the warm air temp yesterday that allowed you to go out?

great to hear youve both been out. thats really dope.

[howdoyouflythisthing]

Hey Mike, I am a misplaced canuck living in the UK. We go out here all year round, that said "cold" isn't quite Ontario cold, maybe minus 1 or 2 when the BBC reports it as being "bitterly cold", a couple millimetres of snow and the schools close??? (kinda weird, buses and trains blow up and everyone carries on like it's a normal thing, a dusting of snow and the country grinds to a halt). The pyro dryusit is a bit of a winter uniform on the Beach with a lot of the regulars. Winter time we might get 10-15 kiters, vs up to 80-100 in the summer. The main limiting factor is the hands, good gloves or mits are essential as well as a gimp mask. The only reason a lot of us go out is because it's flat here, super populated so there is no snowboarding, mt biking sucks and not much else to do unless you like indoor tennis (aghhh) and I live 3 min from the beach.

What's wasaga beach like for kiting? I used to go there a bit years ago when I was in the army stationed in petwawa and came down for courses? I remember it being a bit breezy

cheers

lester

[MikeDobell]

Hi Lester.

Wasaga is pretty dope. really its one of my favorite spots. We kite at the ne end of the beach at a spot called allenwood. i think its on kitebeaches.com if you want to check it out. also there's a custom board builder at he end of the beach http://www.roguewaveboards.com, really top quality kit. also there is a great bunch of guys who kite there, usually 20+ on a good windy day.

this winter has been really bizarre. its still raining on and off and we've only had a few cold snaps (-10) and only a few limited snow falls. in fact it was +10 the day this post went up so thats why i was asking.

anyway good winds!

Md

[smokey]

The key was the warm tempuratures, but also to have people around and not do stupid things like pushing your limits,

That's what ended my session because I was crusing around doing little jumps spins, transitions , never realy was in the water but that changed when I got confident and started throwing kiteloops, first real crash and I was done, what a shock!

Smokey

Ps I've got fab's old suit and I think half my problem was his big head, I guess his is full of commen sence.

[howdoyouflythisthing]

thanks mike will have to make it back there one of these days

cheers

lester