hawks_eye

Hi everyone!

Welcome to my kiteboarding journal. This page will track my kiteboarding progress from a never-ever (as we call them in skiing, a person who's never done it before) all the way up to professional level. Ha! Who knows how good I'll become, but I'm excited.

How it all Began...

This whole adventure started around a month ago, around the end of March. You see, last December I learned of the joy of skiing, and though nature was determined to block all snow from our province, I progressed from a twice-ever skier to a reasonably competent parallel skier. Not to toot my horn, but I've skied at 12 resorts across North America and can make it down nearly any black run on the hill. This is all thanks to the High Park Ski Club, which provides amazing free lessons to its members, transportation to and from ski hills from a variety of pickup points in Toronto, and wicked, wicked, long trips.

Most importantly though, I found something I loved and my life turned around. No longer was I miserable about the day-to-day 9:00-5:00 drudgery--I had something to look forward to. Weekends became true bliss. I made tons of new friends, and had the best winter of my life.

Then March came.

You see, the ski season in Ontario ends in March. Yes, technically it ended in April this year, with Blue Mountain springing a few surprise weekends, and one of my amazing friends was awesome enough to drive me out with him to Stowe and Whiteface for some spring(Summer conditions!) skiing. Still, my depression began in March with the end of our club's day trips. I had tasted the zest for life, and decided I couldn't live through eight months of despair.

And then it happened. I was browsing the web for any non-competitive sport that would dull the pain of my spring/summer. Eventually I found a windsurf club; it sounded pretty cool! But more importantly, finding windsurfing page triggered something in my mind--a memory of a kite in the sky and a board. In a fit of google-assisted research, I found kiteboarding.

Kiteboarding looks like it gives you the same freedom as skiing. You harvest the power of the wind to propel yourself across the water. No boat, no tractor--it's all from nature. Here's a clip. Looks cool!

My Goals

Here's what I'd like to accomplish this summer:

• Carving: I love to carve on skis!
• Jumps: Ever see a turtle jump? That's probably how I look when jumping on skis. It will probably look a bit better when attached to a kite!
• Meeting people: Skiing alone sucks. Kiteboarding alone probably does too. Hopefully I'll meet new people.
• Going upwind: I predict this will be a stumbling block for me... we'll see!

Equipment

I've actually ordered some equipment after carefully scrounging the web for opinions. So far I've ordered a 5/3 wetsuit for the cold Lake Ontario conditions, a 10m and 14m kite, a long and short board, and a 3m foil trainer kite. I'm looking forward to taking the trainer kite out this coming weekend--it's been a long wait!

Well, you're a trooper if you've read this far. I'll update this journal as I progress along with observations and whatever else seems relevant to kiteboarding.

Best regards,

David