6/16 Lincoln newbie 5M nukefest

[peckdave]

First time ever to Lincoln, pretty new to kiting. Arrived around 5pm with 6 or 8 kites on the water, wind picking up and the good guys coming off the water on 8-10M way lit and fully depowered. Had pumped my wife's 5M for her "lesson", so after watching a few scary 3-person assisted launches and increasingly higher gusts starting to spray over the jetty, Don L. volunteered to test out the 5 and ripped around pretty lit in the gusts. He passed the baton over to me (a bit reluctantly...the last time he saw me kite was last summer scuffling back through the mangroves at Deer Creek after failing to avoid the Bermuda Triangle of Zone of Death or whatever it's called). Rode totally lit on 5 for about an hour, wishing I had the skills to carve up the monster brown swells on the outside but appreciating the relative safety inside the jetty. Chris was launching ridiculous jumps into the stratosphere near the jetty on 7M. Witnessed one kitemare on shore as a 6M blew down the beach like a soiled hankie. Fortunately no injuries or damage done. I made it back safely around 7pm, left for the Owl bar as dark ominous clouds were everywhere, but apparently it backed off a bit and the boys kited till dark on 7-8M. Billy and Don saved the day be relaying my wife's forgotten board back to Provo Canyon (used it as a paperweight to hold down the 5, it never made it back in the car). Muchas gracias, guys. I felt like the beater from Jersey on a 40" pow day at Alta tripping over his orange powder cords, but will figure it out eventually.

[Josh Shirley]

I arrived late (or on time I guess) about 7pm. The smallest I had was 4.7m sail and 100 liter board, ( a 3.5 and 75 liter would have been appropriate.) Way too big for the 45 mph wind. But I figured I had already bought my ticket so I was going to ride. I flattened my sail as much as possible, and headed out. And I got to use my tiny 18cm freestyle fin which helped a lot on the swell. After a few laps into the mess of swell I headed down to Sal Padre to check it out. That was pretty sweet. I have been in a lot of good size swell at Utah Lake but the 15 mile span to spread them out helps a lot. Easily 25 feet in between peaks which made for a lot of turning space. Definitely some of the better swell riding I have had on the lake. It slowly backed down to 5.0m conditions and I was off the water around 9pm. Nice grass rigging and a good place for stretching my back.

[Don Losee]

Going with Pepe's "Pizza Rating" Summer of 2011 system, I give this my ... Roman gorging on to much, Verace Pizza Napoletana ("verace" is Neapolitan slang for authentic). Authentic NUKE Pizza With death on a sick on it. I was freaking gripped! I kited 5M for the first time in my life. Lit! I've been in the gym a lot lately and feel like I may be a pretty strong guy... but... a 6M kite was RIPPED out of my hands on a launch. Sorry!
Dave Peck wins "Best Rookie MVP" award. He is one of my students and has been kiting for one year. He was ripping in 50mph+++ wind. Hmmmmm. Not bad. Not bad at all. Pepe wins Big Balls air of the day. He was boosting on his 7M. It is way scary to pull the trigger in that kind of gale force wind. WoW!
3B

[Mark Johnson]

A few pics here
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 5d1386c3b1