4/23 Mona 10m Nemesis HP & SAR mission

[Jason Klein]

Arrived to mona with a newb friend at around 4:30. Winds around 20mph. I have 2 new (to me) 10m kites in my possession that I want to test back to back before choosing one. So I pumped both of those as well as my 15m figuring the wind wouldn't last. Then spent about an hour helping out my friend, who did fine, just body dragging. He has snow kited a few times, but this was his first time on the water. When he came in, I finished rigging the first 10 and headed out for a half hour or so. By the time I went out, the wind was getting a little up and down, probably from 15 to 22. not really gusty, but slowly moving up and down. Not a bad half hour and got surprisingly big jumps when the wind was marginal (that kite is a fast little F-er). Came in to switch to the other 10, and while rigging that, the wind switched from SW to NW and then back again. Said to my friend that that's usually a bad sign and that we should probably pack it in, but the wind came back around SW and I was anxious to try the other kite. Should have listened to myself. After launching, a big gust from the W came thru and pushed me out into the water without my board. I was able to make it back in just north of the dam, so no big deal. My friend, trying to be helpful, came over to pick me up with the car, but as he pulled up to the dam, I looked over to see my 15 (which had been anchored to the car) heading out into the water to kite on its own (guess it was jealous that the new kite was getting water time) and by the time we got back over there it was pretty far out already. By then the wind was blowing W and the kite headed straight across the lake. We packed everything up and drove around to the commercial farm on the other side of the lake. Found a worker and asked if we could retrieve the kite. He seemed a bit reluctant to have us there, noted that there was an 8 ft fence that would be tough to get over, and suggested we could get closer by taking a dirt road that skirted the farm property. So off we went and found the dirt road. When that ended we drove thru fields for a while and finally got stopped by a fence maybe 1/2-3/4 of a mile away from the kite. It was then about 8:15 and getting dark. Climbed the (barb wire) fence, trudged thru burr laden bushes, crossed a few streams, slogged thru a couple of marshy areas, and finally waded thru ankle deep mud to reach the kite. Packed it up - it's now dark. Cloudy night in the county dark. So, in the dark, we waded thru ankle deep mud, slogged thru a couple of marshy areas, crossed a few streams, trudged thru burr laden bushes and climbed the (barb wire) fence to get back to the car. Fun.

[Sarah Ranes]

Now that's a pretty good adventure!

[tjacques]

man i feel bad that i had to go out and get my acl rebuilt, because usually I keep you out of trouble.... but I am glad you and youre gear are alright. Which kite did you choose. Go B or move to canada..
t