8/6 Willard 10m Nemi - all alone

[Jason Klein]

My first time out to Willard. Almost stopped to kite at echo. wind was ripping there as i drove by, but there were a fair amount of showers with lightning in the area and figured the valley would be less stormy. Arrived around 4pm. Only other kiter there was a newb who was having a tough time lauching in a wind shadow at the beach closest to the entrance. probably just as well he didn't make it out as the wind was way stronger out on the water. My 10m Rise is out for repairs, but i still have 10 Nemi so i rigged that and headed out. launched from the marina area, but figured out later that there is another beach, Pelican Beach, to the south that would be best to launch from. wind was up and down but not puchy, and actually reasonably smooth for SW. mostly in the 22-25 range with some gusts to around 30 for the first hour but picked up to 26-30 with gusts to low-mid 30's for the second hour. there were definitely some o/p'd moments out there and more than a few times i was wishing i had rigged the 7. In high winds, that Nemi is mighty zippy. you definitely have to pay attention to it. Nice, steep waves and coming from about 45 degrees off the wind direction (ususally come from almost directly upwind here in UT) let you easily launch them on the way out and then ride a wave for a long time on the way in.

I've heard people say that the wind needs to crank for Willard to work. Not sure why that would be as there's nothing to block the wind in the area. Wind was about as strong as anywhere else yesterday. Maybe something to do with thermals off of the GSL?