A tale of two kite days Mojave - Oxnard 7.5 17

[ChrisPSherwin]

The water at Lake Mojave was low enough to launch from a cove just north of the marina at Cottonwood Cove. There was no way that my car would make it to six mile and we were in town, so why not? OK, forcast was for 20-30 mph from the South all day. It was gusty and nuking when I launched, so I went with my 7.5. I was well powered to lit for about 30 minutes, and worked my way up wind so that I could make it back to point "A" if the wind died down. Well, before the wind died down it shifted to the west and started blowing me to the Arizona side. After slinging my kite all over the place, the wind actually came up again FROM THE North!%@ingWEST!!! So I reached as hard as I could, further "upwind" and miraculously got to shore, maybe 1 mile from my launch.

If you've ever been to lave mojave, you know about the crazy coves and canyons as well as lava rock. There is no direct line along the shoreline. It was REALLY nice to have my booties on. At one point, I couldn't see the water and I realized that I was in the desert, wearing a full wetsuit and helmet carrying gear up and down hills through sand and rock. A tarantula looked at me like I was nuts. He mocked me with Ralph's voice. Funny stuff. Took and hour or so to get back, but I made it out on my own.

Today, I had Silver Strand beach all to myself. Reasonably powered on the Zephyr and Big board from 1:20 until dark. My local buddies showed up, but most of them have 12 meter kites as their biggest. The Zephyr is still the best $ I have spent of kite gear. About 30 minutes before sunset the wind picked up again, and it was just bitchin. Mostly 3, but up to 7 foot waves, and I'm getting better at dropping in. Warm air, sand and waves. I'll miss Skyline when it clears out, but there's supposed to be increasing wind for 3 more days, so I'm pretty happy here at the moment. I was told that there is no wind here in Nov, and that I'm getting super lucky!

[bigwavedave]

I assume this was Sunday morning that you were at mojave. I went to six mile Saturday and arrived at about 4:00. Got a couple hours in on the 9 meter. Camped overnight to get some of the heavy forecasted winds for Sunday but after watching it do exactly what you described we packed it up and left.

[windzup]

Glad you made it out safe Chris, epic story and conditions. I used to carabiner a pair of sandals to my harness every time I kited their in summer, that desert is ruff.

Windzup.
Brian Schenck