Utah Windriders Association

Beautiful day on the lake. Most of UWA kite crew was there. Sensor at the dam said we had gusts to 41 mph. I had fun!

Best day so far this season! The wind came up abruptly at 10:30 and was still gusting into the high 20s until almost 4:30. Just as my sensor tends to read a bit low, I suspect that the Dam Chute readings are on the high side since, its name notwithstanding, the sensor is located on the ridge to the southeast of the dam at an elevation of 6670', i.e. over 1200' above the level of the spillway. Heber Airport reported a maximum gust of 31.

Yeah great day but, I had a shitty day due to my borrowed harness. I had to call my day short
due to feelings of broken ribbs, squashed kidneys, and total lack of breath.
I need a new harness that is friendly to my fradgile body structure.

Have any sugestions? I want new and have $150ish to lay out.
Kiting should be fun and relaxing not horribly painfull, right?

Jim
Thank you for the info on the Dam sensor. Since SND is down, what do you think about the Canyon @mp10 sensor readings for DC predicting?
Thanks Don

Don:

I miss Sundance Arrowhead, which really did seem to be a good DC predictor. The Dam Chute may well be the best we have at the moment even though it doesn't come up as early. The readings from Arrowhead were, of course, much higher than what we'd see on the lake; a couple of wind turbines on the ridge could probably power the resort most of the time.

David:

Not sure how well they work for jumping, but seat harnesses are a whole lot easier on the body.

Like Jim said....As good as it get's @ DC. Linda and I arrived @ Charlston around noon, seeing white caps everywhere, and Jim flying around. it looked good enough that I rigged a 6.2 and 106, but by the time I re-figured out how to get in my drysuit, it had backed off quite a bit. So I grabbed a bigger board and hit the water. I did the schlog and plane thing for 1 reach across and headed in for a bigger sail, thinking we had missed the good wind that Jim had used up. I quickly deriggedd and rigged up the 7.2, all the time watching Linda do just fine on her 6.5. By the time I hit the water, the wind was pretty steady and strong again, so I headed upwind to All Kita BWB. Lot's of kites out having a good time there. I didn't see any other sails on the water by the island, so I headed back to charlston, in some pretty strong wind. It was a lot of fun heading deep downwind, over mini swell. For the first day out in Utah, on big gear, it was a really good day, in the wind, sunshine, and amazing scenery.

Got to IB around 1:30, George and Shawn were out having some fun. I rigged the 7.0 and had some good rides for about an hour and a half around 3 it started dropping off a little and getting real gusty. Air temp was real nice, water is cold but wet suit and booties was very comfortable. Good first day.

SND just came back up. Cool!

At DCIB George was way upwind in the sweet spot. I could not get upwind. I kept losing gains while slogging between planes. Jake visited the island and slalomed the buoys during some particularly nasty gusts. incredible control and very nice kite. I wish I had it on the helmet cam, but I was trying mast mount video. Oh well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stMOdSw5jyU

Dave,

If you have injured ribs, use a seat harness until they heal. Yeah, I know it feels like wearing a diaper, but your ribs will not heal if you reinsure them wearing a waist harness.

Kenny