I went over to my small local lake hoping to get an ice buggy session in. Edges of the lake had gusty crap wind and mid lake had a stream of wind -
the ice was a lot rougher than I hoped with patches of clean hard ice then many areas that had slush melt were frozen over smooth but it was like
shale ice with a lot of air mixed in when it refroze the surface. It would just shatter and spray everywhere then other areas that were a bit rougher
and snow patches.
Took the buggy out with blades on it and found areas that were very rough ice but the wind was gusty and kite would collapse and felt like it was
going to be a short session. I put the GoPro on the helmet and started riding. After a while the wind picked up more and I found a wide area at the
opposite end of the lake where the wind was funneling in to a back corner - we normally ride the other end. All of the sudden i'm getting nice speeds
using a 9m Montana and bouncing and skidding and ice shards flying everywhere. getting more confidence with the route I was working I crossed the
corner over and over catching some strong gusts and at one point the buggy even lifted a foot and half off the ice and set down again and I was
working the snot out of the kite and felt super fast sitting low and getting a wild ride and that sketchy ice but the GPS was showing runs ranging
from low 40's to 49.6 mph - couldn't crack 50. I thought for sure a couple of runs felt like I milked some 50's but my GPS didn't agree. The runs were
intense with all the noise from the ice and I was loving it.
There a clump of small islands the on the back side of a big island and we rarely go back in that corner because of a massive wind shadow in that side
of the lake. The blades track so well I sped off into a corner of the lake sliding sideways toward the tree lines and sending the kite the other way
to pick up speed to shoot between the small islands and carry speed through the big wind shadow area to emerge back into the channel of high wind were
the buggy would take off and again snow and ice flying as I'm yelling for the kite to go faster and thinking this is going to be awesome footage. Then
I get the idea to pull a suicide jibe on the ice, never seen one with an ice buggy yet and I can do them easily with the buggy on the beach or dry
lake and all kinds of bite on the blades - didn't quite pull it off, dragged the kite the last 1/4 and couldn't find a nice spot for good ice grip in
a full circle but it was fun trying to get it on video.
Then a buddy came out on skis so I chased him with the ice buggy and came in tight downwind of him under his lines about 10 feet away then continued
to get a little bit in front of him and kept the kite straight ahead fast while I turned to look 2/3 way backward to film him hoping he would yell if
there was any reason I should turn back to watch where I was going - awesome angle.
Anyway....
Just plugged in the Go Pro excited to see what I captured after a the full day of riding - it took one still photo - SHHITE! the curse of jumping to
the next mode - a nice photo of lines and bar on the ice and that's it - I suck!
Mark Groshens NAPKA KC 13
WindSpeed kites & design - Canada
Peter Lynn Arcs: Charger2 22.5 +18 + 15 + 6.5, Charger I 6, Scorpion 16 + 10, Phantom II 12 + 9, Orig Phantom 9 + 6, Synergy 10 + 8, F 1200, S 840
Ocean Rodeo: Flite 17 + 12, Rise 13 + 10 + 7, Razor 9 + 6
Foils: PL Leopards and Lynx, Airea Raptors, some PL Reactor IIs + IIIs, Libre Spirits, Cross Kite Sonics, Ozone Flow
Peter Lynn Kite Cat for cruising the lakes
buggies: PL XR+, Cameleon Pagona, custom bigfoot, PL Bigfoot, custom ice buggy
Boards: 2 custom directionals, O.R Surf series 6-3 and 5-11, Mako Duke, Mako Skinny, Mako 140 Wide, Mako 150 Wide, Mako King, Brunotti
lots of old school skis, snowboard
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