|
MOMENT OF CLARITY
by BRETT NICHOLS
A few summers ago, I tried kiting. I had at one time resolved only to windsurf, to stay on the horse that brought me to The Gorge in the first place, but weekend winds that summer were weak. I shlogged my high-wind tongue depressor while my buddy Peter got worked and dragged around, learning to ride his new kite. The Sunday-night drives back to Seattle were the worst part. He was so elated, his elation bounced around inside the car like the numbered ping-pong balls they draw to pick the lottery winner. I was as jealous as the guy who gets only a toaster. Weekend after weekend he kited higher as I windsurfed lower, glued to the water by warm, steady 15-knot westerlies. Sometimes Gorge conditions are like that. 3.2 nuking days light up the pager like Vegas all week, only to have a meltdown on Friday when we Seattle yuppies have time to make the four-hour drive. Finally, one day the wind got so light that I had to swim in. Peter saw me and offered a tow, which I politely refused. I'd read most of The Fountainhead in the 10th grade and was above compromising my windsurfing integrity by getting assistance from a kiter. 30 minutes later he asked me again and I said hell yes. While his kite effortlessly towed the whole mess to the sand bar, he generously shared the joy of landing his first 360 with me. "Are you ready to kite now?" he asked when we got where I could stand. "Yes," I said, adding, "you ---," to show that my participation in the entire day was under protest. The first lesson was free, but I was hooked sometime during the first downward swoop of the kite. Dipping a kite through the power zone, even when it's barely whitecapping, is every bit the rush windsurfing is when a cloud of liquid smoke is coming off the river. Going from the one-line kite you flew as a kid to the power potential of kitesurfing is something like having ridden a minibike as a kid, and then having a friend give you a test ride on his new Ninja crotch rocket. If you don't have 10-large to buy a Ninja of your own, don't test ride your friend's bike. I bought a 13.5-meter kite the following Monday. I'm a shortboarder at heart, and kiting got me jumping and spinning a 6-foot board when the only planing windsurfers were on 200 liters or more. For a long time my kitesurfing and windsurfing complemented each other, existing harmoniously in symbiotic stasis. Between the two, I had gear for every condition. The party started at 10 knots, switched to windsurfing at 18, and didn't end until the cops showed up at 40+. But alas, in 15-22 I got tea-bagged on my kite and wasn't quite ripping on my biggest sail. It was like water torture, floundering in all that potential. I gave in and bought a medium-sized kite, a 9.5. A buddy in the same dilemma bought one of those new freestyle boards to complement his small board. It was 90-liters, curvy, and 14 pounds. Not needing 25 knots to plane up gave him the confidence to try carve 360s and jump jibes. He even tried a few forwards. That made me miss my true love, windsurfing, but my mistress was a spinner. 360's, in the throes of passion, would turn into 720's. My windsurf gear and I drifted apart. Tired of not seeing the light through the opaque mylar of my ancient 5.3 sail during a wipeout, I stuck my head through it and looked around. Instead of replacing it, I bought an even smaller kite, a 7.5. I windsurfed only a handful of days that summer and was down to one board, an Open Ocean 7'10". When summer ended, I bought a 5.5 kite, so I could have everything in the trunk of my car. I had kites for weather up to 40 knots. I ignored good advice, awkward silences, and group interventions from fellow windsurfers, and gradually spent more and more time kiting. A one point, I went a year without windsurfing. I would avoid Roosevelt, blowing a steady 35, so I could kite the Sand Bar, blowing 10-25. We'd meet up for dinner and I'd have to listen to my buddies rave about logo-high rollers and steady winds out east. On the day I hit rock bottom, I was kiting in 40 knots. I couldn't take my eyes off my twitchy 5.5 kite long enough to access my arsenal of flips and spins. I tiptoed back and forth as the windsurfers aired out huge jumps off the rolling ramps. The view from the 5.5 wasn't so good, kind of dark, but was a convenient place to do some introspection. I realized that windsurfers don't belong on kites in 40-knots, and my neglected windsurfing gear was prowling the classifieds looking for a new rider. The problems started when I let my windsurfing stagnate after I got jibes down. I didn't take on new moves, simply enjoying my repertoire of jumping, reaching and jibing. Eventually, though, it was only fun in 35 knots, and in 18, windsurfing was like a day of house chores compared to the all-night orgy of big airs and 720's that I could bust out kiting. I bought The Joy of Sex to help break out of the cycle of needing a new lover every 4 months, so why didn't I buy a killer windsurfing video to get ideas of new stuff I could try? Now I have that video, and one of the new freestyle boards, made specifically for putting the fun back in sub-nuking conditions. I'm working on tacks, carve 360's, and jump jibes. I --- at them all, because windsurfing is hard, but I'm loving every minute of it. I'm as stoked about windsurfing as I was back when my hands were blistered from waterstarting all day. There's nothing that makes me feel more alive than a good day of windsurfing. Except a good day of kitesurfing. Are you still windsurfing when it's light? Is listening to kiters rave after a 10-knot session driving you insane? Has anyone whose judgement you trust bought a kite recently, and won't stop bugging you with tales of how awesome it is? Does landing like a feather from 10-feet up pique your interest? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, it might be time to trade that boredom in on a kite, because of all the things you can do while waiting for wind, kiting is by far the best! Travel Contest Winner Brett Nichols continues to submit his stories to us, even though we told him we gave out all the prizes already. We like his stuff so much that we're thinking of telling him there's another contest next issue-please don't tell him there's not.
|
