Laura and Josh’s wedding was one for the books. It was full of friends and family on a beautiful farm overlooking the bay. It was a picture perfect day. The dancing and fun continued well into the night only paused momentarily to take in the spectacular sunset.
Category: Michigan
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First Wake Foiling Session
We have been foiling a bit both behind the kite and on a standup paddleboard behind the boat, but this was a whole new experience. Riding the shorter boards with a foil behind the boat was a really fun time. The shorter board was a lot like the feeling when kiting a foil. It was fast, snappy and lively. The boards we rode were a little wider than I have used in the past which helped prevent making drastic weight adjustments.
We first rode right behind the boat where we would normally ride a wake surfboard. This was similar to how we rode in the past just with different gear. You had to be careful to not ride too high onto the wave or catch too much speed to catch up to the boat. Given the size of the wake, it was easy to retain speed and feel comfortable dropping the rope. Then we pushed back to the following wave behind the boat. This took a bit of commitment as at first we didn’t have a rope long enough so you had to drop the rope then drift back to catch the wave. It was a pretty crazy feeling. From 2′ up it doesn’t look like much of a wave, let alone have enough power to propel you. But it does and it was amazing. We all had much more fun on the 2nd wave back which felt more like surfing a longboard. It was a little slower more cruisy feeling. I would have to do a pump then a couple turns followed by another pump to get back to the sweet spot on the wave and repeat.
We rode the Slingshot Alien Air Foil board with the Slingshot H2 foil on the second wave behind the boat and the Slingshot WF1 board with the Slingshot H5 foil right behind the boat. Both foils were really fun and very different. The H2 was a bit less maneuverable from side-to-side than the higher performance H5 foil. Carving was much easier and more fun on the H5 (higher performance foil). You are able to generate a lot more speed from pumping on the H2 than the H5 foil. This allows you to more easily catch back up to the wave if you drop too far back or allows you to create your own momentum with little to no wave.
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A Rare Summer Surf on the Great Lakes
A big North front came into the region. It gave us a nice break from the hot humid temperatures. It also happened to deliver us a few hours of joy on Lake Huron. The crew headed out for an evening paddle. We were out there for a good 3-4 hours. It is hard to stop when we don’t get waves that often in the summer.
Everyone caught their share of fun waves. The wind started to die out just before sunset and the waves started to glass off a bit. The size started to drop but not before it was dark. We topped the night off with a dinner and called it a day!
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Tawas Throwback Session
I headed North with Sean and Bhavim to try for a flatwater day in Tawas. We arrived to some mild whitecaps in the bay, but it was hazy and didn’t look too promising. Walking out to the beach we see Parks riding a 9m and foil ripping up wind. We started to get excited, but oddly only the tall trees were moving in a mild breeze. I was feeling pretty nervous with my biggest kite being a 12m. I pumped and suited up. We launched the kites to find there was a ton of wind up top and very little on the beach, due to the warm air and cold water.
It took 2-3 tacks South to get to the point finding the classic buttery flat water. I was powered and knew it was going to be a great day. It was a pretty surreal trip as Tawas was the first place I kited. A bunch of the old crew showed up and it was amazing getting to catch up and ride with everyone.
We rode behind the point for a few hours as the wind continued to increase in strength. We became very powered on the 12m kites and had a great boost session. Aaron recorded a 44′ jump. The wind came to be too much and we headed back to the beach for a quick lunch. We then rigged 9m kites and headed back to the point to do it all over again. What a day!
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Winter Northern MI Surf
I headed out to check the surf today. It wound up being an unseasonably warm winter day. The wind was on the waves too much by the time I made it out to the lake. I took pictures of a few braves soles before heading out.
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Fall Kite Mission to Canada
We headed out early to Canada. It was cold and rainy on our drive. As we were driving onto the beach, the clouds broke to let in some gorgeous morning light against the stormy day.
The wind was cranking and I wound up riding my 7m Envy on short line really really powered. The waves never quite got to the usual size we were expecting, but I still had a blast. I took out the foil for a few tacks and took some good beatings.
We then packed up and headed back to the states and drove a little north to surf. As we arrived it looked FLAT. But we found a small wave in a little cove and wound up surfing for over two hours.
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Early Fall Kiteboarding in Muskegon
Tom and I headed to Muskegon. It was a great warm fall day. the wind was cranking and there were some fun waves. The old time crew was all there. The session started out powered on wakeboards then to surfboards then to foils and finally wound up paddling into some really fun clean waves on the surfboards. We were toast by the end of the day.
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Late Summer Michigan Surf
We scored this weekend. I was lucky to get the time to hit the lake this weekend. I had one of my best surfing session on the lakes as well as a few other sessions to keep a smile on my face for a while.
The highlight was a surf up in Frankfort, MI. We arrived when the lake was glass there were no waves to speak of. We were pretty bummed, but the wind kicked up. We wound up kited for a few minutes until we looked south and saw what we thought was a small rain storm approaching. At that time the waves slowly started to build and you could tell that they were starting to push in. We landed our kites to prepare for the rain and the rain just didn’t stop coming, but neither did the waves.
We hustled to the grab a board and rode a few waves near shore. We kept having to paddle back out further and further until the waves were breaking at the elbow of the pier and were chest to head high. Even though it was pouring rain the waves were clean, long and amazing. There were only a handful of us out maybe 5-8 surfers/paddleboarders. It was a great session!
I was having way too much fun while riding to go out shooting. I did take out the go pro for one wave at the tail end of the session after the waves started to die down significantly.