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Summer/Fall 2009 Synopsis: an unusual season

As I wrap up the West Michigan summer/fall kiting season for 2009 I look back and think…“how odd”! The weather systems on the Great Lakes, as well as many other regions like the East Coast, seemed off-kilter. Listening to recent weather discussions by meteorologists it is all starting to make sense, but the scientific explanation will not be of much comfort to the many wind starved kiters who endured a season of unreliable wind.

This said, I was still able to eek out 93 sessions with a little extra effort and creativity. I realized early on that scoring regular sessions during 2009 was going to be a challenge and therefore I was rarely reluctant to drive a little more than usual to meet the wind. While I have always followed the mantra of “never leave wind to find wind” I felt that putting in a few extra miles this summer/fall was warranted. I hit several good sessions to the south in St. Joseph, South Haven, and Saugatuck…and found some spectacular riding in Frankfort on several occasions.

August was a complete anomaly - while normally considered our worst month for wind, I scored 21 legit (great actually) days, using my 7.5m on 7 of those days and 9.5m on 9 days. Usually August is big-kite season, and we were all delighted and deluded at the same time, expecting that September was going to go off big-time as a follow up.

September forecasts looked unbelievably dismal from the start…and I quickly decided on a last-minute trip to the OBX (Cape Hatteras), where I scored 5 straight days of 7.5m conditions. What luck! I also was able to catch a fun wave session on the Jersey Shore on my way to see family in CT, and then a bonus session on Lake Huron near Saginaw on my way home to Muskegon, 11 days after my quest began. A lot of driving, but I only missed one day of riding at home since I left.

The rest of September was less than spectacular, a few good days here and there . October started with a bang but started to fizzle after the first week with unseasonable cold weather arriving earlier than expected. The weather experts explanation was a jet stream with a persistent Arctic flow that had kept temperatures cooler than normal all summer, and perhaps stalled out and weakened much of the frontal activity that often brings us wind.

While I used my small kites more than normal this summer/fall, and more often than I ever would have expected, the deal was “you had to be there” when the wind happened and much of the good wind was hard to forecast. Lots of people around the Great Lakes complained of no riding sessions for 3 to 5 week stretches!! So I’ll take my 93 sessions and be thankful. Hitting 100 summer/fall sessions is always my goal, so I got close enough under the circumstances.

All summer long I had been talking about going to Ireland as a new adventure - and to escape for some big wind and real waves. But reports were that their season was buggered as well…so I delayed the thought until the first week of October when the forecast for the Great Lakes was not showing signs of improvement, so I pulled the trigger and booked a flight for Western Ireland…as it looked like the wind and waves there were finally kicking in. As I write this I am looking at a forecast of 6’-12’ waves with 10-15 second periods for the first week of my trip! I cannot tell you how fired up I am about this trip…Eirren Go Bragh!!!

…stay tuned for a report on Ireland next month!