Sailing on Sunapee

Purple Panic

Purple Panic is a 10M JoJo with 70 meters of line. EVERY time it comes out - it makes drama!

Charlie Meding shot this on Lake Sunapee in almost NO wind. Still there was drama. He sent the kite north while still skiing south and got ripped several meters off the ice! He landed backwards - grateful to be wearing twintips.

The lines are so long that the kite can get ahead. It is flying in another atmospheric layer. The wind at the surface is almost still, but 229 feet (70 meters) above, it is still windy. You have to be careful - it is easy to get pulled into trouble with this thing.

William Tuthill

US Team Will Train on Lake Sunapee for WISSA Championships

Posted on January 28, 2010 by Sunapee News

Sailing Lake Sunapee at a speed of 50 mph.

Photo and Post by William Tuthill

The rain on Monday has resurfaced the big NH lakes, and fast ice will be the rule of the day this weekend on Sunapee. As we train for the Ice and Snow Sailing World Championships this year- the 30th-we will have our minds on what it will be like in Saguenay, Quebec, site of this year’s event. The conditions on the lake this weekend will be similar to those encountered at last year’s WC in Riga, Latvia. Fast, and unforgiving for those who do not wax carefully. I may use blades from the Nordic Skater, a great local resource in nearby Norwich, VT, just across the bridge from Dartmouth. With blades [assuming that they are high enough to escape the drag on new snow] wax is not a factor. Thursday’s predicted snow will tell the tale. In any case, as the WC draws closer the U.S. Team will assemble on Sunapee and continue training.

Tour du Phare

The place - Lake Sunapee, N.H. 1102 feet (335 meters) above sea level and a climactic world away from nearby locations in New England.


The background scenery.


That is Burkehaven Lighthouse. There are only 5 lighthouses in the State of New Hampshire, and only 2 are on the Seacoast where you would expect to find them. The other 3 are on Lake Sunapee.


The "Tour du Phare" is an annual event where sailors go around:

1. Herrick Cove Lighthouse
   
2. Loon Island Lighthouse
   
3. Burkehaven Lighthouse
   

This is the view from Herrick Cove looking south towards Mount Sunapee which is a good back up plan if the wind fails to blow.


Al Peterson riding on "Furniture"


Big winds and fast ice


Like nuggets of GOLD - the corn ice was FAST!!!!!


The "Tour du Phare" is fun, fast and family oriented. If you can't do the whole trip, you can take a shorter route. Beginners welcome.

This year there were several milestones:

• Kimberly Tuthill went out to Burkehaven Lighthouse and back and it was only her second time ever using a wing.
  
• Rick Hobbs hit 52 mph (93.4 kph) with a 4.8 wing.
  
• Mark Bussard - after several tactical wins in up wind and down wind situations had to skate back (very long distance) when his skis stuck to the ice. A snow squall dumped glue like snow & Mark was caught out.
  
• Annie Tuthill sailed all day without a harness using a 4.8 meter wing
  
• Steve Barss arrived late and joined right in. He was fast the whole time and made the deadly second up wind run to Herrick Cove during the white out.
  
• Mike McCaffery out raced all of the wings on the tactical legs. Up wind & down wind he is the one to beat.
  
• Will Tuthill beat everyone to Herrick Cove Light (with a 4.8 wing) on the first beam reach. This is significant because it proves that the the 4.8 is really fast. We all had the same wind, ice and start. There were two 5.5s and three 4.8s on that leg. Charlie Meding was ahead on his 10.5 Concept Air Smart kite, but when the wind came up, the kite became too much to handle & he was pulled down wind. The 4.8 wing was as steady as a freight train powering directly towards the lighthouse.
  
• Charlie Meding was the fastest overall with the kite. Later in the day, he hit 60 mph (96 kph)
  

The "Tour du Phare" is so much fun, that it is officially an annual event. This is the third year, and next year we will try to make it bigger. Also, we will try to attract more kites and windsurfers. As I write this it is windy and way below freezing on Lake Sunapee. With luck, we will get another weekend of sailing, but it would be hard to beat what we just had.
Keep track of conditions on the lake by going to the live webcam.

Maybe we will see you next weekend.

Will

WING Surfing: Lake Sunapee, 14-15 March 2009 update

Hi All

Tour du Lac NOR

Skippers meeting at 1PM vicin Soonipi Park 14MAR SAT. 3 races constitute regatta, after five races throw out high scores. Tour Sun 15MAR TBA by local sailors.

Bring your own prize. You bring something for the prize table; winners get first pick. Beer, picks, spare tips, rip stop repair tape, wax, etc. Copies of rules provided for perusal, no protests allowed. Pissed off sailors will be allowed to sulk with therapeutic beer.

Predictions are sunshine and W winds. Sat building to 15mph and Sunday diminishing but still up to 10 mph. Suspect surface will be transformed corn skis prevail.

Rain is predicted Sunapee this Wed and then cold, but predicted temps for week end in the upper thirties in sunshine so any ice will be soft and likely not so good for blades.

Recommend heavy rill job and edge tune. Use lots of wax. Flouros if you got em.

See you there,

Dicky Saltonstall

WING Surfing: Lake Sunapee, 14-15 March 2009

RACE NOTICE!

TO: All potential WING (and other) sailors
TIME: All weekend Saturday & Sunday 14-15 March 2009
PLACE: Lake Sunapee, N.H. Launch point at Soonipi Poad. Exit 11 Interstate 89. Go west on King Ridge Road to the end.
SCHEDULE: TBA We will try for course races and a tour of the lake.

INFORMATION:

Not windsurfing, and not kite surfing, WING surfing is a sport unto its own. The wing, or Kitewing as it is called for commercial purposes, is of interest to such a broad range of sailors, that we decided to hold an informal event to showcase the product, and welcome newcomers. Kite sailors, Freeskate / windsurfing sled sailors? GET DOWN HERE! You are MORE than welcome!
It is getting late in the season, and the remaining chances are few. The conditions appear to be lining up nicely. The nice folks at the New London Inn circa 1790 in the heart of downtown New London have graciously offered up a very special rate to anyone coming to New London for the event this weekend. It comes out roughly half price and is well below the rates at much lesser accommodations. The rate for racers is $75 USD pp including breakfast!
The New London Inn is top notch. Call or email the front desk and ask for Mindy. She is expecting us.

The launch point at the end of Soonipi Rd has plenty of parking and we will provide a grill. Please try to bring something to cook and or drink. This is a self sponsored impromptu event, but those are often the best. Pray for wind!
If you do not have a wing or a sled, just bring yourself or your windsurfing rig. We will provide some demo wings, a Snowfer for windsurfers, and a Uniboard for kite sailors interested in something very cool & different.
Come on down (or up) and celebrate one of winter's last & best weekends!

Will

p.s. PLEASE help to pass this around. If I were any good at internet marketing, I might be in a different line of work.
p.s. again if you want to add maps & pictures - feel free.

Saturday & Easter

What a weekend!

Lake Sunapee ROCKS! The nearly 1100 foot elevation makes for a different climactic designation for this unusual body of water. Everything south and down has melted, but Sunapee still has 12-14 inches of ice! Better still, the forecast is for more cold and a 10 inch dump on Thursday! This means that NEXT weekend is apt to be epic as well!

Almost Night: Shot by Charles Meding while flying the red kite in the foreground. We sailed all day on loose granular, and into the dark.



Last Year: Flying over the St. Lawrence River. By Michael Eudenbach

By way of reference, the sun angle and length of day is that of Labor Day weekend. Yep, that's right- count your days towards summer from the equinox and Easter is like Labor Day and next weekend is crowding AUGUST for sun angles! :)

Before I jinx the jet stream into a more seasonal pattern, I'll just give a quick weekend rundown and crash.

SATURDAY: Forecast- no wind. Reality- 10- 15 mph. Rick Hobbs had to skate with a 5,5 meter wing. He got some rides but he also skated and waited. It looked good some of the time, but I hate skating on skis so I changed teams and "took the kite".

With George Baskette and Charlie Meding as company, it is easy to see the potential of kites.

The surface was loose granular, and with a 4 line foil kite on handles it was fun to chuck the power of the kite around like a rock on the end of a string. Whip it up and down for speed, and send it back for a POWER jibe! Now TTHAT is fun- even if it does rip your arms and abs. BTW George with the 8 meter CA leader? Poetry in motion. And Charlie? How the hell can you fly a kite AND shoot photos?

EASTER SUNDAY: Arose and went to heaven. The overnight temperature was in the teens and the wind was a robust 15-25mph.

Bright sun, thin crispy snow atop hard ice with the new Kitewing Rage 5.5+.

Arose and went to heaven.

That docile powerhouse together with Volkl P30 Race Carver skis on such a surface IS heaven on earth!

The distance between Sunapee Harbor Lighthouse and Herrick Cove Lighthouse is just under 2 miles. I was making the run in under 5 minutes before I realized that I should start keeping track.

After about an hour I started blazing on a broad reach between the 2 points- [an approx. 4 mile round trip]-over and over while counting.

Long story short, I made 25 trips in about 5 hours. That SHOULD be about 100 miles, but without a GPS and a witness, it is quite unofficial. WHO CARES? I did it for me - not for the record books. That said, I plan to get a GPS this week. With luck, I'll have a dog in the hunt for the "Century Club" Award from the Chickawaukee Ice Sailing Club in Maine U.S.A.. before the season ends.

Happy Easter and god bless.

Winter RULES!!!!!!!!

Will

William Tuthill writes...

Having missed the WISSA 2007 W.C. in Haapsalu, Estonia, I will do the next best thing. Next week, I plan to meet with the a group of kite sailors at the site of last year's W.C. in Trois Rivierres, Quebec. The purpose of that visit will be to round up competitors for WISSA 2008 which is scheduled to take place in Val Brillant, Quebec, February 2008.


After Trois Rivierres, we will go to Val Brillant, to meet with Dominique Robichard, who is in Estonia now, to make plans at the site of WISSA 2008. The lake and facilities at Val Brillant are capable of sustaining a large crowd. The risk of a "no ice" cancellation is minimal at this site, and winds are known to be reliable.

We will meet to discuss lodging options, transportation, and other things.

After the visit to Val Brillant, I hope to attend the "Stormboarding" Kite sailing event in Vermont, U.S.A..

It is a relatively new event, but the goal is to create interest in WISSA among kiters in that part of the U.S.A..

During March, there are two more event goals:

1. The newly formed NASA (North American Skimbat Association) hopes to have a first ever rally of Kitewings or Skimbats in the Lake Sunapee area of New Hampshire. Over 25 wings have been sold into the New England area since September 2006 and interest is building. A "fun racing" event for wings on Lake Sunapee could be used to bolster participation at WISSA 2008. Naturally, the event will be open to all 3 WISSA classes.
   
2. Every March, ConceptAir hosts an event known as "The Attraction". The event has been going on for many years. I hope to attend so that we can encourage the attendees to plan for WISSA 2008.
   

We had a scare with the weather in Estonia this year, but in the end the conditions came through. Cool heads prevailed, and by all accounts the organizers are doing a tremendous job. They deserve much praise for their faith and dedication- we look forward to hosting them in Quebec in 2008!

Stay tuned to this web site for breaking news about ice and snow sailing happenings worldwide.