Snow Sailing in April

This past Saturday, Marcel Bradette, Jocelyn Marceau, and Langis Caron scored some sweet ice on Lac Jacques Cartier located in the Reserve Faunique de les Laurentides just along the route 175 that connects the Saguenay, Lac Saint Jean region to Quebec City and the outside world. The park (and lake) are about 1.5 hours north of Quebec City. It is the altitude rather than the latitude that makes Lac Jacques Cartier one of eastern North America's most long lasting sailing venues.

All three sailors were at WISSA 2010. It is good to see that they are still sailing when many have stopped because of abnormally warm temperatures.

Marcel Bradette sailing land in late April

Jocelyn Marceau

Langis Caron

William Tuthill

New Racing Category

This is 10 year old Nathaniel Montminy of St. Fulgence, Quebec. Lots of people prefer to kite with Snowboards, hence the new rating category for WISSA.

Sunapee Squeeze

It is a squeeze when ice access is across a pool of slop and open water is all around. Normally this is the best time of the year on Sunapee, but last Saturday was +20°C [or near the accepted "room temperature" of 70 degrees F] air temperature, and of course - the water was.......COLD!

Poor Rick Hobbs of Lunnenberg, MA got his boots soaked early on. He made up for it by staying out on the ice and logging some good distance before coming in to eat and rest. Just the same, he had to dump water out of his boots!

Those are Volkl powder skis- the better to skim OPEN WATER with! Thankfully there wasn't too much of that.

Looks harmless enough - is is NOT! That is a swimming hole. There were a lot of them. At the speeds we were going, it took an eagle eye to miss them.

Annie Tuthill [age 15] carried a 5.5m wing ALL day without a harness. This may sound simple, but it was not. The wind was hot, dry and gusty. I was hanging from my lines most of the day. The gray stuff was super soft. If not prepared it could knock you down. Twice I had a ski get ripped off my foot by it.

Steve Barrs of Andover, NH is on "solid" ice here. You could really build up speed on these spots. Steve stayed out while many went in to eat and /or drain their boots. He was well over 100 km distance traveled at the end of the day. Also- knowing that the end was near-he was out all day the day before.

That is Rick making some serious speed.

The rider's view. I was riding the 7.5 meter Wave Warrior wing by Kitewing. It has modified battens made by Richard Saltonstall of Rockland, Maine. Richard replaced the stock tips with custom carbon foil sections that he made himself. At WISSA 2010, Rainer and Juho Salo [ Rauma, Finland] together with engineer Klaus Faisst [Toronto ON] made further adjustments. The wing was a heavy handful in this wind. But still easily managed. As hot dry gusts scoured the ice plate the ground effect bounces called for signifigant counter balancing weight- I HAVE IT! I laid my full [ 2 meter tall /100 kilo weight] into this wing and got lifted. [ it was GREAT!] Once while bending off a big air bounce, I skimmed an open hole that would easily swallow a person. Thank goodness [and Kitewing] for lift :-)))

George Baskette of Barre VT was sailing in short sleeves. It was an eire combination of hot weather and dying ice.

George has a big one - Get it? George has been ice/snow kiting from the beginning.

Concept Air Team Rider and host Charlie Meding of Wilmot NH always charges hard. He logs the biggest speeds, longest distances and best jumps.

Charlie was hammering ALL day! He topped 100 kph earlier in the season and has logged over 1,600 km distance in previous years. LOOK at the bend in his skis! He is lit!

The other regular kiter, Chris Porter of Hanover NH has been working in NYC for the past several weeks. He could challenge anyone for best jumps on Sunapee, but this weekend, Chris & Katie spoiled the troops by deep frying turkey and duck on site. They spent hours preparing and the feast was devoured under automobile head lamps. It was delicious. Huge props to Chris and Katie for their generosity and culinary prowess.

Special thanks to Allison Baskette, Kimberly Tuthill, and Lori Meding for holding down the shorefront on this last of days. It was a long haul and you guys were steadfast." Kikea hyvaa sinyle" as they say in Finland "all the best on you"
Kiitos

Will

WISSA 2010: Photo and Video Coverage

Hey, I just found this link...

http://www.fotofocus.ca/kite/

Do not expect much from the photos because copyright is important.

Lake Minnewanka in Banff, Alberta

by William Tuthill


This is 18 April on Lake Minnewanka in Banff, Alberta.



24 inches [60 cm] of ice so hard that it is buckled like an alligator's back. There is so much cold stored in this slab that even above freezing temperatures have barely etched the surface. The lake is drained and that causes banked edges. In one place where the ice was trapped between warm air and a concrete ramp, the ice had candled into vertical honeycomb structures. I tried to pick up a handful and carry it to the car a short distance away, but the cold was so intense that it stung my skin. At present, more cold is on its way with some snow mixed in to keep the sun's rays from doing any damage. :-)))
WISSA 2001 organizer Barney Kenney moved to Alberta from Saskatchewan a few years ago, and has sent photos taken in May before. It is one thing to see pictures, and something very different to go there in person. I recommend it to ANYONE!
As we descended the mountains heading towards Calgary, we saw places where open water had re frozen. There will be ice on this, and other high mountain lakes for several more weeks! World class skiing is available throughout May.



This is Barney's new foot steering sled. It carves just like a short board in water.



The custom made skis are capable of sailing in deep snow. The front skis turn and the back ski tracks.



On the one day that we had available to sail, there was almost no wind. The Concept Air Freestyle 5.5 meter was flying, but only if it could be whipped around. The windsurfing rig only got moving a few times. After we left, the wind came up and blew hard for several days. Typical.



This is a VERY fast surface!

Wing posse sailing at Veranger, Norway last week

by William Tuthill



The whole place is like a terrain park. Low sun angles & kilometers of sailing.

Impressions from WISSA 2009

By Klaus Faisst - Canada

The winds during our 2009 World Championships in Riga, Latvia were only light to moderate, hence, no speed records were broken on Lake Kisezers. However, just about all attendance records were broken, including:

111	-	registered competitors (most ever)
14	-	countries (most ever)
57	-	Sailboards (most ever)
18	-	Wings (most ever)
		and best of all:
14	-	Women (most ever)
20	-	Youth (most ever)

Needless to say, the large number of competitors presented quite a challenge for the organizers and race masters, but they did a superb job and indeed deserve special praise. Evaluation of race results was timely, efficient and accurate. Yes, there were a few protests, but they were managed in a firm and friendly way.

Race conditions on Lake Kisezers were tailor-made for blades: Fairly smooth ice, covered with about 5 cm of old snow on the first race day. Another 5 cm of new snow accumulated during the rest of the week. Sled sailors running on blades, and wing sailors running on skates were able to cut through the layer of snow and could take advantage of significant lower friction between steel on ice (as compared to skis on snow). Of course, this is one of the distinct challenges in our sport – having the right equipment for the prevailing surface conditions. The race results and pictures (posted on www.wissa2009.org) tell more of the story.

The blade/ski comparison does not apply to kite sailors. They were all running on skis, that are getting longer and stiffer every year. Their kites too seem to be getting bigger. As usual, there was enough wind for the kites; they managed 12 course races plus the marathon.

The introduction of short-track slalom racing on a snow-free ice surface turned out to be an exiting new addition both for competitors and spectators. This is definitely a spectator sport, full of speed and action on a relatively small area and hence, also well suited for TV cameras. Watch out for short-track slalom racing as a demo in a future winter Olympics. The Latvian Hiberna sleds look particularly graceful on their jibes. The Wing class also had (for the first time) their own slalom races, using the same course as the Hiberna sleds. It was truly exiting… lots of action in short succession without any waiting between heats. I could not tell who was faster around the course – Wings or Hiberna sleds. Perhaps there will be a chance in one of our next WISSA events to find out.

Most of the young people were keen windsurfers from Poland, coached by Witold Nerling.

Over the years, Mr. Nerling has helped many young Summer and Winter sailors achieve top international rankings. In recognition of his exemplary work Witold was presented with the prestigious Victor Hendriksson Trophy at the closing ceremony. The trophy for Best Design went to Ronald Verhaegen of Belgian for his ice skate board. Edmunds Brencis, the official event photographer, took a “must see” action shot with Ronald being carried away by his Wing sail. Check out www.wissa2009.org under 17-feb-2009.

The organizers in Latvia deserve our utmost appreciation for making WISSA 2009 so worthwhile, successful and enjoyable. They have taken care of everything, including a highly interesting sightseeing tour of Riga on “windless Thursday”. Congratulations and thank you!

What’s next? Well, at our annual WISSA-meeting Dominique Robichaud (organizer of WISSA 2008) presented a firm proposal from the City of Saguenay, Quebec, Canada for our 30th Jubilee next year. And there is more good news: Our friend Feodor Gurvits tabled a proposal for WISSA-2011 in Lappeenranta, Finland.

Please help to spread the good new about WISSA. We are very much alive and thriving!

See you next year here in Canada.

Klaus

RUS54

Here is a close up shot of "The Leg" from Murmansk. Slava Maltsev is a talented monoski sailor. In light winds, Slava keeps motion with his legendary leg - hence the name "The Leg from Murmansk"

Will

p.s. by Dibutil
Although seldom but history knows cases when Slava was beaten by the other leg... At least once, from Novosibirsk ;-)
p.p.s. In Russian we call Slava the Iron Leg.

WISSA 2002: pictures

By Alexei Nozdrin

01 - Ancient Interlock near Coliseum



02 - Coliseum



03 - Pigeons



04 - Bridge across Tiber



05 - St. Peter's Basilica



06 - Main Alttar of St. Peter's Basilica



07 - Saint Peter's Square



08 - Village on the Resia Lake



09 - Resia Lake Ice



10 - Drowned Bell Tower



11 - USSR Team



12 - Uhan Gross Sailing



13 - Monoski: about 30km/h



14 - Andrei Maslov is boosting to the finish



15 - Finish



16 - Juha Mannermaa



17 - Skimbats



18 - Hotel "At Deceased Windsurfer"



19 - Kite



20 - Sunset



21 - Ice Hummocks



22 - Winner



23 - Winner



24 - Rajev on the third mark



25 - Kite



26 - Kites Racing



27 - Kites Starting