Dear Rider/Spectator,
After the weekend it seems
like the festival should be titled "a day in the
life." Riders that pursue winter winds are true
passion seekers and the past weekend was nothing
short of what keeps them coming back. Throughout
the weekend Mother Nature showed so many faces,
it really represented what the winter can be
like for riders in Ontario.
There was a lot of concern
from the event organizers shortly before the
festival due the rain that swept through the
region. The surface conditions on Saturday were
less than perfect due to the refrozen wet snow
that made it challenging to keep an edge
especially for the boarders. Throughout the day,
the winds steadily increased from the forecasted
20km/hr southwest maxing out late afternoon
around 35km/hr. That evening a small contingency
of riders made their way to Heros, a local
Keswick bar and diner to enjoy winter kiting
videos while they ate, drank and reminisced
about the day.
Sunday morning was overcast
and extremely icy, with near surface white out
conditions. There were times in the morning
looking across the lake, all you could see was
kites in the air, but the riders underneath were
hidden by the blowing surface snow. Winds during
this time were estimated to gust above 40km/hr.
By noon, Mother nature had calmed down a little.
The sun came out and warmed up the surface just
enough to soften some of that crustiness for the
rest of the day. Spectators, journalists and videographers enjoyed
interacting with riders and merchants as they
learned about the sport and equipment.
Every year when the
conditions are right and some times it happens
more than once, a couple of riders sail from the
bottom of Lake Simcoe (Keswick) to the top (Orillia)
and back. Well the conditions were excellent on
Sunday for kiter Joe Albert (top speed 65km/hr),
and snow sailor Igor Renkas (top speed 51km/hr).
They departed Keswick at 11:30hrs and arrived
two hours later in Orillia for lunch. The sail
back was a lot shorter as it was more downwind.
They left Orillia at 15:15 and arrived one hour
and fifteen minutes later in Keswick. In a back
pack Joe carried a kite pump, 2.5m2
foil kite, boots, GPS with spare batteries, extra
goggles, full change of clothes in a water proof
bag, first aid kit, bit of food and some
liquids. Igor carried a torch, some cream to
warm numb fingers, cell phone, extra clothes and
two GPSs. The total distance there and back was 105km.
Sweeeeeeet gentlemen!
Dealers and brand
representatives that were on-site over the
weekend included Fly Surfer, Grivel, Kestrel,
Naish, North, Ozone, Peter Lynn, and Q-Powerline.
The event organizers would like to thank all the
riders and spectators for managing the parking
safely.
From what we know, no kiter had their lines cut
and the weekend was incident free. A special
thanks to those attendees than came from out of
town - Toronto, Mississauga, Markham, Lake Scugog,
Bowmanville, King City, Barrie, Brantford,
London, Kitchener, Cambridge, Saskatchewan, and
Ireland.
The winter sailing season on
Lake Simcoe usually ends in early April when the
ice melts. There's still time for you to enjoy
what the Ontario winter season has to offer. So
come on out and find out why they are
Born to Ride.
Saturday Update
