Session Date: April 15th, 2012

Session Time: 3:30 -6:30 3 hours

Location: Home Launch Lake Butte des Morts

2012 Season Days to Date: 6

2012 Season Hours to Date: 14.25

Wind Observations: Well if you read my last post about the SE wind, the S/SW is just the opposite sort of wind here. Lake Butte Des Morts is basically a glorified river. And it just happends to run in a direction that SE will blow directly up it and NW will blow directly down it. S and SW blow across it on shore to where we launch. But I believe the distance across the water just does not allow the wind to fill in fully so you deal with gusts and holes. This is all part of kiting where I kite and why I tend to always err on the side of the larger kite when I rig here. I need a kite to get me through the holes,  I can generally hang on through the gusts.

Session Notes: Was a really enjoyable session. It started with some frustration as I rigged my 10 and was just not powered enough. I hiet that little dip in the chart between 3 and 5. I was watching the day unfold from my daughters Birthday party and the wind was fine for my 10. But when I got out I just did not have the power. So I rigged my 12 and was lit once the wind came back up but I was having fun and did not want to re-rig again. I started out on my FLX and was having a fine time just riding and boosting and trying some hooked in Railies. There was a small lull and I switched to my surfboard strapless and fell on every attempted jibe. When the wind picked up again I went to my Brokite Freeride and the session got even better. I just love this board, no other way to say it. I was just holding a better edge, which allowed me to boost bigger. I was much more comfortable through the chop and carving run transitions. This cemented my idea to sell my FLX and purchase another BRO I am between the Wake and the Pop right now but leaning towards the Wake as it will give me some versatility. Wake for trying tricks, Freeride for just that when the wind is up, and my surfboard.

Anyway the session was as I said really enjoyable. Mostly just a ride, carve and boost session. But another season goal I have is adding a few tricks to my riding. A backroll is first on the list. And towards the end of the session I worked on them. The first couple were not pretty as I was losing the kite back up and through the window. But after a few crash and burns I landed one on my ass and rode out of it and then hit one just perfect, or at least it felt that way. How pretty did it look? No idea but it felt really good and I landed really clean. I decided to just end on a high note as I was pretty worn out. I will pick a session here shortly that I will dedicate to the backroll and hopefully get it cemented into my brain. What is after that I do not know but I will come up with something.