Lured by the Dark Side
April 12, 2007
by Dan Kelsey


   I went to the dark side this past weekend.

   We went to Avon NC and stayed in our normal place with Mommy and we also took Adam. He is 18 and a senior in High School and it was his Easter break. We went Friday night after he got out of school. Saturday morning it was 43 and blowing 10-35. The water had been 68 the week before and was now 55. Needless to say Lana was not going to windsurf and I decided to wait for another day.

   So we when shopping at all of the Windsurf/Kitesurf shops saw Steve Schank in his shop where he makes very high tech high quality Kiteboards, and he told us about the Cabarete DR and what he was doing. He told us about the new kites and how much better they were now. When I tried Kitesurfing 4 years ago it sorta scared me when I lost control and got dragged by the kite. The new kites have 100% de-power and are much easier to use and launch after you crash. So Adam and I signed up to do Kitesurfing for Sunday. It was a nice day but still cold 50, and light winds which were great for learning to fly the new kites on the beach. I have had a small trainer kite for 5-6 years and Adam and I were very good at flying it already. So flying the new kite was no problem. Lana watched us and is somewhat interested if she can do the lessons on a perfect day. The next day was not windy enough to go out but the three of us rode our bikes every day and that was fun I have a new bike I got last summer that is 17 lbs and I have upgrade Lana’s bike to weigh 19 lbs. Adam uses my old Tommasini which in its day was a $2000 bike but is still great at 23 lbs.

   So Wednesday is our last day and the instructor calls at 9:00 am to have us come at 10:00 am. It is still very cold 55 but it is blowing 19-23 which is a little windy to learn but it is our last chance. They have Wave runners for three people so we load the board sail and go to a sand island in the sound. The wind is blowing from the east which normally you would not do Kitesurfing in but with the wave runner and the shallow water it is not an issue. He rigged a 9 meter kite and had Adam go first since he weighs 170 and we expected the wind to pick later to haul my 215 lbs around. He did pretty good but did not go more than 30 feet before he fell. By the time it was my turn the winds had picked up and it was blowing 23-30. It reminds me of waterskiing except you are controlling the speed and direction. I did get up on the board and went a bit farther than Adam, but not what you would call a good ride. I did get launched about 10 feet in the air when I moved the kite too fast and I had a few good crashes, but nothing too bad or worse than Windsurfing.

   By the time we got back to the shop my feet were so numb that I could hardly walk. All in all it was great fun and I think I might be addicted.

- Dan Kelsey