Up, up and away

Recently I took kite boarding lessons at South Oliphant Beach on Lake Huron.  This is just north of Sauble Beach, which is about 2 hours west of Barrie.




Wade with Sam and his sister

Sam Medysky

 This beach was a fantastic place to learn as the water is smooth and shallow for quite a distance. The instructors were also fantastic. My instructor was Sam Medysky, a pro rider for Best, who teaches at his father’s Kite School in the summer.

As a ski instructor, I know the value of lessons, and kite boarding lessons are a necessity. If you start with professional lessons, you will get to enjoy your investment in the sport sooner and safer.  Safer is an important factor, I have gained a lot of respect for the power of the kite and was glad I learned how to react when things go wrong.





South Oliphant

The lessons started with the theory behind how the kite and the wind work together. We then moved onto flying a trainer kite. Many people say it is not worth the time or money to buy a trainer but I enjoyed the experience and my boys love flying that kite now too. I had purchased the trainer before the lessons and had about 10 hours flying it before going to the lessons.  I believe this really helped my progression as I was able to move to training with a real kite in the water faster than the other groups. Before heading out to the water, we were taught how to properly rig/launch the kite and how to use the safety release systems. In kiteboarding there are 3 levels of release systems and you can carry a small cutting tool as a last resort in case you get tangled in the lines under water.  Once in the water, we tried body dragging and practicing how to go upwind without our board so that we would know how to recover it if we lost it.  Next we incorporated the board and water starts. Up until now I had thought, this is pretty easy, but trying to control a kite and stand up and ride on a board makes the complication level go way up. The board I choose to ride is like a wakeboard that is pulled behind a boat.  When riding a wakeboard someone else worries about the power and direction for you.  When kiteboarding you are trying to generate and control the power while trying to steer your board and be aware of all that is going on around you. Once you generate the power required to pull you up out of the water you have to move the kite quickly to a place with less power to pull you across the water.  While learning the finesse of this move you may find yourself being pulled right out of the water and many feet up and forward through the air.  This happened to me many times, but I had a helmet and water to fall into.  If you are learning this close to shore, you may end up crashing onto the beach.

I have a lot of people to thank for making this great weekend possible. I'm sorry if I forget anyone:

 ·         Doug and Pat for hosting me this weekend.  Your home was a comfortable place to relax after long drives and days on the water;

·         Bruce and the crew at Silent Sports in Thornhill for recommending the Medysky kite school

·         Wade for the ride out to the bay in your jeep and for sending most of the photos that appear in today’s blog;

·         Pete for helping me pick my gear; and

·         My family, Sara and the boys for supporting me on this adventure.  


L-R: Wade and his jeep, Me and Luke