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Not many kiters have been on the lakes in Polk County Wisconsin (The PC) so I’d thought I would share my notes. If you’re like me you take your kites and board on any trip during the winter “just in case”, if you happen to be in the area there are lots of lakes that work but these are the best in my opinion.  Just about all of the lakes have a lot of fishermen but they are usually grouped together. Just us some common sense and give everyone plenty of room.  Biggest hazard is snowmobiles rocketing across the lakes.  I plan on trying Yellow Lake near Webster in Burnett County this winter, given its size it should be one of the best lakes for kiting in the area.

There are a lot of farm fields to ride off of Hwy 35 between Milltown and Centuria. Most of the farmers are pretty friendly and will let you ride if you can figure out who owns the field. Be prepared to be denied if you show up in a BMW with MN plates and a purple #4 hat though. 

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Today began like yesterday, huddled in the hotel room watching the rain and waiting for it to end.  Around noon, I decided to be thankful for the wind and that it's still a lot warmer than MN.  So, I headed out to the flats with little optimism.  There was only one kite out and the wind was just starting to build, so I pumped up my 13m and sat in the car getting up the desire to get wet and cold. 

When I did finally get out, it was great.  The water was warm compared to the air and the wind was great.  About an hour later, the wind was super-duper.  I think that's the most powered I've ever ridden.  Made for some really fun jumps and some out of control speed runs. The wind kept building and I finally had to give in and admit I was overpowered, so I warmed up in the car.  When I was about to go out again, another kiter came in on a 9m because he was overpowered.  Gary thought the wind was down, so I launched his 12m for him and landed it for him immediately.  Then he decided maybe it was OK, so he went out, ran two tacks with the kite at nearly overhead and came back in.  The south flats was even flooded by the time I left--hopefully it dries out before the wind returns on Thursday. 

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I guess I'm becoming like the Padre locals--a bit of a weather and wind snob.  It was windy all day, but it was only in the 60's and rainy, so Kit and I hung out today and worked and rested up.  I did at least drive out to the flats to check out the conditions.  I only saw two kites out there, so I didn't feel badly that I wasn't braving the stormy conditions.  Now we're ready for more looping tomorrow!

 Hit up Naturally's in the morning for amazing organic breakfast.  I had great coffee and real yoghurt with bananas and fresh fruit and a bit of granola.  Highly recommended for any meal when you want something besides the typical island food.  They usually have fresh squeezed juice and fresh fruit smoothies that are to die for.  Given my lack of activity, that held me over until the $3 all you can eat taco bar at the Isla Grand hotel.  All you can eat authentic Mexican tamales, enchiladas and tacos during Monday night football.  Really good and a great bargain.  All the cheap kiters can be found there! 

That's all for today--no kiting, just a little R&R.

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Two fabulous days of kiting in warm, sunny conditions.  The wind switched to the south and brought the warm wind and sunny conditions.  Kiting in 20-30mph conditions is a lot nicer when it is warm and sunny! It also helps you warm up when a kiteloop or a jump goes bad.  Only 2 for 4 on kite loops between the two days, so I'm not sure I have enough confidence to try them on snow yet.  Maybe a couple more days and a couple tips I picked up from a local pro will help. 

Most MN kiters returned to the mother-land Saturday night, so they got one of the two good days. Gary and I visited Progresso Sunday evening for some unbelievably great tacos and cerveca--definitely worth the drive for something different for the evening.  We also tried cow intestine, cow lung and pig butt--that wasn't nearly as great as the tacos!

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Well, it seems that I am now known as Loopie--I'm not sure if that's because of all the talk psyching myself up for these loop attempts or if it's because of the fear of my loop taking off somebody's head.  Anyway, not enough wind to speak of today.  Enough wind to fly a stunt kite, get bored of it and drive to Brownsville to fight Black Friday traffic to get an SD card reader for my GoPro cam.  Why can't good kiting destinations have alternative activities readily available?  I gotta say there isn't much to do in Padre besides kite, drink and kite some more.  Bryce, Katie, Denis and Jenn went to see the sea turtles instead of playing volleyball with the cool people, so I blame them.  Good news is the wind is coming back tomorrow and sticking around for the next couple days.  I'll work on unhooked loopies next!

 So, the GoPro cam takes too many pics.  I have to work on deciding when to take pics better.  Turning it on and leaving it on is not a good option.  Guess you only turn it on when you're going to do something worth recording.  1193 pics is too much to look through.  Maybe video is the right option--try that tomorrow.

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I promised a friend I would use my GoPro camera to record the carnage I call kiteloops.  I thought I was taping the previous day and then realized there was no SD card in the camera—why am I so stupid?!  Anyway, I drove out to Radio Shack to get an SD card and sat in the parking lot for 5 minutes trying to figure out why they weren’t open.  The friendly greeter at Walmart wished me a Happy Thanksgiving—it’s nice to be on vacation and not realize when it’s holidays or weekends.  Every day is Saturday.  Picked up my SD card at Walmart to tape today’s carnage.  Most of the group was at the North flats today, so I put the car in 4-wheel drive to navigate through the floodlands formerly known as the North Flats.  It’s amazing that more cars don’t get stuck.  The flats had dried out enough that there was at least a good rigging area and it was funny to watch people slipping and sliding on their way through the muck to get to the beach.

I taped a day of action, so we’ll see what I got.  More backrolls, 720 spins (unintentionally at times!) built my confidence enough to try loops again.  I was 1 for 3 again, but this time I managed to get away without injury.  The loops are getting easier and the fact that I can do it is convincing more people to give it a shot—it makes for good comedy if nothing else!  Thanks to Gary for the hot tub invites to relax all the strained muscles and charley horses from blown loops!

Ended the day with a Thanksgiving dinner with 31 MN kiters and friends at Palm Street Pier.  All you can eat Thanksgiving buffet, a slideshow from Jenn Barnett photography and good conversation was a great way to end the day.  Too tired from a long day of kiting, I had to call it a day instead of partying into the night.

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North winds continued today, so a full day of kiting at the South flats was the call.  The winds were a little lighter, so it was a perfect day for unjustified overconfidence to try some new moves.  That’s what Padre is for right?  After I spent a session building my confidence by refreshing my back rolls and spins, I went out to try some new moves.  I’ve heard that the way to learn kite loops is to boost and then light sabre the bar at the peak of the jump—sounds pretty easy, right?  Well, take it from me, it’s hard to commit to that when you’re in the air.  I wimped out on the first one, which makes it even worse.   As I recall, I jumped, decided I had plenty of air to get the kite around before I landed, pulled the bar, felt the huge power boost from the loop, freaked out and threw the bar.  That pretty much meant that your kite slams into the water, you receive a saltwater enima and everybody looks to see who the retard is.  I knew what to expect next time and it went much better—it’s easier to commit when you know you’re going to get a salty enima if you don’t.  Landed the second one in a sideskid trying to kill all the speed I’m not used to, but I rode it out so I’m told that it counts as landing it.  Third try—I tried to do a butt landing, caught the board on the water, drove my knees into my face and tweaked my hammy.  My original goal was to land hooked and unhooked kiteloops on this trip—I may be readjusting my goals!

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Sweet day today of kiting at the South flats.  We woke up to absolutely no wind, but the locals at the kite shops said a front was coming in that would bring the wind.  Gary called it correctly—he said it was going to turn on like a switch when it got here.  It literally went from 2 to 30 in about 5 minutes.  Small kite, small board day in classic Padre conditions at the South Flats.  The South Flats seem to be a little less flooded than the North flats.  Guess we’ll be at the South Flats most of the time as long as the wind stays from the North.   The North winds are cold, but it’s certainly warmer than MN winds in November!  I bought a 2010 parking pass for the flats, so I guess I have to return a couple more times to get my max value on the parking pass.  Aaron’s kite repair on my 9m held up to all the abuse I could give it, so I’m pretty stoked on the ghetto repair job and plan to test it even harder later in the week—kiteloops, here I come!

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First day in Padre was pretty uneventful.  Just did the bi-annual shopping trip down the strip, buying everything I forgot—this trip it was sunblock and a towel.  I tried to take a nap on the beach on my new beach towel and found out that the print on the 2.99 towels transfers to your skin very nicely.  Guess I shouldn’t be so cheap!  The lack of wind convinced me to find something to do on low wind days—last year it was a skim board, this year it’s a stunt kite.  It’s certainly not kiting, but it might be fun and maybe it’ll keep me out of Mexico or the bar when there’s no wind.  The plan was to camp on the beach with Bryce and Katie.  Kit and I headed there after dinner with the group, but my lack of sleep was catching up to me and I couldn’t stay on the road.  I pulled over to gather myself to make the last mile of driving to the camping spot and woke up at 2:30am.  Guess I passed out in the car, so Kit and I just slept in the car on the side of the road.  Less comfortable than a tent, but we didn’t have to breathe the Red Tide and I’m not sure I was awake enough to set-up the tent.  Hopefully we’ll do better tomorrow!

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Well, I made it to Padre at about 6am to enjoy a day of 14-15mph wind...light wind but warm weather--and new tricks hurt less in light wind!  The wind never showed up, but neither did my brain.  I was pretty wasted after driving through the day and night.  Kit and I spent the day checking out the flooded flats and walking on the beach.  Red tide, an algae that is in the gulf, made the beach less than enjoyable.  Constant coughing and sneezing makes a quiet stroll along the beach less than romantic!  Red tide apparently is pretty nasty and talking to local riders makes it sound like I might not even try an ocean-side downwinder.  Laura (slingshot rider from MN) and Mark Doyle have ended up with swollen eyes and constricted airways from riding in the crap.  Hopefully it gets cold and kills it so I can get one session in over there anyway.

 Thanks to a call from Bryce, I stopped at Exit 353 in TX to hit up the Czech Stop.  It's a 24 hour Czech bakery with kolaches, sandwiches and sausage galore.  I had a sausage, cheese and saurkraut and a cream cheese kolache.  I didn't think I could eat a couple pounds of sausage on my own, so I had to refrain, but I think I might have to get some anyway on the way back.  I've been regretting it since I left, so it's a sure stop on the way back.  A little nourishment from the Czech stop, a 4-pack of energy drinks, a couple Pepsi Max and a couple ephedra pills kepts me changing my destination from Austin to San Antonio to Corpus Christi to Sough Padre.  It also helped that every truck stop I considered crashing at had plenty of creepy people wandering around--not sure I could have slept anyway!

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