Sherman Island

[berrisbob]

I've kited at Sherman perhaps a handful of times in north winds. It is certainly doable, but it is probably best described as frustrating and not enjoyable due to the typically gusty up and down wind.

In north winds, the wind comes essentially from the big power line tower on the other side of the river straight to the launching beach. The tack out from the beach is overall pretty much directly toward Ki'topia as was already mentioned. However, the north wind tends to be a bit shifty as well as gusty and up and down, so the direction can vary quite a bit from tack to tack.

The wind is generally gusty (quickly changing in strength) and up and down (slowly varying in strength). It is not uncommon for it to be cranking near 30mph, followed by a lengthy lull of 5-10mph just a few seconds later. When this happens, the kite will fall out of the sky (read below for an unpractical solution to this problem). The rider must then wait for the wind to pick back up to a ridable level, which could be anywhere from 20 seconds to several minutes. You need patience, and good relaunch skills and equipment.

If you can't stay upwind in the crappy conditions, you may be blown onto one of the uninhabited, undeveloped islands downriver of the launch, or worse yet into the lake. You must be prepared for a significant hike and/or swim. The good news is that even if this happens, it is relatively safe. It's not like being swept out of the gate on a big ebb.

The wind tends to be a bit more steady at Windy Cove. But the launch was closed there last year, and may still be. The bottom line is that you can kite Sherman in a typical north wind. You probably just won't enjoy it. That it is not enjoyable, is the reason you will almost never see anyone kiting there in north winds.

Unpractical solution to kite falling out of the sky in a big lull
Back in 2002, I had an idea how to deal with the big lulls that are so common at Sherman in north winds and which result in the kite falling out of the sky. I filled my struts and leading edge with helium. I was only able to partially fill the bladders with helium (maybe to about 80%), with the rest being filled with plain air, since I had no regulator for the high pressure helium and was afraid I would burst the bladders. Still this actually worked better than I expected. My kite only fell out of the sky twice, in two separate huge lulls. In many other lulls, the kite would just hover there, threatening to fall. The cool thing was that since the leading edge had so much helium in it, when the kite landed in the water, it rested on the tips of the trailing ends of the struts, with the leading edge pointed upward. So as soon as the wind picked up to more than about 5mph, the kite relaunched immediately.

Note that the helium is only helpful in keeping the kite from falling out of the sky in big lulls. It does nothing for the other problems with north winds there. It doesn't help in the least when the wind shifts. It doesn't help in the least when a 30+mph gust hits. And it doesn't help in the least when a 12mph lull hits and the kite no longer has enough power to keep you planing. In this case you will still sink into the water until it picks back up again (read... not enjoyable).

So why is this idea not practical? Two reasons:
1) Even with the helium, the kiting is not enjoyable in the north winds.
2) Without a recovery mechanism to get the helium back out of the kite and back into the helium tank when the session is over, it just costs too much. No doubt it's possible to engineer a recovery mechanism. But even then, you're still stuck with problem #1.

[Greg]

Wow! that's showing true commitment!
G.

[jono]

If I recall, a certain someone got lofted (primary release failure) attempting to kite north winds not so long ago too!

[Greg]

Hay wait a minute, that para-gliding not kitesurfing!
G.

[Blackbird]

North winds and Sherman do not make for good kiting. period. Did it once. Never, ever, ever again. Don't let the meter fool you. As stated here, it is miserable. No matter how much you're jones'n, you will quickly affirm everything everyone here has already said, and have a crappy session. Go somewhere else, or something else.

[windhorny]

The spot I always want to try is the estuary along otis near the airport. it looks perfect for an offshore day and is close. One of these days I will get the balls to try it. It's where they jetski.

[Czech]

When I started kiting about three years ago, I went to Sherman at the end of a season and launched in North wind at Kitopia, there was no one kiting and it was gusting to 30. I am told that I launched about 25 feet into the air before hitting the ground really hard, hurt alot but no broken bones still kited afterwards that day. it was on a 10m Nitro and it was horrible kiting in the gusts. Sherman can be really different place that we are used to normally when its blowing North winds... -Martin