The best presents I gave were to my nieces who have been taking riding lessons. My first time trying out my new camera was at a show they were in. I got 11 X 14 prints made up and framed.
This is Anika:
And this is Sophia:
Our Christmas tree, and the Gingerbread houses my mother made:
Tomorrow looks like a good day for the ice. It should be strongest in the afternoon, so I'll be leaving for Sandusky in the late morning.
Had a light day of sailing today. Winds were NW at 10 knots and less, but I managed to get some good sailing in. You don't need much wind to get going on ice. Top speed was 26 mph, which I won't even bother posting to Stormboarding.com.
The ice boats are out on Sandusky Bay already, though nobody was using them because of the light winds.
Which would you prefer to have been riding, the iceboats, or the rollercoasters? Thats Cedar Point in the background.
Once I was done for the day, I drove out on Rt. 6 scouting out other locations. Near town, only that triangle between Battery Park Marina and Cedar Point is well frozen. Much of the rest is rough, and I saw some spots where the ice looked REALLY thin. It turns out that West of the Edison Bridge is VERY good ice. I found a spot near Bay Harbor Marina to launch. I'm going to have to pay $5 for parking there, but its going to be worth it. I spoke to one of the ice fishermen, and he says the water is 4 feet deep in most places, and frozen about a foot deep already. Some places, the ice is resting on the bottom. Of course, you need to be careful near bridges and the mouths of rivers, but stay away from them, and its SAFE.
Sunday looks like its going to be excellent wind. Just hope the snow doesn't pile up too much before then. Looks like there's a system coming in now.
I got my first day on ice for the 2010-2011 season.
First thing, I had to get some pictures of the Cleveland lighthouse. With the huge winds and cold temperatures we had, the lighthouse got COVERED in ice.
This one was taken from Wendy Park
This one was from Voinovich Park.
An hour and a half later, I was at Sandusky Bay, the Dempsey boat launch. I had been afraid that the ice was not thick enough, but a few test holes with my ice screw showed that it was at least 5 inches thick. It was just a bit rough, crusty, white ice. I had no trouble walking on it because I had specifically modified my ski boots.
You can barely see the tips of a couple sharpened stainless steel screws sticking out through the sole of the boot. The bits sticking out the sides are the ends of an aluminum bar.
Light wind, 12 M Liquid Force Havoc, but I managed some fairly good speed runs. Top speed was 43.6 mph. Nowhere near my record, yet, but its early in the season. I think I could probably have gotten some better speed if my skis had been a bit sharper. I had a tendency to get pulled downwind faster than I wanted, which lowered my apparent wind speed. I just gave them a new edge, and they are ready for tomorrow. Unfortunately, the wind will be much lighter, but it should be good training for when there's going to be some real wind.
Here is some helmet cam video for the day:
I almost forgot: I got some great shots of the sun setting over the frozen bay on the way home:
I had my first snow session of the 2010-2011 winter season. There was just barely enough snow on the grass at Edgewater to get going, with 20-30 knt winds from the NW.
When I first showed up, Chris was just bringing his kite in from the lake. Seems he had been out on the water in 30 degree weather!
Hans, and then Ken showed up and had a good session out on the water.
I took my 8M Slingshot Turbo Diesel out on the snow instead. GPS measured by top speed for the day at 33 MPH.
I am creating this blog to keep track of my attempts to break last year's speed record. I had a great day out at Presque Isle when I got up to 54.6 MPH out on the ice with an 8M Slingshot Turbo Diesel.
Till the snow starts, I will be blogging about my work to get ready, and any other kiting I'll be doing.
Here's video from yesterday's session out on the water at Edgewater Park. My buddy Chris was out till after sunset, and I got some video of him.
