Hello,
I was camping and kayaking at Old Federal today with my family. After I packed up the campsite and I was about to head home I was very surprised to see a kite just above the water. I was too far away to see much but it was a white and red kite. Thank you to whomever it was. You made my weekend!
I fell in love with the idea of kiteboarding year's ago but I only make it to the coast once or twice a year so I figured the dream would be out of reach. Well that did not stop me of acquiring a quiver of kites and a couple of boards over the past couple of years. My oldest son and I began doing some beginning landboarding with my 3 and 5 meter traction kites whenever we could find low tide at Myrtle Beach combined with workable wind and no people around. That is a rare combination that only happened about 2 to 3 hours per week.
Over the past two years we have started static flying my Switchblades (with supervision of a really nice kiter I met in Myrtle Beach)but we have not made it into the water yet. We spent a week in North Carolina earlier this summer to take lessons all week but unfortunately could not do much other than practice kite control and relaunch due to very poor wind. I hope to be able to get another chance at lessons later this summer so I can literally get my feet wet.
I know it will be a long time before I am skilled enough to get into Lake Lanier but it sure does give me a lot more encouragement know that one day I may be able to kite only a few minutes from my house instead of only being able to kite one or two weeks out of the year. I am so glad I found this place.
I hope to see you on the water,
William
Hello,
Welcome to the forum. There is a small but dedicated group of kiters at the Lago. It's one of the most challenging spots you could pick to go kiting at but with enough experience it can be done and will make kiting at other spots seem easy.
You saw my 12m kite yesterday. I was foiling, my wife had a big board and 15m.
Langdon
Welcome! Sorry didn't respond earlier, it was a busy weekend. Glad you saw Rogier out. He's one of our aces here in Atlanta and, likewise, very nice as is pretty much the whole windsport community.
Glad you posted and hit us up with questions, etc. Definitely get some water time in OBX or Florida this fall if you can. If you have a friend with a jetski or boat that can act as chase, that would be good for your first Lanier sessions. Be aware that winds here, especially NW in the winter can be gusty, so choose wisely for your first times out.
Thank you both for the warm welcome. I am still so stoked about the idea of being able to kite the lake one day in the future. How many days per month is there enough wind to kite at Lanier. I did not feel much wind at the campground (except for when our canopy blew away during the thunderstorm) but there was Rogier out there on his kite. I have a 15m and a big board also but don't know if I will need to add a 17 in also.
I will be camping there again next weekend and I hope to see someone on the lake again.
With neoprene, you can sail sometimes as much as 2-3 times a week in the winter. My best winning streak was something like 8 out of 10 days one March. We do get periods when the jet stream - which drives much of the wind here - stays north and we get skunked for maybe a couple of weeks.
Summer is another thing as you can tell by the general state of crankiness from me and a few others. You might go 2-3 weeks without a decent day. That will change in Aug/September as the jet stream starts to swing further south. There's always the chance of tropic weather coming through for the next several months and we can get from a day to several from a good close system, though it sometimes comes with the guilt that the same system devastated people closer to where it came onshore.
Foiling will be the key to light air happiness for both kite and windsurf (and wing). The quicker you can make the jump to the foil, the more light air days you can enjoy. For the better kiters here like Rogier and Alejo, if they can keep the kite up in the air, it's just about windy enough to foil (iirc, witih 15s). The difference is days you can get out here is significant because we have so many 8-15 days that just won't work with a twin tip or windsurf short board. Until you can make that leap, you'll need the more consistent days especially in cooler weather.
Hope that helps a bit.
https://windsportatlanta.com/wiki/FAQS#When_is_it_windy_in_Atlanta.3F