Strategy session before hitting the lake
Strat and Brenna having fun
Woodette with her 6m Flysurfer ‘2Cool’ enjoying the blue sky
Guin showin’ some style
Dr. Evil jumping to the frickin’ moon
Tommy from Shaw TV doing a story about local snowkiting
Kites filling the sky
Coming down from a jump
Smiles all day long
Allen snowkiting for the first time
Powered up and lovin’ it
That’s right, it’s April and we’re still snowking in awesome conditions on Wabigoon Lake! Just last year we windsurfed April 20, but that doesn’t look like it’ll happen until mid May this year. So to take advantage of the conditions presented, 6 of us headed out snowkiting on what was a sunny warm day, with steady wind. My younger sis Guin along with fiance Allen, were in town from Toronto to celebrate our Dad’s birthday, and, just so happened to bring their kites, skis and snowboards with them. And with the conditions on the lake right now being just perfect for snowkiting, it was a smart decision on their part. We all had lots of laughs, spills and thrills during the day. It was a real nice way to wind down the snowkiting season as a group like we had. Strat was pulling his daughter around on the sled, Allen was cruising for his first time on a snowboard, Paul was hucking some huge jumps, Woodette was cruising for hours, Guin was having a blast and I was just soaking it all in…very nice!
Thanks to my big bro Al for shooting some 140+ digital images of the day. Great shots!
Have fun in life!
Rigging for Woodette…even in the winter!
Some of the kiters for a group photo. Look at the shine off my goggles!
Marg and I before the race
The Champ in her playground
Paul coming down after a 20′ jump! haha
Margot and Rob “The Professor” Evans (Men’s ski champion)
We are back from another terrific weekend spent with friends and fellow wind junkies at the 4th Annual Kite Crossing. This years event with over 100 registered kiters made it THE largest snowkiting event in North America! And who else better to represent the woman ski class as Champion? Well, non other than our very own Woodette! Holy cow eh!
The winds were forecasted all day Saturday to be steady in direction and speed, but good ol’ Mother Nature proves us wrong again, by mixin’ it up just a bit with a 40 degree wind shift 5 minutes before the start, failing winds halfway through a 32 mile killer thigh burning course, all the while with sunny blue skies above. Paul and I after crossing each other on a few tacks, to get to what was now, the windward mark (remember the 40 degree wind shift?), decided to stop for a ‘rest’ after the international ‘beer signal’ of a hand raised high in the air tilting back n’ forth was seen. I had packed some emergency beer in my backpack for such an occasion, so stopping made sense to us! We decided when we ran out of beer to just head back to the event site and cruise around with some of the other no-competing kiters. Good choice because later, better than half of the racers decided to either turn around, walk, or get picked up on the lake (remember the failing winds?). I was looking for Woodette on the return trip, but with kiters spread out all over the place and just trying to focus on the terrain in front of you, I must have passed her by.
Time passed by back at the event site by trying new gear manufaturer’s had to demo, kiting, chillin’ and socializing. I took my binoculars out to look for Woodette and spotted her still a few miles out struggling to keep her kite in the air with he lack of wind. I contemplated flagging down a snowmobile to go pick her up, but decided to just let her be… Sometime later the wind started to pick up, kiters were out and about then I grabbed everybody’s attention pointing to the sky and Margot’s kite heading to the finish line saying ” now let that be a lesson to all of us!” 3-1/2 hrs later she was cruisin to the finish that none of us made! Awesome stuff!
In the end, it was Woodette. The only woman to finish the race! Back-to-back Summer & Winter Crossing wins! Wow, that is still so unbelievable! By no means is she the most talented kiter or windsurfer, but determination? Well, her wins prove her will to finish!
Put your hands together for our Super-Champ Margot “Woodette” Woodworth!
