NEKiteboard.com

Utah 2012 –

Mike Shugrue — Sun, 06 May 2012 20:55:53 +0000

Admittedly, my love for kite skiing has been on the decline ever since I moved south from Maine. With less than favorable conditions you have to travel an hour plus to find a lake (if frozen) or some old gnarly agricultural field to get a get session in. Even if you succeed in finding a location with adequate snow you can count on the wind being shifty and inconsistent. On multiple occasions I’ve bailed on invitations to ride the snow and instead wrestled my thick wetsuit on to ride the ocean – Chilly, yes – but a guaranteed session.

So why the hell would I bother going to Utah? The driving force: my dad. He did his research and in doing so he sold Adam and I on the idea of riding the plateaus east of Mount Pleasant, UT – Tons of snow, plentiful winds, and amazing scenery.

I’ll cut right to the point – This trip reminded me of why I love Kiteboarding/skiing/surfing so much. Remember the first time you caught air, did a long downwinder, that session you rode until the sun set, or maybe the first time you cut some waves up on a surfboard? Strapping on my skis at 10,000’ and riding/gliding atop the Wasatch Mountain’s had me drunk on adrenaline. With near perfect conditions my senses were on complete overload, and only kept in check by the raw beauty of the scenery.
We flew into Salt Lake City and started our trip off with a gravity day at Snowbird to warm up the legs. The following morning we drove to southwest to Fairview, Ut where we had rented a cabin; it was a mere 15min drive from the cabin to Bosco’s Hill. We rode the plateau for 4 days, only missing 1 day because it was puking snow and we simply couldn’t see anything as we drove up the mountain road.

Here are a few shots from the trip:

(3 pages)

* Photo credit to A. Szafran & M.Shugrue

Spring 2012 Updates –

Mike Shugrue — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 19:04:13 +0000

I’ll apologize upfront – I’ve been way to busy and have not been able to update the page as much as I’d like…
This winter we scored a few solid session before the unusually warm spring showed up and killed the wind

2/15 – We had an epic trip out to Utah to kite ski on the plateaus at 10,000′ – I’ll spare you the details and let you wait for the next post… tons of images and video. I’ll never kite ski in New England again…

4/9 – Provided some nice west wind down at the “gut” and 20+ guys hit the water for some fun, kites ranged from Doctor JR on 6m to Rosen plowing through people on an 11m – did a little video work with the GoPro Hero2, here’s a sample:

The Water is Getting Colder…

Mike Shugrue — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 17:58:32 +0000

Yo, Mother Nature – it is late December and NO snow, what’s the deal with that ? I’m giving you two weeks to get your a$$ in gear… I shouldn’t be sweating in a wetsuit at this time in the season. The skis will are waxed and ready, but until then the kite board is ready to rip. Marcus and I hit the water on 12/19 for our 3rd December session – it only looks cold, so quit your complaining

WINTER 2012-NEkiteboard goes to Utah for some pow-pow where there are NO lift line (cause we don’t need’um)

Fall Carnage – 2011

Mike Shugrue — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 19:44:22 +0000

Despite an early Nor-Easter and a little snow the fall season has been decent- predominantly riding my 8m or 10m. Several of us have suffered a few bumps and bruises out on the water, but it has been well worth it. Here is some GoPro footage taken mostly form this fall – some later summer action was tossed in too – Enjoy and see you on the water.

Fall 2011

Mike Shugrue — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:03:54 +0000

This fall season has been all over the map – We all thought that Irene was the fierce start to the 2011 fall season, but the wind fizzled out. Initially, we scored solid days of NE in Rhode Island with side-on conditions and some decent waves. Ryan, John, Devon, and some RI natives showed up to score a few waves. October provided a half dozen powered SW days along the CT coast. Some guys even managed a downwinder from Clinton, CT to the Connecticut River with a few secret flat water stop over’s – needless to say after covering 8+ miles they were smoked when they hit shore – (I wouldn’t recommend anyone tries this unless they are with someone who has done it before!). The weekend of 11/11 – 11/13 looks solid – saddle up.

If you haven’t seen the new F-one short film I suggest you sit back and take a look as they head to Madagascar -

Antandroy – Trailer from Band-Originale on Vimeo.

Hurricane Irene – What a Bitch…

Mike Shugrue — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 00:43:36 +0000

When the Wind Doesn’t Blow…

Mike Shugrue — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 19:42:18 +0000

As a kiteboarder the lack of wind can tend to drive you insane – the mere sight of a flag moving, mention of breezy coastal conditions can trigger a series of irrational decisions. To begin to cope with the rather shitty conditions we’ve resorted to visiting our local cable park.

Riding the Sesitec 2.0 is fairly similar to the pull you’d experience behind a kite while unhooked – Bobby, Dimitri, and I stopped by to lay a few runs down and get a little practice –

The Weekend

Mike Shugrue — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 23:07:39 +0000

It’s all about the Weekend
Saturday provided some intense easterly winds in the low to mid 30’s churning up some serious waves in Long Island sound. The typical group of riders convened and conjured up a plan to hunt down some serious flat water. We decided we had to visit place known by riders as “The Bad Lands” – A jetty stretching 85 yards north to south ½ mile off –shore, and behind it was a massive slick. The session consisted of small kites and a lot of boosting. We unfortunately had one rider taco his kite and required a coordinated rescue to get him back to shore…everything ended well.
Sunday brought winds from the SW as the storm from pushed off the coast of New England and we again had to pull out 6-8m kites to get through the day. The sun came out and everyone had a blast…Rough weekend

Here is what you missed…

Stalling at the Start

Mike Shugrue — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:08:50 +0000

The Spring season seemed to be ramping up fast, but now the wind has stalled and pitched out of the North and continues to be cold… The forecast doesn’t look promising this week – someone needs to make a sacrifice to the wind gods, perhaps the burning of an old kite?

Add some dramatic music to a video clip and BAM – Motivation

Talk about about being reckless – Crane Jump

Crane Jump from kitecentre Zanzibar on Vimeo.

Wind’n Wave 3/12

Mike Shugrue — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 19:44:17 +0000

The weekend was finally upon us, and conveniently the wind was too. The forecasts looked more reliable further east with the addition of a few waves – Ryan, Chuck, Devon and I took to Rhode Island for some kite-therapy on small kites –

A taste of what you missed