A New Hobby: Kite-Boarding

Living with my sister can be an adventure. Especially when her interests are vast and ever-changing. She's a snowboarder (and then became a member of snowboard patrol), she's an EMT, she dabbles in rock climbing, she's a sport kayaker, etc. I'm usually not far behind. I ski, I dabble in rock climbing, I canoe, and I travel with her on a lot of her adventures. We hike and journey around the state together. Heck, we took a mountaineering course in Peru! But her latest interest? Kite-boarding. In the Summer it will involve a wake-board on a lake, and in the winter she can use her snowboard on that same frozen lake. It involves one HUGE kite, a fair amount of arm strength and a lot of wind. She got the kite after trading in all of her old ice hockey gear (another old hobby of hers) and she's been trying to figure this new contraption out, sans instruction manual. Yesterday evening, before the next snow storm rolled over the mountains, with strong gusts west of town, we decided to try and fly the thing. No board of any type attached yet. We just wanted it airborne. I was her assistant. Holding on as it flapped around in the wind. Flipping it over when it went awry, launching it into the air when required (and then dodging it as it came back down ready to hit me in the face). A few times it collapsed around me, and my sister would run over, both of us laughing, to untangle me from my kite cocoon. We only once got the thing in the air, and it almost drug my sister through the field to the highway! After that, we had no luck and returned home to figure out what the problem was. Once we finally iron it all out, I look forward to joining her this summer on a lake and giving it a whirl. Yay for new hobbies!

My sister wrangling the kite as we fill up the air sacs.
(So it doesn't sink when it hits water.)

It's starting to pick up the wind!

Ready for launching. I was holding on to the other side of it,
waiting for a strong gust to push it towards the sky.

My sister at the ends of the strings, harness attached, waiting for wind.
Oh please, oh please, we need a gust!