It didn’t take long for Barrie-area kitesurfers to hit the water after the ice went out this year.
Some have been out on Kempenfelt Bay for two weeks already, due to the unseasonably warm winter.
Kitesurfing, or kiteboarding as some call it, is when a surfboard, with a similar design as a snowboard, is attached to the person's feet, while being pulled around the lake attached to a parachute-like kite. The wires are attached to the person's vest, and control lines are used to steer the kite in the wind.
Sherman Liu, 59, from Barrie, says he has been enjoying the sport since 2018.
Liu and five others were out on the bay Monday enjoying the east-to-south wind, as they say it’s safer as the gusts drive them toward shore rather than out toward the mouth of the bay, far from shore.
Wearing dry suits or wet suits, depending on the boarder’s tolerance to the colder elements, they’ll stay out on the water for four or five hours.
The learning curve is a little bit steep, Liu says, as you have to combine two skills — the kite skill and the board skill — to make it all work together.
And a lot of arm strength?
“Not really,” Liu said while standing at Centennial Beach and getting ready to head out on the water. “We wear a harness and use whole-body strength to steer. The arms are mainly used for the control and the speed."
And steering is fairly easy?
“It's like driving a car, and when you do it enough it becomes second nature,” he added.
Conditions can make being out on the water this time of year a little bit dangerous, Liu says.
“We take care of each other. We keep an eye on the weather and each other," he said.
Sean Agostino, 31, who also lives in Barrie, loves the sport and calls it addictive.
“It’s like a form of meditation,” he said. “When you are out there, there is nothing to think about.”
Agostino has been at it for about four years now.
“When I was in Vietnam, it was the sport to do there,” he explained. “It’s just what everyone was doing, and I really wanted to try it.”
Agostino then moved to nearby Minet’s Point.
“It’s like a world-renowned wind destination," he said of the secluded south-end neighbourhood. "Hopefully they don’t build too many buildings down here and upset our wind tunnel.”
The challenge is what he loves the most, though.
“It’s very difficult to progress and learn tricks,” Agostino said. “You could be out here every day for years and years and still be working on a couple of things.”
