Luther Burbank Kiting

Rastaman3030 · Since 06 Mar 2006 18 Posts

Whatsup guys,

Looking at an overhead map of Mercer Island I discovered what looked like a nice little launch site off the Point on the North corner of Luther Burbank Park. I went down and scoped it out today, theres a grassy area for rigging and the spot is completely exposed to Northerly winds. The beach is also shallow wayyy out too.

Has anyone kited off of the Point at Luther Burbank on Lake Washington? The spot looks like it would be great (lake-wise) in a Northerly

I can take pictures if needed...

wylieflyote · Tue Nov 13, 07 7:55 pm

I'm certain if you post this question on Puget Sound Kite, you'd get some answers. I grew up on M.I. but I've never heard of launching at Luther Burbank Beach.
Puget Sound Kite:
http://pskite.org/

Pepi · Tue Nov 13, 07 9:01 pm

Believe it or not, I have tried kiting off of Luther Burbank park on the northernmost tip (just past the old farmhouse foundation).

I can think of too many reasons why it was stupid and did not work, most of all the prevalent wind direction never worked well unless you had Springtime northwesterly, and even then it was too light.
There is a slight shoal that extends away from the point, but it still is not quite enough distance to get your lines very well strung out.
After launching, there is the issue of where to land your kite if you don't make it upwind, there are lots and lots of sticker bushes and overhanging treelimbs all along the shoreline heading east down to the boat docks.

Southerlies would not work at this location since the breeze would be directly offshore.

I'm definitely not sounding very positive about this, sorry.

I will divulge that my first launches off this point were back in the day when we were just testing out the original Wipika 2line kites and Mosquito Hybrid Foil kites, and then later attempts were with the Naish AR5 kites.
That being, you might find that if you are a hearty individual with lots of cojones and plenty of planning for just the right conditions, you might just pull it off.

I also made additionally futile attempts at Newcastle Beach, Proctors Landing(swimming out with the kitelines wrapped on my bar- super dumb), and even Seward Park.

When kiting on Lake Washington we did find one way to kite that was kind of fun and super stupid. Launching off of a small outboard motor boat and kiting around the boat while it drifted downwind, then crashing your kite next to the boat to then body drag yourself onto the boat and then coil up your kite to self rescue.

Pepi

Rastaman3030 · Since 06 Mar 2006 18 Posts

thanks for the response pepi! sounds like thats not the greatest launch spot than...maybe i'll give it a shot later on when i become more comforatable on my SLE.

I like your last idea! we've got a small 15' jetboat that would work perfect for starting in the middle of the lake!

Pepi · Wed Nov 14, 07 10:08 am

Jetboats work much better for launching and landing kites since they have a lot less deck clutter to snag lines. Just beware of sucking stuff into the jet intake port.

If you are in the Seattle area, check in with John Penxa or Jason Neubauer, they were some of my original boat launch partners back in the day when we first started kiting in Seattle.

Boy this shit totally dates me.