Brian Schenck >> Desert Day Dreams

It has been a great start to the summer with many days on the snow and the water around the Western US into the beginning of June.  We were tired of wearing rubber and day dreaming of warm water and desert winds.  A quick check of the forecast for Searchlight, NV and we were bouncing around the warehouse like happy little kids ready for a road trip.  A double bonus was Bob Wayne would be playing live at the Bunkhouse Saloon in Las Vegas that night.  Hit Vegas before sunset and saddled up at the Bunkhouse for a couple pre-show brews when the bar maid informed that Bob had cancelled just a couple hours previously.

Down but not out we had a weeks worth of wind coming and we were heading to one of our former home town beaches.  The next morning the billboard read 108 degrees as sage brush leaned side ways in the southerly wind.  A quick stop in Searchlight to load up on water and ice and the van was heading down the dirt road to 6 mile cove.

This launch has an interesting history that has been buried amongst rumors, pirates and thieves.  The first rumor that lead me to this beach a decade ago was that windsurfers once road here as far back as the 70’s.  There were tails of a wind chime race where riders from both the Arizona and Nevada side would rally for rights of passage.  My first day here with a kite in hand I felt like I was hiking down the Ho-chi-min trail ducking through a jungle of bushes with a village of people assisting we pumped kites up in knee deep water and enjoyed some of the best top 10 riding I have ever found.  Over time local kiteboard supporters including wild land fire fighters organized clean up and cut downs and eventually burned the remaining debris.  The result was a pristine desert oasis hand carved for kiters.  Don’t let this description fool you, as this is an advanced kiters playground that requires one to crank upwind immediately to escape the cove and on shore lies many down wind dangers.  But with an open beach came the thieves and to protect the kiters came the mafia, luckily today we were amongst friends with kite pumps.

We were stoked with the conditions because we were able to put the 10 and 11 meter kites through there range.  The favorite kite for the conditions this week though was the C4 with so many ramps and rollers it was the funnest kite to carve around and pop new tricks.  I am continually amazed at how universal of a kite the C4 is.  From racing across the lake from Nevada to Arizona to cranking upwind to Mid Basin on one tack and being so playful in between.  Every session seems to get better with the C4.

I am typing this news while heading North back to Utah and I have to cut it short because the flags are blowing and Sand Hollow near St. George is just around the corner, there is always time for 1 more session.

Brian Schenck