Midnight Sun kite event

Reisebrev fra kite event med Tromsø kiteklubb. Sakset fra bloggen min:)

The other day I stumbled upon a kite event to be hosted in Tromsø. As some of you know, Tromsø is the larget city north of the Polar Circle. Despite the fact that palm trees and sandy beaches seemed much more tempting than to go even further north, (the water here is freezing) my girlfriend and I packed all our gear and jumped on the plane.

As we landed at the airfield in Tromsø (not much of an airport :P) at 11PM the sun was still high in the sky. We got our gear and hooked up with a nice guy named Jørgen who had come to pick us up. He wasn’t looking to well though, and when we asked he told us he just got out of the hospital from food poisoning! He asked if I had my license, told me to drop him of at home so he could sleep, and told us to take his car. And I just met him 5 minutes ago! Awesome guy :)

After a one hour drive we got to the spot and were immediately stunned by the incredible scenic all around us. We had to cross a river to get to the spot, but the people from Tromsø kite klub had been kind enough to bring a boat to take people back and forth. As we got to the camp site, the barbeques were already fired up and burgers and cold beer were waiting :D Not a bad reception at all!

Grillingfallskjermdrop

BURGERS AND BEERS: As we got to the spot the food was all done and beers were cooling in the water. It was almost 12’o clock and the sun had just gone behind a mountain. OVER: The sun comes out from behind the mountain as a couple of guys drop in by parachute

We got settled in our tents and fell asleep straight away.

The day after we were woken early in the morning by the wind trying to rip our tent in halves :) The day before there were no wind at all, but now it was blowing steadily above 30 knots. Time to get going!

We pumped the brand new flexifoil proton 2, and started out flying it on the beach.

kiteflyging på stranda]

FLYING: Marte is trying her first jumps on the beach while I’m making sure she doesn’t fly off :P

The first day if kiting can be described by nothing short of epic! Even though the water was measuring in at 7 degrees, the sun was baking and the wind was blowing. After getting suited up in wetsuits, gloves, shoes and hoods we got out on the water. Marte gave it a go as well and was successful at times, despite the fact that her natural reaction to getting water in her face was to pull hard down on one side looping the kite :P

Later in the afternoon the time was up for a kite race! I got of to a good start but got taken out by a rouge kite at one of the turning points loosing precious time.. Instead of continuing, I went to jump in front of the TV cameras that had showed up to film the event and it showed out that the story was broadcast on the 9’o clock Sunday news! Pretty sweet!

Race Race flattvann:)

COMPETITION: Even though the race didn’t go as planned I still got some good fun out of it!

The next day the wind had dropped down to a feeble 8 knots and no one were able to get going on the water. Even though the wind was low it was pretty stable, so we decided to stack my kites. And yet again it worked like a dream! There was no time to put on a wetsuit, so I had to make sure not to crash my kite or do anything stupid :)

Stacking!

STACKED KITES: Stacking your kites is a great way to have some fun in those days with low wind

The day was finished of like the one prior with beer an barbeque together with even more people that had showed up. And after all the beers were drunk and the food ate we went to bed, bodies aching smiling from ear to ear. The next morning it was time to pack our gear, get back to the airfield, and go home. Even though it would have been nice to stay a couple of days more, I was really looking forwards to sleeping in my own bed again and take a warm shower.. But one thing is for sure; I’ll be back next time!

I want to direct a big thanks to the people in Tromsø kite club for putting in so much effort making this event awesome! Thank you!

Lagune