On Thursday (May 14), we were down at Naskeag Point enjoying the beautiful day and wishing that we could fly like a seagull in the 17-mile-per-hour wind gusts. Then, along came Jim McMillan from Blue Hill, a local expert in the extreme sport of kiteboarding. He does the next best thing to flying like a seagull.
Here, as preliminary examples, ls Jim speed-racing toward the islands and launching into one of his flying jumps.
This was no performance; there were only about five people at the point. Jim was just practicing on a fine, windy day when the tide was low enough for him to spread out and assemble his gear. He needed room for that; the lines to the kite appeared to be at least 70 feet long and the kite seemed longer than a large pickup truck.
To get started, Jim placed his kite and extended lines, harness, and control bar in waist-deep water. Then, still standing in water, he hooked the lines to his harness, grabbed the control bar, and jerked the kite up into the wind. Jim immediately exploded out of the water like a submarine missile..
The kite instantly shot up to its full extension and, due to Jim’s weight, moved directly over him; he was wrenched straight up out of the water due to the different forces at work:
Once out of the water, Jim practiced a series of surfing, jumping, and long-line racing moves in the white-capped water, which he sculpted into beautiful wakes. Our guess is that he achieved at least 40 feet in height and probably more in some of his jumps.
The day’s winds, though stiff to us, were mild compared to some that leading kiteboarders search for world-wide. Reportedly, the sport’s record jump occurred in South Africa: It was 94 feet high with an airtime of 8.5 seconds in 40-mile-per-hour winds. The record for kiteboard surface sailing reportedly is 50.59 knots (about 70 MPH). That’s extreme for someone standing on a curved board that’s about 11 feet long.
(Brooklin, Maine)