Syracuse.com - Local power kiter holds kiting lessons on frozen Onondaga Lake

[HuntingNY-News]

It involves maneuvering a semicircle-shaped kite that pulls the rider along land, ice or water at speeds of up to 40 miles per hour.

Syracuse, N.Y.—Patrick Coyne of Westvale teaches kiting, but not the kind where you hold a roll of twine while a colorful diamond shape floats on the end of it. Coyne teaches power kiting, which involves maneuvering a semicircle-shaped kite that pulls the rider along land, ice or water at up to 40 miles per hour.

Last week, Coyne took Kyle Ray and Mason Monahan, both 15-year-olds from Coyne's Westvale neighborhood, out on Onondaga Lake to power kite on the ice. Coyne has been teaching Ray and Monahan how to power kite for three to four years. He started their training in a large field at Westcott Reservoir during the summers, before moving on to the more difficult task of kiting on ice.

"Both those guys are good," Coyne said, "but conditions that day were very windy so they were at the limit of what they know what to do."

Coyne starts his pupils on very small training kites that are one to three meters in width. He owns 13 kites in all, and buys them from online used kite sellers and various kite stores, including Curtis Sports Connection in Hamburg and Kitty Hawk Kites in Nags Head, N.C. Coyne started power kiting seven years ago after watching others power kiting on Oneida Lake.

"At the time I was doing a little hang gliding," Coyne said, "and I thought right then and there, 'oh my god, I know what I'm doing next.'"

Coyne said learning to steer the kite is the very first step in the training process. "Technically, you're just telling them to push, pull, push, pull," Coyne said, "and that steers the kite. They have to get that down, and then you move on to other things."

Ray, who has power kited on ice for two years, said the best and worst part about it is the speed. "I like going fast," Ray said, "but the hardest part on ice is the speed, because you're moving back and forth while the kite's pulling you."

Coyne said any sport that involves speed also involves skill and safety. He and his students wear helmets at all times, and Coyne will occasionally wear hip pads, because that's the most likely place where he will land if he falls.

"You're flying a big object in the air that can lift you up, so what goes up most come down," Coyne said. "It's a skill sport that if you do it fast and crazy enough, you're going to get hurt."

Monahan, who has been kiting since he was 11, said as long as you know what you're doing, you'll have a good time.

"You have to keep your kite up high and be really good with turning it," Monahan said. Monahan actually went through the ice in Onondaga Lake two years ago after a wind gust picked him up and then brought him down hard.

"I was on miniature skis, and I went right through up to my waist in the ice," Monahan said. "I had to wait for another wind gust to pull me back out again."

But Coyne and his students said it's the fun of the sport that gets them out on the ice in the middle of winter. "It was definitely a wild day," Coyne said, "but it's an addictive sport for those of us who really get into it. It's the perfect combination of skill and thrill."

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog