VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

Marion and I returned on Sunday from a two week trip to the lake.
We were hesitant to go this year due to some negative reports of incidents there but decided to give a try as we have enjoyed it so much in the past.
Our impressions after two weeks:
A lot of familiar and friendly faces from both the Island and Mainland.
Very quiet during the week sometimes only 3 or 4 kites out (in August!)
Very busy on the weekends, but we expected that, some of you still work and it is the place to find wind. Often we had vehicles within a foot of ours but everyone at least asked us if that was okay when they came in or in the morning if they came in late.
On Sunday afternoons there was a mass exodus and things settled down to a slower pace.
There were some parties on the weekends but again we expected that and none were what we would call "out of hand". We may have been sound asleep when they were happening!
The kite launch area worked well, most kiters were very helpful with both launching and landings.
Marion windsurfed and for the most part the kiters stayed upwind of the windsurfers. The occasional beginner kiter of someone who crashed might drift down towards the lower camp but we didn't see any real probelms.
Lots of families with small children playing on their bikes, climbing the logs etc. great to see them playing "outdoors".

All in all a great trip with lots of smiling people enjoying the wind, sun and waters of Nitinat.

One day we saw about a dozen kids from the village in the campsite picking up garbage!

Maybe we were there at the best time but it was a great trip.

Special thanks to Dwayne for standing by with his jetski and retrieving my board as I attempted my fist "spin". Yes, "attempt" about explains it!

Oh yes, 13 days with wind out of 14.

Mistake, we returned on Saturday night after a great 12m session, so obviously missed the noisy party. Thankfully!

" ... some negative reports of incidents there ..."

I'm curious. What negative reports of incidents? I grouse about late night parties but I'm just a grumpy old man so that's expected. I made six trips this year and the only negative thing I recall is the 3-day outflow in late May that was so profoundly demoralizing that it tooks weeks to recover. Apart from that, I always found the Nitinat experience outstanding. (Could use a little more wind sometimes but, hell, that's why I bought a 7.5!)

Hi mb,

I didn't really want to get into specifics on this as I'm more of a positive guy but some of the comments were about the loud parties which we didn't experience. Maybe I don't hear so well anymore!

Anyway, we had a terrific time, great people, great wind and lots of sun!

Martin

I was very happy to see that the garbage situation is much much much better than in the beginning of the year, not sure if locals and regulars are picking up more or the Yahoo factor is down lateron in the season, just the same about THAT. Parties are cool within certain limits of time and activities, (to be expected people having fun when off work afterall) the flame thrower activities of the earlier days seems to have died down and I slept in complete silence when I was there but I targeted my days during weekdays luckily.
The wind during my stays was pretty lame except couple of decent days in April, go figure. Nice to see locals selling fish and getting involved, very cool Still no paper in the cans but then there were no $$ collectors either so that's all good too.

Yes, 'tis still paradise to me esp. when things work out with some of the oh-so-unpredictable variables....Murphy's law when the wife's along w/ children, the flamethrower and stereos come out, trees start leaking sap on the kids, the fire smolders only, it rains despite the forecast and/or it's freezing cold all day long and the wind rips but I am miserable cuz of the others

i for 1 am kinda choked i missed out on all the excitement ... nothing better than a good partay! ... i remember way back in the day[summer of 91?] andrew barr, john read and i blocked off a huge area with 2 mo-hoe's and a campervan where the message board is now, and had the biggest bash i've ever seen go down there ... pretty sure almost everybody in the campsite was in attendance and no one was complaining ... anyone else remember this occasion? ... i think a party or 2 is to be expected as it's a huge gathering of wind-lovers in one place, and people are bound to socialize/partay/celebrate/have safety meetings etc.