 CLICK TO ENLARGE Round 2 of the Hardwater Kiting Global Speed Ranking is in the books!
Welcome back Kai Schroeder and congratulations for taking 1st place in round 2 of the 2019 GSR! Kai is the only entry this week to break the 50 mph barrier while there was a lot of close competition in the 40 mph range with many people beating each other by mere 10ths of a MPH. That's what we like to see!!!!! DEADLINE FOR ROUND 3 IS FEB. 10TH 
Deadline for GSR Week 1 entries is January 13th 2019 click to enlarge WEEK 12!!!!! All good things must come to an end and the 2018 HARDWATER KITING GLOBAL SPEED RANKING, much like the snow kite season, is one of those things. We were looking forward to seeing who would be the winner in week 12. There's something about finishing the ranking in the top spot for that week, knowing you won't be beat next week. I have to be honest, I thought Guy was going to be the #1 for week 12. Starting and finishing the season in the top spot. But Marcel threw down a great effort and took week 12. Marcel and Guy were up in Quebec battling it out for 1st place in the final ranking week with Marcel coming out on top. He has softer condition than Guy but flew a bigger kite in higher winds and that seems to be what put him over the top. Guy was a close second while here in the states Bill Pyle comes in third while knocking on the 50mph door! Well done guys and well done to everyone who managed to last this long into the season and still get a submission in without going swimming anywhere in the process. :-) SEE BELOW FOR FINAL STANDINGS!  CLICK TO ENLARGE Congratulations to Guy Lebrun of Quebec for once again winning the GSR overall ranking!!
This year Guy's top speed was 70.35 mph/ 113.22 kph making him the only participant this season to break the 70mph barrier. No small achievement!! Robin Larsson of Sweden comes in second place over with a top speed of 63.6 mph/ 102.35 kph and and he did this ON SKATES! Again, another amazing achievement. Bringing up third place overall is American, Robert Cook who got in a late season submission from a session he drove 10 hrs for. His top speed for the season was 62.3 mph. A great effort in his quest for the 70mph barrier. Thanks you EVERYONE who participated in this year's GSR! We are pretty psyched and honored to have you all joining us and watching the progression of everyone from year to year. It's remarkable how much things have changed and how speeds that were considered difficult to achieve for many just a few years back are becoming common place for so many. Just keep pushing that envelop and we'll keep licking the stamps.  WEEK 11!
The boys in Quebec are back in the top two spots taking advantage of the late season conditions up North. Guy is on top once again with just short of 60 mph with a respectable 58.56 mph followed closely by Marcel with 55.42 mph. No doubt they will be in the mix for week 12, our last week of the 2018 GSR. Third spot is owned by Frank Kroenert of Sweden. Just narrowly missing the 50 MPH mark but still a great speed at 49.6 MPH! This puts us in to week 12 of the 2018 GSR. The final week of the competition. We hope a few of you still have good riding conditions and get the chance to get at least one good session in and one more speed submission for the season. We are on the edge of our seats waiting to see who finishes on top for the last week. Thanks again to everyone for your support! Week 12 Submissions are due by mid-night 3-25 18  Week 10! Just 2 more weeks left in the 2018 Ranking! Lets hope a few of us have enough ice to see this to the end!!! The field gets leaner and leaner but there are a few die hards that either live up north in Quebec where the ice is holding strong or they are risking taking a swim as the southern ice gets thinner. Robert Cook does the U.S. Proud by taking the 1st position in week 10. Robert apparently made a 10 hour drive to a TOP SECRET snowkite speed site to throw down a fat 62.3 mph. Closing in on the 70 mph barrier as the season winds down. Meanwhile in Canada, Guy and Marcel battled it out this week with Marcel coming out on top with 59.03 mph and Guy close behind with 58.85 mph. Dymitry Chirkin of is still riding in Wisconsin and was knocking on the 50 mph barrier with 48.78 while Bob Pelletier is in Quebec in the soft stuff cruising at 39.2 mph. Meanwhile one of our local boys, Ted Mckibben was out on Long Lake in Maine on his Flysurfer Peak in the deep stuff cruising at 28.7 mph. We have a lot of snow here in New England. More than some of us would like this time of year. Keep the entries coming as long as you can but remember, its late in the season so be careful out there, be safe and when in doubt don't go out! Week 11 Entries are due in by Midnight 3.18.2018  Week 9! As the season winds down, unfortunately so does participation as many are losing their riding areas to the changing of the season. But there are always some that manage to get a session in and submit and for that we are grateful.
For week 9. We apologize for an error earlier. Gary Kjelleren's speed submission was so fast that somehow our data download missed it! So we neglected to post his result. We have now updated the ranking and his best speed of the season, 65.99 mph is in the books. Again I apologize for the mistake. Good local girl Molly Savard took advantage of the gusty winds in last weekends Nor' Easter and bagged her fastest speed of the season at 52 mph and securing 2nd place skier. Brian Beveridge was putting the hammer down at the 14th annual Mille Lacs Snowkite Crossing and comes in 3rd skier with 48.9 mph in some pretty sticky snow conditions. Brian also took first in his class at the crossing! Well done Brian. The snowboard participation of the ranking dominated By Christian Labbe with 57mph. Full disclosure, Christian is an experienced kite racer so this is not a fluke. None the less he has a great speed, knocking on the 60mph door with a top speed of 57mph. This puts him in second overall for the week and the fastest snowboarder of the season! This was up on Lac Magog which I just recently rode myself and it is a great place for speed runs right now. Well done Christian. Thanks again to all who submitted this week and we hope that conditions hold up long enough to get a few more weeks in. See you all next week! Week 10 submissions are due 3.11.18  Click to Enlarge Speed ranking veteran Gary Kjelleren takes the top spot on week 8 with a speed of 62.2 mph on Lake Champlain's boiler plate surface. With similar conditions Robert Bocik and Robert Cook were having a Wisco-Cheesehead snowkite speed battle in America's Dairy Land. With Bocik pushing Cook out of the second place spot by 1/10th a mph and bagging a top speed of 56.5mph. Knocking on the 60mph door.
Mind you, Robert Bocik is not a small man. You don't want to be in the way with that guy hurtling towards you at 56.5MPH under kite power. Looks like 8m LEI's in 25-30kts was the right combo this week for speed. I just want to point out that Guy Lebrun submitted an uncharacteristically low speed for the week. There may be some detail lost in translation but I think he has a "Death Crust" surface up there which is not conducive to speed attempts and really, hardly fun to ride. BUT!, He still managed 34.54mph on a 7m LEI in 7kts! He more than tripled his windspeed which is pretty cool AND probably has the fastest speed in the slowest gear and condition combo of the season. Fun Stuff! Deadline for Week 9 is March 4th 2018 See you there!!!  Click on image to enlarge Week 7! Robert Cook from Wisconsin take the top spot for week 7 of the GSR. Followed by Eli Chastek of Vermont in second and Marcel Lepine of Quebec in third. Marcel narrowly beat out Paul Morse by 4/10th MPH for third. Another close duel was between Bob Pelletier and Molly Savard with Bob coming out ahead by 4/10th MPH as well.
Here in the Northeastern US there has been a bit of a warm up and the result has been what you see in the background image above. How Eli didn't destroy his skis on that surface is a wonder. Thanks again to everyone who submitted this week! I will be putting together the master ranking list soon with the current overall ranking of everyone who has played this season. We look forward to seeing everyone next week!!! Week 8 submission deadline is 2.25.2018 |
Hardwater Kiting GSRThis ranking has been created in the spirit of the original Stormboarding World Speed Ranking sponsored by Rachael Miller/Stormboarding host of the original Snow kite speed ranking and New England Kitestorm event. Archives
October 2019
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