Some travelers come to Michigan’s upper western shore near Traverse City for the dunes. Or the golf. Or the sights.
I came to sign as many personal injury release forms as possible in a weekend — and come back alive.
With its beaches and bays, the Traverse City area has long been a Midwest center for sports, from sailing and fishing in summer to skiing and snowmobiling in winter.
Now they’ve gone to extremes — sports like kiteboarding, paragliding, skydiving, rock climbing, bouldering, BMX racing, off-road ATVs and other Xtreme activities guaranteed to raise your adrenaline. You can even take a trick plane ride.
One adventure I choose is kiteboarding. Armed with a life jacket and goofy red helmet, I’m going to learn to zip across the lake on the back of a kite-propelled surfboard.
The class I’m in, run by Broneah Kiteboarding, a friendly Traverse City outfit, incorporates most of what I was looking for: speed, water and health risk. Also, pressed for time, it offers the distinct possibility of learning the basics of the sport in about seven hours.
After a brief orientation session, an instructional video and about eight pages of release forms, we load the gear and head to the beach.
Our instructor, Kegan, starts us on a trainer kite, which is much smaller and easier to control than the real thing.
After training on the smaller kite, it’s time to head to the water. Kegan, who works as a professional flight instructor, tells us it’s also time to try the real kite. He shows us a kite about twice the size of our little one. Still no board in sight. That comes later.
The force it generates is much greater than the practice kite, Kegan says, and as the kite goes airborne, his arm and back muscles tense.
“See,” Kegan says, as the massive gray kite coasts above us. “Try to do figure-eights in the air.”
I grab the handlebar, and hook into the harness — which feels a bit like mountain climbing gear — with a touch of unease.
For about two seconds I’m in control, but by the third second, I’m flailing about in the waist-deep water. The force yanks me off my feet; my face hits the water and down my throat goes about a gallon of Lake Michigan’s finest. The kite smacks the water’s surface, and I come up for air.
“It can be difficult to get the hang of,” says Kegan as I gasp. “Nice try, though.”
We practice some more and become pretty steady at controlling the kite, and before we know it, hours have passed. The fear of the kite’s power has subsided, and we’re all mildly giddy waiting for our next spin on the kite.
Kegan runs back to shore and grabs the board, a lightweight plank with footholds. The wind begins to pick up. He brings the board back into the water.
It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for.
As if in mockery, a 13-year-old in the distance skims across the water, jumping and twisting in the air as his father watches from a bobbing jet ski.
The kite “parked” above me, Kegan helps me fit my feet onto the board. With a sense of urgency, I swoop the kite into the strongest sector of wind, the power zone.
For the briefest of moments, the kite lifts me out of the water and I am actually standing. We have lift-off. Immediately after, we have face plant.
“Way to go, man,” says Kegan, slapping my sun-baked shoulder. “You’re making progress!”
GETTING THERE
Traverse City, Mich., is 320 miles from Chicago — about a five- to six-hour drive.
The activities
An array of options await the adventurous in the Traverse City area, from kiteboarding to paragliding, rock climbing to flight training. A simple Google search for options will bring up various Xtreme sports. Here are a few:
Kiteboarding: Broneah Kiteboarding, 207 Grandview Pkwy., Suite 105, Traverse City; 231-392-2212; broneah.com. One-day lesson was $399. A two-day lesson (for beginner and advanced classes) is $599 — and you’ll probably need this to be able to kiteboard on your own.
Off-road ATVing: Wolf Lake Resort, 1197 N. Michigan 37, Baldwin; 231-745-4104; wolflake motel.com. ATV rentals are $140-$175 for a 23-hour rental period. You can drop off or pick up the ATV at trail entry points for no extra charge.
Trick plane rides: Northwestern Michigan College, 2600 Aero Park Drive, Traverse City; 231-995-1220; nmc.edu/aviation/program/fees.html. This flight allows thrill-seekers a chance to experience loops, acrobatics and other tricks at the hands of an experienced pilot. You won’t be allowed to do any of the tricks yourself, but you’ll probably be too busy trying to keep your food down to worry about that. Hourly rate in a Cessna 152 aerobatic: $125.
More information
For Traverse City: 800-TRAVERSE; visittraversecity.com/
For Lake County, Mich.: infomi.com/county/lake
For Baldwin: infomi.com/city/baldwin/
