Ohio kite boarders flock to Conneaut Harbor

By CARL E. FEATHER

Associated Press

CONNEAUT, Ohio — Benjamin Colston and Lee Fortner drove two hours from the Canton area recently to catch a ride on the breeze at Conneaut.

Fortner, 52, is an experienced kite boarder who brought Colston along to introduce him to the sport and what Fortner considers the premier Ohio location for enjoying it: Conneaut Harbor.

“This is the only place that I know of that is this pristine in all of Ohio,” Fortner said while taking an afternoon lunch break. “It offers a breakwater so you don’t have to deal with waves and the water (in the harbor) is shallow. Everywhere else, the water is over your head.”

An added bonus is the sandbar and the accessibility it provides to that shallow water. The absence of trees, overhead power lines, cars and people who could be mowed down by a kite boarder also makes it a good spot.

Fortner discovered Conneaut about three years ago and has visited it numerous times since then. He’s come across other kite boarders from Pittsburgh, Columbus and Cleveland while enjoying the sport in Conneaut.

“I’ve seen more than 15 people here at one time,” he said.

Attendance is driven by the wind. It needs to be from the north and at least 15 mph. The relatively light breeze during Fortner’s visit was just barely adequate to get the kite boarders moving across the water.

Ideally, they want to ride just above the surface of the water and have enough wind power at their disposal to achieve jumps of 25 feet or more.

That kind of adventure was not on Colston’s mind, however.

Fortner, who says proper training is essential to safely enjoy the sport, started Colston out on the beach, where his student learned how to rig up the many lines that connect the kite to the harness.

Once connected, Colston got a feel for the pull of the wind on his body and how to react to that.

From there, they moved to the water, where Colston got a feel for the board.

“It took me three or four times to get up on the board,” Colston said.

“He was riding in 20 minutes,” Fortner said.

“It’s a pretty cool feeling,” Colston said after his first trip across the harbor. “It’s like being the driver and rider all at the same time.”

Colston was not a complete tyro; he’d done some land-based kiting in which he got a sense of the wind’s power, but not to the degree a 16-square-meter kite delivers.

Fortner said he’s had one significant injury, a dislocated shoulder, in the five years he has been involved in kite boarding. “I did it while I was in a park, on grass,” he said. “I didn’t know what I was doing.”

Fortner said the most dangerous aspect of the sport is when the kite is “powering up.” Becoming tangled in the lines or being dragged into a crowd of people or parked cars can result in serious injuries or death.

“It’s a very dangerous sport if you don’t know what you are doing,” he said.