SNOW BUSINESS SOARS
With folks eager to get outside during the pandemic, business is booming for kiteboarding instructors like Stanley Bocher, who had brilliant sunshine for his outing near Andrew Hayden Park recently.
Until the province of Ontario announced a stay-at-home lockdown on Boxing Day, kitesurfing instructor Daniel Ducharme thought his side business was in for a rough season.
Ducharme, who owns Kite4Life Kiteboarding School and gives lessons on the Ottawa River, said he'd had only a handful of customers in the summer. Perhaps because the pandemic was newer, people were more hesitant to try fresh outdoor activities.
So “I didn't have any expectations (for the winter) at all,” Ducharme said.
But as temperatures plunged, the Ottawa River began to freeze, and people's options for social activity began to narrow during lockdown, Ducharme's business started to boom. “This winter, all of the sudden, every week I'm getting calls from people who want to learn how to snowkite,” he said.
Winter kitesurfing or “snowkiting” — a sport in which skiers and snowboarders use a large kite to glide on snow or ice — has been on the rise in the Ottawa-Gatineau area this winter. Ducharme, 53, says business has “quadrupled” since the summer. Since the snowkiting season started in early January, he said, he's had 50 phone calls from people who want lessons, and is booked for the next three weeks.
“I think people are getting fed up with being inside and they want to go play outside,” Ducharme said. “And kitesurfing is just another excuse to be outside.”
The provincial lockdown, which will ease up in Ottawa today, has left people looking for different outdoor activities. For example, the SJAM Winter Trail reported an average of 1,353 visits per day, well up from a year earlier. Families headed to tobogganing hills; the one at Mooney's Bay was eventually closed because of crowds.
“People who wouldn't necessarily think about kiteboarding but love to ski and snowboard want
to get out and ride,” said snowkite instructor Stanley Bocher.
Bocher, 30, started Pure Kiteboarding in August after COVID -19 closures wiped out his job as a card dealer at the Rideau Carleton Casino. He's a lifelong, avid kitesurfer and had considered starting a business in the past. The pandemic
provided a good opportunity.
His first winter in business has been successful. “I've been pretty busy,” Bocher said. “I manage to fill most of the windy days during the week.”
Bocher said he gives 10 to 12 lessons per week, typically charging $100 for a one-hour private beginner
lesson. He also offers group lessons, if all kiters are from the same household.
He said he has had no problems with provincial restrictions since snowkiting is an outdoor sport that allows for physical distancing. Bocher and his students mask up if they have to fasten equipment or exchange kite strings in proximity.
Even when ski hills reopen, Bocher isn't concerned it will affect his business. “I think (snowkiting) is a different niche,” he said.
Abby Howard, 41, has had several lessons with Bocher on Britannia Bay this winter.
While Howard is still a beginner — learning how to control the kite before strapping on her skis — she said she has enjoyed the experience.
“It's exhilarating,” she said. “It's a lot of fun, but you also have to appreciate it and respect that it is a sport that has a big learning curve.”
On a sunny winter day, with the
kite in her hands, Howard said the feeling of “freedom” makes the activity even better.
“It's very freeing and relaxing — that concept that you do what you want with it,” she said. “You're not bound by the society that we have today — lineups and masks and rules.
“It's really pretty to see the kites go by, too. They're all in an array of colours,” Howard said. “Even if you were to sit there and watch them, they're very beautiful.”
Ducharme, who also works as a realtor in Gatineau, has been grateful to keep his kitesurfing business going, especially when so many other small businesses have been crippled by the pandemic.
“I feel very lucky, very privileged,” Ducharme said. “Tonnes of stores are really struggling and yet me, as a kitesurfing instructor, I'm taking almost advantage of this bad situation.”