So “I didn’t have any expectations (for the winter) at all,” Ducharme said.
But as the temperature 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.