If you happen to be at Storrie Lake outside Las Vegas on a weekend, you're likely to see a bow-shaped kite gliding across the sky above the water, and below, harnessed to the kite by four lines, skimming across the lake on a surfboard at speeds up to 30 mph is Stuart Penny.

Penny is self-confessed "adrenaline junky." And that's a perfect personality trait for his latest obsession, kite surfing or kite boarding.

His love of the wind-driven surfboard has taken him to Mexico and throughout the United States in search of the ultimate ride.

He has kite surfed at Hood River, Ore., on the Columbian River, the Sea of Cortez, Hawaii, South Padre Island, Texas and Cape Hatteras, N.C.

And it's not just the high-speed surfing that appeals to Penny, the kite and board can be maneuvered so the surfer catches air and is lifted as high as 50-feet above the water.

A relatively new sport, kite boarding began 10 years ago in Hood River, Ore., Penny said.

"The first guy I know of to kite board was Cory Roesler," Penny said. "He used an unwieldy frame kite to pull himself across the water on water skis. There have been huge technological innovations since then."

Penny, a 37-year-old resident of Ilfeld, said as far as he knows he is one of less than a dozen kite-surfing aficionados in Northern New Mexico. His passion for the sport has precipitated a lifestyle change.

For the past 10 years he owned Karma Works, a construction company in Santa Fe that built custom houses. But kite boarding has taken him in a new direction.

"I've recently quit building homes," he said. "Karma Works continued to be successful, but I wanted to follow my dreams and build new businesses centered on my love for the outdoors."

His dreams include becoming a certified kite-boarding instructor. In September he'll travel to Cape Hatteras, N.C., for a five-day certification workshop.

Having proper instruction, he said, is necessary to learn the right technique and avoid injuries.

"My friend David Smith and I taught ourselves," he said. "We didn't know how to work the kite, and the first time David hooked up to the kite, it dragged him across the ground and slammed him into a truck."

Not one to limit himself, Penny is also a snow-kiting enthusiast. Snow kiting, he said, is similar to kite boarding, except the kite pulls the surfer across the snow. He said he envisions a huge business potential for snow kiting because that sport has yet to be introduced to New Mexicans.

"I've been snow kiting for four years, and it's a rush," he said. "After I get my snow-kiting teacher certification in January, I'm hoping to be the hub of the snow-kiting industry in New Mexico."

An intrepid, innovative entrepreneur, Penny recently purchased a 25-foot-high mobile rock climbing wall that he hopes to set up at fiestas and shopping malls. Kite boarding, snow kiting and a mobile climbing wall, his three new businesses, can be accessed at www.nmclimbing.com.

Married with three children, he said the support of his wife, Aimee, has made it possible for him to choose a new life path.

"I'm taking a huge risk," he said. "I had a solid income, but I'm addicted to risk and excitement. I love challenging myself. What I'm doing is definitely not about money. It's about following my dreams."

Contact John Knoll at johnknoll77@hotmailcom.