Video from Mai Tai 2009

MAI TAI Kite Camp 2009 - Susi Mai and Bill Tai, back on MAUI!

I'm a bit behind on my updates -- MaiTai 2009 -- What a BLAST! Hard to believe this is year 7 for KiteCamp in its various forms, and something like year 11 including prior versions built around windsurfing. More coming very soon as there's much to report on, and wonderful pictures from the gang to post. I had to start with this awesome retro picture, part of a set by Christopher Michel. Somewhere amongst the 80 or so participants this year maybe Chris will find a match wrt to his eye for a great shot.



What an action packed week on Maui. Susi Mai and I want to give special thanks to all the help and participation by our special guests -- Robby Naish, Pete Cabrinha, Shannon Best, Shawn and Jesse Richman, Cameron Dietrich, Andy Church and the Naish crew -- Coach Hughes, Jon Malmberg, Nitsan, Damien for participating and making it all happen. Many thanks also to Neil and the crew from Neil Pryde / Cabrinha -- Keven Ozee, Steve Gunn, Kent Marinkovic, David Hastilow and of course Alma Tassi!! More soon!

Midnight Metal Works - Ethan Kerber when not Kiting

I first got to know Ethan Kerber on one of those whacky days that separates the crazy & addicted from the sane. A storm was blowing through town and winds were whipping up into the mid 30's and touching 40 Mph. Nuts!! There were only a few of us nut cases out there, and as the heaviest guy around, Ethan held me down as I attempted to launch a 9 meter kite - an attempt that did not end well - for a moment we were 350 lbs of flying meat on a string (on land, flying toward rocks.)

From 2009 04 29 Kerber Art

I see Ethan at the beach often, but not when it's blowing near 40 anymore. He takes the edge off on those days by bending metal - literally - in his art studio. Ethan bends, shapes, and welds metal into beautiful works of art at in SOMA at Midnight Metal Works. These pictures are from a public art project he has been working on for the past couple years that will be permanently installed in Washington DC, about 10 blocks from the White House. It will be in the Mount Vernon Triangle neighborhood - across the street from the convention center. Its a 25 foot sculpture that will ornament the new City Vista development. I will soon post a google maps link to the exact location...

20 Miles of Kiting at Skyline Ridge, Utah

After kiting on the snow at Avalance Beacon Training Park (dense short traverses on the upper right of the map) for a bit, a group of us (Kafka, Gershenberg, Gibson and I) kited up wind (to the left) and up the ridge (bottom left). Caution - super blustry winds up there. I felt fully powered down on the flats on my Switchblade 12, and up top the wind was definitly gusting into the 30s! Great place with a lot of variety in terrain, wind and snow.

A Jump Lesson with Jeff Kafka - Snowkiting Utah

An Attempt to SnowKite Mt Rose Meadow, Lake Tahoe

We spent a week in the Lake Tahoe area over XMas break. On new years day, the set up looked solid for January second - expected winds of 19 MPH, and light snow. Luckily I had brought kites (so I thought). Well, so much for forecasts - a blizzard set in for the day with super gusty winds and enough snow to reduce visibility to zero..

Weather aside, on Jan 2 we drove over to one of the main kite areas to check out the possibilities. One kiter was attempting to launch - while we did not even try, the exercise got me to do enough research on places to kite to write this post as a reference. Here's a link to a set of reviews and a Google map done by DRIFT Magazine, marking several places to try on your next visit : DRIFT Magazine - California Snowkite Spots.

Amazing Overhead Shot - Kiting over a Whale
This picture speaks for itself - what an amazing shot, and what an amazing feeling imagining this moment.

NEW SPEED RECORDS!!

from Tyrone Rawlins --

The 2008 Luderitz Speed Challenge was nothing less than spectacular. With months of preparations getting the strip ready, it was all worth while as every session delivered results as new records kept being set. History was made when Sebastien Cattelan became the first sailor to break the 50 knot barrier. But the racing continued with faster times being recorded with every run.Records broken on this event (all subject to WSSRC ratification)
Alexandre Caizergues, French and World Outright: 50.57 knots
Robert Douglas, US Outright: 50.54 knots
Grant Ross, South African Outright: 48.79 knots
Rolf van der Vlugt, Dutch Outrigh: 47.46 knots
Sjoukje Bredenkamp, South African and World Outright Women: 45,20 knots
Juergen Geiger, Namibian Outright: 44.90 knots
David Williams, British Outright: 44.78 knots
Charlotte Consorti, French Outright Women: 44.74 knots
Bjorn Dunkerbeck, Spanish Outright: 44.74 knots
Jernej Privsek, Slovenian Outright: 43.42 knots
Marc Avela, Spanish Kiteboarding: 42.76 knots
Christian Barret, Belgium Outright: 40.87 knots
Katja Roose, Dutch Outright Women: 39.58 knots
Jemma Grobbelaar, British Outright Women: 38.1 knots
Get the full story in the Nov/Dec issue of GUST magazine...

getting ready to KITE THE LOBBY

Looking forward to David Hornick's Lobby Conference in a few weeks. David has each of us do an introductory video as a way to get to know each other - I turned mine into a time capsule given the extraordinary things that are happening in the credit markets these days, as the issues surrounding the financial markets are definitely on my mind, even more than kiting given the season is over around here. While the beginning of this clip is not about kiting, I do in fact touch on our sport as there is NO possible way for me to introduce myself without a kite in hand.

Pentax Optio W30 - Filming Kiteloops

My Pentax Optio W20 is now at the bottom of the ocean somewhere off Kite Beach. So I replaced it with the w30. When filming with the camera mounted on a kite - 2 changes to note : SET the focus on 'infinity' - the default autofocus will lock in on a shorter distance when launching and the video will end up fuzzy if you don't. Separately, if trying stunts, the centrifugal force on the camera (if its in a case) will power off the camera unless you protect the shutter button (see picture).

Here are some kite loops filmed with the w30. video's clear compared to my pentax video of Las Terrenas below filmed on autofocus.

WATERPROOF H20 Audio IPOD Shuffle + AquaPac Ear Buds!

GREAT combination. H20 Audio sent me their new waterproof IPOD Shuffle casing to try out. It comes with a "swim belt" that is intended for a swimmer's body - it fits perfectly mounted on a Cabrinha waist harness.
The "pull cord" designed for the customer to unmount the IPOD doubles as a safety when the swimbelt is fed through the loop as shown in the picture.
I tried several headsets, and the one with the best sound quality comes from Aquapac. Aquapac makes a 100% waterproof set of ear buds that fit snugly, and thus provide wonderful sound quality... here are pictures of the combo mounted on a waist harness.

Susi's Cabarete

Over 4th of July holiday, Susi took me to her favorite kite spots in the Dominican. Far better than anything I could ever write to describe the Dominican Republic is this clip. This is a chapter from a kiting video called Catalyst, shot by Elliot Leboe. This is Susi's chapter on the D.R... "SOUL". She nails it with her description.

Pentax Waterproof Optio W30 - Kite Mounted in Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic

After the PKRA we went exploring other parts of the Dominican. I had one short evening session as the wind was fading in the town of Las Terrenas. Enough wind to cruise, but not enough to lift off the water - really cool to look below at the coral and sea life. Next year if we are back again we will hit Las Terrenas first, then kite Playa Grande on the way to the PKRA.



I've also upladed a video for La Boca - the river mouth near Cabarete, here. The river opens up to the ocean so you can kite both flat water and waves there. This spot was really fun, but 2 of the 5 riders (me included) there that day treed their kites as it's narrow. At the river mouth, it's only about 2 kite line lengths wide so you have to go back and forth a lot to get upwind and out to the ocean.

EPIC Battle for #1 at PKRA Cabarete

Amazing amount of energy and non stop hard core kiting at PKRA double elimination finals between reigning world champion Aaron Hadlow and second ranked Kevin Langeree. These are the raw photos capturing 2 of the 7 minutes. The entire 7 minutes were filled with moves like these..

PKRA Tour - Cabarete 2008

My first time ever at the PKRA let alone visiting as a sponsored rider. All the names I've read about for years, right here. Day 1 coverage on Extreme Elements) plus pics below of registration:

USKN Winners!! Clarissa, Damien, and Jon

Course racing is stepping up to be a big part of kiteboarding these days - it could be on it's way to becoming an olympic sport. If I understand it correctly, 48 countries need to particpate, hold trials, & qualify riders for kiting to become an officially sanctioned Olympic sport.

Given the number of countries where wind and water have combined to produce great kite spots, I am certain it's a matter of 'when' and not 'if'.

In a warm up to that day, the St. Francis yacht Club of S.F. hosted the US Kite Nationals at Crissy Field last week. MaiTai'er Clarissa Hempel and Damien LeRoy, both team riders for Cabrinha won 1st place in Women's and Men's respectively. Jon Mordeca , also a Cabrinha rider, had a great showing, placing fourth overall. Congrats!

Mai Tai Kite Camp 2008 - Video

Thanks Mark! a video summary of a fun week.

Tree a Kite in Kihei? Coco Mike(s) TO THE RESCUE!!!

One of our riders treed a kite during Mai Tai 2008. Apparently a pretty common occurance in Kihei behind the Maui Sunset. Attempts to fly it out in one piece failed of course, so half a kite was left in the tree.

After repeated calls to the Maui Sunset with no response, Kon Othmer was finally able to find a GREAT resource to come to the rescue. Coco Mike (who's email is plural because the singular version was taken) can climb huge palm trees, BAREFOOT, without any spikes, cleats or anything that can damage a tree!! The ropes you see in the picture are not used to tie HIM down, only to lower things from the tree safely.. If you are ever in the same situation that we were, contact Mike Shortell at (808) 572-2845 or reach him by email at cocomikes@gmail.com.

Jump Lessons at Mai Tai 2008

Wow. These guys can jump. Ben Meyer of Naish :


and Tom Court of North:

What to do on a windless day on Maui - Freebord!

Just before heading out to Maui, I brought Susi and Tom up to SF to visit Freebord to try out their gear on a windy day at Crissy. We wanted to see if we could snowboard on asphalt and stay upwind with a kite. 35MPH winds, with a trainer kite and a freebord...

The product is like a longboard with two truck wheels along the center that swivel - so it rides like a snowboard. Here are some cool shots of the board's evolution :

The intention was to bring them to Maui and try them out with 4 line kites so we could also depower if needed. We planned to kite but the wind was too light. So we rode 'em anyway! Susi Mai, Tom Court, plus Jesse Richman (winner of PKRA France) and Clarissa Hempel, who just won the Texas Velocity games last week.

Surfkiting Punta Mita

This area IS kitable. I managed to try out Punta Mita and a beach on the other side of the point called Destiladeras. Pics below. Punta Mita - Waves crashing on rocks in an area with no one kiting made me really nervous. But it was so beautiful and I had my gear, so I had to go out. Adrenaline combined with the beauty of this spot turned nervousness into excitement as soon as I touched the water...


Just to the south on the other side of the peninsula is Destiladeras Beach - a sweeping, wide beach with mild surf and gals on horseback.

100 Mile Hawaiian Crossing - Maui to Oahu, 3 Islands, 2 Channels

FIRST ATTEMPT EVER - kiteboarding crossing July, 26 2008 from Ho'okipa in Maui to Kaunakakai in Molokai and then from West Molokai to Kailua, Oahu = total of 100 miles. Contact Paul Franco at (808)357-4976 or Paul@HawaiiKiteboardCrossing.com for more info..

Winners Stand - Susi at 2008 PKRA Opener, Mexico


Pics just in. My kite camp partner Susi made the winner's stand - 3rd place, Freestyle!! - i'd like to think it was my scouting trip last week, but we all know that's not true! More soon.

Kite Spots along the Mayan Rivera

From kiting snow in a Utah blizzard, to Spain, then the turquoise waters of Mexico, all in 3 weeks. I had a chance to kite several spots along the Mayan Riveria - from Playa del Carmen to the ruins at TULUM, a week ahead of the start of the 2008 PKRA world tour, opening here next week March 5 - 9.

The beaches here are great for kiting when the wind is up and the night life in Playa del Carmen proper is GREAT - my kiting coincided with carnival this past week... (read the rest of this post HERE)

KITEBOARDING REGULATION IN FRONT OF HAWAIIAN SENATE ?!?!

...this proposal was defeated! I've moved the prior post to HERE