A little skunk, a nice party and kite 'til you drop!!!

We know it's only beginning of March but to many of us the kite season has officially started at Belmont. On Thursday it blew for about an hour, on Friday it blew for about two hours and Saturday.....well Saturday we got skunked.

The day started a little slow. Rijk and I arrived with the cart topped off with all of our gear. We were ready to go.

Klaus was all rigged and ready too, but since he woke up early for work, and there was no wind, he took a little nap.

Bobby was there too with just a little "extra" since last summer. Time to work it off Bobby, but maybe not today.

We waited and waited, and then realized we had to leave the beach and get cleaned up for a little party.

Murat had a few friends over to celebrate that his mom had flown in from Istanbul, Turkey for a short visit. She prepared a lot of ethnic food for the evening. Mmmmm good.

The next day (Sunday) was destined to be a great wind day. It just felt right to everyone.

There were a lot of kiter's there. I'm guessing over 20. Many that had been disappointed on Saturday and the rest that had the day off and wanted to go out. The funny thing was that both Juliano and I started the day off by being interviewed for a film being shot by a USC student. I told Juali that they were going to love his interview because he had this cool accent from Brazil. I don't think he believed me, but it's true.

Carole and Mark were there today too. I think the last time I had seen them was after they got back from La Ventana. They had a great time, but now it's back to Belmont Shore and fun, fun, fun.

The wind starting coming up at about 3 o'clock and everyone started to scramble. If one kiter gets out on the water that's the signal to get moving because you never know how long it's going to last.

Today the wind blew for over an hour. Then I got my bigger board and went out again. I threw in this shot from last year because I didn't have one that conveyed the fun that we had today. I hope this picture of Rijk, Luca and me says FUN.

As I close out this blog, and the sun starts to set, I must take a moment to thank those on the beach that come to the rescue of kiter's in trouble. I had gone out for "just one more run" when I noticed that everyone else had come in, even die hard Bart. So as I tried to get to shore the tip of my kite barley touched the water and that was it. The kite went right on its top and I was done. What I didn't realize was there was a lot of sea weed in the water and it wrapped around my lines. Instantly I could barely pull in the lines.

I finally got everything up on the sand and realized I was about a mile from camp. Then like a knight in shining armor, Rijk rode up on his bicycle and give me a hand. We got the sea weed off the lines, rolled up the gear, and took the long walk home. So here's a special thanks to all those who take a few minutes to help their fellow kiter. It's really appreciated. Thanks Rijk.