Ruth has a party!!!

April 22nd....It's Earth Day and Ruth wanted to have a party!!! Once a year each woman in her group has a get together at their respective home. This month was Ruth's turn. It was also an opportunity to celebrate two birthdays, Lenni's and Ruth's.

She decided to have a tropical themed evening starting off with Ginger martinis.

Here is Ruth in the kitchen getting everything ready. Doesn't she look calm, cool and collected. But inside is a woman that has been preparing for three days. Nothing will go wrong.

Check out the table setting. Everything is it's place and don't move that fork either.

My job was to serve the martini's and to make sure the evening got off to a good start. Check out my bartender shirt....it's a martini glass. Can't you tell????

My kite buddy Rijk came by to test the ginger martinis too. He wanted to make sure the girls would like them....then he was off to the beach to kite.

The girls have arrived. L-R, Patty, Pat, Lenni, Ruth, Gloria and Judy. Unfortunately Lillian, JJ and Paula could not make it. I poured the first round then I headed down to the beach.

There's Rijk walking up the beach. I got there just in time to help him get his kite down. He got in about an hour and said the wind was up and down. Not that great.

When Rijk and I got back to the house it was just about time to get out of Dodge.

I made one more round of the martinis, took this picture and then Rijk and I were out of there.

Here Ruth is serving her first course. It was an appetizer of Thai chicken lettuce wraps on a bed of butter lettuce....MMMMM.

The main course was Orange Sesame Chicken in parchment with mango salsa, tropical fruit salad, brown rice with pineapple medley. For desert she served chocolate souffles with whipped cream.

As the sunset Rijk and I walked up to Legends to watch the NBA playoffs and pounded a few.

Sunday, more races, a boat ride and beach time.

Sunday April 19, more car races, a boat ride, a little drinking and some beach time.

Here we are at a little after 11 A.M. ready to ride up to Shoreline Village to Steve's boat.

I believe Steve said his boat is 35 feet long, has twin 450 c.i. engines and a flying bridge. Great for trips to Catalina to fish and scuba diving. If you double click on the picture you get a better idea of of the boats size.

L-R, Steve Nichols, Ruth and Lenni Curl. As you can see the drinking light is lit. We started with champagne and moved onto wine later.

We cruised around White Island. Here a number of boats drop their anchors for free mooring spots. Thank you Long Beach.

What's very cool about White Island is it has a waterfall and at night there are lights all around the island. It looks great day or night.

Here "Captain Steve" and his side-kick hoist our glasses as we head back to port.

What a great view of Long Beach's skyline from the bay. What a picture perfect day.

As we headed for home you couldn't help but see the Tecate beer cans flying in the sky. How do they keep them up there?????

The winner was Dario Franchitti. He's shown driving down Shoreline Drive. Photo: Russell Conroy

After Steve docked the boat and it was put away for the day, we jumped on our bikes and headed back to Belmont.

The closer I got to the beach the more anxious I got. There were a number of kites on the water.

I got there just in time to snap a shot of Klaus on the water. It didn't take long for the wind to shut off.

When the wind did shut off Steve Lee had to do a self rescue.....there's more.

After Steve dropped his kite on the sand he asked if someone knew the telephone number for the Lifeguards. Steve got the first sting ray bite of our group. Then, like magic, the guard truck pulled up and swept him away. To get a close-up of Steve's toe double click on the picture.

Off Steve goes...first stop, hot water for at least an hour. This gave us plenty of time to drink a few of Klaus's beers with gin and tonic chasers. We then preyed to the wind and surf gods no sting ray for any of us....PLEASE!!!!

When Steve got back Rijk, Klaus and I headed back to the house. For what else more beer!
Klaus surprised us with a jacket gift. Originally the jacket was for me, but Ruth said it fits her better. OK on to the kielbasi and sour kraut. MMMMM!!

Lastly, here's a shout out to Tim Howell. He celebrated his birthday this weekend. Happy B-Day Tim. You are the only one getting old in the group. Just kidding.

Friday and Saturday....BEAUTIFUL and HOT

Friday April 17th....

Ruth and I rode our bikes up to the Long Beach Gran Prix to meet up with my brother and his wife. They are here to participate in the Corvette Corral Car Show, as well as see the race.

We didn't see much of the race because my brother Carl and his wife Bonnie, who drive in from Las Vegas, came over to the house for dinner and drinks. This is his prize winning Vette.

Check out their custom shirts with their names and club emblem on them...very cool.

This is my attempt at taking a picture of all 4 of us. Sorry Carl, I only caught your drink. The earlier pictures were taken by Rijk. Thanks Rijk.

Here are the two bros posing in the living room. Aren't they cute.

Saturday April 18th. A kite day.

While we were waiting for the wind to come up Klaus wanted a few shots of his gear. Here is his new North 6'1" directional with foot straps.

Here he poses with his new board shorts and new Mystic t-shirt. He's holding his new twin tip and his Bandit kite is in the background.

The "Trash Can Gang" gather and commiserate at the beach. L-R Rijk, me, Bobby (standing with his back to us), Mark, Kyle, John and Todd. Some thought the wind was going to come back....NOT

Just to let you know there are pictures coming from Kyle. He and John Bonetti went out in an inflatable boat with a little outboard and took some shots from the water perspective.

Videos

Hi all,

I decided to re-post the videos by themselves...so there's no confusion with the blog that day. These videos I shot on April 15th, 17th and 19th and I used Andrea Bocelli as inspiration for the editing...enjoy.

Above is Drew Roeser.

Rulley Zombolivich

The above video is a collage of a number of Belmont kiters that include John, Kyle, Dong, Dan, Mark, Rijk, Matt and Klaus. Please take a few minutes to check them out.

See you on the beach.

More clearing winds!!!!

Yesterday (April 15) there was a lot of wind on the coast. Strong clearing winds. And I'm sure a lot of you got out there and got some of it. Unfortunately Ruth and I were in Santa Monica for a doctor visit. Then we dropped off some chicken soup to Sara and Dan. Both are under the weather with the flu. But I was able to get to Belmont at about 5 o'clock to take a few shots of the beach.

I don't know how, with this much sand blowing, it can be good to breath in all the sand.

By the time I got to Belmont there was one biker and two kiters.

Here there was one watching and two kiters out enjoying the wind.

Easter, what a beautiful day and wind too

Easter, what a beautiful day and wind too!

Last night Dan, Kristin, Sara, Brian, Ruth and I died hard boiled eggs. After that we created art on them. It was a lot of fun.

Here is the indoor group eating and making a toast. There was lots of food. Rijk brought his special meat balls, Klaus brought his cucumber salad, Sara brought a spinach salad. Ruth had ham, and fresh bread. And there was lots of champagne for everyone.

While Rijk and I posed with Sara's friend Lena, Klaus took off for the beach. The wind was up.

After I took this group shot in front of the blossoming roses, Rijk and I headed for the beach to join Klaus.

By the time I got there the wind was dieing a little bit but I shot some video of Klaus and Mark. I then added their footage to the video I posted on Friday.
Check out the end of the video for Klaus and Mark.

Everyone wanted wind today....sorry.

There were a lot of kiters at Belmont today. All hoping that it was going to blow. Unfortunately nature was not on our side.

Klaus was one of the first guys on the beach today. Others that showed up were Luca, Naji, Henry, Bobby, Roberto, Jorge and Pilar, Dave and Bill, Todd, Chad and his girl friend, Gary, and Matt. This was just the "Trash Can Gang." There were many other West of us.

At one point Luca grabbed my camera and climbed up the lifeguard tower and took these two shots.
When you double click on this picture you can get a better idea of how many kiters there were today.

Thanks Luca, your shots really show that there were a lot of kiters that wanted to kite today.

Juliano, on the left, drove down from Marina del Rey hoping that there was going to be wind today. Rijk, on the right, got in a couple of days recently and was going to a soccer game today. He didn't care if it blew, but he was there to help us rig.

Jason and Dan were ready for wind today also. They both rigged their 15's and I think Dan also rigged his 13 for Kristin. All three were disappointed.

I brought my video camera hoping to capture some big jumps. Maybe tomorrow.

Clearing winds April 8th and 10th

Tonight I finished a quick edit that was shot on Wednesday and some additional shots on Friday and Sunday. Check out the ikitesurf wind report. Winds were gusting over 30 mph.

I'm sure you recognize "Born To Be Wild" performed by Steppenwolf. It was used in the movie "Easy Rider." Klaus loves this song. This one's for you big guy.

I think the wind is coming back!!!

I think the wind is coming back...FINALLY!!!

Check it out...on Friday April 3rd Rijk and I did our first kite adventure for 2009 at Belmont. We did a down-winder to Seal and made it back before the wind dropped. I think we were lucky we didn't have to take the bus or call Ruth for a ride.

Today was also the first time I took the pictures with my cell phone. Not bad. As you can see there were white caps and the ships were turned towards the port.

On the down-wind leg Rijk and I were heading for the marina entrance when I pointed, "Let's go." He told me later he thought I meant let's go behind Chaffee Island.

When we arrived at Seal there was just one other kiter. As we played in the waves and went back and forth a few more kiters joined us. When we decided to head back to Belmont Rijk, on his 16 North made is up-wind very easily. I on the other hand had to tack a number of times to just get past the marina jetty. It was close too because I was looking straight at the guys fishing on the rocks.

By the time we got back there were a number of kiters at Belmont, but the wind directions was more on-shore that before.

We decided to wrap it up and head for home. Ruth took this shot of the two adventurous kiters.

The next day, Saturday the 4th, brought out a lot of kiters and others.

Here a guy is using a wind surfer sail to ride in the parking lot.

There was even a guy trying to use a trainer kite to ride his "Big Wheel" on the bike path.

It wasn't packed, but there were a number of kiters out today.

Dan is rigged and ready to go.

With plenty of wind Dan is off and running.

Rijk was right behind him.

Todd grabs his new directional board. He wants to get the hang of using it so he can ride the surf.

My new neighbor Christopher has been here a lot with his windsurfer. Welcome to Belmont.

Bobby is ready to go too.

I love this shot of Dan going port. Shooting directly into the sun gives an interesting reflection and the back-lite quality. Ruth doesn't like it because she can't see Dan's face.

Klaus drove down after work to check out the wind. He plans on coming down tomorrow and hopes to kite. He has been working a lot lately. Good for him.

At the end of the day I happen to capture the new Carnival ship Splendor. It is the largest ship to dock in Long Beach, 3000 passengers. On the right is the LB Fire boat.