Friday, July 10th....Kitesurfari is on the beach

Today was not a great wind day but it was very significant because today Kitesurfari is officially on the beach.

Meet Robert and Danny McCullough, the owners of Kitesurfari. Today was their first day on the beach of Belmont Shore. Welcome, welcome, welcome.

The camp was in full regalia. They brought two pop-up tents and we brought our African Grey. Ruth is playing with Chicka as Juliano (on the far left) is getting ready. Even Bill from Captain Kirk's was there.

One of Kitesurfari's ace instructors was getting a little air. Boy's must have their fun.

Mitch, our Claremont lifeguard, took a well deserved break and climbed aboard one of Kitesurfari's stand-up paddle boards. They are available to rent too.

Rijk, Juliano and I pumped up and went out. Ruth caught Rijk getting a few thrills up in the air. Unfortunately Juliano had a problem with his lines and had to come in.

Last week Matt loaned me his 7 foot F-One directional board. I took it out today and really didn't intend to have an adventure...but I did.

The board was very floaty, but also had three foot pads. Very much like a windsurfer. After a couple of tacks I was able to get behind Chaffee Island. I was trying to catch Arnaud, who has a course race board, but he was so fast I lost him.

As I approached the end of the breakwater wall, the East end, I heard someone yell. I looked up and saw a kite overhead. I thought, "What the frig. Who is that?" When I turned around Gabor Vagi, who was on a course board passed me as he headed out to sea past the wall. He pointed first behind the wall and then pointed West. I pointed in the direction I had just come from and we both set off together.

We went on this port tack as far as we could before the wind started dying out. He did one of his trick turns and I had to drop in the water to change directions. One of these days.

Like ships that pass in the night, Gabor headed back to Seal Beach and I headed back to Belmont. As I was down-winding I could feel the wind dropping, so I just kept swinging my kite as much as I could. It dropped in the water twice, so now it's nice and clean.

I was really glad to be back on the beach and not have to be rescued....it could happen. Later Gabor texted me and said "Just time on the water...and you will kick some butt." It was really a fun adventure today.

It was then end of the day and time to go home. I'm sure I'll feel it in the morning. Thanks Matt for the loan of the board, it was a lot of fun.