It's late Sunday night and we got a little today

Ruth and I went to the Farmers Market today, then to Whole Foods and lastly we hit Ralph's. While I was checking out at Ralph's Klaus called and said he was at the beach and where was "everybody." I said we were shopping and should be home in about 20 minutes.

By the time we got home Klaus was at the house and we had a beer. We checked out the wind but there wasn't much to talk about. The time was about 3 o'clock. Then Juliano came over and said he was going down to the beach. I went with Juliano and Klaus went home.

Once at the beach I noticed that Tiki day was in full bloom on the Granada ramp. It looked like it was a lot of fun.

We noticed the only person doing any good on the water was Peter from SD. He was on his big Best and his big directional board. Juliano started pumping and I just watched. Yawn.

Juliano grabbed his big Naish board, as Jorge and Bobby checked out the wind, and Pilar stood by to launch Jorge's kite. Our friend, the lifeguard at the Claremont ramp, Mitch, is constantly watching out for us. Thanks so much Mitch, we appreciate it.

Juliano got out with no problem. He was powered up and I think he was on his 13. What a good wind dummy, now it's time to pump....

My Sherpa's for the day pumped my kite as I took pictures and put out my lines. It was Michael's wife and brother. Thank you so much.

The time stamp on the pictures above was about 4:30. You can see from this graph that the wind jumped up about 10 mph about that time. The wind was really good for a while. I was on Dan's surfboard and had to de-power my F-One 13 when I was in the center of the channel.

A little after 6 the wind died and kites started falling from the sky. Michael and I made it in just in time. Actually what was funny is when I was kiting in the mid-channel a kite appeared over my head. I thought "Who's that?" As the kiter passed me from the back I noticed it was Michael. He was doing very well on his twin tip. I was on the surfboard practicing my turns. At this point, for me it's easy to go toe side in either direction, although I can't seem to hold the toe side stance very long. One time when I transitioned from starboard to port I actually made my foot switch. I was very excited.

Monday, August 24th.

A lot of kiters came to Belmont when they saw the wind building.

As you can see from the graph, at 4 o'clock things were looking pretty good.

Ruth and I had just arrived back at the house from Costco and I was excited because I saw a few kites out on the water. Then then wind died. Not long after that, Dan, Rijk, and Klaus drove up to the house, hoping to kite. Not today guys, the wind just died.

So Dan grabbed his 13 from the garage and installed his new strut. Then it was time to fix a few holes.

Klaus in the mean time had gotten real brave and took Chica from the tree and put her on his shoulder. Here he is trying to get her to whistle. We tried to warn him. At one point Ruth said "She's a mean bitch and I can put her back in the tree."

After returning from her swim in the bay, Ruth asked Rijk to get her "two fingers" of wine. Here every one is helping her measure two fingers. It seamed a little more to me but she didn't complain.

Just then Chica decided to bite Klaus on the bottom lip. Oh that hurts. Klaus has sworn off of talking to our bird and is going to stick to driving his new VW Passat, CC.

Dan and Rijk pose for me here. At least they got something done. I just took pictures and drank beer.

The next day, Tuesday, was about the same. A little wind for a little while. I got to the beach late because I went up to Hollywood to prep for a job on Thursday. Once I got home I grabbed my camera and was shooting all kinds of cool shots. I was really proud pf them. At one point I looked at my camera and it said "No Memory Card." Crap there went all those great shots.

So we all came over to the house to pick up where we left off yesterday.


Naturally Klaus had to put Chica on his shoulder again. Yesterday was just a fluke.

Sure Klaus seems like he's shy of Chica but he loved to give her things to eat.

And drink.....no problem!!!

When I took this shot I think Klaus was thinking, "I wonder what Chica is doing?"

It may be hard to see unless you double click on the picture, but Klaus got bit again. I think this time he's going to leave Chica on the tree branch and not put her on his shoulder anymore. But, there's always tomorrow. Let's see what happens.

P.S. Our windsurfing buddy Danny Valo had mentioned on the beach yesterday that a bear come down from the mountains and decided to cool off by going in his pool.

Check this out. I definitely would be using the long lens on my camera as to not piss off the bear. Danny said eventually the bear went back to its home in the mountains. Man I don't know what I would do? "Shoo shoo, go away you big bad brown bear, and don't come back." "Done!!"

Great wind, a few problems, but great dinner.

Today I knew we were going out with Rijk and Klaus tonight so I couldn't be out on the water too long, so when the wind started coming up I headed for the beach. I got there at 2:30.

When I got there "Litewave Dave" was there showing Peter how to power and de-power the demo kite. I think he took out a GK 15.

I snagged a shot of Luca pumping. We both wanted to get out there. The wind was good.

I was about to go out and Luca got a shot of me. What's that on my face?

Just before I went out I got a shot of Rudy and Todd going starboard. Now I'm putting the camera down and going out. I should get a water-proof camera....someday.

I decided to head for the oil platform and asked Luca if he wanted to go. He passed. I went and when I got to the entrance to the marina I found it was really choppy, so I turned around. While returning I crashed. I tried to body drag back to my board but the waves were not kind to me. Each pass I made I was getting more separated from my board. Just then the lifeguard boat was speeding from the marina to its mooring spot at Chaffee Island. I whistled and waved, but they kept going. "CRAP **##//". Just when I thought it was all over and it was going to be a long swim back they turned around and came back, and grabbed my board. I yelled out "Thanks guys" and headed home for a beer. We are so lucky to have such great service and guards here.

I said "Enough of this twin tip stuff" and I grabbed the surfboard. That was Strike Two. All I took was one tack and my kite popped out of my hand. The line broke where it attaches to the bar. Man I was SO lucky that it didn't happen in the middle of the channel. Dave came over and dragged me to the beach. Hey, at least I got in about an hour and a half.

A few minutes later Rijk showed up and gave me a hand untangling the lines. Now I just need to fix the bar tomorrow.

In the mean time Rudy was doing some fancy trick close to the beach when we heard his kite hit the water. BAM. He couldn't relaunch it so as the wind blow him to shore his kite and lines wrapped around the yellow buoy. Luca ran over and helped him.

Unfortunately there was a strike two for Rudy too. A stingray "kissed" him on the top of his foot. Mitch called for a "taxi" and he went over and put his foot in the hot water for a while.

Just then I looked over and saw Kyle pulling off a trick in the "pond." But he missed it. By the time I grabbed my camera he had hurt his ankle. He was done.

But I did catch Dave going uh-hooked and....

Rulley did a "board-off." They did great considering they were doing tricks in 4 inches of water.

It was time to call it a day since Klaus had now arrived and I still had to go home and clean up before we went out to celebrate his new car purchase.

This is the wind graph for today. It was really good.

As we walked home we saw a young lady doing some yoga moves. Sure I could do that???

Part one of tonight's celebration was Klaus's Cash for Clunker purchase and the part two was that Rijk got his first check. Klaus and Rijk now work together.

What a gentleman. I'm finally ready, so here we go for a ride in his VW Passat CC. We still don't know what CC means, but I know one thing Klaus loves to drive fast. I accused him of driving like Michael Schumacher, the Formula One driver.

We got a great booth in the bar of BJ's right in front of a huge Panasonic flat screen. It was the biggest I've ever seen. Then the drinks and food started coming. It was a fun time.

It was time to get the two hard working guys to bed since they wake up at 6 A.M.. Klaus took the 405 to the 22 freewat to take us home. I've changed my mind, I think he drives like Mario Andretti. REALLY REALLY FAST.

Klaus and Rijk come over for some fun

Today started out by me thinking it may not blow. Then it came up a little and I decided to go down to the water just to check it out.

There was enough to go out on Matt's directional because I wanted to try the instructions that Peter gave us on Sunday. As you anticipate the turn take your back foot out and keep the kite low as you change direction. As you go toe-side, and the kite naturally swings up, switch your feet. I was able to get my foot out of the back binding and make the turn, but couldn't get the foot switching thing. I talked to Peter again and he said to go on-line to ikitesurfmag.com and check it out....OK I will.

When I packed up my kite stuff who should be walking up the ramp to join Rijk and myself was Klaus. He said he had a keg. Let's go. OK it's a little smaller than I thought.

Naturally he wanted us to see his new car, but he also had new clothes to show us. Very cool!!

The four of us plan on going out tomorrow evening to BJ's restaurant in Huntington Beach. We can't wait.

We asked our neighbor John to take a picture of the group. I said, "Count to three John." I think he pushed the button on "two". What do you think???

The four of us are going for a ride in Klaus's new VW Passat CC. I went online but I couldn't find what the CC stood for. Anyway we hope there's going to be a little wind tomorrow, then we will head down the road for a great time.

Selling kite gear and kiting yesterday

Saturday August 15, my first day on the water since the shingles. I got out on the water and did a down-winder to the last lifeguard tower. This was not intentional. Then the wind die and my kite fell out of the sky. So I swam in and a nice lady with a cat grabbed my kite in the surf line. But my board decided to wait and not come until the rocks. It was a long walk, but Rijk and Matt came and helped me. So I'm NOT going to count this outing as my first kite ride since my shingles. This was just a test to wash off my gear.

On Sunday, the next day, the wind was a little better and I was able to get out on my twin tip for a while and then switched to Matt's big directional board for quite a while. That's fun!!!

This may not be the most flattering shot of me walking up the beach. Bonnie (Omar's girl friend) took the picture. Thanks Bonnie. I'll have to remember to not look so angry.

I had a ball going out on Polish Matt's big F-One 7 foot directional. Matt went out on it too and when we got back Peter Blawat (San Diego Peter) came over and gave us some pointers.

Here's Peter during the contest last week. Man he's got it down. He can make transitions in either direction and can he jump. That's what Matt and I are trying to get the turning down.

Now that I'm flying the F-One Bandit I've got to get rid of my two North Rhino kites to get a Kafka board. On the left is a 12 and the other is a 16. Both are in pretty good shape. There are two bars, a North and an Ozone. $800 for everything.


More pictures on Craigslist.

Now that I'm moving towards getting a directional I don't need the Litewave 169. This board is a great first board for someone over 200 pounds. It's a fantastic light wind board too. $150.

I also have a DaKine impact vest/harness and bar. It's X-L, for someone in the 220+ pound range. It can also fit over a wet suit. It's a little big on me now. $50.

You can get in touch with my at jim.corbetto1@gmail.com

Just a quick note, in addition to the pictures that were posted on my blog (bskitehaps) and on Dan Slaters (http://www.nearfield.com/~dan/sports/kitesurf/scka/wind1/index.htm) there are also pictures of the event on leftcoastimages.com. Once on the site click on the "Gallery" button in the upper left, then 2009 kiteboarding, Belmont Shore, then 09-08-8......
There were about a dozen photographers there that day. I wonder if there are any other pictures available?????????

Sara, Kristin, Klaus

Yesterday was a milestone day. Sara Corbett had her first lesson with Hank Sanchez, Kristin Helm stayed up-wind for two sessions and went beyond her dream of getting back to her launch point. And Klaus Schulz gets rid of his clunker, thanks to the USA government.

First thinks first. Sara had been talking about meeting up with Hank for a week or so and today the timing was just right. She dropped by the house, changed into some comfortable clothes and headed for the La Verne parking lot to meet up with Hank.

You can almost hear what Hank is telling Sara about the kite bar. In reality she flew a trainer kite for a few minutes, but quickly moved to a four-line Naish.

I can't remember whether Sara said it was a 4 or 5 meter kite, but it didn't matter because fortunately today there was wind. Nice going wind gods.

There she is keeping the kite at 12 o'clock. Now she's got to get it moving.

I think she's getting it. Look at that form. Great posture. Give her a few minutes and she'll be tearing up the sand.

Yep, I bet Sara can't wait to get back together with Hank. Too bad work has a way of getting in the way. Sara, welcome to kite addiction.

And talking about a gal that has been bitten....meet Kristin.

Kris is also a disciple of Hank Sanchez, but she has a few weeks on Sara. It was just a blink ago that I saw Hank running down the beach as Kristin was body dragging. Now....

she's on the water. So a couple of days ago Dan asked me to take my video camera and tripod down to Belmont and catch Kris in action.

The videos will go here when I figure out how to upload them to blogspot



After such a wonderful day we had a little toast to the two wonderful girls in our lives,
and their great kiting accomplishments today.

Then Klaus drove up in his new car. He turned in his Ford clunker and drove away with a VW.

This is his new Passat. It looks fantastic!!!!

Klaus was so happy. It was almost 11 o'clock by the time he drove away and Klaus had to wake up at 5 A.M. in order to be at work at 6. How does he do it????