24,NO. 25, NO. 26, Missed it. 27...WE GOT WIND TODAY

Sept. 24....NO WIND TODAY



Sept. 25....no wind today, either!!!!




I saw someone pumping and thought maybe today.....NAHHHH!!!!
The skate boarder and a boat got some....not us.


Saturday Sept. 26....A LITTLE WIND, BUT WE MISSED IT


I saw the wind coming up and was very optimistic. I texted a few people and we met at the beach.

I felt the wind coming up and headed for the beach. I should have been a little faster because everyone was walking up the beach as I arrived at 3 o'clock I missed it. Those that got there early got about an hour.

Chad (in blue shorts) is expressing his sadness about getting skunked. Chloe, Dong (hidden by Chad), Kyle, Al (hidden by Kyle) and Jeff all wanted a little wind on Saturday, but no way.

In the mean time Al Navas entertained us at the camp by doing a head stand. Pretty good Al.

The one person that did have some fun Saturday was Alexandra. As you can see on the wind graph the wind come back at about 5 and lasted for a little while. When it did come up Matt got out his Best Waroo 7 sq. meter kite, and rigged it for his wife. The wind was blowing about 15 mph and Alexandra had the time of her life sand dragging and being pulled all over the place.

They dropped over to the house afterwards and shared the story of her flying the bigger kite. She said "My heart was pounding out of my chest. It was so exciting." Welcome to the club. We have an new, pumped up woman kiter. You go girl.

Sunday Sept. 27, WE GOT SOME WIND, WE GOT PICTURES & WE CELEBRATED!!

Today Ruth and I drove to the Farmer's Market, then to Ralph's and then home. After I parked I felt the wind coming up, saw a yellow kite on the water and made a dash for the garage. Then headed for the beach.

Klaus and Radko were already at the beach and Juliano was just getting his stuff out of his car. We all started pumping and rigging because there was already one kiter on the water and we didn't want to miss a minute.

This shot of Trevor Nelson was taken by his mother Peggy. Great shots Peg! Trev got some great air, as we all enjoy "Winter Rules" at Belmont.

Great extension. He must have been a gymnast. What do you think???

I don't know how Peggy got this shot but the framing is fantastic.

Another great moment....frozen in time.

Hey, you're not learning unless you're crashing.

Peggy was nice enough to catch Klaus out on his North directional. Looking cool.....

And me going port too. Thanks mom, but too bad you didn't catch my one and only jibe. Bummer. Hope you bring your mom and her camera more often Trev.

It was family day for the Nelson family. Here mom catches Trevor and his beautiful wife Sarah on the beach. Behind the camera is his mother Peggy and dad Rich. What a family!!!!

Klaus, Juliano, Trevor and I were out the entire time until the wind dropped off. I wanted to stay but when I asked Charles what time it was and he said 5 o'clock. Man I have to jam, then I asked Rijk to rush over to the house because someone was picking up an old mattress and the guy had to get it in his pick-up truck by himself

By the time I got there Dan (the new mattress owner) was about to drive off. I just missed all the fun because Ruth and Dan put it in and tied it down. Dan was a happy camper. Thanks for filling in honey.

Klaus said he was hungry so Ruth and Rijk whipped up something in the kitchen. Actually they had prepared it last night, but Klaus was too tired from all the work so he went to bed early and slept for 10 hours. But he didn't miss tonight's meal. It was tostadas with steak and chicken and all the fixings.

While in the kitchen Ruth made a beautiful concoction for us. It was fresh watermelon, vodka, watermelon schnapps, and cointreau. Mmmmm. The first toast was to the two chefs. The second was to Klaus and myself for such a great day on the water. We are really starting to enjoy the directionals. I pulled off my first jibe. Well almost. I fell when I tried to put my back foot in. The day was a lot of fun. It also included a few very hard hand slaps. OUCH!!!!!!

Sept. 22nd and 23rd, got some and nothing..

Sept. 22nd, we had some wind.

Yes we had some wind, but no pictures...just a great time on our directionals.

Sept. 23nd, we had NO wind.

We were ready for a repeat of yesterday...BUT NO!!!!

I did have my camera though..

Here is Raoul at the Kitesurfari camp. All pumped up and no where to go. He told me later that he did get out later for a while.

There were three guys on the beach huffing and puffing and couldn't blow enough wind to go out.

What a great day to get some exercise. Remember, you're breathing this smog, smoke crap.

I waited for this ship to get about in the middle of the breakwater opening. I love this shot. Catalina is in the background, in the middle is the breakwater. Which is very visible. And there are three ships and three boats. Count them when you double click on the picture.

Sept. 24nd, we had no wind AGAIN!!!!

So we went over to the bay on Bayshore Drive.

After Ruth fixed us lunch Ruth, Klaus, Rijk and I headed for the bay. Ruth and Rijk jumped in to take a little swim.

It's hard to tell but they had just come back from about a half mile swim. From where we were, up to the bridge and back. They had fun and cooled off.

Klaus and I kept each other company as I took pictures with my cell phone. They are really fun to use and edit. It's almost a camera. We hope there's going to be wind tomorrow, but don't count on it.

Sunday, Sept. 20th, S.M. Family Outing

Sunday, Sept. 20th, a family outing in Santa Monica to say hello to my niece Amelia, who came all the way down from Oregon on her way to New Zealand.

Wait a minute, the family outing will have to wait a little while. I had to walk over and take pictures of this huge kite assortment. A gentleman by the name of Wayne "The Kite Man" puts up this display of kites he has collected all over the world.

Then I had to take a walk on the beach. This is looking South.

This is looking North. Ruth and I lived in Santa Monica for about 25 years and this was the first time to the beach in about 6 years. Not much has changed.

Here is the "Corbett Camp." No trash can, just an E-Z-Up. But what was here, other than shade, was the food. This was a pot luck lunch for my niece Amelia who was passing through Los Angeles and would be in New Zealand and Australia for the next two months.

My youngest daughter, Sara, standing in the back, is the one who put the whole day together. Great job Sara!! Robert is on the right, Dan is thinking about something and Kristin is next to him. What a shot.....NOT

My niece Amelia is second from the right. On the right is my niece Tania. On the far left is Gerri, Tania's grandmother. To her right is Tania's daughter Victoria and her friend from school.

My oldest son Robert (on the right) was showing my brother Mike and his oldest son Spenser his street bike. He also has mountain bikes too.

Dan, my youngest son, gave my "little" brother Mike some kite flying lessons.

Then Dan got his older brother Robert to fly the kite. Mike's youngest son Curtis waited his turn.

Next Brian, Sara's boyfriend, got the hang of it as Mike and Jason looked on.

Jason, being a veteran kiter, helped out with the relaunches. What a guy.

Then there was the all important family posing session. I think there were three cameras. This was only one of the shots. More to come.

Everyone had a great time. Thank you Sara for putting it together.

Wednesday must mean wind

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Today was recovery from the baseball game, got a blood test for the Neurologist and blog about the baseball game. Then the wind came up. Get on the cell phone and start texting, then get my stuff together for the beach. The time 2:15 P.M. Got to go!!!

As you can see it looked pretty good. Too bad I didn't react faster to Mike Noel's text. He said at 12:30 that he had that "wind feeling." He was right.

Robert and Kitesurfari took a few day off. End of summer rest, but HE'S BACK!!!

And he brought with him "Stringray Club" t-shirts. Ruth couldn't wait to check the box "More than that." She loves it. Great job Robert and the Kitesurfari team.

It's now about 2:45 and the wind is up. Shoot a couple of shots and hit the water.

As I turned my camera towards the water Raul, one of the new instructors for Robert, is getting some great air. BTW where is he looking??? Double click on the picture to get a better view.

Mike Noel is off and running too. He's got that kite and board dialed in today, but had to leave early for work. BOO HOO, sorry Mike.

Dan had a chance to go out on Klaus's North. I think he liked it.

I went out on Matt's big F-One directional. I still don't know how to jibe it. Thanks Klaus for the shot.

This is where I warmed up. I thought of going to Seal but wanted to go with Rijk, Klaus or Dan, but that didn't work out. It was still a lot of fun.

Then I had a little fun with Arnaud Vuillermet, who has a lot of course racing experience. He was riding his Jeff Kafka race board (http://www.wowkite.com/boards.htm). They are fast. Up-wind Arnaud was much faster than I was, but down wind I pretty much stayed with him. He still beat me. That was fun.

Arnaud is on the left and Klaus on the right. They are both fast on the water.

Unfortunately Dan got to the beach a little late. He grabbed Klaus's Bandit Dos 14 and had a little fun. I love this back light thing, OK he is my son.

The end of another day at Belmont. We have been lucky for the past few days.