Happy Halloween!!!!

October 31, 2009, Happy Halloween!!!!

Ruth and I have spent the last few days dressing up the front of the house. At the entrance we had a fog machine and a tape playing spooky sounds and music....SCARY!!!!

Lights in the trees, lights on the vines, lights on the second story. Lights everywhere. Double click on the picture and pan up and down to see it all.

A few days ago Ruth and I went to the "Pumpkin Patch" on PCH and bought some pumpkins for decorating and seeds. This is just one of four.

Sara and Brian came over for a little dinner and the excitement of giving out some candy to the neighbor kids. We only went through one and a half bowls of candy. Thankfully we have some for later.

This is how I looked while watching USC playing Oregon tonight.

This is how I felt after they lost. I was mad as hell and I took it out on the little kids who came "Trick or Treating." "Damn it where's your trick KID????"

Everyone was leaving. Sara and Brian were going to the Hollywood Carnival. Rijk went to a party at Tsunami Sushi. And Klaus is in the next shot. Ruth and I... well we had to get our rest so we could take down all the lights and put away all the stuff for next year.

Even though Halloween is not a German celebration or holiday, everyone likes to party. Klaus went to Alpine Village where he ran into "Kiss." And naturally he had to grab a shot with them. He loves their music and now he loves them even more since he posed with them....well almost. Happy Halloween everyone!!!!

Huger Wind Today. I didn't kite but took pictures

Wednesday October 28th. Big wind again.

Ruth and I were up in Santa Monica today (our old stomping grounds) and saw the wind coming up during lunch. So I had to text some of my kite buds to let them know. It went something like "I'm up in Santa Monica and it's raging here. Hope you guys can get some. Won't be in Belmont until late."

Ruth and I drove down Ocean Blvd. and I could see the white caps off White Island and the sand was blowing at the pier. I dropped off Ruth at the house and grabbed my camera and bike and headed for the beach. My eyes are still hurting because of the sand.

Actually my first shot was at 5:27 and the last was at 6:10. Just enough time to catch the moment. Enjoy......

When I arrived on my bike I couldn't believe the wind intensity. I layed the bike down and started shooting.....I put "Huger" in the title because today was bigger than yesterday.

The first shot I took was Dan jumping over one of the buoys. He was out on his Best 10 and there was plenty of wind. He looks in total control.

Guys were getting all kinds of great air. Here is Alex going "Up, up and away."

Here's Klaus going port, dragging his hand. He was on his 10 Bandit Dos. Very cool Klaus.

Here's Dan going port too. Both guys....very cool.

One of the "Big Jumpers" at Belmont is Faycal Ferhat. Here he is getting some big air today.

Double click on this picture of Kyle. It looks as though he's checking out his kite. What do you think???? Or maybe he was doing a kite loop??? I can't remember.

Here Klaus is getting air. Later when we were wrapping his gear he said his left shoulder hurt. Kyle said "I couldn't believe what I saw. On one of your jumps you were flying sideways, then crash. You hit the water. No wonder your body hurts."

Dan definitely knew the camera was on the beach. Here he is getting air really close.

I didn't get a shot of Radko today, but he was first on the water. Here is Christopher doing one of his trick turns.

Here is Alex getting out of the water. I should have asked him what size kite he was out on.

Kyle was out on a 6 sq.m C kite. This is a rare sight, his kite in the water.

Here is Dan exiting the session. I was a little too close on him so I didn't get the shoreline.

The time stamp on this shot was 6 o'clock and it was still blowing. And everyone was cold. Where's the bonfire?????

Here's Bart Miller wrapping up his kite. It was really heart warming when Bart told me that he had seen my blog yesterday and drove up to Belmont to get in a little kiting. He also went out to the breakwater like we did yesterday and he "felt the rush."

The sunset was so fantastic Dan ran over to me and said, "Take a shot with my hands around the sun." "Sure." And here it is.

The wind was still blowing way after 6 o'clock and there were still two guys out, Kyle and Faycal.

Rijk had gone home, so had Radko, Christopher and Bart. Klaus, Dan and Alex were wrapping their gear and Kyle was just getting off the water. Good thing I brought a heavy jacket to the beach, because it's starting to get cold. "It's starting to feel a little like Christmas."

The weather man was right.....huge wind!!!!

Tuesday October 27, 2009

The weather man was right.....today we had great wind!!!!

The texts, emails and phone calls started early this morning.

Michael D. @8:35 A.M."Crazy wind predictions, what about the spill? "

Mike N. @12:26 P.M., "Seeing clearing winds in PV, how's Belmont??"

Kyle V. @12:44 P.M., ...."How's it looking????"
Juliano C. @1:32 P.M.,"Wind SW@Pier J (from 6 to 11) LAX gusting 23

Rijk W.@ ??:?? P.M.,"Anything????"

Dan C. @12:44 P.M., "On my way!!!!"

Michael D. by the house @2:15 P.M., "I took the day off, let's go!!!!!"
Klaus S. @2:33 P.M."What's going on man? We want wind????"

I got to the beach at about 2:30 and it was blowing pretty good

I took out my camera and there was already two kites on the water. Let's get rigging. As you can see from their tacks they were going almost straight out.

The wind was side shore. Coming straight from the West, out of downtown Long Beach. It made for a great reach.

One of my down winder buddy's, Matt Naigus, was doing a little walk up the beach. He was just letting me know he was around. See you in a few.

As I started to go out the first thing I noticed what that the flags on Chaffee were blowing straight to the left. Oh boy....lets go!!

On my first tack I was able to stay to the right of Chaffee. So I knew I was able to stay up-wind. On my second tack Matt was out there with me. Cool, I'm not going to the breakwater alone. It's just a little insurance policy.

As Matt and I headed towards LaPalapa I noticed Rijk was heading out to the breakwater too. So naturally I followed him. As we were heading towards the wall I felt the wind dying.

I dropped into the water as Rijk kept going towards the breakwater. Then I saw his kite go down. "Oh crap." Then I heard the Lifeguard boat going South from White Island. "OK he's going to get rescued." Just then Rijk's kite jumped out of the water and he was back up.

Like a bullet he was right next to me. We were both heading back to Belmont. He was so close that we did a passing had slap...going the same direction. No problem. Then we "surfed" our way back to Belmont. This was a lot of fun. Because of the wind direction there were mini-waves that we rode all the way home. Then we just messed around until the wind dropped a little. That was it for us.

Thanks to Radko we got a group shot on the launch ramp. From the left; Klaus, Rijk, me, Mark, Robert (with the spring suit), Juliano, Dan and Raoul. BTW Raoul became a daddy today. And he picked such a great name, Daniel. Just like my son to his right.

After Radko took the above picture he held up the wind meter and it recorded 27.3

As the wind kept gusting and the sand kept blowing, two kiters were getting ready to go out.

My neighbor Christopher (clewfirst.com) held on as he came out of the water.

Just then James Lin and Matt went out for their last run. Matt called me after dark and said he and James had just gotten in. Now that's what I call "The Last Ride of the Day."

We may have only kited for two to three hours but today was a long day. It started early and ended late.....I have no idea what tomorrow will bring. I hope it's wind.

Beautiful day, but no wind

Monday, October 26, it was a beautiful day, but no wind.

But a great sunset.


Reflections off of downtown buildings.


Birds flying at dusk. Check out the cruise ship that's heading for the open ocean. It looks like a planes tail right in the middle. To see it larger, double click on the picture.



Fireball over the docks. The ships tail is almost out of frame.

I talked to Hank Sanchez tonight and he heard that the wind she is a coming. Maybe tomorrow.

Dan got a new kite

Friday October 23....a real tease.

Friday I was very optimistic that the wind was going to blow.

At 2:45 I packed my gear, grabbed a cooler full of beer and headed for the beach. The time stamp on this shot was 2:50.

There were a few of us that wanted wind today. But it shut off just about the time I got there.

It was about this time that everyone showed up. Yes my texting worked, but sorry there was no wind. Rijk, Klaus, Mark and Dan arrived about the same time, but Dan brought something very special. He had just purchased an new EH "Ovando" 13m kite from Roberto at SevenSins Kiteboarding. Here Dan was taking it out of the bag.....first time. Oh the "NEW" smell!!!

Dan and Klaus got right to work. Dan pumped and Klaus stretched out the lines. "We don't need no stinking instructions." Check it out at http://7sinsports.blogspot.com/

Dan at this point was doing all the work. We were just watching.

Dan loved this shot of the three black kites. Now Klaus is going to have to spray his Bandit Dos black too. Rijk launched it but there wasn't much wind.

Klaus took over the camera and I tried to help Dan get it up in the air.

Doesn't it look great. I can't wait to try it out but Dan took it home. I think he was affraid I would ride it when he wasn't around.

Now the wind was really dead.....time for a beer.

So we all huddled under Klaus's kite and he kept taking pictures.

Then Dan had to put his new toy away....at least until it blows next.