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."