The past few days...after Thanksgiving

Friday November 27, 2009

Klaus gets his new Bandit Dos 12

He took delivery from Kitesurfari and had to pump it up. He wanted to make sure it worked for our La Ventana trip in three weeks.

While Klaus finished pumping I noticed two that wanted a lot more wind.

His kite went up and he had no problem playing with the wind. What there was of it.

This was also another test. You see Klaus hurt his left shoulder about three weeks ago. One ragging day. He is working through it.

Saturday November 28, 2009

The messages started a few minutes after 12 when Rijk said "It's windy in Sunset." My text blast was sent at 12:25 that "It's blowing. Clearing winds?" Moments later Mark, Kyle, Mike and others knew there were two kiters on the water and the wind was building.

Double click on the wind graph and you can see how the wind jumped up just as Rijk arrived and we headed for the beach. The two kites were fully powered up.

Not a great view of Rijk but we got to the beach as fast as we could. We started pumping a few minutes before 1 and we were in a hurry. I took pictures as Rijk did all the work.

Looking West we noticed there were a number of kites at the "Naish Camp." Hank and Britney were there. So was Matt, James, Rullie and many others.

I'm sure this kite is what I saw from the house around 12:15 which set off the "WIND ALERT." At the moment he was the only one on the water. There was plenty of room for the rest of us.

I grabbed this shot of Rijk as he was heading for the water. Then Mark Strauch (with Carole watching) gave be a hand getting airborne. I took off one knot thinking that it was going to get windier and then Mark shot a few pictures with is pocket cam.

Thanks Mark for the next two shots. Here I am heading for the water.

Carole took this one from her bike. L-R, Rijk, me and Mark, chat on the beach. Probably talking about the water temp or how clean the water is or maybe that there are mini-waves.

I was in such a hurry to put the camera down that I didn't recognize who this was jumping. I know it was a green Naish, so it might be James Lin, but I'm not sure. Good jump though.

At about 2:30 there was a lull in the wind so Rijk and I came in. It was about the time that there was a second wave of kiters. Kyle Van borrowed Rijk's Waiman 12, Michael D. wheeled up, as did Trevor who is just getting ready to go out. Hmm, maybe not because I don't think he has a yellow directional.

Then Henry started pumping and Naji went to get his bar. Then we started getting a little cold. Time for some warm clothes.

When we got to the house we had a mini party. Rijk, Klaus, Joy and myself talked trash then it was time to say goodbye and turn on football.

U.S.C. beat U.C.L.A. 28 to 7. The last game of the season is next Saturday when USC takes on Arizona. I think it's time to get online to StubHub and get some tickets.