Memorial Day Weekend!!!!

Saturday May 29, 2010

It's summer and time for a little beach get-together....

The idea for today came together on the beach last Sunday when Ruth and Pilar started talking and decided that a pot-luck the following Saturday would be a great idea. Ruth was going to bring fried chicken and potato salad. So Ruth started looking for a fried chicken recipe...it called for a dry-spice rub, a dip into buttermilk and a spiced flour dredge--simple! Here she is on the front patio cooking twelve pounds of bird for the party-out of doors with an electric skillet--the only way to deal with the mess. Naturally Dan and I had to make sure it was good enough to share with the other kiters. We were the kings testers.

Here Kristin and Ruth approach the "camp" with one tray of special chicken. I think it's almost time for lunch.

It took three trips but we finally got everything to the beach. Here Rijk and Dan bring the all important things: the table, chairs, food and most important "The Beverages."

Here are the worker bees, Pilar, Ruth and Kristin. And a special thanks to all of the "catering crew" too. We really enjoyed the day.

Al, Pilar and Ruth have everything set just how they want it. Check out all of the great food.

I don't know what Dan and Rijk were doing here but I'm going to guess they are pointing at the wind goddess or maybe a passing seagull or one of the several new women on the water!

The dinner bell is about to ring. Thanks to everyone for bringing something. Klaus brought his famous German cucumber salad, Annmarie & Michael D. brought a green salad with blue corn tortilla bits, Rijk brought fresh cut pineapple and cookies. Pilar and Jorge, Mike Noel, Steve Lee, Al Navas, Dr. Bobby, and Juliano and Juliana brought a combination of fruit platters, more chicken, watermelon, macaroni salad and a great desert dish--a beautiful fruit tart and meringues. Those girls at Babette's Feast must know Al on a first-name basis!

Juliano and Juliana drove down from Marina del Rey to sample the yummy goodies and check on the Belmont wind action. He's giving a big THUMBS UP to the event. On the far left is Rijk saying hello to little Sidney Jeremy Van (one month old!) as mommy looks on.

Here's a close shot of Sidney Jeremy Van, the perfect baby, taking a nap at the beach.

Kristin looks on as Elisa (mom) and Kyle (dad) make sure no one messes with little Sidney.

You can see the diverse group that came down for the pot-luck. I see Bill, Omar, Jorge, Charles, Bongo, Faycal, Dan Slater, Mark Moore, Dr. Bobby, Suzi, Al...and the list goes on and on.

In the mean time Klaus set down his camera to have a little sparkly with Annmarie.

Steve Lee could actually watch the wind coming so he put down his plate and got ready to go out.

It was time to put the food away and get ready to kite. Michael D. was getting ready to go, Klaus was not sure and Rijk was bummed for not bringing his equipment---little did he know that the wind was going to go nuts!

As you can see the wind direction gave the kiters a great angle and very small waves.

Dan and Klaus were on the water within minutes and loved every moment too.

I don't know what Klaus ate for lunch but he was jumping like crazy. This is just one of his many jumps.

With the wind going up and down kites were falling and kiters started losing their boards. Here Omar grabs someone's board and brings it into shore. Now that's "Special Delivery."

I got a shot of Drew who was out with Faycal. Sorry Faycal I didn't get a shot of you. Next time.

I don't know why Dan likes jumping so close, maybe he's doing it for the cameraman??? His mother doesn't know if she should be proud or worried!

At the end of the day everyone started to wrap things up--the kites and the party.

As we walked home on Saturday evening, the sun was starting to set. It was a beautiful gesture at the end of a great day.....and this is just the start of summer. There's a lot more to come.

Sunday May 23....the wind was off the chart!!
Well almost

At about noon Michael D. drove by the house and said it was going to be a great day. Then Klaus followed him to the beach. I wasn't sure so Dan and I waited a while.

So at about 2 o'clock the wind was really howling. The sand was blowing across Ocean. It was time to go kiting.

It was great seeing so many kites at Belmont. I heard later that the surf was so big at Huntington and Sunset that a lot of kiters decided to come here.

Dan rigged his Best 10 and was getting some great air.

Dan's cousin Jason, who is going to be a father soon, decided to join us.

I don't know what size kite Aaron was on, but he was getting some big air too.

I don't have a multiple shot camera like Klaus but here was a cool trick that Drew threw down. Man does he make it look easy.

At 3 o'clock some kiters had been on the water for over 2 hours. Time to take a break.

And some....were shielded by their kites to get out of the wind.

The EverReady Bunny kept it up as kites started falling.

Rescues were happening on the beach....here Al is making sure this kiter was not dragged over the cement launch ramp.

And here Gabor has a kiter holding onto him as he drags him to the beach. Great rescue GV.

Gabor didn't waist any time...he was right back on the horse.

Even I got out there and had some fun.

Like many kiters, Dan wanted to get in one more ride. Because you never know if it's going to blow tomorrow.

But Ruth had the toughest job of all....babysitting Loki and Bebe while we were out on the water. We were home by 6, but there were still kiters out on the water. It was great kite day today.

So many pictures, so little time

May 19 thru 22, 2010

May 19th, Klaus gets a new digital camera

Have you seen this man at Belmont??? Yes it's Klaus Schulz. No more Cameraman #2 for him. He recently purchased a new digital camera.

It's a Canon EOS-7D. The following are some of his shots.

He's going to stitch one of these sequences together, so until I get it here is Omar getting some great air. This is one of about 20 in the shot list.

I think you get the sense of how sharp his camera is when you double click on this shot of Dong.

I think I can count the water droplets under Kyle's board. Did I mention how clear the pictures are?

I don't know if you've met Mark Moore. He's one of the new instructors for Kitesurfari.
Come over to the tent and say hello. Here he pulling off one of his many tricks.

May 21st, a better shot of KiteMaster's Belmont/La Verne location


Arnaud Vuillermet has marked his spot at Belmont Shore. You can find him on the East end of the La Verne parking lot. Welcome "Home" Arnaud. His other home is La Ventana.

Arnaud is talking to a new student, and in the back ground is Kitesurfari. Two kite schools.. no waiting. Soon there will be four.

On the same day..Ruth and Bebe were wearing their Harley outfits from "Uncle" Klaus. Now that man has good taste. He also knows where all of the Harley shops are.

May 22nd, time for an open ocean adventure with Klaus and John


Klaus came by on Saturday and mentioned that John Rost was driving up from Huntington Beach and we were going to meet up with Gabor. I said "Let's GO!!!"

Klaus decided to pump up his F-One 15. He didn't want to be under powered.

John pumped up his 14. I couldn't make up my mind, "Should I take "Big Mama" (15m) or the "Boss" (12). I decided on the 12.

Here's a Blast-From-The-Past, this is a group shot, thanks to Mike Noel, from our first visit to La Ventana, 2009.

John was on his cell phone just before we took off. We were going to meet up with Gabor and anyone from Seal that wanted to do a little Open Ocean Adventure today.

After we warmed up for a few minutes we headed for the oil platform. I saw a few kiters at Seal but no one was coming out to meet us. So I headed into Seal. I heard Klaus yell something and noticed that he and John were heading towards Chaffee Island.....OOPS, time to follow.

What I didn't know was they were going to make another pass behind the oil platform and see if Gabor was going to join us. In the mean time I headed to the pier and figured I was going to meet up with everyone on the windward side of Chaffee Island.

When the three of us got back together (where red and green turns to black) we headed out to the open ocean. Wow!!! The rollers were very different once you are past the breakwater. We didn't quite get to a container ship, but we knew we were in a new place. We tacked back to the middle of the bay where we passed two huge floating tanks that had seals on them. When we passed them the honked and honked, and some of them dove off of the float.

As we headed for White Island I could see I could make it past the island, so I kept going. Klaus and John when back towards the breakwater. After a few minutes we met up on the back of Chaffee. This is where we ran into Scott Carter. At one point, as we were going starboard toward the breakwater, Klaus pulled off a jump. Then John jumped. I was right behind them when I saw Johns kite hit the water and invert. Not good. Klaus grabbed his board and the three of us kited around John, and he was able to get his lines straightened out. OMG!!! Once John was up and running we waved good by to Scott and noticed that Gabor was just coming out of Seal. But we were done. It was Miller Time.

We got home, safe and sound. I'm really thinking about one of these water-proof two way radios. What a long swim that would have been if John couldn't get his kite back up in the air.

Ruth brought Bebe and Loki out to the launch ramp to join us. Klaus had brought some champagne and we sat in the sun and enjoyed it.

A few minutes later Dan joined us with "his adventure story".....he pulled off a trick in front of Chaffee Island and his kite hit the water....BAM!!!! It hit so hard that the leading edge valve popped open. He was trying to self-rescue when a jet ski happened by and gave him a ride to shore. Thank god for little favors. It was a happy ending for everyone, especially mom.