Kite Expo Pictures

I finally have the pictures for our first Long Beach Kite Expo.....

On Saturday July 10th it was an early morning wake up call to get the beach and set-up for the arrival of the vendors. This is typical beach weather during the summer, overcast skies, but we hoped it would burn off and we would have a great day of kiting.

At 9 A.M. the vendors started arriving and they immediately went about their business of setting up their tents along the beach. In the foreground Leslie Elison from the Sea Festival is putting up flags that will line the entrance. It's going to look great!!

And starting at about 9 my wife Ruth and dogs Bebe and Loki were holding down the fort at the catamaran entrance. We tried to keep the vendors cars closest to the ramp for ease of access to their gear and safety too.

The launch ramp was starting to take shape with the Sea Festival flags drawing you down the launch ramp to the two SCKA tents.

Now the beach was starting to take shape. Most of the vendors had arrived and started to pump up their kites and set up their booths for the visitors. Now's when the clouds should be burning off.

The time is now 1 P.M. and vendors were ready for the public, and for the wind too. This was quite a site. A sea of kites all the way to lifeguard tower 8.

On the right is Mike Noel, the head of our Safety Patrol, along with Al Navas, the lifeguard from tower 8 and me setting up the water entry point. Don't we look official with our bright vests? We were ready.

This is the reverse shot of the vendors looking East towards the Claremont ramp.

Bart Miller, from So. Ca. Kites was playing "Pitch The Bag In The Hole" at Pyramid Breweries booth. I think Bart was saying "Hole in One!!!!!"

It's four o'clock and the only thing in the air were the banners flying past the Expo. It's not going to happen today. Maybe tomorrow.

It's now seven o'clock and thanks to Holly Wood and Pyramid Breweries we had an after Expo party at Legends.

Upon arriving, the bar was instantly jumping because of the pumped up kiters. The Expo was a success and "Dr. Bobby" in the grey shirt, who is front and center, was having a blast.

I think Gene Rotondo, the ownerof Legends, would be proud regarding how much we ate and drank that night. We definitely held our own and next year we should plan on the upper deck.

It was a crushing good time at our booth as many of the members of Kitesurfari dropped by to say "Hi."

At the bar the "Hornito Girls" were giving out free samples and there were plenty of guys in line willing to take the samples home.

It's now Sunday morning and it was overcast again. Not looking good.

But not looking that bad....one kite in the air. If only the clouds would go away.

The SCKA team was ready for anything after surviving Legends last night.

Dan and Max did a little SUP demo race. We had more SUP races later. It was fun to watch.

It's 3 o'clock and there's a little wind. Some kiters took out some demo gear.

It's now two hours later and there's still not enough wind. It's time to have our opportunity drawings and give away all of the great stuff that the vendors had provided.

Kirk Robinson of Captain Kirk's (in grey) congratulates Mike Bell, the winner of four days lodging in La Ventana.

In the center is Naji Flour, he is being congratulated by Robert McCullough (on his right) the owner of Kitesurfari for winning a new kite, kite board and lessons for two.

It's 7:30 and the beach is cleared of the vendors and all cleaned up. Now we can go party again.

This time it's Taco Surf.

Obviously the party was well under way. Who cares we can catch up.

Can you tell who the sponsor is???? Pyramid Beer. Now put your hands over your head, form a pyramid and chug another beer.

Sure our table had to play catch up, but we had plenty of beer tickets so keep them coming.

At the end of the evening my son Dan surprised me with this award. On the left is Robert McCullough and on the right is his wife Danny, together the four of us were the driving force behind the first Kite Expo. This award is shared with all four of them. We really look forward to next years Expo and hope we can do a better job of guessing when there's going to be wind.

For more pictures check out Dan Slater's web site,
http://www.nearfield.com/~dan/sports/kitesurf/SCKA/expo10b/index.htm