Wind during the day and SCKA Social that night

March 25, 2011

Wind during the day and SCKA Social at night

Dan sent a Facebook blast that the wind was coming up and he needed to go to the dentist. Unfortunately I had to go to our accountant. By the time we got back from Studio City Dan was just coming off the water. When I got to the beach he was chatting with Bart Miller about tonights SCKA Social event at the Belmont Brewing Company

Bart had a lesson so Dan loaned Bart his kite so he could kite out and check on his student.When Ruth and I were at our tax guy I called Klaus to make sure he got off of work early and didn't take the overtime. He said he got on the water at about 3 and kited for about 3 hours. I was in a hurry to pump so I didn't get any great jumping shots...sorry
First thing on the water Klaus and I did a passing hand slap. When he turned and went starboard we just kept going straight for the oil platform. Unfortunately the water wasn't any smoother out in the ocean, so when we jibed and were going port I signaled "Let's go into Seal." Klaus waved me off and we headed back to Belmont. He told me later he didn't want to get stuck there.
Klaus and I de-rigged to get to the SCKA Social event and we noticed Bongo still kiting. He told us later that he only got in 45 minutes and got to the beach late... next time.
By the time I got to BBC (Belmont Brewing Co.) I saw Klaus leaving, but had a chance to chat with Gabor Vagi, who needed to head home. He is currently trying out a Royal kite and race board
When I started going inside BBC I noticed the sunset and couldn't resist taking a few pictures. Double click on the image to see it big
By the time I got inside Dan and Bart were in full on SCKA discussion
Kristin and Darren were talking about kiting and other stuff.
And I grabbed a shot of Dan, Bart and his new student
Naturally I had to ask someone to take a group shot of all of us. Just put in mentally Klaus and Gabor who were in their warm cars. We look forward to the next social :)

Storm front in Long Beach

March 20, 2011

My Sunday started out with a little tennis in the morning, then I drove over to my friend Steve's house to pickup a monitor adaptor. On the way to the peninsula it was obvious that it was raining and the wind was blowing like crazy... so I had to take some pictures

When I took these two shots I was hiding behind the Lifeguard building near the marina entrance. The wind and rain was coming down like crazy from the South-East.

Can you believe it, waves were breaking over the breakwater. Man the waves were really powerful today.

After I picked up the adaptor at Steve's and dropped off some of Ruth's fresh sugar coated blueberry muffins as a "Thank You", I drove back to the Claremont ramp and saw the force of the wind up close. Michael D sent me this wind graph of Belmont. Check out 2-4 PM. I looked at the time stamp on my pictures and they started at 2 o'clock until about 3. Michael said he went to San Juan Capistrano and there were 8 kiters on 9's or smaller. As you can see the peak was at about 7 and that's when Naji and I were chatting about the rain. It was coming in our bedroom window and I had to get to work...... mopping up the water and drying the floor.
As I drove up to the beach there was a woman trying to ride her tri-cycle with a child on the back. This did not look like much fun to me.
Over in the LaVerne parking a kiter was just wrapping up his gear. He said he had been out for over two hours and was tired. (Let me know if you know who this is so I can add his name)
I decided to drive out onto the Claremont ramp and caught this kite behind a giant sand pile. It may have been Bongo...I don't know. I was able to drive to the end of the ramp with Bart Miller to get an up-close and personal view of one lone kiter. It was David Lector. I didn't recognize the kite but I saw his truck on Ocean
At this point David was the only kiter on the water. He was cutting and jumping like it was a normal day.... NO PROBLEM....
Mean while those on the beach were wrapping up their gear....
When I looked back David's kite was in the water. I found out later he was using Susi's 5.0 and that the group had come up from Sunset because the waves were MONSTER down there. Belmont was their next choice. With Susi were Bongo, Jonathan, Morris and Peter.

I think in this shot David is on the left and Susi is on the right. I'm not sure who is holding the kite. What was great is he had a back-up team just in case.
I'm pretty sure David is on the left, then Susi and Bongo's to the right of the LG tower. Everyone is done for the day. Time for a warm glass of wine.
It's the end of the day and I came home to a leaky window. I spent the next little whild mopping up the floor and drying off the carpet. All in all it was a great day. BTW Steve the computer works great... THANKS!!!!

Belmont wind, a stingray bite & a trip to Sunset Beach. All good times with friends

March 18, 2011

At about 12:30 Michael D. (on the left) drove up to the house and said he was back in town from Oahu and wanted to kite. I told him I would be down in a few. Then I called Klaus and texted Dan, Kris, Kyle and Harley Mike. He's in the center. The three of us met up on the beach. Michael was on the water when I arrived. I'm not as fast as I used to be.
I took this shot of our stuff on the beach. To me it feels great that the group is getting together again as the season starts.
As I pumped I noticed Michael was on the water and powered up.... I've got to move fast.
I couldn't help but notice the new SCKA Social Chairman, Bart Miller (www.socalkites.com) had a beach lesson. He recovered from his stingray bite from yesterday just fine.
"Do as I say not as I do".... I took a few passes but the wind wasn't very strong. I pumped my 12 again so had to walk up the beach a few times. On one of my launches I walked out one step too much in the water and OUCH!!! If you want to learn more about stingrays go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingray.

I tried Bart's idea of pouring alcohol on the wound but decided to go for the tried and true remedy... hot water. After the soaking I walked back to the beach and since the wind died at Belmont the new plan was to drive to Sunset.
Well it looked promising when we arrived. Hank Sanchez was on the water so we got our gear.
Klaus rigged first but the wind died so he started chatting with a windsurfer from New York who was out here vacationing.....
Susi and Hank's silhouette against the waves looked like a photo op to me. They were waiting for the wind too.
We rigged but it didn't look promising so Michael D. did some beach repairs.
Hank, Klaus and I had a chance to catch up with our lives. We all look forward to trips to Lake Isabella and Sherman Island....and warm weather.
We packed up, but the wind did come back a little and Susi was able to get out.... next time guys
We all look forward to returning to Sunset, Huntington and Leo as the kiting season begins anew.

Gabor's Ocean Adventure

Sunday March 13th, 2011

Gabor's Ocean Adventure with Xavier

On Sunday there was a number of us waiting for the wind to come up when we noticed a windsurfer going very fast down wind towards the marina. It was obvious that he had a large sail and a very wide board, other than that he was totally powered up. He was our wind barometer because if there was enough wind for him to go all the way to Seal there was enough for us.

Most of us were able to get out but it wasn't great, but I did notice Gabor out near the breakwater. Hmmm. Later he came in to Belmont and fill me in on his adventure.... here it is.

It seems Gabor's friend, Xavier Ferlet, was supposed to meet up with Gabor at Seal but left before Gabor was ready. So Gabor was playing catch up being 10 minutes behind a formula windsurfer. He told me that going up-wind Xavier was able to cut a little better angle.
Here is Gabor's first leg inside the breakwater chasing Xavier.
They stayed inside the breakwater past the Queensway entrance and about a mile past Pier J.
This might be a better map to understand their travels. Gabor came over to Belmont after his adventure all excited because it was so beautiful. Here's his eblast;
"Now that we have dusted off our gear and ready to loose a few extra pounds....
ARE YOU GUYS READY TO DO SOME SERIOUS KITING?

Let's go accumulate some mileage and discover the bay and beyond.... Get your safety gear (radios, cellphones, good wetsuits, whistles, knifes etc) and your Go-Pro's ready.

I have been kiting up to and way passed Pier-J and I can't tell you how beautiful the view from there looking at the LA area with the snow capped San Bernardino mountain range and the crystal clear blue water outside the bay...I feel so selfish to do it by myself (or occasionally with my formula windsurfing buddies).

IS THERE ANY KITERS OUT THERE WHO CAN SHOW THOSE WINDSURFERS WHAT WE CAN DO TOO? Maybe we could start up a race series.?

Let me know or just come to Seal Beach at around 3 PM any windy (9 mph or better) days.
Cheers, Gabor"
Gabor is on the left, just so you can recognize him. On the right is Simone Vannucci.
Enough said, let's go sailing with Gabor!!!

The wind blew and I played with my two hero's today

March 11, 2011

The spring winds are upon us....time to kite.
Ruth and I along with the two dogs went to Armstrong Nursery today. Ruth wanted to get some new plants for our neighbors house. The are visiting soon and their front yard needed sprucing up. After we returned it was a quick visit to Subway and then pack the cart for the beach. When I arrived at about 1:30 this is what I saw, three fishermen in their kayaks returning from a day of fishing. Now the wind was up and it's time to kite.While I was pumping up I noticed that Carter had a lesson on the beach and Mike Moore and a friend arrived. What a great feeling I knew this was going to be a great day today.
When I started today I just wanted to play around and wait for Klaus. I knew he wasn't getting off work for about an hour so I wanted to work on my jibes and jumps. Then I saw three kites heading out to the breakwater. I knew one of them was Gabor, I figured one was Simone and I didn't know the third. I then headed for the back of Chaffee Island.
There was no way I could go up wind as fast or at the same angle as they were going but I wanted to play anyway. When I got to the breakwater and headed for White Island Gabor and Simone were blazing a trail back to Belmont. I couldn't believe the angle they were going and how fast.
I know this drawing is an approximation, but while I was heading for White Island Gabor and Simone were crossing in front of me heading back to Belmont. The were going down wind so fast I couldn't believe it. When I jibed and followed them there was no way I could follow them at that angle. My kite wanted to go starboard. That was incredible to witness.
When I got back on land I grabbed my camera and caught a couple of shots of Klaus. Here he is pulling off a jump when the wind was dieing.
My neighbor Christopher, on the windsurfer, and Klaus were on a port tack... having fun.
As the wind was starting to fade Drew Roeser and Trevor Nelson walked back up the beach. I think this announced the day was over.
I asked my neighbor Ray to take a picture of the three of us with their course boards. This was so great being between these two guys. Simone is packing and going to France on Sunday so this might be his last day in Long Beach.
I had to get a shot of each their boards too. Gabor was riding the Cabrinha 183 production race board.
And Simone was riding the Royal proto-type course racing board. For more info go to facebook.com/royalkiteboarding and click on tools. You will see the information on the Stealth course board.
At the end of the day the three of us were going our separate ways, Simone was going home to pack. Gabor was going to clean up and I was going home to take some pictures of Ruth's work.
Ruth totally cleaned out the old plants and put in new ones. All in one day.
Here is a closer look.
And the planter too. Great work honey...now it's time to clean up and have some dinner... maybe there's going to be wind tomorrow....... I hope!!!