Belmont Kite Haps: 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.