OMG.... today was awesome!!!

April 13, 2011

OMG... today was awesome!!!

I'm tired right now so more tomorrow

Three days and counting

Saturday, Sunday and Monday

April 9, 10, 11

Saturday and Sunday were great days at the beach. Lots of kiters returned to Belmont to kite and catch up on things. The wind was pretty good but mostly it was saying "Hello" to the new season.

Monday

Today was a great surprise. I noticed a few kites in the air a little after 3 o'clock so I scampered down to the beach. I stood there for a few minutes trying to figure out whether to rig big (15 sq.m.) or rig normal (12 sq. m.). I chose the 12 and while going out Trevor walked past and said he was over powered on his 13.... so off I went.

My intention was just to just pass some time while Dan or Klaus arrived at the camp, so my first tack was to try to get to Chaffee Island. I didn't quite make it but when I jibbed I noticed the wind direction was very good and there was quite a bit of wind out there.

After almost getting to the pier I decided to jibe and see how close I could get to the windward side of Chaffee Island. I was not able to make it past the island on this reach so one more pass and I could get past the most western part. There were two kiters close to Chaffee but they were not going behind the island.

Once I reached the pier I knew I could easily get past the island. This is the point when you are by yourself you start the think of things that could happen and your escape plan. "If my kite goes down near the breakwater I could self-rescue to Seal and then hitch a ride home." Stop over thinking, nothings going to happen. When I made the jibe near the breakwater wall I didn't pull it off, so in the water to cool off. Then it was head for White Island. The wind was very strong in that section between the island and the wall, and the water wasn't too choppy either. Fun!! The wind was still strong as I headed for White but I could feel it dropping off a little so I jibed and headed to the break wall again. This was really fun because you are going with the swells and the wind was cooking. Actually at one point I was thinking of de-powering, but didn't want to risk it. BTW it's a lot more fun going out there with someone. Less stressful.

One more jibe and I smashed in the water face first. That wasn't fun. I got back up and I was on a port reach and crash, back in the water again. What was going on??? Was I loosing it?? That's when I decided to head back and see who was there. Enough excitement for one day.

As I zigged and zagged back to Belmont I could see Klaus was on the water so we rode a few passes and then the good old switch clicked and it was back to the beach. Fortunately I brought a few cold ones so Klaus and I just sat on the beach and enjoyed the beautiful afternoon. Later Steve Lee and Ruth and the dogs joined us to cap off the end of a wonderful kite day. No wind today, hope there's wind tomorrow.

OH Baby, Good wind today. Thanks to the wind god

April 7, 2011

At a little after noon I got a call from Klaus, "The wind is blowing." I walked out and saw Michael D.'s van on Ocean and a few kites were out. It was time to hit the water.

As I pushed my cart to the end of the Claremont ramp I could see the wind was at least 20mph. Hmmm how was I going to go out on my 12???

The first kiter I saw tearing it up was Rully. It's hard to see but he was doing some great tricks very close to shore. Cool stuff!!! Michael D. was also one of the first on the water. He said he arrived at 11 and was on the water, on his big kite, close to noon. He left after 4 and had a great day after rigging his smaller kite. Check out the Queensway entrance in the background. Trevor, as usual, pulls off a great move right in front of me. What control. There were moments when the cloud formations just totally amazed me. While the wind was blowing over 20 the sky just captivated me. It's hard to tell how high up Trevor is but that's the breakwater behind him. Nice jump Trev.

My neighbor Christopher had plenty of wind today to pull off some of his windsurfer tricks. Radko was also out on his board today. Bongo was out on his small Caution today pulling off some unhooked jumps.

Klaus took off of work early because he didn't want to miss the wind today. He had the jumping down to a science with his 15 F-One. In the back ground are two Hobie Tri-foilers's. The are really fast and turn on a dime. They set a record of 43.55 knots in 1993 and it still stands. It looks like the wind is blowing Klaus sideways in this shot

You can get a pretty good look a Klaus's F-One board on this shot. He said this one jumps the best of all of the boards that he's tried. He looks forward to the Kite Expo to try some new ones Dan got to the beach a little later than some of us but pushed to catch up. The cloud formations behind Dan really makes this picture pop. Dan pulls off another port jump. It's like he's jumping over the ship... NO not really.

I finally caught a shot of Dan where the lighting was OK. Hope you like it

I think Drew is flying the new Naish Torch. As you can see he has it pretty well dialed in. I'm guessing that he's 4 maybe 5 body heights off the water. How high do you think he is???

I think I'm going to call this shot "Sky Pilot." Drew is up in the clouds and holding on.

Kyle got on the water a little late but there was plenty of wind left.

The clouds are starting to look a lot like rain. Hey, what difference does it make he's already wet

Gabor kited up from Seal. There was good wind out there.

I don't know how it happened but Drew is pulling off this trick just as the blue kite is going by. Double click to make the shot larger to get the whole effect.

At the end of the day everyone had a great session.

For more pictures check out, http://www.orangecounty.com/articles/break-18453-surf-lineup.html and http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v1/yG/r/9buiZx_-Qt8.swf?v=146544858744428&ev=0

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday

April 3rd, 4th and 5th

Sunday April 3, 2011

Tonight was a "Take the hard working gardener out to dinner night." Dan, Kristin and I took Ruth to a wonderful new restaurant here in Belmont. It's called Me Soo Hungry. It's on the corner of Claremont and 2nd Street. Mmmm GOOD!!! After kiting you should drop by and check it out. Excellent food, great service and good prices too. By the way please sign the petition to the ABC because ONE neighbor is stopping the owner from getting her beer and wine license.

WE CAN'T HAVE THAT!!! Check the place out and sign the petition.

Me Soo Hungry

Ruth's hard work has paid off, our front yard looks fantastic.

Monday Kiting

The wind actually started blowing early. Klaus texted me from work and asked if his wind readings were accurate. Winds were registering 18mph at 12 o'clock. I was working in the garage and couldn't tell so I went out in the street and saw three kites out. I think I saw Trevor, Dong and Hank on the water. The wind was really up.

I got on the water a little after one and got in a little kiting using my 12 and had a lot of fun. I was out at Chaffee Island when I noticed I couldn't get up wind any further. Ding, ding, ding. Time to head home while there's still some wind. Especially after dropping my kite yesterday down near the marina jetty. There were two other kites close to Chaffee but they were still powered up. Good for them. Kyle and I barley got in before the wind totally shut off.

That was switch number one, now switch #2

At about 6, when Dan, Kristin and I walked back to the house, it was just like summer. Dan and Kris headed to BBC to see the "Final Two" basketball game and I decided to take the dogs for a walk. The evening was fantastic. Warm and very beautiful. Bebe, Harley and I walked down to the Peninsula and were really enjoying the wonderful evening.

On our way home we ran into the Italian woman who is always riding her bike or walking around the Claremont beach area. Bernice stopped to say "Hello" and asked about the dogs. Then, another switch clicked and the wind started blowing like crazy. So intense that Bernice had to walk her bike down the alley using the apartments on Ocean to block the wind. I ran back home with the dogs.

It's hard to tell with a still photo but look on the lower left corner and see all of the dust from the sand. It was a real wind storm.

This picture, looking at walkers on the bike path, gives you a better of the winds intensity.

Tuesday

The wind starting blowing at about 2:30 so I grabbed my camera. On the way to the beach I saw this guy sanding a tree trunk and snapped his picture. His name is "Sunset Mike" and his business is converting tree trunks into tiki statues. Check out his website at http://sunsettikiworks.com/ Cool stuff. As I crossed Ocean I saw Bill's flag blowing off the pole.

As I headed down the Claremont ramp I saw Omar unloading his gear. I love his new car.

This is almost the same shot as the fourth picture up. This is looking West. I couldn't believe it Bart was doing a lesson. I'm guessing he had a 5 or 6 rigged for his student. Check out the seagull in the lower right corner. Cute!!

At 4 P.M. I was driving to the gym to try and relieve the back pain I was experiencing and the wind had really died off. Too bad guys.

At a little after 6, when I left the gym, this was the sight at the end of the Granada ramp. I love it when my trained seagull flys right into the middle of the frame. Let's see what happens tomorrow.

If you have read down this far please remember the date Saturday April 30th for the SCKA FREE Safety Clinic...... hope there's some wind.