Sand, Wind, Fun & A course race too!!

May 15, 2011

Klaus came by the house a little after 11 and said he was heading to the beach. We were still reading the Sunday newspapers and having our second cup of coffee. Then Kristin called about a litttle later saying that she and Dan were going to set up the SCKA tent at the demo. So I decided to wrap it up and head to the beach with a hamburger in one hand and the cart in the other.

I was sitting on the swinging chair on Ocean and Santa Ana and could bearly see across the street. I decided to sit there and finish my burger because if I didn't I would be eating sand too.
I excaped the sand in my face by taking my camera to the waters edge. It was sand free. This shot gives you an idea that there were a lot of kites on the water enjoying the 20+ MPH wind.

Omar Nazif sent three panoramic shots he took yesterday. I trimmed this one. When you double click on it I hope it shows you to see the view we saw yesterday.

I had to draw an arrow to point out Klaus because the first time I looked at this shot I thought I missed him. I just saw the two North kites around him. He was getting some huge air using his Core 13.5 m2 kite.
This shot doesn't reveal that in order to get these shots Klaus would sometimes take three tacks in order to get around the number of kites that were close to the shore. It was crazy out there.
Dan took a break and was able to take our a demo board.
Dan was having a ball flying his Best 10 and pulling off some great tricks. He too was weaving in and out of traffic in order to get a shot somewhat close to shore.

Klaus got close enough on this shot to see his new shorts and his carbon fiber board. You can also check out the mini-hook on the Core bar. He loves it on low wind days because he's totally powered up with the mini in.

At about 4:30 the first course race, that I know about, got underway.

The orange ball was the start/finish line. When the flag was dropped the 7 or 8 kiters crossed the start line and headed towards the windward side of Chaffee Island.
There was a large buoy out in the middle of the bay. The idea was that the kiters had to go past Chaffee Island so when they changed from a starboard reach to a port, they would turn past the buoy. When I have passed it there are always seals making their honking noise.
You can see the group trying very hard to get a good angle to the wind.
Cameron and Gabor had a great angle to the wind. They passed Chaffee Island and somewhere near the breakwater they changed direction to a port reach and went around the buoy. From my view on the beach Cameron was ahead of Gabor as they rounded the buoy and headed for the finishline.
The downwind leg was really fast and Gabor was able to pass Cameron somewhere along the way. Next was another jibe and a change back to a starboard reach and head for the finishline.

When Gabor crossed the finishline Cameron was nowhere in sight. Gabor told me later that his Cabrinha race board was much faster going downwind. You can see more about the board at http://www.cabrinhakites.com/2011-raceboard.html
As you can see Gabor was a happy camper. A real champion and a great kiter.
This is a great closing shot. Kris and Dan holding Loki the wonder dog wearing his new F-One
t-shirt. Another winner was Jorge. He won a new Airush Spectra low wind board. It was a fun day.