Rider Down... Give a Brother a few seconds.

[Whitey]

Help me out. Two weeks ago I was going through the 100th wave of the day and my right knee blew out. Torn this and that, fractured lobe, mri's, braces, crutches, physical therapy, etc. etc.

No need to get ino that stuff but, reason for the post.... today it is blowing. Sitting in my office, at my house seeing trees do things that I usually am not here to see, cause I was on the water with you guys. I'm having withdrawals already.

So help the old man out, do me a favor (there is not much on our local forum these days). Let me feel the love thru your sessions (just till I'm back). Short posts over the next few months, where you rode, conditions flat / waves , what size gear, fun / no fun, how many folks on the water.

Thanks very much for taking the time.

I'm so bored that I am putting my cd collection into my itunes library (with artwork). Craig

[C. Moore]

Sorry Craig. I didn't get to ride today so not much to comment on from here.
I hope you get well soon.

[Steve-O]

Whitey,

I'm gonna go brave the cold in the am at Sand Key Jetty. Should be some pretty nice wave action out there.

Got a nice new 7M Crossbow that needs to get wet, and with dry suit in tow, about 3 layers underneath, should be a good time.

I will do this sesh in your honor and hope to report back after I'm down.

Time to get away from the craziness of the crowd and have a nice solo sesh.

Any takers??????

[Unimog Bob]

That sucks, sorry to hear that. I blew out my left knee (full ACL rupture) and needed surgery my second season in, so I can relate. What I did was film other guys and put some videos together. It gave me something to do and other people liked to see themselves. I also got into a couple other hobbies, RC planes being one. Walking down the plane was decent rehab.

I feel for you, I know what it is like. It's easy to say (but true) that this time will pass and you will back out on the water again eventually. Thank God tomorrow does come, regardless what some poets say.

[Danimal8199]

sorry to hear of your troubles Craig.

Yesterday I waiting around for a while at Sunset without any wind, as soon as I left and drove back to tampa it kicked in. Me and my bud rode this inlet at Cypress by ourselves at sunset, it was awesome! Hoping to brave this forecast after lunch:

NORTHWEST WINDS 20 TO 30 KNOTS WITH GUSTS TO 40 KNOTS.
SEAS 10 TO 15 FEET.

Danny

[Todd RT]

Craig,

Thought of you while we were @ HMI in the a.m. It was SW before the line of rain and black clouds rolled in @ 10:30am.

I moved up to SB and waiting out the rain and lack of wind. By 3pm it was honkin. I rode my 7m till dark.

Heal quickly my friend.

[Whitey]

Thanks Guys Very cool of you to take the time to post up. Once I get mobile I will take
Scott's advice and come out and do some video work of you guys at Honeymoon. Learning the editing process is something I have always wanted to do but did not have the time.

Scott, how long were you out of kiting from yours?

[Unimog Bob]

I think you will enjoy video taping/editing. It's not that hard and can be fun.

I couldn't ride hard for 9 to 12 months and felt paranoid about landing on it for another year (I snapped it kiting). But I was out riding within 4 months strapless and underpowered (and being careful).

[Steve-O]

Alright Craig here's the skinny!

Gabe, Doug, and myself planned the attack at Sand Key Jetty South side.

Cold, understatement. Gabe in the Kokatat, myself in the Gul, and Doug in a 4/3. All of us with hoods, gloves, and booties. Standard.

Gabe decided to try my new 9M Switchblade 2011. Fresh in the plastic.
Doug was on his new 7M Flexi Ion. Bad ass kite.
I unwrapped a 7M Crossbow.

It felt like Christmas out there.

I believe it was holding between 35-40 but gusty. Very gusty.

Brett from Restaurant Hapa just happened to be there to surf, but the surf actually sucked, so Brett stayed to watch for fun. Wish he had a camera.
(Brett has the finest food in Tampa Bay, hands down)

Doug got in first and immediately started to get busy. He looked very comfortable.

I was surprised that I was a bit overpowered on the 7M CB.

Gabe was in the same boat with the 9M.

I think Doug won with his kite as he seemed to have the most control. He loves those things and I can see why.

I was frankly, just barely hanging on. I couldn't hold my ground on the beach very well, and Brett needed to grab the back of my harness and help me down to the water. He was a bit freaked by that.

Wish I had a 5M. Would have been perfect.

The waves were pretty unorganized, but it was just fun to have that much power in your hands.

We proceeded downwind and I saw Doug and Gabe grab some nice waves. They were breaking 4 lengths of the buoys on the outside. Pretty unusual for that downwinder, but how often is it blowin 35-40.

The wind was onshore, and would have been alot better if it had more side to it. It wasn't as cold as I thought and actually was breaking a sweat in the suit. Doug....well....he froze!!!!! :)

Our end point was The Lighthouse, except Gabe was just cruisin and blew right past it. Doug followed, and well I stopped and got out. Self landing in that kind of wind was no joke.

I packed up and drove down the beach and got those clowns. I think Doug was hyperthermic. Really. It was some funny shit.

We had a blast and would do it again tomorrow if we could, but life beckons.

By the way, ordered my Kokatat and can't freaking wait to have some dry feet. That should be epic IMO!!!!!!

Missed you bro. The last time this group got together was Honeymoon Gale Force day.

Remember.....we sat around all day and one by one everyone left.....well except us and boy did we score. Best wave sesh on this coast to date.

Please make sure when you get back on the water, that Gabe, Doug, and myself role out the red carpet for you.

Good times!

[Whitey]

Excellent. BAMFO,s playing in the cold. Those small ion's of Doug's are the most stable kites I have ever seen in the real gusty / nasty stuff, just rock solid. I Rembemer one day up at Sunset he was riding a 5m or 7m and was having a blast. At the time my smallest kite was a 7m waroo. I put it up to join him only to spend the entire time trying very hard (and unsuccessfully) to keep my kite from turning inside out. I can see doug's quivering blue lips outlineing his monster smile at the end of that session. Got to get back to inputting the CDs.

https://www.me.com/gallery/#100012

[Danimal8199]

Here was my day:

Couldn't sleep all night because the wind was so freakin noisy outside my window and when I got up all I could see was 35 to 45 on clearwater beach.

Unfortunately I had to come into work but the good thing is I had been saving a half day off for something like this. I brought all my gear but as I walked to my car I knew there was no way I was going to be able to strip down at Sand Key and change into my wet suit.

I drove home, put on my wet suit, a fleece and beanie turned my heat on in the car and drove to sand key.

I initially rigged my ion3 7m which turned out not to be enough since the wind had backed down to about 25 with some 30 + mph gusts around 1:30.

Dressed in my 4/3 with a 3m hood, gloves and booties I threw up the 8.5m ion 4, self launched and was on my way.

Not a single soul on the water, no surfers, no kiteboarders, I only saw 3 people walking. Tide was in and the waves were real big and real nice at certain breaks. I made it maybe 6 or 7 miles until I couldn't feel my feet. Every other part of me was fine though. Would def do it again.

I had to self land, which was a PIA and as I was packing my gear up it looked like Billy and Matt were on a downwinder. Only if they had come by a little earlier I might have found some motivation to keep going. Either way it was an epic day that won't soon be forgotten!