2011 - Photos - Day II in Bimini of NP Dealer Meeting
We've had a look at Day 1 (http://fksa.org/showthread.php?t=10136), now lets move on to the second day. There was business in the morning with presentation of the 2011 lineup of gear with some water time in the afternoon. Each day of this event was different with its own share of unusual events and excitement, lots captured in images. Stay tuned for the next couple of days, it will be worth your while.
http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/1_IMG_1118_002.jpg A spectacular dawn rises over Bimini. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/1_IMG_1134.jpg Up to the Bimini Sands restaurant for breakfast. The cooking was uniformly good on this trip, far better than in years past on the island. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/2_IMG_1136.jpg A look out the back of the condo unit and west through the inlet to the marina. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/group.sized.jpg Sessions are starting with a full house. Click image for full sized photo. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/NP.jpg Mr. Neil Pryde opens up the session. He has forty years in global watersports product development and manufacturing, it shows in his confidence and insight into the business. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/5_IMG_1180.jpg Josh Noe provides the first presentation on Neil Pryde and NPX line ups with the opening comment "let's talk about rubber." He actually brought life and amusement to what some might think a dry area. Then again, it comes down to comfort and style, important things to lots of us. He is ably assisted by his own "Carol Merrill", aka Damien Leroy! Damo is a trooper and good at it too. They guys are speaking of the marvels of bamboo charcoal in this frame, good stuff for zapping wetsuit smell. The amount of innovation, development and testing that goes into these products each year is impressive. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/5_G.jpg Damo sports a neoprene trench coat? Not quite but it is the Neil Pryde (NP) Mariner Jacket. Think about the last time you were on or by the water, wet and cold. Good chance you would have really liked to have had something like this one. Here's your chance. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/8_IMG_1215.jpg Kent and Kirstin, she is wearing an stylin NPX neoprene jacket. It even has a harness hook hole to where you can kite in this. There were dozens of products well covered by Josh. Rather than attempt to go into them here, why not checkout the websites for 2011 at: Neil Pryde: http://www.neilpryde.com/index.php# NPX: http://www.npxwetsuits.com/ http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/8_IMG_1226.jpg Next we had an informative presentation by Denise Mitchell with GoPro cameras on this very popular HD camera system in kiting and other action sports. Small, high res., lots of nice useful features and inexpensive, what else can you ask for? More about GoPro at: http://www.goprocamera.com/ with images all over this site including some intriguing ones from this event! http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/4_IMG_1174.jpg http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/9_IMG_1229.jpg After lunch we segway to Cabrinha kite gear with an introduction from brand manager Todd Greaux followed by Pete Cabrinha himself. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/10_IMG_1234.jpg http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/g1a.jpg Pete Cabrinha opened with this slide following Rob Douglas' remarkable world speed record recently achieved in Namibia. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/...neup.sized.jpg Click image for full sized diagram An impressive lineup of varied kites for 2011. I even left off the Convert IDS SE School kite from the diagram. Rather than go into the extensive comparative features and performance, I recommend you checkout the Cabrinha website for more information at: http://www.cabrinhakites.com/kites-overview.html http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/g1.jpg Cabrinha brings a lot of boards to market in 2011 with varied applications in kiting. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/g2.jpg For the first year ever, Cabrinha is manufacturing a race collection of kites and boards specially developed for the demands of this discipline. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/g5.jpg http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/g7.jpg Cabrinha has developed a large line of Standup Paddleboards (SUP) for cruising, waves, even sailing with a windsurfing rig. Nice graphics too. The sessions conclude for the day, so lets hit the beach. We knew the wind would be off for part of the meeting. Looks like this day is it. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/11_G.jpg Kirsten, Cabrinha rep for the NW USA heads down, lets trail along. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/12_G.jpg They have done an outstanding job of setting up the beach, permanent shade, Bimini Kiteboarding gear concession at more at the Beach Club. You will see from the images from this meeting just how fine they place can be. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/14_G.jpg Grab a big board and see how you do kiting in real light winds. Most opted to go for a bunch of Cabrinha SUP along with Neil Pryde and JP Australia windsurfing gear demos. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/67_IMG_1424.jpg The new Cabrinha raceboard and 2011 Crossbow http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/68_IMG_1425.jpg http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/69_IMG_1347.jpg A windsurfing tutorial for first timers http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/20_G.jpg http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/15_G.jpg Had a nasty looking shelf cloud pass to the north of us providing a dramatic backdrop. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/launch_IMG_1378.jpg They brought a ton of gear over for folks to demo, lets have at it! http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/17_IMG_1394.jpg Wind rarely lasts forever at most launches, it is nice to have options! http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/squall_IMG_1408.jpg Fairly evil looking squall passing to the north fortunately. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/66_IMG_1444.jpg Jeremy Green takes a windsurfer out for a whirl http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/Untitled_1.jpg I even got out for a while on an SUP. This image was captured by a GoPro helmet cam. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/19_G.jpg Paddling out with the wreck of the Sapona in the distance. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/3_5_GOPR0018.jpg Rick on a windsurfer and this after largely hanging it up ten years ago. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/3_6_GOPR0024.jpg The two above shots were taken with a GoPro HD camera on a helmet mount. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/3_3.jpg http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/3_7_IMG_1467.jpg Kirstin and Colleen head in http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/3_8_GOPR0168.jpg The day is moving on. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/sunset_IMG_1473.jpg The sun is setting over the Florida Straits to the west. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/3_20_IMG_1539.jpg MUCH later on, getting on the dance floor at the beach club aka the bar itself. So, that is it for Day 2. Be sure to stay tuned, there is a lot of action and intriguing imagery from the next couple of days, wind, riding, squalls, wrecks, raging parties and more! . |
Left out the sunset shot from Day II ...
http://www.fksa.org/albums/album551/...3_10.sized.jpg Click image for full sized photo and, I am trying to find out what happened to the video of Pete Cabrinha windsurfing for the first time ever. I thought he came from windsurfing like so many of the other early guys. Not so, caught his first time on a windsurfer, looked good too. If I can find it, strange that I can't, you'll see it here. |
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