Hehehe ... the luck didn't last very long. Kent and I got almost to the tall buildings, and then the wind really crapped out. We decided to turn around and try to get back to the launch, but coming back in that direction we lost a lot of ground. We didn't want to risk the jetty, so we kited into shore. Alan was already on the beach at that point, and Scott walked north to meet us and that was it.
Scott and Alan got too close to the jetty and got fish and swear words hurled at them by the fisherman, who weren't catching anything anyway
I think a good name for this downwinder would be the "Go This Way, No, Go That Way Downwinder That Wasn't."
It was kind of funny .... on the beach we all decided to go north to Ft. Lauderdale, but by the time I got out on the water, the people on the water decided we were going south, so I turned around and headed south, only to get pushed into the beach by the lifeguards. So I turned around and went north, and decided north was the better direction, but I saw that no one was following me so I headed back, only to realize I was losing ground, so I just thought SCREW IT, I'm going north ... so it was really nice to see Kent coming up behind me. I would have LOVED to have made it to Ft. Lauderdale, but there was just no way. I held on for as long as I could and tried every board-wiggling move I knew to stay upwind.
Did Neil ever make it down on his cat? We could see two kites way far out on the horizon, but it looked like they were really working it.