Year 7 of this great event came off yet again. Wind was a bit light the first two days, but filled in nicely by the third. I'll start off with photos from Saturday. Things go nicely in the morning for a short time but eventually winds clocked too far side offshore to make it feasible to continue the event. They were forced to put the competition on hold until Sunday. As a result, I didn't photograph as many folks as I would have liked to, made up for that on Sunday however. So, if you see some people missing, hang in there as they should show up in the next installment. Even though the winds were lighter and adverse on Saturday, there was more sun. Sunday, unlike what the name implies was overcast and fairly dark, had great wind though!
Neal Hutchenson of Slingshot is major mover and shaker in kiteboarding events throughout Florida and beyond does his customary excellent job announcing the event. Garry Menk, distributer for Jimmy Lewis boards scores, not for the first time either.
Damo of Cabrinha
Here goes Jon Modica with Cabrinha, hope he remembered to put superglue on his feet. Some of his strapless moves are amazing.
Julian Wohlrab just before touch down
All sorts of ways to move across the water, I go with Damo's selection
Dimitri of Epic pops a nice one
Damo, Katrina, Lonny and Ian catch up on the beach
Tommy Fields kicks up some spray
Joe Ruscito of Best gets ready as Melissa with Cabrinha helps with a launch
Looks like Lonny is flying up to catch that kite, literally! A new sport is born, tackle kiteboarding.
Bill Werme shoots! Bill has done an excellent job of capturing superb stills of this event for years.
Stacey of Best illustrates the wing shape of the kite or is she asking a question?
Jessic Sickinger all the way down from Canada heads out
Helga looks over her shoulder
Debbie Jackson eases over a ramp
Jamie pops one as Jessica and Helga head out
Helga is into standup bigtime, shown here in a role reversal
Dimitri poses with his new kites
The qualifiers for the event seem a bit extreme, have to walk this thing first?!
No wind? No problem, just take your kite for a nice run.
Folks started doing standup for a while after the wind shifted side off.
Packet paddles into one
How many girls can you fit on a standup board anyway?
Neil was a BMX racer in another life across the sea. Shown here counseling a young up and comer before his first descent down to the beach.
The young fellow on his way.
So, that's it for Saturday. I may add some more shots to this post, so stay tuned. Next comes Sunday with all that wind and riding, just not a lot of light!
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