It's History and What a Ride! What do you remember?

[kites4food]

Yeah, another good one, Neill.

The water start was MUCH better than the shore Chaos from the first Jup-Tiki race. It also made for a level playing field.

What I'm learning is that even with 60 miles and more than 2 hours to make up ground, you never have a moment to waste. As the group moves at over 20mph, when you look up after falling off the board, you feel like you just fell off a train that's heading off in the distance.

The other thing I'm learning is the old rabbit and turtle philosophy. I chose the fastest board I own, but not the most comfortable. When I needed to, I could shoot past someone. My GPS even showed a max speed of 42mph after outrunning one of those big swells. But the constant chatter and lack of board traction kept me from really keeping up those high speeds, and probably caused me to fall more than I should have. And then, all the people I had zipped past, just cruised comfortably by me in my down times. So, a comfortable steady pace on the right gear is definitely the way to go next time for me.

More than a few people hugged the shore for very long distances. That sucked because the shallower water definitely had its advantages. Did any lifeguards report anyone?

I saw one shark eating something on the surface, several Men-o-war (plural?), and took one jelly fish to the face.

Looking forward to more...races; not jellyfish.

[MPR]

Thanks for the response. I look forward to seeing the pics.

We have a hard enough time staging cars for large events, I can't imagine the nightmare of almost 100 people dependent on wind and a non-stable surface all starting at the same time.

It had to be a site for sure!

[neil xrated]

An amazing race for sure. Things I remember and heard:

Sean Reyngoudt, loosing his prospetic leg half way, body dragged after it and came in and put it back on to finish 23rd
Chan Anschuetz riding the whole way strapless and finishing 20th with no wax left on his board.
Billy Parker finishing 3rd on a broken board.
Hamish Macdonald kept coming to the beach, on his surboard, to re-inflate his leading edge by mouth until Gary Menk giving him his kite at the check point to finish.

It was an amazing sight to see that many kiters leaving Jupiter in those conditions followed by the helicopter with Paul and Dasher hanging out the side.
1st rider coming in 10 mins faster than last years winner Andy Hurdman.
At 2.14 pm marking off the last person from my list having accounted for all 62 people, then having a beer.

Cheers all Neil

[kent]

Ken,

I didn't even finish, but I totally agree with your comments about riding on the shore. Many racers clearly rode the shore for tens of miles at a time, including before and after the check point. Independent of wining or losing the race, this clearly puts us at risk for having future events. I do know that riders mentioned the fact that many people rode on the beach the entire way. The advantage was huge in more ways than one. Rules actually make events more fun as long as everyone follows them.

i don't think that the lifeguards really knew much about the race. At Deerfield, the head guy didn't know anything. It is best to police these events just like any other sailing event. It is policed by the riders. In this case a few riders did report indiscressions as requested by race management, but I'm not sure if anything happened. I was riding with big Damien T. on the outside for quite some time, it was bouncy and slow as hell. I'm sure that he would have liked to ride the flats on the inside with that 14 meter of his! In short, if you want rules taken seriously, enforce them, if not, let them run.

The DVD will surely be interesting... it's going to need some careful editing to take out the lifeguard stands, buoys, and add another 80 yards of water. ha ha ha!!!

At any rate it was a great event, but probably needs to get tightened up a bit. Congrats to all and see you in Tampa.

Kent

[neil xrated]

I also totally agree with the swim area rule. The last thing we want is to turn a very positive thing into something negative and for sure I do not want to play a part in any closing of beaches.
I did not get any calls from life guards and they all had my cell phone #. But I did hear a couple of complaints about people riding in swim areas by other riders. I did not get any actual names but did hear some of the top few riders may have gone in but also heard from some of the later part of the top few that no one ahead of them went in.
We will have to find a way of clearing this up for next year, maybe no one is allowed in the break the entire way after the start.

[ricki]

Hey Ken,

Was it a Portuguese that hit you? Did you have any reaction other than "damn that hurts!" I am recalling what you went through on the way to Bimini. Also, 42 mph before a wave, yow that is cooking. Did you splat at the end or ride it out?

Hey Neil, how many times did Hamish beach to pump up by mouth? I recall doing the leading edge of 23 m once on the beach in Boca that had me seeing stars. Did a 5 m once in major surf the day after a hurricane just to get into shore, amusing stuff. Getting in successfully and landing with a saggy unruly kite in yesterday's high winds and surf, mouth inflating a kite until you're dizzy repeatedly is almost beyond belief.

Kent what sort of board speed could you maintain well offshore on your 10 m? I know conditions were highly variable with smooth corridors opening up once in a while between sets. Still, often enough just once you get cooking some big comber comes in to be dodged, ridden over or grab your butt for a turn in the spin cycle.


A clip about Gebi's ride south, visiting shoreside involuntarily before coming in with a very respectful fourth place.


It sounds like there are a ton of bizarre and exciting experiences on the way south, so tell us about it.

[ricki]

I tried to clean up the video a bit with limited success. My apologies to Jeremy and his brother but it seems I was having some camera housing issues when I shot this. Promise the other videos will be much clearer. Anyway, on to Jeremy ...




A photo of Jeremy at the awards ceremony courtesy of George Moore.

[admin]

This was my third time doing this run since last year. My normally slow performance was even slower this time. Missed the start by about 15 minutes going back to change my 9 m for a 13 m, setting up, retuning the kite, twice (first time on a new kite in high wind). Went up thinking I might rig anything from a 7 m, 9m to a 13 m depending on actual wind conditions once the sun was up a bit. The 9 m was the best one to go with but was also the oldest of the three kites with highest bar pressure being an early flat kite. So, opted to use a new 13 m. Had a hard time edging out beyond the pier tacking more than at any other time. The wind had lightened, shifted onshore from side onshore from the north and I was having to sine a 13 m and edge very hard to try to get out. Managed to get past the pier, finally, and spent the next x miles in the breaker zone trying hard to work further offshore with more tacking, strange. The wind finally filled in and the 13 m spent most of the rest of the race around the zenith. Still, despite being well powered, I had some room to go before being teabagged, which may have happened twice coming off wave crests in 60 miles. Had very light bar pressure which was a plus for me. The trouble with riding with the kite near the zenith is that you can't go very fast. Staying well offshore in the breaker zone you can't go all that fast anyway before dealing with breaking waves. Got knocked off the board off the board about five times, once without the reel leash, ouch. Used a pull tie weak link on the reel leash that worked well as it broke once. Managed to roll the kite in a couple of waves and wrap the front and rear kite lines just south of the pier in Juno. Chose to ride like that all the way to Delray. It is interesting how much a wrap effects performance on an overpowered kite. Things got easier once I had it unwrapped at the Delray checkpoint. Think I lost at least 45 min. doing stupid stuff over last years ride just getting past Lake Worth Inlet.

Conditions were lighter than last year's pre-race nuking conditions but the waves were a bit larger and wind definitely stronger than last years actual race. Like last years runs, the waves diminished the further south you went, dropping off as you past each inlet a bit. Unlike last years runs, the wind built or stayed up all the way to the finish after the lulls around my start. Some weather moved over during the run, but fortunately no evil looking clouds or high gusty winds showed up. I was rolled once in the falls off Highland Beach. Fortunately, had the kite low and to the NW just before so I rolled around the lines instead of getting sushi rolled up in them.

Of Palmetto Park Blvd. in Boca I was shooting video while riding along when a manatee surfaced in front of me for air. I have never seen them out in such high seas before. Caught it on video too, stay tuned for the clip. Anyway, I never go into these things to race but to cruise. This time walking may have been faster. I feel like I am going downhill riding south and moving past Delray, things seem to be really downhill and easier. As you pass each inlet, time seems to speed up. Once I was south of Hillsboro Inlet, like last year, I was able to go a lot faster on the calmer water aside from times when the wind would spike up bringing the kite back up to the zenith.

Anyway, it was fun as always, pretty stiff in one leg today after the Jupiter run and 27 + 10 mile run in Naples two days before. Wondering if there are other distance races to happen this season? Hint!

Have to put together a video and perhaps a article with stills. It would really be good to hear from the dozens of other riders in this thing. What is it they say? Oh, yeah, if you don't write it down, it never happened!

So, what happened to you?

[neil xrated]

Hi all,

What a great time it was on monday, think I have just started to get back to normall. Although I did not have any reports from lifeguards I did hear a few remarks of some riders entering swim areas, this is something that can not happen. Reports have been somewhat inconsistent so it is hard to put a accurate finger on it of exactly who and how much this did happen and I don't really want to bring the stoke down as I feel we all have to fine tune things with exact rules and proceedures and how they will be tackled and inforced in the future. If we are going to grow this event in the future it is very important that we take care of these issues for the access issues of beaches and the fairness of competition to all riders, especially when money is involved. For example if any beaches ever got shut down due to this event I would not sleep at night and if there is thousands of dollars at steak for the winners it has to be a fair playing feild.
Things are done for this year and it was a huge success but once again I have learnt a lot and have already started planning next years race and have some great ideas for it and how to resolve any discrepancies or flaws of this years race. We will fine tune things and make sure that every year it gets bigger and better than the last.

Thanks again to all, it was amazing. Cheers Neil

[robertovillate]

This is an awesome thread.

Congrats to the winners and to anyone who even entered! You're all winners...what a great experience.

The stories are excellent reading and it's interesting to get the detailed descriptions and individual experiences - keep them coming. Old (friendly) rivalries, new champs and veterans, near kitemares with happy endings...all good stories. I'm hoping next time I can break away and enter.

Nice work Race Committee/volunteers! Most people have no idea how hard you guys work to make things go off, not to mention the sacrifice of your time.