The wrap-up on Friday afternoon, 10/27/06.

That was fun. Some of us hit the Backside and paid for that decision by having to make a very sketchy launch. Not recommended for anyone and it would have been better for me to keep driving to East Byatch. The wind was just barely side off but the turbulence from the trees was the worst I have ever felt at that spot and it got worse as time passed.

It was also very deceptive at Backside. It didn't feel windy at all, even though I had just driven over the Skyway and saw that it was honking. Randy told me that my 9m would be enough and that is the only reason I rigged it instead of a 12m. Good thing, because once the 9m hit the wind, it was on. Thanks to the dude with the red Element who launched my kite by wading out with it to get the kite into the wind.

Once out and over the channel, though, it was smooth sailing all the way to East Byatch. I was on a 9m Ion and a 130 cm Wipika wake-style board and I had enough. The gusts made me glad that I rigged a 9 instead of a 12. I probably had to make 10 to 20 tacks before I made it over there.

Once I got to East Byatch, I tracked down Billy and Jayson, threw some new mad movez that they have been begging me to teach to them, showed all the East Byatches how to kite, then cruised back over to the Backside. When I came back it it was a sketchy, ballzout process trying to get in with the windstorm going on at the shoreline, but I made it in alive.

Guru was out there at Backside, and his riding continues to progress. He was hauling ass all over the place.

Props to Tom Stock, who showed up at Backside later in the session and made up for it by throwing down hard on a 12 or 13 Best C. We were laughing watching Tom throw big, sustained jumps upwind toward the I-275 rest stop. No question, he was going big and leaving some aggression out there on the water. Yeah, Tom, we saw those jumps--they were f*ck*ng big.

Hell, even a passerby was stoked, exclaiming that "that guy on the blue kite is good!" Tom! You were a hero, brah!