So, who is King?
Moderator: MK
So, who is King?
Mark, how about a report from the King of the Great Lakes. Any wind?
The contest was just OK. The site and event were a total blast. We had a sweet time and that beach is definitely a cool spot to ride.
The first day, Thursday, we had the best wind of the whole weekend. They were all set to have a nice contest, but some local high school kid had drowned the evening before and they wouldn't let us in the water. It's a long story, but the gist of it was we ended up packing it in about mid-afternoon and free-rode a few miles away. The freeriding was a riot - over 20 kites in the air and everyone going off in small waves and about 15knots.
Friday was a bust, and Saturday picked up to only 9-13 knots. Definitely 20m stuff. There were some good competitors, including the guy that won the Hatteras event - Damien Leroy. Damien won this one, too, but since he already had a ticket to Maui they gave it to the second place guy - Alex (not Peterson, a Russian guy...). My first heat went really well, and I cleanly won the heat against Alex and two other guys. Alex and I advanced, and then the wind died for a couple of heats, including mine. So much for being a bit hefty compared to those little dudes (Damien and Alex are about 300lbs combined, I'm 200).
Post-contest riding had about 30-40 kites in the air and the winds picking up to 12-15knots. Everybody was raging in the small surf. Total riot, rode too hard, still hurting...
The Red Bull parties on Friday and Saturday were killer. I hope to god nobody has pictures from those nights...
Naish put together some great support, and the whole event was awesome.
Note: Product Watch - Saw the new Slingshot one-pump setup. Pretty nice, kite looked to perform a little better than this year's Fuel's on the water. Naish has some new kites coming out soon, including an X4. They already have a new kite out - the Boxer - it's a beginner/entry-level kite that apparently has some pros loving it, too. It's got simple construction, is very light weight, but seems to fly as well as the Aero's. Got to fly it on the beach, very impressive. It's probably a good choice for a big light-wind kite in the Midwest. hammersurf has some really cool looking new boards out. The boards are traditional wake-style decks, but ride pretty fast and have a concave channel along the rail that gives sick edging/upwind ability and release... Got's ta' get one...
-Coach
The first day, Thursday, we had the best wind of the whole weekend. They were all set to have a nice contest, but some local high school kid had drowned the evening before and they wouldn't let us in the water. It's a long story, but the gist of it was we ended up packing it in about mid-afternoon and free-rode a few miles away. The freeriding was a riot - over 20 kites in the air and everyone going off in small waves and about 15knots.
Friday was a bust, and Saturday picked up to only 9-13 knots. Definitely 20m stuff. There were some good competitors, including the guy that won the Hatteras event - Damien Leroy. Damien won this one, too, but since he already had a ticket to Maui they gave it to the second place guy - Alex (not Peterson, a Russian guy...). My first heat went really well, and I cleanly won the heat against Alex and two other guys. Alex and I advanced, and then the wind died for a couple of heats, including mine. So much for being a bit hefty compared to those little dudes (Damien and Alex are about 300lbs combined, I'm 200).
Post-contest riding had about 30-40 kites in the air and the winds picking up to 12-15knots. Everybody was raging in the small surf. Total riot, rode too hard, still hurting...
The Red Bull parties on Friday and Saturday were killer. I hope to god nobody has pictures from those nights...
Naish put together some great support, and the whole event was awesome.
Note: Product Watch - Saw the new Slingshot one-pump setup. Pretty nice, kite looked to perform a little better than this year's Fuel's on the water. Naish has some new kites coming out soon, including an X4. They already have a new kite out - the Boxer - it's a beginner/entry-level kite that apparently has some pros loving it, too. It's got simple construction, is very light weight, but seems to fly as well as the Aero's. Got to fly it on the beach, very impressive. It's probably a good choice for a big light-wind kite in the Midwest. hammersurf has some really cool looking new boards out. The boards are traditional wake-style decks, but ride pretty fast and have a concave channel along the rail that gives sick edging/upwind ability and release... Got's ta' get one...
-Coach