Patagonia Inc., a leading designer of core outdoor, surf and sport-related apparel, equipment, footwear and accessories, is pleased to announce that professional kiteboarder Jason Slezak has formally joined the Patagonia ambassador team.
Went to Southern Cal for the weekend and it was windy so Sean Mertens and I rode some ankle slappers with our kites. Riders in Order of Appearance: Cody Cerf, Sean Mertens, Cody Cerf. Shot by Cody Cerf and Sean Mertens. Edited by Cody Cerf.
The Southern California Kiteboarding Association is partnering with the Long Beach Sea Festival to present the Capture the Wind Festival from July 22 to 24. The city has agreed to allow the Association to create a separate beach zone for this event where kiters will compete in the first official jumping contest held in Southern California.
Today started off like all my other sessions. Scott and I dropped a car off at Jockeys Ridge and went down behind the golf course in Nags Head to pump up our kites. It wasn’t blowing too strong, so I pumped up my 9M and attached my bar from my 7M.
While the 2010 Ro Sham Throw Down put the event on the map, this year brought in an international presence and proved to the industry that the Ro Sham is here to stay. With several new features brought to the table such as the Liquid Force Dancefloor, the Best Handrail, The Slingshot Kicker, and the extended Airush BoomBox the guys from the Slider Project pieced together a really sick park. Riders flooded the town from all over the world including New Zealand, Australia, England, Florida, Cape Hatteras, and South America.
The PKRA Freestyle World Champion 2010, Australian Andy Yates, recently injured his shoulder while training at home. As a result, Andy won’t be able to compete in the next three events.
Check out this very cool video that just surfaced online giving us a peak at what’s to come from Liquid Force Kiteboarding in 2012.
Follow Damien LeRoy & Patrick Rynne on their journey from the Kite Racing World Championship to the North American Championships.
Hood River served up light winds today but enough for organizers to choose qualifier riders for the main event which starts tomorrow.
The North Kiteboarding International Freestyle Team meet in Dakhla, Morocco, to train and prepare for the upcoming world cup.
After kiting with Allison, I heard that Scott was on his way over to Jockey’s Ridge. I was stoked because I had been walking upwind all day and was ready to do a bonafide downwinder without worrying about staying upwind. Scott arrived around 5:30pm, so I threw my gear in his car and we drove down about 3 miles south.
The total funds raised in this weekend’s event have not been officially tallied yet, but funds raised by athletes alone were over $40,000. The proceeds will go to Athletes for Cancer’s Survivorship Camps, as well as regional cancer awareness, prevention, and survivorship organizations.
Dimitri Maremenides stars in another Epic Attack video. EPIC ATTACK videos will come in 3 series. This is part 2. Enjoy it.
Jason Wolcott is an amazing surf, kite and lifestyle photographer whose photographs have graced many of the top action sports and travel magazines internationally. Enjoy this slide show that he put together for a grant he was working on.
A video that I threw together after my trip to Punto San Carlos with Brian Caserio, my dad, and sister…..Yes, I know it should be “La Punta.”
When SoloSports started their South Swell Alert program, most of their subscribers wanted the RHINO SIZE MACKERS, so they created a program to send an alert when it was BIG.
After 12 races and 3 discards in more than challenging conditions, with winds up to 25 knots and breaking seas of 3+ meters, John Heineken (USA, Ozone) and Steph Bridge (GBR, North) are the new world champions in kite course racing. Both riders did it in great fashion, resulting in a perfect score of 6.3 points each!
Here in Sylt, July 1st came in with a bang in the kiteboard racing department at the 2011 World Championships. I don’t know about the other riders out there but today offered up some of the most challenging racing conditions I have ever competed in!
6-8 foot breaking waves and swell that was all over the place accompanied a 30+ knot breeze. In these conditions the race committee could not even anchor their start boats which motored in place all day long always in fear of getting rolled.
Yesterday we had 3 more races in really nasty conditions. A lot of the game was finding the weather mark which was a small yellow cone in head high chop.
The first race I started conservatively on starboard near the pin (favored). Andy crushed the port tack start, crossing with about 10 other guys. From there I rounded behind Sky, Damo, and Julien, passing them all on the downwind leg.
The racers went out for three races in strong winds and 2-3 meter waves - not really easy conditions to handle with a race board. Nevertheless, the picture on the water did not change from yesterday.
The US-team races in another league with only a few Europeans who can follow the speed of John Heineken, Andy Koch, and Sky Solbach.
BEST Rider Brian Smith (aka “BCS”) has made the jump to the International Team. Fighting off strong competition from National Team riders from all over the world BCS stakes his claim at the top table following an excellent showing at this years REAL Watersports Triple-S invitational.
In the last episode of Youri Zoon RECORDED 2011, Youri sets sail to discover the British Virgin Islands. He rips hard at an island called Anegada, and ends up at the closing party of the BVI Kitejam on Richard Branson’s private island.
So, as a newbie to the sport, I called a local bud of mine and said, “Hey, do you know any chicks that kite? I could really use someone on my level that is eager to get out there on days when I can go.”
With that, my bud says he thinks his friend’s wife is on the same level. Two days later I get a text msg that reads: “Hey Erin, I got your number from Chirs, my name’s Allison.”
Around noon the wind started turning but also to completely die down, and it took another couple of hours until it came back up. Around 5 pm there were first signs of wind on the horizon, and suddenly at 5:30pm the wind switched on, turned to west, and had 17-20 knots in strength.
We mostly rode on 6m kites. We found crazy sandbars, wedges, and long point breaks. There is a lot of untouched coastline that is very hard to get to.
Six of the top seven are Americans and almost all of the Mike’s Lab boards are in the top 10…pretty cool.
Today the wind was kind of backwards from normal. It started side-off and really puffy and the kite call was super hard to make because figuring out how windy it was out there was next to impossible.
Sunshine and warm weather welcomed competitors of the 2011 world kite racing championships in Sylt, Germany, today, and after the opening ceremony it went straight to racing.
Today The Kiteboarder Magazine announces The Kiteboarder School, a new kiteboarding instructional website.
The Kiteboarder School is a central resource for beginner through advanced kiteboarding instructional topics.
If wealth were measured by the number and quality of friends one cultivates over a life time, Peg Lalor would be a very rich woman indeed! Yet all it took was a split-second accident last year to change this once local entrepreneur’s life.
Zoon and Kajiya Win PKRA Dakhla
Anticipation in this final day reached a crescendo with the men’s final heat . Alex Pastor and World Champion Youri Zoon engaged in a battle to the end, displaying their most spectacular of moves, competing against each other in two last heats.
Ribeiro, “Twiggy” Baker, de Aboitiz, Lago, Bichler and Schiebevaag Earn 2012 KSP Wild Card Slots
The KSP is pleased to announce their wildcard picks for the 2012 KSP Tour Season as well as the addition of the latest supporting industry member, Cabrinha Kites.
Behind the Scenes with the Company that Brings You All Your Wind Info
If you have ever wondered what happens inside WeatherFlow aka ikitesurf, iwindsurf, and windalert.com, the company that brings you all your wind information, you will like this video from forecaster Mike Godsey.
Learning to Ride a Race Board: First Two Days
I know a lot of other riders look at racing with at least a little bit of interest, so I’ve decided to write about my experiences as I learn to ride these wild course boards.
2012 Wainman Hawaii Rabbit Gang 2.0 Kiteboarding Kite Review
The Kiteboarder’s video review of the 2012 Wainman Hawaii Rabbit Gang 2.0 kite. For the complete review (including comments directly from our testers) on this and 52 more 2012 kiteboarding kites and boards, download the TKB 2012 Freeride Gear Review in the TKB Store.
