Here is the compilation of footage we acquired during the three days of the Hurricane Bertha Swell. Its mainly footage of Matt Lane and Pro rider, Jessie Hines. Overall the swell was over hyped, but did prove to give us some very fun sessions and a lot of good workouts.
enjoy…
I might not have taken the photograph nor be the star subject but i made my first cover of a kiteboarding magazine. This shot was taken during the Triple-S Invitational the day we went to Kite Point. Im down on the beach crouching shooting video.
Overall it seems that Hurricane Bertha was hyped up a bit too much. Yesterday morning proved to deliver the best swell we have yet to see. Most of the crew headed to Ramp 23 to paddle through the ragging currents to the head + high waves rolling in. These were some of the heaviest waves i have yet to surf. I rode a 6’4 Resin 8. It was a bit too small but i was able to get a few very fun and adrenaline pumping waves. Ken, Slezy, Dre and DL scored some of the waves of the day. I then headed over to Mirlot to check out the mob scene. The line up was packed and there were some rippers out. Here are a couple shots from the day…
The waves from Hurricane Bertha started to show up yesterday. We arrived at Merlot beach around 1pm to check it out. Surfers were already getting barreled in waist to head high surf. The break was well, PACKED. People drove in from all over to catch waves. We ran back to the office to grab the gear and set up camp. I scored a short half hour surf session then filmed for the rest of the session. I tried shooting with the water casing again, I have yet to see the fruit of that labor, but hope to get some keepers. Paul and Chris switched it up on the GL2 and the digital SLR. After work most of the REAL crew headed to Ramp 23 where it was not crowded at all. Here are a couple quick pocket camera shots of the evening session:
Andre Philip, Jason Slezak and Brandon Scheid defiantly walked away from the Barrel Session I and Barrel Session II with some “keepers”. Each of them scored at least one terrific shot that were all very excited about. Dre and Slezy each grabbed a pretty cool sequence shot. We have come up with more plans to further the progression of the Barrel Sessions. However, it looks as though we will have to wait until the weather goes back to normal from the hurricane Bertha. Below are a couple sample shots from the two sessions.
The barrel session continued again tonight. It continued when we added a second barrel and the floating kicker to the equation. Dre and Slezy were getting some great tricks out in The Slick. We set the kicker up on the north east point of the goofy pool with a gap over land where the two barrels were stacked end on end and then landing on the most northern side of the island. The guys rode from 7 until it was pitch black. The wind was pretty steady during the session. I scored a couple cool shots, but came up mostly short handed during the shoot. I learned a bunch from the shoot however, which should translate for better pictures during the next shoot.
Dre and Steen went out for a little snowboard inspired Kite session. Incorporating steel barrels and some lip-tricks proved to make for an entertaining and progressive session. We shot twice, once late afternoon and then again at sunset. We scored some good shots and landed some tricks… There is more to come…
Well the first storm of the season is about to be apon us. Bertha came from off the coast of africa and it looks like we may get some decent swell from this system.
This is a graphic for the Michigan State Spartan Kiteboarding Club. It is good to see that since both myself and Tom have graduated, its good to see the club in good hands. The Club has been slowly growing with increased interest from the student body. The Spartan Kiteboarding Clubs new site is up, HERE.