Author: Bryan Elkus

Sunrise and Surf

I started the morning off right again, with a stroll to the Rodanthe Pier. It was a beautiful sunrise as it is most days down here. I hung around for a few minutes trying to get the shots I wanted. I then headed north on Hwy 12 to meet up with Matt and Dustin for a surf. I grabbed a couple shots of them in the rather small waves and then headed home for breakfast.

After work, I headed back out for a surf. Matt, Ryan, Zack and Trip showed up for a session as well. The surf got much better as the tide came in. I rode a 5’10 fish in the waist high waves. I grabbed the camera and took some photos. We decided to try to do some flash shots. It was harder than I expected as the RF was drastically cut short by the water. A couple shots squeezed through.

April 28, 2009
SW All Day JWCF Slider Session

It was another crazy day of riding. The crew headed over to KHKs for a little race action with the KITEus guys who are in town. I didn’t race as there was not a lot of wind. I rode a little flat water in front of their shop, while Steiner took a couple shots.

After a quick bite to eat we headed over to REAL, and again pulled out the JWCF Slider. We had a really long session on the slider. Sam, David, Craig, Brian, Ryan and I had an amazing session. Tran and Drinkwater put down their kites for a little photo and video.

After that session, we took a bit of a break and headed back out for a sunset slider session. Tran and Baines helped me out with flashes. It was a great session. The boys were riding well, as the night drew darker and the wind continued to pick up.

April 27, 2009
Day of SW Kiteboarding

Saturday was a day of kiteboarding. The Canadian crew was up in Waves. Sam, Drinkwater, Steiner, Craig and Tran can up to ride with us today. We took out the JWCF Slider and the REAL Butter Box.

It took a little before the wind picked up a bit. We had great session out front of REAL. We took a break for lunch then rode again out front of REAL. Tran took a couple pics of me during the second session. For sunset we headed up to the Slick.

We didn’t think the sunset was going to happen but we packed up the gear and headed up anyways. It turned out to be classic Hatteras sunset. It was a great long day of kiting with a lot of good riders.

April 26, 2009
A Warm Nice Day in Hatteras

Well it was a great day in Hatteras today. Light winds, sunny, warm and clear. I started to day off right today. I got up for the sunrise. I walked down to the beach in time for the sun to peak over the horizon. The small waves made a soothing melody as I headed north on the beach taking pictures. I headed back to the house to get ready for work.

It was a pretty busy day finalizing and shooting more pictures for the 4 ads that we had due today. I spent all night working on the REAL Kite Team ad for Kiteboarding Magazine. More on that to come in a different post.

I then grabbed a quick very light wind session in the backyard of REAL on my 14m Havoc and the WLF. It was a pretty fun session before it died. I then headed to the campground to take a couple pictures of the sunset before dinner. It was a terrific day.

April 25, 2009
FCS Tech Talk

Not to much going on today. I should have been up early sessioning today but there was a massive storm last night. The clear SW winds held for a few hours before clocking around west and cranking to 35-40. After work we had our FCS Rep stop by for another tech talk. Looks like I need some new fins!

April 23, 2009
SW Downwinder and REAL Team Shoot

Jason, Sam, Lulu and I headed up to SDA to do a little downwinder after work. I rode my 8m Havoc and the WLF. I was slightly underpowered on the kite but still hade a really fun session cruising down to the slick doing as many toeside carves as possible.

Once we landed at REAL we hung out in the backyard until the sun started to set. It was action time. It was time to shoot the REAL Team Ad photo. I grabbed everyone and we made it happen relatively fast, especially for that group. Chris helped out a bunch with actually hitting the release as I was in the photo. More on that to come soon.

Then we all headed over to Slezy’s to check out the progress to his new mini ramp going up in the back yard.

April 22, 2009
Watermen’s Retreat Bags

The Watermen’s Retreat bag was a new project. They wanted to have a re-usable bag for the guests to use for groceries and to take to the beach with them. We went with the all black bag and a traditional logo hit to give it relatively classic look.

April 21, 2009
Rainy Day in Hatteras

It was a wet cloudy and chilly day in Cape Hatteras for most of the day today. It started of with a massive downpour. Its kinda funny how it always seems to rain the hardest from your car to the door.

After work, I headed over to Jason’s where Ed had started construction on a halfpipe. I took a couple photos. Then Jason and I headed down south to Avon to meet up with the Canadian crew. We met them on the beach as they were packing up from their session with a grey stormy fog rolling in quickly.

I set up my gear for a quick shot. As Jason didn’t have any gear I had him grab a quick shot of my new ride and me. Then they hooked it up with a great dinner with good food and endless laughs.

April 20, 2009
Lightwind Kite Session

Today was a pretty lax day. After hanging out most of the morning, I headed over to Otto’s for a Word Press session to get a website up and running. Then we headed over to REAL to kite. It was pretty light. Well it was VERY light. I rode my 14m havoc and WLF 145cm again with barley enough wind to fake a load and pop. Otto took a couple pics while I rode then we switched.

April 20, 2009