Bryan Elkus

Category: Uncategorized

  • Gallup Park, Ann Arbor, MI

    Hasselblad | Porta 400

  • Hello PR

  • Laura & Josh’s Wedding

    Laura and Josh’s wedding was one for the books. It was full of friends and family on a beautiful farm overlooking the bay. It was a picture perfect day. The dancing and fun continued well into the night only paused momentarily to take in the spectacular sunset.

  • Sunset Foil & Wake

    We had a quick sunset session up North behind the boat. Thanks for the pull hunter.

  • Lake Michigan Foil Demo Day

    Amer and I headed to the West Coast of Michigan for a Kitesurfing day. The forecast called for a light Northwest switching Southwest which we thought would be perfect to go ride foils. Our first stop in the morning was over to the Mackite boardroom where we caught up with the guys and combed through all the different wings and boards that they had in stock. It was incredibly helpful to be able to compare and contrast the boards and wings in person you really got to see the differences right there in person.

    After chatting for a while we left Mackite ready to ride. Which was good because we raided their demo room and filled up the box truck full of all the gear. We drove down to city beach in Grand Haven for a foil demo day. We drag all the gear down to the beach. Then rigged up our 9 and 12m kites. By the time we made to the beach the wind was just about straight on shore with some small waves coming in. This made it particularly difficult to get out deep enough past sand bars where the wings didn’t hit.

    Body dragging through the sandbars was a good approach to get out as the foil can help keep tension on the kite and help you get upwind. But as soon as the wind got light the waves over powered the wind and made it impossible to keep the kite up in the shore break. This was pretty frustrating because you knew that if you could just make it past the sandbar with your kite in the sky you would have more than enough power to ride.

    We packed up the gear after good session testing out a few board/foil combos and headed back to the shop. Just before we packed the last foil in we noticed the wind shifted SW.

    As we arrived back at the shop the wind was starting to fill in. We grabbed some gear and bolted up to the pier heads for an evening session. There I rode the:
    – Liquid Force Galaxy with the LF Impulse
    – Slingshot WF1 and the H5
    – Naish Hover 112 and Liquid Force Impulse
    – Liquid Force happy foil with the thruster

    We had the best time ripping through the flat water and playing on some small rollers. It was amazing to get to compare the boards and foils side by side. I rode the 9m Liquid Force Solo decently powered for the first half and then very powered for the last part of the session. We topped the session of with a quality BBQ dinner on the beach with the sun setting. Looking forward to our next demo session to get on a few other wings and boards I have my eye on.

  • Early Winter Lake Huron Surf

    It was a cold but fun morning and even collected our first icicles of the year. Our first two spot checks at dawn were a bust on Lake Huron. We traveled further South to find a better wave. Kevin headed out first and I followed shortly after. The wind stayed a bit West longer than anticipated which resulted in smaller waves than we anticipated. Best of all the current was not a bad as it usually is at this location which made for a much more enjoyable morning. We still had some fun rides and we were thankful the sun stayed out.

  • Late Fall Wakefoil Session

    We had a great time out on the lake for a quick session. It was a blast being the only ones out riding, mostly thanks to the great wetsuits. We each scored a few really fun rides and learning new tips and tricks to improve the riding. On the Slingshot wing, the slower pumps really help rather than sprinting to pump as hard as you can.

  • First Wake Foiling Session

    We have been foiling a bit both behind the kite and on a standup paddleboard behind the boat, but this was a whole new experience. Riding the shorter boards with a foil behind the boat was a really fun time. The shorter board was a lot like the feeling when kiting a foil. It was fast, snappy and lively. The boards we rode were a little wider than I have used in the past which helped prevent making drastic weight adjustments.

    We first rode right behind the boat where we would normally ride a wake surfboard. This was similar to how we rode in the past just with different gear. You had to be careful to not ride too high onto the wave or catch too much speed to catch up to the boat. Given the size of the wake, it was easy to retain speed and feel comfortable dropping the rope. Then we pushed back to the following wave behind the boat. This took a bit of commitment as at first we didn’t have a rope long enough so you had to drop the rope then drift back to catch the wave. It was a pretty crazy feeling. From 2′ up it doesn’t look like much of a wave, let alone have enough power to propel you. But it does and it was amazing. We all had much more fun on the 2nd wave back which felt more like surfing a longboard. It was a little slower more cruisy feeling. I would have to do a pump then a couple turns followed by another pump to get back to the sweet spot on the wave and repeat.

    We rode the Slingshot Alien Air Foil board with the Slingshot H2 foil on the second wave behind the boat and the Slingshot WF1 board with the Slingshot H5 foil right behind the boat. Both foils were really fun and very different. The H2 was a bit less maneuverable from side-to-side than the higher performance H5 foil. Carving was much easier and more fun on the H5 (higher performance foil). You are able to generate a lot more speed from pumping on the H2 than the H5 foil. This allows you to more easily catch back up to the wave if you drop too far back or allows you to create your own momentum with little to no wave.

  • Late Winter Surf in the Thumb

    Jon and I took a trip for a dawn patrol session on Lake Huron.  We stopped a few places along the way.  The waves were not as large as we expected, but it sure was as chilly as forecasted.  It looked pretty flat and unappealing from the car.  So, it took quite a bit of effort to muster the strength to change into a wetsuit and brave the cold side-shore winds.  We wound up finding a nice little point to catch a few waves.

    There were a few decent rides but the wave angle wasn’t ideal for the locations we checked.  There seemed to be a lot of closeout waves mixed in with the gems.  I had quite a few fun waves before we had to pack it up.  We made the track up the beach into the wind, through the rocky shore back to the car.  We changed, warmed up and headed home.