Yesterday Race #2 went down in Waves., however I decided to opt out of the race again. It was ENE and blowing maybe 15. Tommie, Dave and I went to the Lighthouse to try our luck. The wind was light but we had a good and fun little session. Tommie scored a few of the bigger waves.
Thanx for the photos Judith.
I took a split today so that Trip and I can get some work done this afternoon after he gets back from the weeklong demo. I headed to the Lighthouse to give strapless surfing a shot. I pumped up my 13m Fuel and grabbed my 6’3 JL Chamber and was off. It was blowing around 17-18 with knee high swell. It was a blast. I’m totally hooked on it. After spending a few hours yesterday getting jibbing down, I was able to do it in the chop of the ocean. It was hard to catch waves because they were so small and inconsistent, but I got a couple.
It was a crazy weekend. Friday Tim, Dave and I rode at Kite Point after work. We all had a great session though the wind was kind of holey (the wasn’t as powerful as the wind meters were saying) but nonetheless we had a great session and rode til the sun went down.
Saturday We meet up with Tony who came into town again for a little surf action on the southside. Tommy, Tony, Nick and I surfed near the airport in Frisco. It was a rather short session since I only had my 6’3 and needed a much larger board. Later on Dave and I went to KP after he was done with work for a little standup action. I also pumped up my 17m for a little kite action but it didn’t really happen because the wind was so light. I took a few tacks and called it a day. That night we hosted a bash for Matt’s birthday party. It was a great time. Nearly everyone showed up and we all had a great time.
Sunday I spent all day at KP with Samm, Nick, Tommy, Tony, Dave and a few others. It was rather light picking up to 13m weather around 4. Samm snapped a few great shots yesterday(thanx). It was a very long day of riding. We showed up at around 9:30 and didn’t leave til sunset.
Nick, Tree, Tommy, Nuzzi and Zack went on a downwinder on the Southside. We did a downwinder from the Hatteras ferrydocks to robin lane. The wind was SSW and blowing 22. I had to borrow nicks 9m fuel because I would have been way too overpowered on my 13m. The waves were waist to should high and lined up perfect for launch ramps for huge jumps. It took us til dark to get done with the downwinder. We did miss the first REAL Race though. It happened up in Waves. Well have to get up there for the next one.
Edit: Here is a pic from the race from Adam
Brian Lefeve Updated his GLK website.
There are three Events already posted for this year. Be sure to check them out as they are always a blast !
-Tawas Bay Kite Festival 2007 – Breeze on the Bay
-1st Annual Great Lakes Kiteboarding Competition
-4th Annual Kitemare Bash
**Check the website for more specific details.
The announsement of the new shop in tawas.
“GLK now has two full service shops to better serve you. Our St. Clair Shores location, just miles from Lake St. Clair, and our newest location in Tawas, which is regarded as the best spot in Michigan to ride.” Our NEW store is located at:
211 Newman St. East Tawas, MI 48730 (see the goggle map below)
The Team Riders page:
Brian LeFeve, Chris Landis, Eric Schubel, Ryan Wykoff, Bryan Elkus
Yesterday Tim and I drove up to Wave to do a photoshoot on the Slingshot Turbo 2. For those of you who are not familiar with this kite. It is a true bow kite. It should be a very popular kite this year. It is vastly improved on from last years “T1”. The kite is very stable in the air. I was able to leave the kite at 12 o’clock and adjust both foot straps on my board with the kite still staying at neutral. The kite has a bit too much bar pressure for my liking, however, the relaunching can’t be beat. We took tons of images of the T2. Tommy was our test subject for most of the day, while we rode and shoot in the slick for a few hours until it got too busy. Here are a couple picture from yesterday of me on the T2s (the 9m and 11m).
The I Make Boxes! – MSU Packaging on Facebook looked like it needed a little face lift so i did a real quick new Photoshop for a new image to replace the old one.
The movies are back. This is a short video about Standup Paddleboarding. It is the new thing as they say. Standup Paddling has been around for a long long time. However its popularity is gaining a lot of speed again. It is a great non-wind activity and great exercise. You can paddle in flat water or in head high surf. All of us at REAL have been having a blast on them. Hope you enjoy…
HERE is the link to the REAL BVI 2007 Slideshow.
Thursday: I took a session at the lighthouse surfing with Zack, Nick, Tommy, Matt and Trip. I rode my JL Chamber 6’3. I was determined to catch a wave with it, since ive never rode a short board before. I was able to catch a few waves getting my back foot in place but not my front. After much frustration and paddling I got up on the Chamber and caught a small wave. I counted it and called it a session.
Friday: Was nice and sunny but no wind so I headed to the Cape Hatteras Light house for a surf session. Zack and I rode during his lunch break. I rode the 8’0 Jimmy Lewis Destoryer. The waves were a bit steep for that board. I caught a couple good waves on it. The beach was incredibly bussy. There we 50+ people lying out and probably 15-20+ surfers in the water. So I made it a rather quick session. After that I went home for a little rest. I went for a stand up session once everyone got off work. We went to the lighthouse again. I learned how to standup paddle for real. It was fun and good exercise before but it get even better when you can constantly catch waves. We stayed out there til dark.
Saturday: Tommy calls at 9:30 Im still asleep and wants to go standup again. I run out of bed and we head to the lighthouse once again for a morning session. Tommy and I rode the break next to the jetty to stay away from all the longboarders on the better wave a few hundred feet south. Tommy and I scored a bunch of really fun and long rides. The waves were really steep and made for some very spectacular crashes on a 10+ foot surfboard. We took a break and had breakfast/launch. Then Nick joined us for a session north of buxton. The waves were getting kind of bad so I made it a very short session and headed home for a little R&R.
Sunday: Well Sunday continued on the pattern here that its either a surf weekend or you better have a 5m kite. Nick and I headed up to Avon to do a ocean side downwinder. I took the 8m Havoc and nick was on a 9m boxer. We made it past the Avon pier and had to take the kites done because we were way way way too over powered. There was no sense of trying to survive through the rest of the down winder so we hitched a ride back to the car. We ate lunch then headed to Kite Point for a little flat-water session. It was great riding, though a bit gusty since it was NNE blowing 25+. It was perfect 9m weather for a while until it picked up again and I once again got blown off my smallest kite.
