Category: Uncategorized

Well this morning I witnessed an entire container of surf/kite boards arrive. I’ve never seen so many boards in my life. After that we got to take a look at all the new toys including the JL Flightdeck and the Chamber. Both boards looks sweet. I took a splitty again today from 1-4. Tommie and I headed to The Cove for another SE session. Tommie tried out the Chamber. I rode a 13m and switched between the JL surf, JL park and my SS Misfit. Its looking like a morning session tormorrow SW 30-35 and 70 degrees. Hopefully the forcast is right.

Saturday started with moving things to the new house. JoJo has more clothes than anyone I have ever met. It took both my truck and nicks to get most of his stuff over there. After that we grabbed breakfast at the Orange Blossom and I went to the shop to grab kites. I took a 17 waroo, 13 fuel and 10 octane. I then drove out to the cove. It was only around 11:30. As I pulled up I saw dave, tommy, ed and zack pumping up kites, SWEET! But the wind was still NE which is no good at the cove so we hung around waiting for the wind to switch. We watched a pack of grom skimmers doing their thing as tons of dolphins swam near the shore. The wind finally shifted around 1:30 and put up the 13 fuel and took a couple downwinding tacks on a JL surfboard. The wind slowly picked up and I grabbed my misfit for the rest of the day. We all played on the small waves until 5, when we called it a day.

Today I scored my best session yet down in Hatteras. Myself, Tommy, Mattt, Colin and Andy had a little demo session going on from 2-4. We tested out some of the new LF and Naish stuff. I rode the Naish 16m Torch with a 20” bar. I really think that the 22” bar would have been better with the kite since it seemed to turn a hair slow. It packs a lot of power. It had a but more bar pressure than I like in a kite. The torch boosted well and high. After I got blown off the Torch I grabbed matt’s 11m waroo and was lit. The kite is very fast with enormous depower when riding under normal conditions for that kite size. Once it picked up and I had to depower the Waroo to hold it down, the kite had a small sweet spot where there was either too much power or too little power. It seemed to jerk you around, but I should have probably sized smaller again. I learned a front roll today. I landed my first attempt and ate it pretty good on the nest 5 I tried. My foot kept falling out. I think its time to tighten the straps or ride some bindings. It was a great day of riding, around 65, sunny and some 2-4 foot waves made for an amazing session.

It was blowing and SW with a little swell. That means I took a splity and we rode from 1-4. Tommy, Trip, Myself and two loclas did a downwinder from Hatteras Island to just past the Frisco pier. I grabed the ’06 12m Octane. I thought it was a great kite once you got use to it. You really have to get your board speed up before the kite kicks into high gear. But once it does you are hauling. I found that you really could not work the kite like you can the Fuels. Overall i enjoyed the Octane and would riding it again. I launched the kite and took a few tacks and jumps as i was heading twords shore I went to send the kite and I got about 5 feet off the water when i hear SNAP!!! The chickenloop rope broke. I crashed and had a nice swim into the beach. Luckely It happend within the 25 yards from where ii launched and not half way into the down winder. So lesson learned: check your gear out before you use it, esp. if its not your own gear.

Pics + News Item

we woke up at 6am to check the weather, and what do you know but its craking like it was forcasted to. So we headed to the cove for some side on shore 9m action. it was a good time, super windy big waves. I got worked a few times including a double kiteloop to saftey release. But it was all good and made it to work with 10 min to spare.

EDIT:

2nd session.

I took a split shift today so i could go ride. Tommy and I did a downwinder from the frisco airport to near The Cove. It was a little less windy by 1:00. I rode the Havoc 12. It worked well. It had good power when parked at 45, but it seemed a little sluggest at turning. It relaunchees like a pro. The waves were head to over head. We rode 4/3s with no booties gloves or hats, score!!! Tommy rode the 9m T2 and seemed to like it. it relaunched quickly and didnt invert during our session.

Things down here in hatteras are going well. Everyone down here is extremely nice. Work is going well so far, only have a couple days though. Ive been here for over a week and just got to ride today. It been very cold here. But I rode a 15m waroo pro and a 5’2” JL surf. I was a bit underpowered on the kite, but loved the board. Might have to get one of those.

GLK2006, The Movie is our “home”movie. There are no $6,000 HD cameras no Pro’s throwing switch double handle passes to blind, just some of the team riders, the locals and our friends doing what they do best in Michigan, having fun. ENJOY…

From the DVD:
[i]This video is a compilation
of the 2006 Kiteboarding
season on the Great Lakes
of Michigan.

GLK 2006 showcases some
of the GLK Team riders, along
with many of our friends.

This video is dedicated to
Ron Lindsey, the friendships,
and the amazing season we had
this year… [/i]

[b]check out [url=http://www.greatlakeskiteboarding.com/video/GLK2006/]http://www.greatlakeskiteboarding.com/video/GLK2006/[/url] for the Free download. The video will also be up on Kiteforum.tv[/b]

[i]Hello everyone,
Happy New Year, I hope all is well. I just wanted to let you know that Bryan Elkus has just finished up the 2006 GLK video. This video is dedicated to Ron Lindsey. The DVD is free with a $10 (or 11 for shipping) donation to Ron Lindsey’s daughter’s college fund with all the proceeds going to the college fund. I know this is short notice but the premier will be at the Detroit Brew co. this Sat Jan.20th at 8:00 pm thanks to the owner local kiter Drew Ciora.

The video will premier these local riders:

Chris Landis
Bryan Elkus
Ryan Wykoff
Karl Muendel
Eric Schubel
Brian LeFeve

And lots and lots and lots of friends

If you cannot make the premier and would like to purchase the DVD give me a call or e-mail me and I can ship one out for $1 more.

Hope to see you all there.

Brian LeFeve
Great Lakes Kiteboarding
22600 Greater Mack
St. Clair Shores MI 48080
greatlakeskiteboarding.com
glkite.com [/i]

Hey thanx for everyone who showed up. It was a blast like usual. For those of you who did not get a copy of the DVD please call GLK to let them know. Sorry we ran out.

The Midwest What! teaser was played on Shralp! on Jan 7, 2006 check it here:
http://shralp.com/archiv/shralp53.html

Sharlp! is a video podcast from blankpaper studios (the guys who brought you 91 words for snow): Sharlp.com

Just wanted you all to know that the GLK2006, The Movie is complete as of a couple minutes ago. More info about the GLK home movie release party will surface in the next day or two when all the details are in order. The movie length runs 25-minutes. The video should be up for download shortly after the party.

Riders: Chris Landis, Bryan Elkus, Ryan Wykoff, Eric Schubel, Karl Muendel, and LeFeve.
P.S. There is also a LONG friends section

Check www.greatlakeskiteboarding.com or the Lake St. Clair Kiteboard Forum for more details kitemi.com.