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Originally uploaded by bryan elkus.

lexington round 2, Wykoff and i drove up to lexington around 6am to catch the 20-25 predictions. ont he way up we turned on the radio and hear matt and keegan being interviewed on the radio about kiteboarding. That pumped us up even more to go ride. we got there and sat around wishing we brought the surf board as we watched the sets roll in. The wind was really north west and we waited 3 hours til the rest of the crew showed up to go ride. we drove up to sanilac and a few minutes the clocked north and really started blowing. We had a terrific 11 mile downwinder in the waves. It was a session to remember.

So Friday afternoon came around and the forecast didn’t look to hot at the usual travel spot so I decided to head over to Lexington. I’ve never been there so I decided to take the 2 hour trip across the state. I got there around 3:30 and it was light, real light. So I rigged up my 16. Lexington is a really nice place with a small public beach in a small town. Thankfully it didn’t blow up on me again. I rode for a little and couldn’t go up wind and the swim area was right there so I decided to head to the couth side of the harbor. It was flatter but there was absolutely no wind on the other side. So I got to the beach and packed up my stuff and walked back to where I launched to find kyle and brar pumping up their kites. Kyle had the “secret weapon” with him and a vegas. He let me borrow the 16 as he took out the rebel. The waves picked up as the night went on. Chuck showed up a little later to rip it up on the waves. It finally really started blowing as the sun started to go down. We had a terrific session playing in the waves. Lexington is defiantly a place to go back to.

I was back at Tawas again this weekend, who would have thunk it? Friday I went home to hand out with my family and go out to dinner with them for a late bday dinner. Saturday Ryan Wykoff and I headed up to Tawas at 6am to go session the 10mph SE forecast. My parents came up to hangout on the beach with me too.

Well it turned out that the thermal did not come. The clouds came in too early before it could heat up. But, it was a beautiful day so we all hung out at the beach. They also called for a 15mph S-SW wind for the night. I’ve been in search of a night session for a few months now. There was a cloudy when, 7pm came and went. 8pm the waves started up and so did the 17m and the glide. Unfortunately, my BEST 16m blew out again, what a great way to start off the night. Wykoff and I switched off kites for a while until there was enough wind for Jason’s 15m I had to borrow. The clouds cleared and the wind picked up. Wykoff and I spent the night ripping up the ponds and the lakeside for hours on end. Riding at night is something every abled kiter should experience. Rick showed up a little later and then I pulled out the camera and a spot light and filmed wykoff and rick for a half hour. We wound up riding until 3am. This session rivals the sunset session that tom and I had in hatteras. By then neither of us could hold onto the bar anymore. So we packed up and pitched our tents in the secret spot. Sunday we got up at 8:30 and pumped up again (crazy, I think so). We did a little downwinder to the parking lot where Tad pulled in with one of the best breakfasts we have had.

The wind was just not great for a while after that. It slowly died out, so much for the 20-25 mph forecast. The beach was quite the sight with some 25+ kites pumped and ready to go. We all hung out and waited for the wind. Scotty and I almost got killed by a kite too. That was my first real brush with kite death. Luckily, I was able to hit the deck, but Scotty got hit with the lines near his neck, luckily the kite didn’t power up and he was alright. 6pm rolled around and the front moved through and the wind came up for a little session. I pumped up my only kite remaining and grabbed the glide for a little session while everyone else was pretty lit on 16s. I rode for a little then put the kite down to test out the new camera casing. I headed back home a few hours later.

Well the birthday weekend turned out to be a great one. We headed up to tawas Saturday morning. There was no wind to be found even though we carried all our equipment out to the point just to carry it all back with out riding. Then we went for a swim and we all played a little volleyball in the water. Once we got bobby spotted a wind line. The wind suddenly changed from SW to NE. I grabbed my 16 and brian’s glide. But no luck, just not enough wind. We called it a night. We arrived at the beach in the morning. Not looking forward to the forecast for the day (SW@5 with storms and clouds). The wind had not stared up yet but we dragged out stuff down to the beach and the started to pick up. A huge storm came in view. The wind picked up and got a short ride until the storm got too close. It passed just east of us. We got good rides in on all our light wind gear for the entire morning. Later in the day it picked up for about an hour. I was totally lit on my 16m. We had a great session, what a birthday present! Then we packed up and headed up to the sable inn for a birthday dinner (thanx Lefeve). We hung out for a while at the campsite. Then we went down to the beach to get a better view of the stars and the Milky Way, which were glowing like spotlights that night. As we got to the water there was a very steady breeze. I was just not enough for our biggest kites, so we headed back to the camp and went to bed. So Monday was suppose to be an epic SW wind day. So we went into town to get breakfast. After that I spent time in the coffee shop getting all my homework done. I arrived an hour or so later to see everyone just starting to pump up their kites. After I walked to the point I pumped up the 16 rode (what timing). The rest of the day was history. It was full of unhooked fun in the 2’ glassy ponds, some tiny wave booters, log jibs and island jumping. It was a terrific day.

Well it looks to be that I am finally going to get a water casing for the 2006 kiteboarding video. I really dont think it would be much a video without this piece of equipment. GLK will be sponsoring this, and it should be on the way relatively soon. I cannot wait to get out there and start shooting with it. It is going to allow me to get much better and different shots than i would beable to being onthe beach or a boat.
I also purchased an extended battery aswell as a wide angle lense for this project. So once I get this casing in all we need to do is ride hard, go huge, land hot and ride away clean.

we’ll see you on the water!

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Originally uploaded by bryan elkus.

The weekend started of with a supply chain exam at 8 in the morning. Got down with that around 9:30 and skated as fast as I could back home. I packed all my gear into the truck and headed on the road. I got to Tawas around 11:30 or so and guess what there was no wind. I mean just dead. So I hung out and did homework on the beach waiting for the wind to pick up, but it didn’t.

Wykoff drove up that night and we crashed at Brian Lefeve’s and got up Saturday around 6am. We headed down to the beach but there was not enough. We went to town and ate a nice breakfast at big boys. After breakfast it was such a nice sunny day, but there was no wind, so what’s there for us to do you ask? Shoot video! We spent the next 2-3 hours hiking and driving around looking for some great shots for the video.

And that we did, we got some terrific shots. We were still shooting in the park and next thing we know Carl, Melissa and carl’s brother were heading twords us. We called the filming quits and headed to the point. We walked the 20 min walk to the point with all our gear to once again find there to be no wind. We wound up walking back from the point a few hours later to grab lunch. It started to get a little stronger so we headed back to the point.

A half hour later we got to the point put up the kites and I rode the 16m and brian’s glide for about 45 min in the ponds totally underpowered but I got to ride. Then around 3:00 I headed home to the WB for my parent’s 25th anniversary party. It was a great time, and good food. It was always good to see everyone. Sundays forecast looked amazing SW@ 15-25 and 96 degrees. So I woke up early and headed back to Tawas. That was my fourth time at the gas pumps this weekend ☹ I figured with this forecast I didn’t get up early enough. But I pulled into the park and you know what there was no wind again.

We hung out at the beach and talk to the 15 kiters that were already down there. I pumped up my 16m, and you know what happened? The leading edge bladder exploded. WOW was I not happy! It turns out that the Velcro at the end of the kite gave out and all the pressure of the bladder blew out the end of the left side of the leading edge. So I have to figure out some way to fix the gaping hole in my bladder. So I still tried to make the best of it, but the wind wasn’t blowing.

The wind turned on instantly around 12:45 and I was able to work the hell out of my 13m on the glide. It consistently picked up and rode 2/3 of the day on the 13 and glide. I got a little time on my SX though. Everyone showed up at Tawas, Kyle of Detroit kitebaording showed up, and Timmy B with his crew and many more. I counted at least 18 kites in the air just to the left of the point. I landed a couple new tricks so I was happy. We rode all day and I stopped around 6:30 to shoot some video. Then we packed up all the gear and headed back home.

Well last night i started and finished logging and capturing all the footage from this weekend. I soon realized that i have almost 3 hours of logged footage from this season already. So, i began to throw together the GLK 2006 movie teaser. I still have loads of work to do on it but its looking good so far. Still need to find some music to use with it and get some more shots but its coming along. I should have a preview up relatively soon.

Everyone start shooting and send the footage my way…

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Originally uploaded by bryan elkus.

Well this weekend was once again terrific. Started the weekend off by going home fri for my mother’s birthday. We hung out at the pool all day and headed to Detroit for dinner. Saturday morning I started the drive up to Tawas. I arrived around 10:30 to see most of the gang getting ready for the beach. I headed down to the beach with Wykoff. We set up my BFK and my new bar and lines. It turned out that the 5th line was about 8 feet too long. So we had to adjust the line but got it figured out. I then spent pretty much the rest of the day REALLY lit on my 16m in the ponds. Sunday we arrived at the beach around 7am. I was out working my kite on the water at 8. It slowly picked up until around 11 when it just started ripping and it was another excellent day for the 12+13m’s. It was great to see everyone again.

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Originally uploaded by bryan elkus.

This is my new 23″ bar. It came today and i cant wait to go ride it this weekend. Thank goodness that my week started on wed and i only have 2 days till i get to go ride. So now i can fly my BFK with more ease and not have to fix the leash everytime i do a spin!!!