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The fourth weekend proved to be a good one. Tom, I and the rest of the crew headed up to little point sable on the west side on MI for the long weekend. We got up there on fri and tom squeezed in a little session and we called it a day. My buddy Kyle showed up late that night to ride with us in the morning.

Saturday we woke at 6am that’s right 6 in the morning as in before the sun was up. The wind was blowing; we headed down to the beach and were on the water by 7. I got a small session in on kyles inland surf board and then the wind picked up and tom and I went trick for trick just trying to go big and learn some new tricks. I learned how to spin -almost 3 with half kiteloop. I also learned how to crash even harder than I have before. It was defiantly one of the most progressive days for me. All I could say after that session was who has industrial sized Vicodin for me?, cause wow I was hurting.

Then we went into town to BBQ and chill. Then went to camp at ryans house.

I got to sail a hobbie. That made my day on sun since its been years since my last time on a cat. Mon there was not enough wind again and tue we snuck in a good session south of the point where I threw my biggest air yet shortly followed by a hard crash- first 15′ jump. Then we headed over to silver lake and played on the dunes for a while as the wind died.

On our way home we headed to Grand Rapids for the fireworks. And that made my 21 4th of July a good one.

ryan wykoff teamGLK
Originally uploaded by bryan elkus.

Just finished up a desktop Photoshop Of Ryan Wykoff Kiteboarding. Still need to get some better pictures to but in there but this will work for now. Took about 3 hours to complete(not actually done yet, however). hope you enjoy…

Click here to download for background (1280 x 1024)

Judging based only by the number of pictures taken you know it was a great weekend. I took a whopping 5 pictures. It was defiantly one of the best weekends yet (I know I say this all the time but they really do just keep getting better). So I drove up alone to Tawas on fri morning by myself (tom when home for the weekend). I got up there about 10:30. As I pulled up to the beach I saw a good sign. Rick was already out there riding. I grabbed all my stuff out of the truck and ran down to the beach to pump up my kite. I guess rick and jimbo were riding since 7:00 that morning and it blew till around 6-7pm. It turned out to be a terrific day. I was on my 16 for most of the day and got a couple hours in on the 13. I learned to really jump finally. The hole landing part is still 50-50. Brian Lefeve, jimbo and bob were all throwing HUGE airs to the crowd. And im taking Huge like 25-30+ The wind was really lifty.

I also got to ride my new board I made. I work fantastically until the next day. I have never been on the water for that long riding. Needless to say I was exhausted by the end on the evening. A bunch of us went to the ausable inn for some all you can eat perch which tasted amazing after a whole day of riding. Then crashed for the night Thanx to Haris for letting me crash. Saturday believe it or not turned out to be an even better day. I woke up at 7am to head down to the beach. There was no wind. So I took a little nap in the back of the truck. Tad showed up a little later, then Steve and his wife came (it was great to meet the both of you) then the wind came and so did half the kiters in MI. It was great to see everyone out there having a good time, and meeting all of you I have not meet before. I got in a good 1.5-2 hour session in on my 16.

Then the wind picked up and then I was fully powered on my 13 for the rest of the day. I rode up to the ponds 2 times. They were a blast. Jumping logs and rock piles. Eating it hard a couple times when the water decided to be less then 2 inches deep. But that flat water was a blast. Rick was jumping from the bay side to the pond side. And the word was that he backrolled over the sand bar also. (well have to get it on film to prove it) Ryan Wykoff came later in the day to ride. We rode together for a few hours. We came back downwind after riding in the ponds to see if ryans friend had made it up yet.

The wind was much lighter down where all of our gear was so I opted to grab my new light wind board I made. And I was riding along I hear SNAP! The next thing I know I face plant on to the water swan dive style. After I surfaced I saw the destruction in the water. My new board broken into two I body dragged back to the beach and called it a day. But I really like how it rode and im going to be making version 2 soon! I logged over 70 miles on the water with a max speed of over 20 mph. I drove home to see the family for father’s day. That night went to a bday/graduation party for my long time best friend Besty.
What a weekend!!!

board_design,
originally uploaded by bryan elkus.

hey all just finished my light wind board. I took the basic design that steve martin posted up and threw it up on autoCAD. I played witht he angle of curves and cut out the pattern on our autoCAD table at school. Then i spent a little time on designing the graphics and cut those out also on the cad table layed them down and painted over it. then applied a couple layers of varnish to seal out the water. I’m hoping i dont need to use it this weekend but i really want to try it out. Ill let you all know how it rides. Hopefully its aswell as steve’s rode.

its about 17″ by 59″ made of OAK

Tom and I headed over to the West side this weekend. We were joined by ryan, sam, Ashley and Britney. Ryan let us crash at his place which is about 5 miles south of Point Sable. We had 2 spectacular days on the water. Friday was NUKING tom went out on his 12m and was VERY litat point sable. the waves were over his head at points it was a great day.

The water was very cold. Both tom and I wore both our full and shorties. The air all three days was around 60-65. I didn’t ride fri.

Saturday was amazing. We got down to the beach around 11-11:30 and the wind just turned on as we got there. Tom and I put up the 18 and 16. This was my first time riding my 16m (thanx brent!) it was a blast she flew great.

Still need to figure out the hole 5th line thing. Tom and I had a good session on the bigger kites. Then the wind really turned on. We came in to pump up the smaller kites (13 and 12m). Then we did a short mile to mile and a half down winder. After we were done we headed to the dunes, which were a blast.

And then partied all night. Sunday was the my day for riding. I was well powered on my 16m tom was lit on his 18. I rode well and really figured out how get up wind. This came about after I lost my board and did a kiteloop 3 times and made it ¾ of the way to were we ended our down winder yesterday. Tom grabed my board I relaunched and then tom and I did our first up winder back part where everyone was camped out on the beach a mile or so up wind. We were pretty much frozen by the time we got all the way back up wind so we called it a day and packed our stuff and headed back home.

more pictures on my flicker!!!

Ryan’s dad took pics of us riding with his sweet Digirebel so check back on my flicker in a few days for more pictures

kitestock_2006 – 116,
originally uploaded by bryan elkus.

Kitestock 2006 has come and gone. Tom and myself were planning on heading down to kitestock on Saturday morning. The trip started pretty poorly. We left east lansing with one passport and the hopes of getting a copy of my birth certificate so I might have a slight chance of getting into Canada, or more likely back into the USA (parents were outta town and the passports locked up). Plus on the drive down my favorite hat flew right out the window. Well, turned out that the file it the copy might be in was nowhere to be found. Turned out that we found the key to the safe and got my passport. There was no stopping us now. We woke up at 8ish and headed to Canada. We pulled into mitchells bay a few hours later to find a few kites on the beach. As the day grew more and more people came and the beach was packed with kites. It was SO great to see some girls out there killing it on the water. Us Michiganders don’t get to see that all to often. The wind was not to great most got down winded but made the best of it. Some fun non-wind activities during the day: the marry go round of death, and Smokey hitting the booter (towed in style) at like 30mph (best footage of the year). The Party sat night was a BLAST to say the least at least the part I remember. They were raffling off a bunch of stuff Kyle (DETROITkiteboarding) won a wakeskate and drew (Beer CO.) got a harness. Turns out there was a 16m Best kite on the raffle so I bought some 30-40$ worth of tickets and through them all in for the kite. Turtle and 2 other people offered to donate the kite to me if they were to win as well (so nice I really appreciated that guys). Turns out they did not call my number, but the host and greatest guy EVER Brent Ford had the winning ticket. He said that he would give away the kite. So I did just about everything I could to get that kite. And believe it or not he decided to give it to me. I was so ecstatic the rest of the night was pretty much a blur. I’m sooo grateful for this. And will use it to its fullest. Sunday came around after sleeping in joe’s room on the floor. Had breakfast and headed to Bell River for some kiting. Jesse McCutcheon is one of the Best Kiteboarding national riders. Jesse helped me a lot with the kite and getting use to it and all I need to do to get it up and flying properly (need to buy a bigger bar w/ 5th line). By the way he is a really nice guy. It really nice to see that a pro would take the time to help out a newer rider, like Jesse did for me, with really nothing to gain on his part. It would have been the day to ride the 16m too though I did not have a 5th line bar to go with the kite. But from now on, on days like these which happen often ill be out there shredding with the rest of them. All I can say is this kite will be put to excellent use. From having a 10% chance of even getting into Canada and back to randomly finding the key to get my passport, I guess it was meant to be. Kitestock was everything I thought it would be and I think everyone had an amazing time (though probably not as much fun as I did). THANX Tim & April and EVERYONE else who helped out to make kitestock 2006, kitestock 2006!

PICTURES FROM KITESTOCK 2006

looks like were planning on heading to kitestock this weekend for the festivities. It should be another great weekend. The event is being held at mitchell’s bay in Canada. I think were going to drive over sat morning and were going to pray for some wind this weekend. This is the 5th kitestock and from what I hear it’s a great time and lots of people.

http://www.kitestock.ca/

it was an uneventful weekend. Tom and i drove up to Tawas,MI for the weekend, there was not too much riding. some lite wind riding with the glide and LFT. we did some pull surfing on the beach, played a little volleyball and ate alot. ryan’s friend dislocated his shoulder. but we all had a great time up there hanging out. some pics coming soon.

Sunday at harsens island. it was my first adventure out to harsens. i must say its very nice out there. im also sure that i would have had even more fun if it were not 55 degrees. I got to meet a lot of kiters ive been meaning to run into on sun. i think we all had a blast. it took me an hour and a half to get to harsens. i got there around 10 and was ready to go ride. drew was there before me. it was windy, it was too windy for my kite. brian let me borrow on of his to go out after he rode. brian got hurt when he got slammed early in the day. good to know it was nothing serious! i headed out on a 9 and got in a good 1-1.5 hour session before i came in. there were so many people there, almost too many kites in the water as some points. i chilled out on land for a while getting over 45 min of footage of lots of people mainly kyle and doug were just killing it out there. i tryed to head out later in the evening wen the wind calmed a little on my 13. the 13 proved to be a little too small and came in. It was a terrific day just way too cold. cya all back out on the water soon.

(Right click and save as to download)

MOVIE LINK (.mov): CLICK ME!!! Quicktime 7 needed
MOVIE LINK (.mp4): or CLICK ME!!!

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