Wind Jam Photos

[al-kite-a]

Funny to see an Alameda kiter complain about wind that was 20+mph and the ability to drink beer in the parking lot.

[gideonlow]

Gideon,
Glad to hear you will not be back at Crissy any time soon.

Yikes! Give an honest opinion, and due credit to those that worked hard, and I'm on everybody's shitlist! Seriously . . . and all successes aside, don't more people think there is room for improvement and useful things to be learned from this week's festivities? I just found it very frustrating that keeping the contest close to the beach shifted the emphasis so much. Rather than the best "sailor" winning, I saw the the best gusty/shifty/holey wind improviser or person lucky enough to catch an early gust to the outside winning. The bottom line to me is that it appeared the conditions introduced more of an element of luck to the contest than I'd like to see. Take my words for what they are: the casual observations of somebody who has never competed in kitesurfing.

BTW, I'm no "technical" kiter at all. I don't know a handlepass from a mobe, (whatever that is), and find the pure course racing, bordercross style racing, and just plain Big Air (which I'd personally judge more by height) as the most interesting disciplines on flat water. All those tricks on the PKRA (what to they call it, "new-school"?) seem like a big bore.

Finally, there is nothing more exciting than a big wave contest. We need this as a separate event and probably executed on short notice to catch the right conditions. You could all enjoy watching me make a fool of myself as I would definitely go for that kind of contest ;-).

Again, kudos to all the organizers for the obvious hard work.

Cheers,

Gideon

[Bulldog]

AKA, not sure if you're talking about me (I never kite at Alameda) but the wind on the inside, where the Big Air comp was, was not 20+, at least on Saturday. It was blowing from minus 10 to over 30. I agree completely with Gideon that anything anyone managed to pull in those conditions was as much luck as skill. I saw pro kiters get ripped completely off their boards right in front of me by phantom gusts after struggling to keep their kites in the air moments before.

The Alameda comparison is interesting, though. Alameda has a nice big sandy beach with a pretty nice view, but I don't think anyone would consider holding a big air competition there.

[al-kite-a]

Saturdays wind

[marina cc]

hey guys,
I think Confluent, Gabe, John Gomes, John Craig, the St. Francis Yacth Club, the volunteers and everybody deserves a big pat on the back for pulling this event off! Things didn't transpire the way anybody planned for the most part with the ramp, weather, boarderX course, etc. but this was a FIRST if many ways ie first nationals with 54 competitors, first event at crissy, first time to try kickers/sliders/rails at crissy, first time to try out ramp concept, first time to try boarder X, etc. etc. I think everybody learned a lot from this weekend and it will only make next year that much better.

If you look at comps for PKRA and KPWT, MANY locations aren't the ideal spot in terms of weather, conditions, etc. but are chosen because they have the money to pay for the event. i.e. Canada PKRA, Silvaplana, etc. Each site has their own challenges and the pros and participants may have grumbled a bit in SF but in the end, all took in stride and see that Crissy is a fantastic venue to showcase kiteboarding to the general public.

Congrats to the SF locals who showed that the Bay area has some pretty sick riders and course racers!

[Bulldog]

Yup, graphs don't lie:

4:00 -- gust to 25

4:05 -- lull @ 10 mph.

4:10 -- gust to 30

I was out when that happened, and I remember it pretty well. For that day, they should have just left out the blue "average" line, since it never really hit that speed, just richoceted back and forth between the highs and lows.

Believe me, I know all about trying to plan around the weather.

[jono]

I used to race BMX and god forbid, sometimes it would rain -- and sometimes it would dry out after I wrecked in the mud and missed the finals -- that's the way it goes. Wind gusts, wind lulls, racing next to the beach and seeing 5 guys in the water with kites down cause it went dead was all part of the show (and it got the biggest cheers).

Talking about being taken seriously -- lest you not forget you are FLYING A KITE! Lucky you all don't skateboard -- those guys have it bad with not being taken seriously...

It's all part of adapting and makes shit interesting. We need more events around here so quit complaining and start cooperating.

Speaking of Golden Gate sunsets, I rode Chrissy for the first time (loscocco took this with my little fuji Sunday evening):

[average_male]

I assume everyone has seen Spinal Tap? Remember the Stonehenge scene? BAWJ was basically the kiting version of that.

Ha ha.. too right... great call... perhaps we all had too high expectations of the event and the wind conditions didn't help in meeting those expectations.

[cedralpass]

I went to the events Friday, Sat (after grabbing some good AM wind at sherman), and Sunday. I was blown away by all the competition. I think we all know what to expect on the inside at chrissy. Just having an event so close to shore in those conditions was gutsy. Great Job Guys.

I met some very nice kiters. I think it also got some of our confidences up at what can be done at Chrissy. I may even give it a whirl, after two years of staying away. And I only live 3 blocks away.

I think the amazing thing was how well these guys handled the board and kite. Hard edging, big spray, jump turning transitions while racing. Keeping kites untangled and untangling them.

My favorite was when the Richman Bros helped Kafka back to his loose kite, with a tow. Jeff was able to relaunch that mess. Makes me look like an idiot when I crash my kite in the tules, and swim in. I may just become more patient, and wait for a puff. If he can relaunch that kite after in tumbled downwind, I sure have some bad kite relaunch skills.

I brought about 7 non-kiters down to the beach Sunday. they were having so much fun watching the crazy race starts, crashing kites, and airs, that they stayed through the cold. They were really impressed. I think thats what its all about, spreading the stoke! We know what to expect, but all the kite tourists did not, and they were amazed. As my wise instructor said, "You only need to see a handle pass once..."

Anyway, Nice work. A few more shots from Sunday here.

http://www.flickr.com/gp/87847811@N00/88c9T1

geoff

[Ronin]

The event was sick. As a competator it was very frusterating to have all those people on the beach and not be able to perform your best because of the conditions. But the fact that hundreds of people were at the beach and entertained by kiteboarding is a far more signifigant achievment in terms of what the contests are for. Its all about money. Next year is going to off the hook with shit neve before seen on a kiteboard.