Photo of the Day!!!

[Endlestorm]

Wow! I randomly looked at IK at like 3:30 yesterday and thought it looked awfully good at the buoy's and started salivating but then snapped myself out of it as I watched the next squall blow through Foster City. Glad you guys got some. It wasn't too gusty?

[Endlestorm]

Also, Gabe: How do you ride strapless in those conditions? How do you get out without being able to boost big?

[More Waves Please]

Got a new GoPro cam last week. 5 megapixel camera with 170 degree lens. It also can shoot about 50 minutes of video if you have the right batteries. I'm still working on the video editing features, but I was able to grab a couple of stills. Next time out, I'll set it up for the "one pic every 2 seconds" mode.

Not bad for $150!

[KillaHz]

Wow! I randomly looked at IK at like 3:30 yesterday and thought it looked awfully good at the buoy's and started salivating but then snapped myself out of it as I watched the next squall blow through Foster City. Glad you guys got some. It wasn't too gusty?

It was not too gusty, I would call it holey. Up and down South wind. Until the squall blew through at which point it came up nicely.

In keeping with the theme of this post, I will add another picture from that day. Some of the payoff to getting to the outside.

[KillaHz]

Also, Gabe: How do you ride strapless in those conditions? How do you get out without being able to boost big?

Well Britt, I don't much like straps these days and I haven't used them much in the last couple years. Don't get me wrong, when the waves are macking but clean, I will use a heavier board strapped as there is no other way to handle the chop on the wave face and the speed at which you surf them.

In conditions like Monday where the swell is solid but not huge and kind of all over the place, I definitely prefer to be strapless. I can turn on a dime and run if I need to. I can jybe onto a meaty wave face if it is looking tastey and if I get munched, I can get away from my board before my knee or ankle or something else gets all twisted.

As to getting out strapless. I've been practicing a long time. A few things that help are:

Having the ability to read your break and know where the channels are and when the sets are coming.
Recognizing patterns in the way waves are breaking and relating this to how long you have before a wave that has formed is actually going to break.
Having the right kite as a kite that pivot pivot turns and depowers instantly is key to getting over large waves without getting yanked off your board on the way down the back.
And Lastly, being able to jump over some of the intermediate swell helps as well.

[ino]

Dear friends it was the first time i tried Carmel it was wonderful sideshore direction decent waves, but a bit too light on Valentines just as I finished I saw 2 other kiters riding they seemed a bit underpowered also. The day after it was nukeing and I did not have the right size but pretty much the whole ocean was paradise to me as they had the World tour Golf a few hundered yards away. A wonderful experience I advice everyone to kite there when it gets windy.

[More Waves Please]

Ino -

I was one of the other kiters you saw at Carmel Beach on Feb 14 (the Gopro cam pics above are from that session). My 10M Airush Flow and 6' Converse weren't nearly enough for the conditions, though. The following Monday wasn't bad on the same combination, but the southerly winds are pretty patchy even under the best circumstances.

The Monterey Peninsula is more of a surfer's paradise than anything a kiter can rely on. Carmel Beach has it's days, but we bank on southerly storm winds and NW clearing winds. Otherwise, the 3 or 4 local kiters spend a lot of time on the road up to Waddell Creek during Spring, Summer and Fall (almost exactly 60 miles from my driveway takes an average of 1 hour and 15 minutes).

FYI - you made it onto the golf telecast for a few seconds just ahead of a commercial break. My wife had the TV on and the blimp cam focused on a Caution kite. She thought it was my buddy (he was the other kiter), but then she realized that it couldn't have been either one of us since it was a C-kite (how's that for a well-educated kite wife?) and I had just left the house about 2 minutes beforehand. 30 seconds of your 10 minutes of fame have been used up

[Bulldog]

I thought it was 15 minutes of fame. Or is that falling prey to deflation as well?

[EvanOR]

Time to bring this back to life. Let's see it!

[TMerrick]

A few random shots: