We had an extremely successful kiteboarding demo weekend with Nick Stuart from Naish and Dan Schwarz from North. We started the tour at Crissy on Thursday night. It was sunny, warm, and beautiful at Crissy. We got a few people out on kites and then all got a chance to ride. The wind was light and it was flooding, but it was great for light wind kiting. Dan and Jeremy had the guts to go way across the bay (despite the light winds and flood)...but the wind shut down quickly and we all had to swim/self rescue back to the beach. Dan and Jeremy did their best, but with SW ultra light winds, their self rescue was only going to get them to Alcatraz. We called the coast guard and made sure they got in safely. I got to practice my back stroke back into the beach, so in the end I got a fantastic work out (sheesh dat water is cold!).
We ended up barbecuing at Crissy and watching the gorgeous sunset. We hung out with a bunch of the Crissy regulars way past dark...Steve, Chip, Greg, and our demo crew. The brats and beer went down smoothly after a long swim. The match light kept us warm til late.
Friday we headed over to Alameda and the wind came up late but was great. We got to demo and ride. Nick tore it up on the 12m Naish Torch. Apres surf was hangin at "the shack" and enjoying some more bbqing.
On Saturday we headed to 3rd Avenue in Foster City. The conditions ended up being quite nice (although Alameda was the windier spot Saturday with gusts into the low 30s). We ended up getting lots of people out on the 2010 North and Naish lineup, including all the directionals, the Naish Torch, Cult and Helix, and the North Rebel, Fuse, and Vegas.
The tide was low so there was plenty of room for all the demo gear. Thank you Shane for helping Dan inflate all of those kites!
3rd Ave kiter and Naish Team Rider Fred with Nick from Naish. We had to schlep the gear from the golf parking lot so we were good and hungry at the end of the day. Sunday in Alameda was probably the best wind conditions of the 4 day tour with west winds 18-23 and smooth water.
We had a host of very good riders show up and show off. The spectator scene was lots of fun with a line of people on the sand bank checking out the tricksters.
I had a blast trying out the North Vegas (I think I am in love with C kites again!), the North Rebel (perfection!), the North Fuse (4 line version of the Rebel and super powerful with lots of grunt), the Naish Helix (super fast kite!), the Naish Cult (perfection!), and the Naish Torch (C kites are back in fashion!). For boards I got to try the Naish Momentum (super smooth with great pop), the Naish Thorn (stiffer and great for boosting big air), Naish Haze (great all around freeride twin tip), North Jaime (stiff with pop but smooth in the chop), North Xride (my favorite and super smooth and fun to carve). We have every board and kite available for demo if you missed our weekend's festivities. Just give us a call to arrange and you can even take the gear to your local riding spot.
Thanks to Nick, Dan, and Shane for all of the support and fun over the weekend! Jane
We hung out with a bunch of the Crissy regulars way past dark...Steve, Chip, Greg, and our demo crew. The brats and beer went down smoothly after a long swim. The match light kept us warm til late.
3rd Ave kiter and Naish Team Rider Fred with Nick from Naish.
We had to schlep the gear from the golf parking lot so we were good and hungry at the end of the day.
