Photo Of The Day!!!

[Clew In]

Hey,

A few pictures from Saint Augustine, Florida. A storm came up and killed the wind for the afternoon. What a bummer for the ones that could only make Sunday.

Clew In

[Clew In]

Some more.

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[ricki]

Thanks for posting the shots CI. How were conditions on Saturday? Was there much in the way of waves? Wish I could have made it up this time. It is a great place to ride at and visit.

Some shots from the last time I made it up appear at:
http://fksa.org/showthread.php?t=830

[loscocco]

Originally Posted by RickI

Thanks for putting up the shots, intriguing stuff! Was the tide heading out when the wind shut off? I understand you can get some honking tidal flow under the bridge, does it ease much beyond it? I guess the USCG has kiter recoveries down to a art at this point? Must have learned a lot dealing with windsurfers prior to recent years. Question, what sort of water camera were you using?

hey Rick,

Yeah we usually kite when its an ebb tide since it adds windspeed and is like kiting on an upwind treadmill. SOO MUCH fun!!

But yeah the wind did shut off during an ebb tide and i was slowly drifting out as it was only a 2 knot ebb but it can get up to 5 knots during a big ebb. The USCG has a station right next to the bridge and they pick up kiters and windsurfers almost daily. We try not to used their services but sometimes it is needed and they are very friendly about it.
i was shooting with a Pentax W30


more pics of our playground with supersize toys

[loscocco]

HMB Storm Kiting pics from today
Today was a fun but insane session at the Half Moon Bay Harbor in California. I got there at about 2pm as Dave was coming in and everyone else was being blown off the water. I pumped up my 8 and went out and had a blast. the wind was 15-35 mph and when the squalls came thru it was almost whiteout conditions with blowing ran and sea spray over the sea wall. Definitely survival kiting. A few other guys came out a bit later and i think things mellowed out a little.
here are the pics from my helmet cam

[ricki]

Outstanding bridge - kiting shot, I think it is the best that I have seen, well done. Like the cruise ship one too. Thought about hot launching off the aft deck of one once. Good thing not everything that comes to mind, makes it into reality!

What sort of storm winds did you folks have?

[loscocco]

in the winter we have big storms that come in and pound the Norcal coast for a few days at a time.. they are definitely NOT ideal kiting conditions most of the time as they can be very cold and gusty but still fun for the hardy and rather crazy guys like me

[ricki]

Originally Posted by loscocco

in the winter we have big storms that come in and pound the Norcal coast for a few days at a time.. they are definitely NOT ideal kiting conditions most of the time as they can be very cold and gusty but still fun for the hardy and rather crazy guys like me

I always thought you had some powerful storms. Had a few guys swearing up and down for a couple of years that Norcal never had squalls or hazardous wind conditions. One of them was a magazine editor too. It is hard to hide those powerful systems that send fronts across the USA like clockwork through the winter though. I suspect you know about the loss of Daniel Bergin in one of these systems about a year ago. A lot rides on you and your gear performing just so. Statistically, that just won't happen all the time in wx extremes. Good luck out there.

[ricki]

I visited Neil's operation at Tiki Beach in Ft. Lauderdale yesterday. More unexpected good wind, there has been quite a bit of that recently. The boat show was just winding down so easy access to the area will be restored very soon.


Helga rides though






Somebody told me that sails on the starboard side have McCain and Palin. Didn't hang out long enough to see it, wonder if it is so (not).



William sets up for a trick



The masked rider. Thought he might have had a particular sensitivity to sun. The mask came off on landing so not sure.

[Clew In]

Hey,

Short video from Saint Augustine:

http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=12W3DK4owEI

Clew In