FIRST LOOK - II09 Saturday & Sunday

ricki · #1 03-12-2009, 01:27 PM

Returning to II09 and last weekend's happenings in Islamorada ...

A 180 degree morning view of Whale Harbor Kite Beach
(CLICK photo for FULL Sized image)

Lining up for the start of the reaching race

They're off with Alligator Light off to the right

Brad and Ray of Sevensports, the guys whose hard work along with that of volunteers brought all this about

Billy Parker was hitting hard throughout

Damo pops up in front of Matt

Jon and Alex shredding fast

Billy and Kent fight it out for first in the first lap of one of the reaching races.

Still going at it through the turn

Kent pulls ahead

Ken floats by

Alex passes

Great setting for the contest, good fish tacos in that restaurant in the back as well!

Jamie's skills are coming on stronger with each contest this season

Ken pops one

George and Felicia of kiteflix.com show off a new camera and the kiter-mobile ShadowCam

Nicci is moving fast!

Dave does a fly by. You know, I've seen Dave at tons of events since about the start of this sport in Florida.

Thierry and Tal shoot the action

Jon looks for coconuts

Pelicans pondering changes in the hood?!

Sean handle passes

Some of the folks in from Tampa

Nicci throws one in front of the judges

Like this shot

Fritz ralleys as Sean moves in

Gebi floats along

Sean comes in hot and horizontal?

Jon glides over or maybe he is coming into stationary orbit. Surreal aspect to this one.

Nite nite for now, there's still more

ricki · #2 03-12-2009, 04:34 PM

I've added some more photos to the post above this one to balance things out a bit.

ricki · #3 03-13-2009, 02:50 PM

... and some more, with some unusual ones thrown in.

This shot reminds me of something ... what is it?

Can't think of it
From: http://www.lydiaolydia.com/adolph.html

Hey Billy, not sure there is enough room for you in the hammock right now

Gebi through the lines

BAMM! Hey Ken, where's that ballistic moose, need some bad

You pointing at me?!

Damo rides the directional board of the future. No more kiting standing up, next you'll have a built in beer cooler

Sure looks like fun

Racing da Black Dog

Sean goes flyabout in the bush

Jon isn't satisfied with just sitting on his board, he does this one handed push up thing as he turns his body 360

No end of races

Thierry and Tal looking for shots

Will boosts and the crowd goes wild!

ricki · #4 03-17-2009, 09:34 AM

I drove down to Islamorada for the day last Saturday to catch the CKA event and II09. More about the CKA contest soon in a separate post. Lots of images to process. For now, a look at the Islamorada Invitational on Saturday along with random images from the weekend before.

A 3/4 round view of Whale Harbor near sunset. Some guys are on the water working the late day breeze.
(CLICK image for full sized photo)

Garry brought a bunch of Jimmy Lewis standup boards for folks to demo. I tried a couple myself, real nice performers too. I think that is Mike tooling up from the south

The wind had eased off around midday and bumped back slightly near sundown

Jose glides along

Flashing back to last weekend, Gebi eases over the Temple of Doom

Billy tools his pooch along on his home brewed motorized board

Jose does a fly by of Garry

Back to the downwind race last weekend. The guys are making the first turn and bunching up

Kent pulls way out, followed by Damo, Billy and Jon

George and Thierry catch some action on the water

Ian points towards Double Shot Cay on Cay Sal Banks and thinks "I'm there," once the wind picks up. Mike opts for the other direction. Hey, I'd like to go, it's been years!

Jon pops up near the photo boat. I was thinking, wouldn't be great if you could fly on these things as in "Back to the Future" Part 80 or something? In a way, I guess we can, good thing too.

Peaceful time of day

The Lange twins officiate the judging

Dogs love standup, ask Paula!

They call it Whale Harbor but I bet the Caloosa's called it Pelican Digs or something. These guys were scenically draped all over. My tribute shot to Ansel Adams.

I think Hamish landed this one too

Ken relates racing strategies to Maui

Gebi-san rips a turn

I thought these boards had a mast foot depression, in fact it is a highly convenient carrying point as Garry aptly demonstrates.

Wall to wall standup boards, demo'ing at a beach near you. Stay tuned for more on that via Garry and Ken, new distributors for JL Boards.

Heading home, I stopped off at the former site of the Invitational, the Monkey Bar at Holiday Isle. Great times there, you can see a kite over Whale Harbor in the distance.

That is a lot of photos, there are still more. Will they see the light of day on here? Time will tell. See you for now from II09!

thierrydehove · #5 03-17-2009, 10:40 AM

wow
Rick, I feel bad with my poor pix... we did an amazing job and always been in right place and moment ;-)
Really Good job, I have to learn a lot from you

T&T