good call Neil!

[kent]

Good thing we didn't go for it or we would have all been walking for a bit. We did get a few of us to Matheson to do some small course races. The wind was even a bit light for this. We did 3-4 windward leeward races and then the wind died. It was interesting to see just how light we could go up wind on our equipment. I would say that with a CB3 or SB3 and my course racing directional board that I have a very good upwind angle in 8-9mph. Basically just after I can keep my kite in the air I can make headway.

There are some very good options out there for course racing boards. While down wind races are more common on this coast, I assure you that course racing will start to come to the forefront. To start, at least hop on a surf board of around 5'6 to 6' and give it a go. As you learn more about going up wind you can start to decide on which race board you might want to go with.

There will be at least 2 very high profile races coming up in 08. The first will likly be in Corpus Chrisit, TX in May. This will probably be the Nationals if kite racing is ratified by ISAF and the second will be in SF Bay during the summer. This has a great chance of being the world championships. As things start to progress we will be hosting a series of racing clinics at Adventure Sports Miami to teach kitesurfers a bit more about racing and tactics.

Kent

[stacey]

A couple of us attempted a downwinder on Saturday ... got a bit of a late start and made it from Boynton Beach Inlet to 2 miles past the Delray checkpoint before it completed died around 1:30 when a bunch of storm systems came through and killed it.

Very important: the Boynton Beach lifeguards have are threatening to shut us down if we keep riding through their swim areas on downwinders ... it keeps happening and they're very angry and you can be sure they will be ruthless when they see 100 or so kiter descending on them when the race goes off, if anyone goes inside the bouys. It's easy to get so focused on going fast and watching the water that you forget to pay attention to the landmarks (speaking from recent experience) so this is just a reminder to watch out for the lifeguard towers and bouys, and when you see them, stay clear.

Forecast for this week/weekend looks like CRAP at this point. Hopefully something dramatic will come in and change it.