A Respected Kiter Passes On

[ricki]

I just received this sad news from George Saunders of Kiteflix:

"I hate to be a buzz kill with the party coming up tomorrow nite but maybe you might want to have a moment of silence for local Florida kiter, Mike Quesnette, who died this past Friday after a long battle with cancer. I happen to be in New York right now so I will attend his funeral this Friday in Connecticut, where Mike was born and raised. A kiteboarder memorial will be held for him in Florida in November.

Mike's battle was brave. He had Hodkins Lymphoma and his body had to be completely irradiated and poisoned by Chemo and thus he needed a complete bone marrow transplant. Fortunately some brilliant doctors and a compatable marrow donor saved his life.

Mike had recovered and was kiting with us for the past 5 years. Some may remember Mike helped KiteFLix at a few events (like Islamorada 2004) by filming some B-roll video of the people watching in the crowd and still shots. Mike lived in Boca Raton and then Boynton Beach and he was one of the early kiters in Florida, riding with guys like Jeff Biege, who is a partner in Best Kiteboarding.

Mike had a profound influence on KiteFLix. In the early days when I first started filming, I was at Hammock Beach in Boynton trying to focus on Jeff Biege, and you know how it is when a camera is filming - a lot of kiters suddenly are riding up close to shore, trying to get on camera too.
So I am trying to film Biege and this skinny, pasty pale white guy kept asking me if I got any video of him. "Nope, sorry." I said, trying to be polite.

On the surface, Mike did not look like a very good kiter, bone skinny and white and weak. Later that day, when everyone was on the beach taking a lunch break, Mike bothered me again. Did I get any video of him. Half annoyed at this point, I said jokingly, "Ya, sure, I tried to focus on you but when I did your skin was so white the reflection off it was blowing out my lens." Ha ha ha. All the guys laughed. Even Mike laughed. A few minutes later when they all got back in the water, Jeff Biege stepped up to me and quietly told me that Mike has cancer and was white from Chemo treatments.

My heart sunk to my stomach and I felt like a total jerk.

Since that day, which was maybe 5 years ago, I became good friends with Mike and tried my best to do whatever I could for him. He had beaten cancer and was working out, looking healthy. He was a super nice guy, smart and sweet and happy to be alive. Since that day, I promised myself that I was never going to "judge a book by its cover."

Over the years, as KiteFLix became more popular, a few smart people in the sport offered me the advice that I should film better kiteboarders and even offered me access to top Pros. They did not understand what a profound influence Mike Quesnette had on who I chose to film.

Smart people have often been confused by the success and worldwide popularity of KiteFLix. It has been kind of a strange phenomenon because despite the lack of Pro riders on KiteFLix, I have a huge audience and get tons of emails thanking me for the videos and telling me how "stoked" and pumped up they got from watching my videos. We can all thank Mike Quesnette.

Since that day on the beach when I first met Mike, I learned my lesson to look for the "stoke" and that's what I focus on and try to convey on film. Anyone can have the stoke. You just have to be looking for it.

Rest in peace, Mike Quesnette. You taught me a lot about kiteboarding and a lot about life.

- george "