Here's What I Remember

[onthefritz]

Good/bad story, thanks for sharing. :-) I had a bit of a bad experience during the race as well but the after party was more than rewarding. It was my first downwind race and I chose a twin tip board and regretted it later on in the race. I had a tip get caught in a wave and lost my board to the Gulf after a 40 min search and 250 yard body drag into shore. Other than that it was an amazing experience that I plan on doing year after year. So many great people, riders, volunteers, organizers and sponsors that made this race something to remember. Thanks to Wind Stalkers for pulling it off after a months on end holding pattern. Hope we see more people turn out next year.

Fritz

[kent]

I thought that the race was great as well. It was nice to see something organized in a different location. The wind finally came through for a great event. I remember getting an ok start and just trying to keep from wrapping anyone's kite. The wind seem very good at the start and looking around, I was surprised to see so many fast riders staying in the front of the pack. Damien managed to pull away from the first pack pretty well, but the 4-5 others including myself all seemed pretty close in speed. There were some advantages in angle or speed, but they seem to cancel eachother out a bit. What I really liked about this event was that it wasn't so focused on having strong legs but rather making good decisions going down wind. You really had to look for good gusts on either the right or left side of the run. Additionally, you had to really focus on turning at the right time to take advantage of the wind direction. Knowing that the wind was forecast to turn to the right as the day went on, you had to be careful to take hitches toward the beach at times to avoid being caught too far off shore and away from the finish line.

For me it really cae down to trying to stay in the race with a good opportunity to place high. Near the end, I managed to reel in Gebi a bit, but i really needed my mind to say that I could beat him to the finish line. Many times over the last 20 years i have been close to him in windsurfing races, but he generally had something extra. In the closing minute of the race, i noticed that my slightly larger kite gave me about 1 degree better angle down wind and I waited until the last minute to show it. I remember diving below Gebi just before he would have needed to jibe for the finish. This made him haveto jibe behind me to ride toeside toward the beach. I matched his toeside carve and stayed just to leeward. i waited from him to bring it back to heelside to go for the finish and I turned as well. Upon hitting the beach, I was stoked to finally come out on top of him in a very close race. It is races like this that keep the fires going and make us want to do it again and again.

In the end, I was very happy that we were riding left foot forward as my other side is terrible! I am hoping that others had as much fun as I did so that we can continue to epand on these racing concepts. As more riders get competitive boards and kites, I am looking forward to seeing course racing develop in Florida as it has in SF Bay with the Cabrinha Kite Race Series. If you are interested in finding the right board for upcoming races and need some advise, send me a PM and I'd be happy to help.

See you at Tampa!

Kent

[admin]

I drove over to Naples that morning in a fog, literally! Normally, I would like to head over the night before but the events that weekend came on too fast for me to get my act together in time. The fog cleared about the time I made the left coast. The car was confused thinking I wanted to go to Marco instead of Naples. I think Icelandic cart horses have more horse sense about direction than my Nissan or perhaps myself? So, hit the beach eventually and strolled down to say hello to Enrique and others.

I had been expecting gnat sneeze breeze for a dead downwind run to the finish and was excited when the forecast reverted to 10 to 15 kts. south early that morning. I went home over lunch the day before and put two patches to join a third made the day before on my 16 m. Left it pumped up and came back to find that I hadn't caught all the leaks?! Never had that many perforations on a leading edge in over nine years. That left me with a new 13 m. I had it out in 10 kts. or less the night before so felt it would do the job on a downwinder, slowly. So, walking to the launch with my largest twin tip, a whopping 150 cm FL-XXXL. The wind was slowly freshening but was side off out of the SSE. Some early wind dummies launched and rode out powered providing encouragement to the guys on shore. Unlike Jupiter, I actually was early enough to rig up and go out for a test run to checkout conditions. Getting off the beach took a bit of care with frequent lulls from the wind shadow but the wind filled in nicely not far from shore. Decided, the 150 cm TT was too large, beached and ran to the car to change it out for my normal board. Got back, headed out still had time for some tacks before the green flag went up.

Guys headed out on a NNW to NW tack initially, so I followed suit. The wind was around 9 to 13 kts. SSE with small smooth waves around 1 to 2 ft. following from the south. Didn't want to edge very hard, wanting to run almost dead downwind. So, for the next hour worked on creative kite placement to maximize travel downwind while minimizing travel off the wind. Stacey coined an intriguing "Loop-Loop" technique that describes one approach. I would figure eight port and starboard myself or do a modified "half-sine" depending on conditions. It was easy to fall over the nose of the board in this, particularly a twin tip. Think a directional is definitely the way to go on these dead downwind runs particularly in fairly calm water. Near the end of the run the wind clocked further to the west and the coast turned to the NNW creating more side onshore conditions and making things a lot simpler, "lock and go."

I came on to a pod of three or more dolphin and hoped they would stay on the surface long enough for me to video them. No joy on that, must be into windsurfers or something cause they slipped away in no time. Didn't see any of the famous SW Fla. Tiburon's but wasn't excessively disappointed to miss out.

Didn't have time to do my normal google earth tour of landmarks, wasn't all that familiar with the seaward appearance of the shore in this area. So, kept wondering every time I saw kites near or on the shore, "is that it???" Still, it didn't seem far enough. Eventually, I saw a fuzzy land mass way to the NW thinking, that has to be Sanibel Island. Shortly after that the causeway bridge came into view clenching it. The finish has to be before the bridge. Saw it soon after and landed. Stood around for a few minutes, looking off to the NW and Sanibel and wondering about heading over for a look. Hadn't kited that area in probably seven years. Did a trial run to see how much tacking would be needed to return, didn't look like any would be required. Asked Enrique about getting back to Naples, mentioned I was thinking of heading over to the lighthouse and then headed out. It wasn't that far, less than ten miles to the lighthouse R/T as the crow flies and I was there in no time. Shot some video coming in, turned around and shot more video heading back to Ft. Myers. About a third of the way back the wind started to ebb. Tacked about five times over several miles and wasn't making upwind anymore. Whoops, someone screwed up, bigtime, me! Figured, better land and walk. A brisk walk two miles down the coast, thinking I was going to have a hefty taxi fare back to Naples. I found most of the folks cleared out but Enrique waiting. What a guy, he thinks of everything! I interviewed him about the race on video on the drive south. The wrap party followed with great food, company and awards ceremony.

So, long story short, it was a fun, very well organized and executed first time event. Huge thanks to Enrigue, his troops and all the kiters that participated. Looking forward to his next event already!

[cybersunshine]

It was a good day for me but I think from now on I will just refer to it as a marathon since I not really in any position to call myself a racer.

[Daniel(BestKiteboarding)]

I remember trying my hardest to keep up with the other riders, helping competitors if they were in loose of there boards and having a great time.
When I was racing and I started to see the finish line it was a good feeling I didn’t care what place I had come in, all I cared about was me finishing the race. This Naples pier to pier race is thee most organized race held on the south west coast of Florida. It was something to look forward too. Enrique, you pulled of a GREAT race, and a hell of an after party where families could enjoy them selves and a reasonable course distance for the racers.


Thank you,

Enrique Gianello,
Kellene Gianello, for everything you’ve done. :-)

[lucas]

This is what I remember. I was riding and I got knocked off my board. I totally depowered so I really didn’t go anywhere. So I turned back to get my board and it wasn’t there. I think I body dragged for like 30 minutes and still couldn’t find my board so I went to land. When the other two youth (Daniel gianello and Brandon Bowe) saw me walking on land they stopped and looked but had no luck finding it but I was really happy they tried. As they went on racing I walked about 20 minutes to the closest hotel and called my dad and he picked me up.

[ricki]

Sorry you lost your board Lucas. Unfortunately, lots of people lose their boards in these distance races. Most body drag and recover them, often several times. On occasion it stays lost. A sideshore wind and adverse currents, if any, in inlet areas can make recovery difficult at times. A reel leash with a weak link, helmet and impact vest could provide another option. I forgot to setup my reel leash for the Naples race but saved some aggravation by hooking it up for the Jupiter run. See you out there next year!