II09 Islamorada Invitational Event Information

[kent]

cool. thx. see you on sat.

[ricki]

The forecast ticked up a bit, 5 more knots, we'll take it! Good direction for Islamorada too.

Today...East winds near 20 knots and gusty. Seas beyond the reef 5 to 8 feet...except higher in the gulf stream. Seas inside the reef 2 to 3 feet. Nearshore waters rough.

Tonight...East winds near 20 knots and gusty. Seas beyond the reef 5 to 8 feet...except higher in the gulf stream. Seas inside the reef 2 to 3 feet. Nearshore waters rough.

Saturday And Saturday Night...East winds near 20 knots. Seas beyond the reef subsiding to 4 to 7 feet saturday night. Seas higher in the gulf stream. Seas inside the reef 2 to 3 feet. Nearshore waters rough.

Sunday...East to southeast winds 15 to 20 knots. Seas beyond the reef 3 to 6 feet. Seas inside the reef 2 to 3 feet. Nearshore waters choppy.

From: http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick...y=229&site=mfl

[b-rad]

ahhh...such a good thing...


remember your helmets!!!!!

[ricki]

Sure is, pumping through Molasses Light at 20 kts. already! Forecast seems to be holding, looking good.

You can checkout one of the livecams just to the south of Whale Harbor at:

http://www.fla-keys.com/islamorada/p...cam=chesapeake

You should be able to see kiters riding in the distance in all those massive waves.

[ricki]

Still looking good for the weekend and beyond ...

Today...East winds near 20 knots and gusty. Seas beyond the reef 5 to 8 feet...except higher in the gulf stream. Seas inside the reef 2 to 3 feet. Nearshore waters rough.

Tonight...East winds near 20 knots and gusty...decreasing to 15 to 20 knots late. Seas beyond the reef subsiding to 4 to 7 feet. Seas higher in the gulf stream. Seas inside the reef 2 to 3 feet. Nearshore waters becoming choppy.

Sunday...East to southeast winds 15 to 20 knots. Seas beyond the reef subsiding to 4 to 6 feet. Seas inside the reef around 2 feet. Nearshore waters a moderate chop to chop
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick...y=226&site=mfl

See you folks down there

[b-rad]

Well it sure was good on the weekend...then, it kind of fell off. So we've just been relaxin on the beach, doing some paddle boarding on the flats and playing some bago on the beach. The Super Air Nautique is in the water and ready for some pulls over the fun box...and the winch is warmed up for some rail action...

The forecast shows a little bump in the wind on Friday and Saturday:

Friday Through Saturday
East to southeast near 15 knots. Seas beyond the reef 3 to 5 feet. Seas inside the reef around 2 feet. Nearshore waters a moderate chop. Isolated showers.
Sunday And Monday
East to southeast winds 10 to 15 knots. Seas beyond the reef 2 to 4 feet. Seas inside the reef 1 to 2 feet. Nearshore waters a light to moderate chop. Isolated showers.

Sometimes before a front it will get much better than the forecast...lets hope!

We are planning to run more sessions in the Seven Slider Park as soon as it gets good and we have some riders coming down to film and shoot...so pray for some wind, and get ready for some more great park action!

If you previously registered you are good to go (bring your jerseys) and if you still want to get into the action you can when you get here. Just stop by the tent in front of the Seven trailer at Whale Harbor.

If you want to do some night/sunset filming just let us know...we have some cool stuff planned...

[mikerooka]

Part 2 is done Im posting tonite .. See you this weekend!
Mike Hirooka

[kent]

if anyone can find some results for this event please post them. i'm sure someone won something. i know the first place riders, but i'm not sure as the list goes down. thx....

[b-rad]

We sure will post them...as soon as the event is all over!!! Good to see you man...you sure are fast!


Even thought the wind was light until the end of the day, we had a blast! We had the winch station set up and got to witness Alex Fox slam himself into 6 inches of mud face first!!! The kid does rip! And of course we had the jet skis pulling riders over all through the park...Billy Parker was sticking everything...one run he landed 3's off the rail then the box and then the kicker for a standing ovation from the beach. A crew from the UCF wake team destroyed the park too. Pics to follow-

Just another day in the life...

See you tomorrow

[b-rad]

Islamorada Invitational 2009 Results
Islamorada, Florida Keys, USA

Great winds, amazing riding and good times sums up the 2009 Islamorada Invitational. Everyone was stoked to be back in Islamorada as Seven Kiteboarding reorganized the popular springtime event. Athletes competed in course and downwind races, freestyle sessions and the popular slider park.

Saturday started off with course racing as heats of 6 riders blasted off the beach and raced back and forth around bouys in front of excited spectators at Whale Harbor Marina. The crowds went wild as athletes raced neck and neck rounding bouys, crashing and trying to be first to cross the finish line in front of the judges tower. In the women's final, Melissa Gill took and unfortunate spill leaving the course wide open for Islamorada local Jamie Fields to stay the course and speed into first. In the men's heats, some of the world's fastest kiteboarders battled for another notch on the bedpost of race winnings as strategy played a big part in this race. In the semi finals, Mike Gbehardt and Tomi Fields tangled right off the start leaving Gebi with a serious gap to fill. In a spectacular heat, Gebi came back from last place to secure his place in the finals.

Women's Race Results
1st Place Jamie Fields
2nd Place Melissa Gill
3rd Place Mia Capps

Men's Race Results
1st Place Damien Leroy
2nd Place Billy Parker
3rd Place Kent Marinkovic

The wind and the tunes picked up a bit as the freestyle heats got underway in the afternoon. The amature mens heats produced some great action with some nice monster mobes by Sean putting him in the lead to take the first place prize - a new Jimmy Lewis board...and bragging rights! The womens freestyle was a crowd pleaser as always and came down to a battle between local Jamie Fields and Melissa Gil. The men's freestyle was a display of power, technicallity and style. In much lighter winds than earlier, Damien Leroy and Billy Parker went trick for trick almost too fast for the judges to keep up with. In the last few seconds, Damo stuck a nice loop mobe and a front 5 for 1st.

Amature Men's Freestyle
1st Place Sean Reyngoudt
2nd Place Fritz Otiker
3rd Place Erik Merrill

Women's Freestyle
1st Place Melissa Gil
2nd Place Jamie Fields
3rd Place Mia Capps

Pro Men's Freestyle
1st Place Damien Leroy
2nd Place Billy Parker
3rd Place Alex Fox

The riders (and organizers) had a nice little morning session Sunday as the wind came up. Everyone was excited to hit the park with the new 30X40 fun box and see what new tricks would be thrown. Heats of 4-6 riders started around noon as the crowd on the beach grew and watched a pure wake-style rail jam go down. The park was legit complete with the Seven Rail, Mac Slider (thanks to Hamish), the Booter, and the new pyramid fun box. Everyone was throwing down and pumping each other up. The women all charged very hard and made it extremely hard for the judges to call. Stacy was hitting everything very fast and hard; Melissa was tecnically on; and Nikki was determined to hit everything and stick a three off the funbox givin the crowd a nice show. The amature men's final was a battle between Sean, Bobby and 14 year old Matt Collins. After the 20 min heat it was clear that Matt was going to have a bright future in kiteboarding. The pro men's park session was the most exciting 20 minutes of the whole event. Four of the world's best battled with style and power to show Islamorada what Seven's new park was all about. Jon Modica, Billy Parker, Andy Hurdman and Damien Leroy. Billy's power was unmatched...Andy's style motivated all riders, but the combination in Leroy let him slide narrowly into first.

Women's Park
1st Place Nicci Warsaw
2nd Place Melissa Gil
3rd Place Stacy Fonas

Amature Men's Park
1st Place Matt Collins
2nd Place Bobby Jax
3rd Place Sean Reyngoudt

Pro Men's Park
1st Place Damien Leroy
2nd Place Andy Hurdman
3rd Place Billy Parker
After the Park session, the organizers decided to have a little fun and plan a downwind slalom race from the Islamorada sandbar back to Whale Harbor. To make the race a little more competitive, and since it was for fun, they made it a "twin-tip" only race. Riders rode upwind to the event boat at the sandbar as spectators watched from the beach. The cluster of kites began swinging around at the horn blast and riders raced back to shore in about a minute's time. The new format inspired kiters to create new races.

Downwind Slalom
1st Place Damien Leroy
2nd Place Billy Parker
3rd Place Michael Gebheardt

In the end, the event was a huge sucess providing a ton of fun for the riders and giving the sport another positive mark for the future of kiteboarding. Many thanks to all the ii09 sponsors:

Whale Harbor Marina
Liquid Force
Naish
Eclipse
Ronix
Flexifoil
GK
Jimmy Lewis
Lightwave
Liquid Malitia
Dakine
DC
Billabong
Von Zipper
Truth
Spy
Vans
Hog Heaven
Braza Lena
Wahoos
Brought to you by Seven Kiteboarding. The whole Seven Kiteboarding team, ii09 volunteers and crew at Whale Harbor want to thank everyone involved for their continued support! See you in 2010! Ride on.