FIRST LOOK - II09 Saturday & Sunday

[ricki]

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]

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