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PAUL LANG WRITING PORTFOLIO Published Writing and Photography Samples http://paullangphotography.com [email protected] 805.242.1218

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Page 1: Paul Lang Published Writing Samples

PAUL LANGWRITING PORTFOLIO

Published Writing and Photography Samples

http://[email protected]

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CONTENTS

Click the tiles to read the stories.

Paul Langhttp://[email protected]

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All words and principal photography by Paul Lang.

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Joe Ruscito kiteloops in the Sacramento River.

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During the summer, the city of San Francisco remains notoriously cool and shrouded in fog while less than 100 miles away Sacramento routinely reaches temperatures of more than 100° F. This large temperature difference between the two cities, commonly more than 30° during the daytime, creates a large pressure gradient as the hot air in the Sacramento Valley rises and draws the cool Pacific Ocean air through the Golden Gate and over the part of California simply known as the Delta. Roughly midway between the two cities lies Sherman Island, located at the point where the two great rivers of California, the Sacramento and the San Joaquin, join together as they march onward towards the ocean.

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As the cool air is pulled inland from San Francisco, it’s channeled directly over Sherman Island by Mount Diablo on one side and the Montezuma Hills on the other. The temperature difference between the Bay Area and the hot inland valleys creates nearly ideal wind conditions for windsurfers and kiteboarders, routinely blowing from sunrise until after sunset and sometimes even all night long. During the summertime, there is probably no location in North America that features more dependable wind. “When I came out here for the first time from the East Coast, I couldn’t even believe this place existed,” said Nate Lincoln from Edge Kiteboarding. “It was so under the radar and people didn’t know about it. The reality of this place is that it’s the windiest spot in North America. For the months of June, July, and August there isn’t any other place where you can just go and sit in that one place and ride every day. It’s just phenomenal here.”

The unique geographical features of Sherman Island make it an ideal location to receive a lot of wind, but there is a lot more to know about it other than the fact that it’s a windy place. Sherman Island is not just a kiteboarding spot, but is home to a very strong and passionate kiteboarding community. It has a unique history and is not a spot where all kiteboarders can ride as the launch sites are small, crowded, and full of obstacles. I had been to Sherman Island a few times before heading up there for this story, but I had only shown up and ridden for the day. As I was to discover, the Sherman Island experience is completely different when you stay on the island for days at a time.

A seemingly contradictory aspect of Sherman Island is that it is both easy to access and remote at the same time. About an hour’s drive from either San Francisco or Sacramento, this spot does not take a lot of effort to get to, but once you are on the island, it’s difficult to imagine that large metropolitan areas are anywhere nearby. The nearest towns are Rio Vista, a small riverfront town, and Antioch, a larger town across the San Joaquin River. Rio Vista’s most infamous attraction is Foster’s Bighorn Bar, the walls of which are covered with an extraordinary number of rare and unique mounted animal heads, including an elephant. Legend has it that when the elephant’s head was originally mounted on the wall, it was so heavy that it pulled the entire wall down.

There are no hotels within about a 20 minute drive of the main launch sites, which means that there are basically two kinds of people that ride at Sherman: Those who come for the day and then leave, and those who bring supplies for a number of days and sleep in cars, tents, or trailers. I arrived at Sherman Island midweek with plans to stay through the weekend. I pulled into Sherman Island County Park, paid the $5 day use fee, and noticed a lack of both people and wind. The park is operated by the County of Sacramento and offers both day use parking and overnight camping for up to 14 consecutive nights. The camping fee here is a completely reasonable $7.50 per night on top of the $5 day use fee. The park is the main kiteboarding spot on Sherman Island and is one of only two launch sites here; the other one is Little Baja on the levee road. The camp hosts are the well-known and well-loved Indian Bob and his wife Mina, who will quickly find you and give you a friendly reminder to pay your fee in case you thought you could get away with staying below the radar.

While many people have heard of the incredible summertime winds here at Sherman Island, fewer people know that the main kite launching site is far from ideal for kiteboarding. The main launch site is a relatively small grassy area within the park with a metal shade structure and parking area directly downwind of the launch. Midweek, there is plenty of room at this spot, but the weekend crowd can cause the launch to become overcrowded and hectic. It’s no secret that there have been a number of kiteboarding accidents here that have led to riders being taken away in ambulances and helicopters and most have occurred when launching kites. The metal shade pavilion has a permanent mark to remind riders what can happen when things go wrong as there is a dent on the inside of the roof from a rider’s helmet when that rider was launched into the structure. You can even still tell that his helmet was red by the scuff marks.

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This small beach is the main launch site on Sherman Island.

Jeff Kafka’s midnight session.

Little Baja is the only site outside of the park where you can launch.

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www.kitenaked.com

Blade � Shinn � Wainman Hawaii

California � Hawaii � Toronto

This path leads to the beach from the launching and landing area.

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During busy days, inflated kites must be kept stacked and lines should only be laid out when you are ready to launch. Most people launch their kite in the grassy area and then walk down the designated entry path to the small beach. On the beach there is room to launch and land one kite at a time, so some riders set up here to avoid walking down the path while flying a kite. The beach is small, full of sticks and logs, and the wind is straight onshore. There are tule reeds and blackberry bushes surrounding the launch, and there is little room for error. While it is possible to walk into the water and ride away, the safest thing to do is to first body drag away from the beach before putting your board on. Sandy Parker, owner of the Kitopia kite school, gave up on riding away from the beach years ago after an incident put her in the middle of the bushes. “I dove my kite and didn’t quite make it past a group of sticks that stuck out,” said Sandy. “I was launched into the middle of the blackberry

bushes and had to fight my way out. I came out covered in red from both the blood and the berry juice and my wetsuit looked like someone had taken a cheese grater to it. After that, I gave up on trying to look cool and now body drag away from the beach before starting.”

When you come in off the water, there is a separate path to take you back to the grassy area and the small amount of space means

you should quickly get your kite down, wrap up your lines, and stack your kite out of the way when you are done with your session. A busy day can see upwards of 70 kites on the water, so it’s really important that people follow these basic guidelines for launching and landing. Since the wind was light when I arrived, I decided to spend some time digging up the history of kiteboarding on Sherman Island.

Bruce Sheldon, owner of Sheldon Kiteboarding, is widely acknowledged as the first kiteboarder here. Located on the waterfront in Rio Vista, the Sheldon Kiteboarding shop is housed in a building more than a century old that was once a Chinese food restaurant. The business is part kiteboarding shop, part repair shop, and part windsports museum. Among the treasures hiding here are a teak windsurfing boom, a windsurf hydrofoil, and a mint condition Kiteski ski and reel bar. Before kiteboarding took over as the main sport at Sherman, the shop was known as Sheldon Sails, and Bruce made custom windsurfing sails on site. At one point, one of his sails held the world windsurfing speed record.

BRUCE OR IG INALLY STARTED K I TEBOARD ING IN THE PARK , BUT MANY OF H IS W INDSURF ING FR I ENDS QU ICKLY TURNED ON H IM , D IDN ’ T WANT ANYTH ING TO DO W ITH H IM ANYMORE , AND D IDN ’ T WANT TH IS W I LDLY DANGEROUS LOOK ING SPORT NEAR THEM . ”

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Brian Smith on an old board that was found buried in the tules.

Hitchhiking was a very normal way to get back upwind in the early days. Photo courtesy Sheldon Kiteboarding

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Before heading to La Ventana for the winter, Sheldon ordered a box of gear from Wipika, the only manufacturer of inflatable kites at the time. “I was on my way out of town when the box showed up,” said Sheldon. “I didn’t even open the box. I just threw it in the van and headed south.” Bruce stumbled through the basics of learning to fly the 5m two-line kite on 40m lines south of the border and returned to Sherman Island ready to kiteboard in 1998. Bruce originally started kiteboarding in the park, but many of his windsurfing friends quickly turned on him, didn’t want anything to do with him anymore, and didn’t want this wildly dangerous looking sport near them. As a result, Bruce would launch his kite at the entrance to the park while standing in the road. “We would stop traffic and I would stand in the road that goes to the marina,” said Bruce. “These were two line kites with no depower, so it took one person to launch the kite and another to hold me down so I could walk across the road and down the rocks to get in the water. When I didn’t have two people around, I would park my truck in the bushes next to the road, pull the seatbelt out, and close the door. Then I would put the seatbelt around myself and launch the kite. I’d usually be picked up a little and get slammed into the side of the truck, but then the guy who launched the kite would run over, get me out of the seatbelt, and walk me to the water.”

Not wanting to be the only kiteboarder on the island, Bruce started slowly getting his remaining windsurfing friends into kiteboarding. Among the first to join Bruce on the water were Sherman Island regulars Carl Millman and Alex Hall. It wasn’t long before more windsurfers became curious enough to try kiteboarding, so Sheldon began giving lessons. “The windsurfers called it ‘going over to the dark side,’” said Donny Parker, who had been windsurfing at Sherman since the mid 1990s. “It was not received well at all by most of the windsurfers and they didn’t want us around.”

The slowly-growing band of kiteboarders still launched at the gate of the park, a site known as the Access. After scrambling across the road and down the rocks that make up the levee, these early riders would often end up far downwind and have to self-rescue back to the rocks and either walk back or hitchhike along the levee road. The number of kiteboarders was still very small, but stopping traffic and blocking the road every time a kite was launched turned out to not be the best way to make friends. Fences that were in the way

at the launch site conveniently disappeared. Later a confrontation between a kiteboarder and a car led to a rock thrown at the car and ended with a call to the sheriff. “After that incident an ordinance was passed that said you couldn’t cross the road with a kite,” said Donny. “That ended us being able to launch at the Access and made it so that the only spots we could launch were either in the park or at Little Baja.”

The launch known as Little Baja became a popular kiteboarding launch site after the ordinance was passed simply because of a quirk with the levee road. Little Baja is the only spot along the levee where the road drops off the levee and moves slightly inland for a short distance. This makes it the only place where you can launch along the levee and get in the water without having to cross the road. Some of the early kiteboarders, including Shledon, made Little Baja their main launch while others moved into the park and began kiteboarding there.

As kiteboarding’s popularity grew on Sherman Island, both Sandy Parker and Nate Lincoln decided to start their own kiteboarding schools. Kitopia was founded in 2002 followed by Edge Kiteboarding in 2003. While they both operate out of the county park, they actually conduct their lessons a few miles upwind at Upper Sherman Island (also known as Kitopia Island), a spot only accessible by boat. “We knew about Upper Sherman as windsurfers,” said Donny Parker, Sandy’s brother who teaches kiteboarding at Kitopia as well. “We would say we were riding up to the tree house, because there used to be a tree house there that eventually burned down.” While

Launching on Sherman Island used to involve walking across rocks while attached to a kite with no depower.

Photo courtesy Sheldon Kiteboarding

Spencer Lujan cruises through the parking lot with a trainer kite.

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Eric Rienstra makes good use of the river swell. Photo Jamy Donaldson

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the launches on Sherman Island can be crowded and full of obstacles, Upper Sherman is wide open and offers a sandy sideshore launch. Both schools offer lessons at Upper Sherman away from the crowds and also offer boat rides for downwinders to beginner and intermediate riders who might not feel confident about launching at either the park or Little Baja.

At the height of windsurfing, Sherman Island was an incredibly popular place to ride. “One fourth of July weekend, a friend and I counted over 500 windsurfers spread out on the river between the county park and Rio Vista,” said Sheldon. Early on, windsurfers would simply park along the levee road and carry their gear down the rocks to get in the water. Over the years, things became more organized and the Rio Vista Windsurfing Association (RVWA) was formed. After crossing the road with a kite was banned, kiteboarders came together and created the Sherman Island Kiteboarding Organization (SIKO) and eventually the two organizations merged. RVWA/SIKO is responsible for maintaining the windsurfing and kiteboarding launches outside of the park, which includes Little Baja. They keep the spots clean and accessible, provide porta potties, and lease the land from the Department of Water Resources. Any rider who launches at Little Baja should consider joining to help keep this spot open, and memberships are only $20 per year. The land surrounding the park and RVWA sites is private land that is mainly used for cattle ranching. Longtime rancher Richard Silva leases much of the island for his cattle and is often seen watching the kiteboarders and windsurfers. He introduces himself to a lot of people as cattle rustling is apparently still a problem and he likes more people around to help keep an eye on things.

After wrapping up my history lessons on Sherman Island, I picked up some groceries in Rio Vista and ended up back at the park shortly before sunset to find that the wind had picked up dramatically. From this point on, the wind would continue to blow until after I left. Typically, the windiest times here are early morning and late evening. The middle of the day is usually a little lighter, but is

Sandy Parker scores a beautiful sunset session. Before you decide to travel to Sherman, it’s important to know this is what the main kite beach looks like.

Slawek Krauze grabs over the tules at Second Island.

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often still ridable on a 12m or smaller kite. Really windy days can deliver solid 7-9m weather 24 hours a day with no mid-day lull. “We call it a working man’s wind,” said Nate Lincoln. “You can get in two great sessions a day here, one in the morning and one in the evening and still fit an eight hour work day in the middle.” After a sunset session, I cooked a quick dinner and went to bed. When I woke up in the morning shortly after sunrise, I looked out the window of the trailer and saw people already out riding.

One of the key elements of riding at Sherman Island is learning to pace yourself. It’s tempting to want to rush out on the water, but you’ll just wear yourself out in a hurry if you do that every time the wind is up. Once you’ve resigned yourself to staying on the island for more than a day, it’s important to slow down. You can easily ride four to five times a day here and still have plenty of time to hang out. Best Kiteboarding’s Joe Ruscito happened to be in San Francisco getting ready to ride a bike across the country, so he came out to Sherman for the first time to ride and get a few photos. We took off from the beach lit on 9 and 10m kites and quickly worked our way upwind to Second Island, which is a small island covered with tall plants and surrounded by tules. As soon as Joe saw the glassy water behind the island, he went nuts and yelled, “This spot it sick!” Back on the beach he said, “It was super windy and my smallest kite was a 10m. There are some nice rollers out there, but the flat water spot behind the island is pretty epic. You come into this slick about 300 feet long and there is some nice lift there. It’s really fun for kiteloops or anything you want to do. Everyone riding up there was stoked and cheering each other on, which is something you miss at some places now.”

Spending plenty of time on Sherman Island allowed me to really get to know the kiteboarding community here, which is one of the strongest kiteboarding communities I’ve ever experienced. For riders who only come to ride for the day, it can be hard to understand what really goes on here. “People are more than happy to help you here,” said Slawek ‘Suave’ Krauze, who has spent the last four summers on Sherman Island and is currently running the Live2Kite Sherman

Island trailer. “You can’t be all closed up and full of ego here. You’ll make more friends here being nice than you can imagine. Bring a brewski and just stay a little longer to experience the place because it’s worth it. The party doesn’t start until the gate closes, and people don’t know that.” The gate Suave is referring to is the gate to the county park, which gets locked at 9 pm. “This place has turned into a community,” said Nate Lincoln. “It’s not just kiters coming here and being individuals, it’s kiters coming out here and being part of a sport and part of a community. That feeling is an amazing thing that makes the Delta unlike any place I’ve ever kited. It makes people who come here for the first time want to come back and join the community, and that is really what makes the Delta special.” Chris Gatewood, owner of Kite Naked in nearby Benicia, can be found riding at Sherman most weekends. “Every time I drive up the levee, I get these excited butterflies in my stomach,” said Chris. “It’s kind of like the anticipation of a big roller coaster at an amusement park. You could say Sherman is a wind powered amusement park with the occasional freak show in the parking lot at night. I wonder if they lock the gate at night to keep us in?”

By Friday evening, more vehicles and trailers were streaming into the park to get ready for the weekend. While the wind forecast looked dismal for the rest of the Bay Area, the wind was cranking at Sherman, so this was gearing up to be a busy

YOU COULD SAY SHERMAN IS A W IND POWERED AMUSEMENT PARK W ITH THE OCCAS IONAL FREAK SHOW IN THE PARK ING LOT AT N IGHT . I WONDER I F THEY LOCK THE GATE AT N IGHT TO KEEP US IN? ”

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FOR MORE INFO:

RVWA: www.rvwa.comSIKO: Search for the S.I.K.O. Group on FacebookRio Vista Info: www.riovista.org

KITEBOARDING LESSONS:

Sheldon Kiteboarding: www.sheldonkiteboarding.comEdge Kiteboarding: www.edgekiteboarding.comKitopia: www.kitopia.biz

should always have a plan B and a plan C when you come to Sherman.”

On Saturday, the wind never let up as it often does in the middle of the day and it continued to blow long after the sun went down. As Suave said, the party doesn’t start until the gate closes, and shortly after sunset the barbeque was going and resident kiteboarder and DJ Guacamole DeeJay was spinning. A keg was tapped and the party went on late into the night. Sometime around midnight, the wind was still up, so Jeff Kafka launched his kite in the parking lot and rode in the flat water next to the boat ramp with a large crowd of kiteboarders in various states of soberness cheering him on. The moon wasn’t out, so at times we could only see a vague shape flying around in the darkness. More than an hour later, my night was brought to an end by an impromptu limbo contest. Midway through seeing how low I could go, I felt a pop in my right knee and fell to the ground. I got up, limped around for a few minutes, and decided it was time for bed.

The next morning, I woke up feeling fine, but realized quickly that something was not right with my knee. As soon as I started moving around, my knee swelled up and the pain increased. My first reaction was denial. There was no way I had been kiteboarding for four days only to injure myself on the limbo. I made my way to Maui Mike’s trailer and soon had a small crowd around me asking if there was anything they could do. Phone calls were made and Walt, a kiteboarder who is also a doctor, was lined up to take a look at my knee when he arrived at Sherman to kiteboard. His guess (which was confirmed later by an MRI) was that I tore my MCL.

Yes, I tore a ligament doing the limbo. As far as I can tell, this is the first kiteboarding-related limbo injury in the world. Since I couldn’t drive, arrangements were made to store my truck and get me part of the way towards Santa Barbara for my wife to pick me up. Over the past few days, I had realized how friendly and tight-knit the Sherman kiteboarding community was, but the care I received after injuring myself showed me just how caring and supportive the kiteboarders here are. My gear and I were loaded into the car and the wind was still blowing as we pulled out of the parking lot. It hadn’t let up for more than 72 hours.

FOR A QUICK VIDEO

ABOUT THE SHERMAN

ISLAND EXPERIENCE,

GO TO www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKA9Viw-Pj4 or SCAN the code with your smart phone.

weekend. Also, a barbeque and party were being planned for Saturday night for Suave’s and Yuri’s (another Sherman regular) birthdays. Among kiteboarders in California, the Sherman Island barbeques have taken on an almost legendary status. The man usually behind these meals is Maui Mike, whose name has almost become synonymous with Sherman. “Maui Mike has been the biggest host of the island,” said Suave. “He’s the best guy I’ve ever met here. There’s just no word for him. If he asks us to do something, we’ve got his back. He just needs to say the word because he’s such a giver. I think sometimes people take advantage of that and just assume that the parties and barbeques just happen here, but there’s a lot of work that goes into them.”

By mid day on Saturday, the parking lot in the park was nearly full and the launch site became amazingly hectic. The wind had been blowing strong for days and most riders were on 7-9m kites. As the launch site became more crowded, tensions were raised a little and there were a few confrontations. So many kites launch and land from such a small area that one person leaving their lines out or standing still with their kite in the air can affect a lot of other riders. “Everyone’s concerned about safety here, but different people have different ways of voicing it,” said Maui Mike. “People’s feelings can get ruffled and some of them walk away with a bad first impression, but there have been some bad kiting accidents here, and we’re just concerned. We’re trying to keep accidents at an all-time low. The launch is pretty difficult, and everything is structured here. Simply walking down the wrong trail can really mess up the program on a busy day. The best thing to do is to talk to the locals. We also have really strong ebbs and floods here, and if you don’t know what the current is doing you could find yourself washed downwind. You

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36 THEKITEBOARDER.COM

Billy Floyd lost his legs in a hang gliding accident less than three years ago, but he is back doing the things he loved with just as much passion as he had before his accident. Photo Paul Lang

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UNSTOPPABLE

THEKITEBOARDER.COM 37

What makes Billy Floyd different from the rest of us is the extra step that he has to do before every session. After he finishes pumping up his kite, Billy has to sit down in his van and strap on two carbon fiber and aluminum prosthetic legs before he can get out on the water.

I first met Billy Floyd through email. He would occasionally send me photos and entertaining descriptions of his last kiteboarding session. “We’ve had mostly storm fronts now with erratic winds. I did get lucky a week ago with really nice 20-22 all day. I landed my first front roll but when I went to power up the kite to ride away, it wasn’t where I envisioned it, and this really sick feeling hit my gut a moment before I got launched!”

Shortly before I traveled out to Lake Mohave on the Nevada/Arizona border to meet him in person, I got a message from him that his leg had come off during a back roll, sank, and was now resting at the bottom of the lake. “I’m the legless white-haired guy that used to be able to walk until yesterday! Mohave blew 18-25 all day and I was having the best day of my life ever until I crashed and lost my right leg to the bottom of the lake. The back roll was finished and all my buddies are standing on the beach yelling so I decided to show off and toss a kite loop just as the board was about to touch down. Then I got launched! It was an expensive day, but the best day of kiting I’ve ever had, all four hours of it.” Fortunately, Billy had a friend with some scuba gear who went out to Mohave to look for his leg. A few days later, I got another email from Billy that contained a photo of four guys proudly holding his missing leg on the beach like it was a prize-winning fish.

Formerly in Army Intelligence, Billy Floyd moved to San Diego to attend Mesa College in 1976 once he got out of the Army. A chance visit to the seaside hang gliding port of Torrey Pines turned out to be a life-changing experience. “So I go out to Torrey Pines, and I see this guy doing wingovers, like he’s just bouncing off a cushion of air. Oh my God, you can do that? I was hooked right there! I’ve got to do that!” Before long, Billy was giving tandem hang gliding rides over the beach at $20 a pop to pay the bills.

“I could do four to five an hour, so for three hours of tandem rides I could bring home a pretty good day’s pay.” In 1985, he had his first accident. “You are talking to a guy who died. I was up about 450’ above Torrey Pines, not doing any aerobatics, just minding my own business, and a side wire breaks. It turned out the wire was twisted and running

over a sharp edge. When I was checking the glider before I took off, the guy who owned it said, ‘Hey I just landed the thing, it’s fine,’ so I didn’t do my pre-check. Then, the girl that usually packs my parachute walked by and said, ‘Now Billy, I haven’t packed your chute in a year, it’s time.’ I pulled off my parachute and handed it to her, so now I don’t have a parachute and I’m on a glider that’s going to break in 15 minutes. When the side wire snapped, the wings folded in half and I plummeted. I remember hitting the ground and I stood up; I just had so much adrenaline going. I went, ‘Oh, this isn’t good,’ and I lay back down and then I remember kind of like phasing right out of my own body. Luckily, I was CPR’d back so I didn’t have to meet the maker. It wasn’t fun at all.”

By Paul Lang

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feet first. On the ground, I turned around behind me and saw this mess of blood and bones. I looked down at my legs and everything below the knees was just exploded. The first thought that went through my head was, ‘Now I know what the gazelle feels like when he’s being eaten by a lion.’ You know what he feels? Nothing. It was better than the morphine they gave me at the hospital. In my first accident I let go and drifted away from my body and they had to CPR me back, but this time I was like, ‘There’s no way I’m letting go. I’m staying right here.’ When the helicopter showed up and shot me full of morphine, that’s when I let go. Twelve thousand dollars for a helicopter ride and I don’t even remember being loaded in it.”

In the hospital, even before his legs were amputated, Billy already knew that he would be back on the water and back in the air. “They were setting me up for the surgery, and I was already thinking about how I could get back onto the board. I had put drywall up before using stilts, and I just thought walking around on prosthetics can’t be much different than that. Another thing that helped me a lot is that when I was in high school, the place kicker on the football team had no legs, and man could he kick that ball. I just had an idea that if I set my mind to it, it could be done.” His friends who visited him in the hospital were amazed at how upbeat he was given the circumstances. “When I visited him in the hospital two days after his accident he was upbeat, joking, and already planning new adventures, pondering how he would be able to kite and hang glide again. He was totally upbeat and optimistic. I would have been devastated,” said Mark Barry, a Lake Mohave kiter.

Even though he knew he would be kiting again, Billy gave his kiteboarding gear away to Scott Kurth so that he and his son could learn to kiteboard together on the equipment he wouldn’t be able to use for awhile. “Towards the end of my first conversation with Billy after the accident, he started going off about this kiteboarding thing and how much fun he was having with it,” said Scott. “I mentioned that I had been eyeing it but did not want to abandon my family for a new wind activity as I have trouble with self control when hooked by a new sport. He offered his kite gear to me and explained that kiting was something I could do with my eight-year-old son. It didn’t take any more convincing. Billy sealed the deal by sending me his 13m and I picked up a 6m for my son.

A few months later we were on the water together.” After the accident, Billy spent a year in a wheelchair, and was so determined that he would be kiteboarding again that he bought another set of kiteboarding gear before he had his first prosthetic legs. “I knew for sure that I would be kiteboarding again. I didn’t have a single doubt in my mind,

After he recovered, Billy kept on hang gliding and giving rides at Torrey Pines until the FAA changed the rules about tandem rides. “The FAA came in and said no more tandem rides. They had to be lessons, and I didn’t want to give lessons, because then you have to be an instructor.” This change in rules led to a series of hang gliding trips to Canada with his good friend Scott Kurth. “I went up to British Colombia and started barnstorming around all of these really cool mountains up there. For five straight years in a row, I would make enough money in two months to pay rent for the entire year.” Scott first met Billy at Torrey Pines and was immediately blown away by the type of flying he did. “He showed up one day and turned my whole view of flying hang gliders upside down. What he did is what I would call freestyle flying. He was doing these amazing sliding landings, wing-tip dragging turns, and other moves I didn’t realize were possible,” said Scott. “I latched onto him immediately and he turned out be an outstanding tutor and buddy. It wasn’t long before we were both doing sliders, touch-and-go’s all over the cliff, and swooping down onto the golf course to pluck golf balls off the fairway and drop them on the green. Bill also educated me in the art of selling rides. We would find a pullout on a mountain road that was launchable and set up the tandem gliders. When curious onlookers stopped he would go into the sales pitch and base the price on the car they drove or clothes they wore. We supported ourselves on more than a few trips to Canada by selling rides that way.”

A little more than four years ago, Billy learned to kiteboard while continuing his hang gliding, and was ranked fourth in the world in hang gliding acrobatics. About two and a half years ago, Billy had his second hang gliding accident. “Overconfidence got me. I was towing up in a hang glider, and I had no concept of the rules of towing. I just had this totally immortal attitude that I couldn’t die. I forgot to hook into the glider. Had the tow bridle been an under bridle, I could have let go and would have just been dragged by the tow truck for a bit. Because it was an over-under bridle, the over part kept me stuck to the glider, and I was going up no matter what. Then I went for my parachute, because this time I had one. So I’m hanging on underneath the glider, and I let go with one hand and grab my parachute handle. The problem was that the bridle that hooked me to the tow line went right over the parachute handle, so I couldn’t grab it. Now the glider is starting to lock out, and I knew that if that happened I was dead for sure. So I reached up and popped the release on the tow line and I just couldn’t hang on. There was so much energy built up that the glider shot up as soon as I released. The bar got ripped right out of my hands and I fell right into the ground,

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Billy Floyd takes off for the first time since his accident. Photo Allen Sparks

Just three weeks after he got his prosthetic legs, Billy went rock climbing for the first time in his life. Photo Scott Kurth

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Because he can’t feel the board underneath him, Billy has to constantly glance down at the board to visually check if he is holding it in the correct position. Photo Paul Lang

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Billy walks out his lines at Lake Mohave. Photo Paul Lang

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so I bought a kite. Some people were telling me I should get one of those Peter Lynn catamaran things and do it in that, but I thought no, I’m going to kiteboard. I just need to learn the new tricks.”

Three weeks after getting his prosthetic legs, Scott invited Billy to join his family in Joshua Tree for the weekend. “I hadn’t really figured out how to use my legs yet, and since I had spent a year in a wheelchair, my knees were kind of weak.” Billy watched Scott’s six-year-old daughter tie into a rope and climb an 80’ vertical rock wall. When she got back down, she walked over to Billy and said, “Well Uncle Billy, I think it’s your turn.” Billy had never gone rock climbing before and was still using crutches with his new prosthetic legs. “I guess it was my Italian ego. I can’t get challenged by a six-year-old girl and not at least accept. Scott said, ‘Maybe you can just go ten feet. You’ll be doing something if you go ten feet.’ So, they put climbing shoes on my prosthetics, and I went up ten feet. Then I did ten more, then another ten, all the way up to the top.”

To get back into kiteboarding, Billy first started off by doing body drags again. “Ramona Nelson, another Lake Mohave kiter, helped me out a lot. She would launch the kite for me, and then bring it over and transfer it to my harness. Then I would do body drags back and forth at Boulder Beach. I did that for awhile. Then one day she grabbed my board, chucked it out to me, and said, ‘Billy, I’m pretty sure you can do this.’” Once Billy figured out the technical challenges of riding on prosthetics, he was up and going. “If I stand duck-footed, which is how most people ride, my feet don’t stay flat when I bend my knees. I actually have a pigeon toe stance to keep my feet flat on the board, which is a little awkward, but it works. It’s a good thing that I learned to ride before I lost my legs, because I think it would have been too hard to learn with no legs. Now that I’ve done it and I’ve figured it out, I could take someone who has prosthetic legs and teach them how to kiteboard.”

Most kiteboarders take for granted how much feedback they get from feeling the board under their feet. Billy doesn’t take that for granted, because he can’t feel what the board is doing. “With me it’s not by feel at all. As much as you look in your rearview mirror to see what the traffic is doing around you, that’s how much I have to look at the wake coming off my fins. Then I

have to check the angle of the board to make sure the nose isn’t up too high. Then I’ll back off a bit and bring the board slightly more upright and then edge back to where I was, paying attention to whether I pick up speed or loose speed. I have absolutely no feeling whatsoever below my knees, so I have to visually look at the board to see what is going on.” Billy is part of a small group of Las Vegas kiteboarders that ride at Lake Mohave, which is located in the middle of the desert about an hour from Las Vegas. Another member of the local kite crew, Craig Lumpp, met Billy when the two went land sailing together. “Last fall, I suffered a fairly significant knee injury from kiteboarding and was sidelined from the water for a couple months. A mutual kiter friend let Bill know that I was out of commission, and after some email correspondence we made plans to do some land sailing. Bill reminded me to make sure to ‘Remember to bring cold beer.’ This was the first time I had hung out with Bill. Here was this boisterous, completely wired, seemingly crazy 56-year-old legless guy who loves wind, flying, and

adrenaline. It was really quite a funny thought - two adrenaline junkies, one with no legs, another with a busted knee who where out to get their wind fix by land sailing. Needless to say, we’ve been friends ever since and

spend plenty of time chasing wind, catching epic sessions, and drinking some cold beer.” Earlier this year, Billy decided to get back on the horse that threw him off and get back into the air on a hang glider. His attitude towards jumping off the side of a mountain again should be an inspiration to the rest of us when we have to tackle something in our lives that makes us nervous. “I was standing with one of the best pilots in the world right next to me. I turned around and said, ‘I used to do loops on a hang glider. I was a world-class aerobatic pilot. Now, I’m going to do a sled ride on a beginner glider.’ Then I rolled my hands over and showed him the sweat dripping off my palms. He said, ‘Bill, you have every right to be a little nervous, but you’re Billy Floyd. Once you get in the air, everything will be fine.’ As soon as I got in the air, everything was like I was flying just yesterday. It’s weird, you can get these feelings of anticipation, but once you’ve actually made the leap, it’s too late now. You need to deal with your environment, not your emotions. I had made that decision before I jumped. OK, I am nervous, but as soon as I am in the air and I have to do this, I will. In the air, it was like someone flipped a switch, and I felt like I had been flying my whole life.”

Out on the water, Billy is all smiles. Photo Paul Lang

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THE STARTWithout a doubt, the most exciting time in a kiteboarding race for both competitors and spectators is the start. As kites and bodies jockey for position, contact between kites is common. When the gun goes off, riders accelerate and spread out to chase each other around the course, riding boards that have evolved to look more like windsurf boards than kiteboards. Photo Paul Lang

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Made up of more than 80 different islands, the kiteboarding potential of Vanuatu has only begun to be explored.

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VanuatuKiteboarding in the HAPPIEST Place on Earth

WORDS and PHOTOS by Paul Lang

Vanuatu has been called the happiest place in the world, and once you are here, it feels that way. When I was first presented with the opportunity to join the Genetrix crew for this trip, I immediately agreed to come without even knowing where on the globe Vanuatu was located. A quick look online confirmed my vague suspicion that Vanuatu is located in the Southern Pacific Ocean, about 1,000 miles northeast of Australia.

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f the 82 islands that make up Vanuatu, 65 of them are inhabited. This means that it would take you more than two months to visit every inhabited island for a day. Other than in the capitol of Port Vila on Efate and the town of Luganville on the largest island of Santo, the people of Vanuatu, who refer to themselves as Ni-Vanuatu, live in

small villages and get the food they need from the fish and pigs they catch and the fruits and vegetables they grow. The Ni-Vanuatu are very happy people who are quick to smile, laugh, and cheer. Most who live outside of town don’t need to have regular jobs in the sense that we think of them in the western world. A few hours a day have to be spent getting food and taking care of other things in the villages, but as one local put it, “I’m the boss of time. Time not the boss of me.” On this trip we would be visiting just two islands, Efate and the nearby small private island of Kakula, and so would only be taking a small peak at the potential this country has to offer. As I waited for the red-eye flight to Fiji to leave Los Angeles, Genetrix’s US distributor Gerard Bourgeois joined me in the terminal. Gerard was born in Vanuatu and lived there until he was 18. The plan was for us to meet up with his brother Thierry, who currently lives in Vanuatu, and another local kiter Victor Korikalo for a few days of kiteboarding before Julien Sudrat and Marco Martin joined us for more exploring and riding. After a long flight that left me confused for days about what day it was (we took off on a Sunday and landed on a Tuesday), I discovered that my luggage had been lost somewhere along the way. After being greeted to the island by Thierry and Victor, I filled out the missing luggage form and we dropped off our gear at Thierry’s house before going out to explore Port Vila. I was immediately surprised at just how small the town is. Even though Port Vila is the capitol of Vanuatu, its population is only about 40,000 people. There is one main shopping street along the water, and you can easily walk the entire length of downtown in about 15 minutes. The streets are full of small vans of varying shape and color, which are private taxis. Wave one down and they’ll take you anywhere in town you would like to go for 150 Vatu, about $1.50 USD.

The official language in Vanuatu is Bislama, a Pidgin English language, but English and French are also widely spoken. Actually, there are more than 110 different languages spoken in Vanuatu, as many villages have developed their own independent languages over the centuries. At first glance, a sign written in Bislama doesn’t make any sense to an English speaker, but if you phonetically say the words out loud it starts to come together. “Tabu blong fishing long ples ia” means Fishing is taboo here, it is forbidden. Because so many different languages are spoken in Vanuatu, Bislama is a second language for most and is how people from different islands and villages communicate with each other. After a relaxing afternoon and evening, Gerard and I went to bed early to try to get adjusted to the time zone change (six hours behind, but a day ahead of California) so we would be ready to head out to Kakula the next morning. After loading up the trucks and hooking up the Sea Doos, we were on the road north out of town. Once you leave town, it’s like you just stepped back in time to 10, 20, or even 30 years ago. Other than the few cars on the road and the random Digicel sign advertising cell phones, there is very little that can be found to clue you in to what year it is. The ring road around the island was only recently paved, and actually isn’t completely finished yet. Forty five minutes after leaving Port Vila, we were at a wharf where small outboard boats wait to transport people to the different nearby islands. We loaded up two small boats with SUP boards, kiteboarding gear, photo equipment, and fuel, launched the two Sea Doos, and headed across the small channel to Kakula. Five minutes later we were standing on a pristine white sand beach looking out at 15-20 knots of wind blowing across the crystal clear electric blue water. Kakula is a 90-acre private island located just a five minute boat ride from the north side of Efate. In fact, you can even walk all the way to Kakula at low tide on what the locals refer to as a Kakula Road, a wandering white path across the reef that is no more than thigh deep at low tide. Kakula was once owned by an American who convinced people to invest to create an extremely exclusive high-end resort. Construction was started on a huge and elaborate tree house and a large beach bungalow, which was to be the first of five. The

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After traveling for more than 40 hours, Marco gets his first real glimpse of Vanuatu.

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tree house and the bungalow stand today unfinished, the American developer is in jail for embezzling his investors’ money, and Kakula is currently for sale to help those investors recoup at least some of their lost money. There is also a small five-room resort on the island with power supplied by a generator, great food, and even an internet connection. We might have been staying on a small island, but by no means would we be roughing it. As soon as the boats were unloaded, we pumped up a few kites and hit the water. The water surrounding Kakula is the clearest water that I’ve ever ridden on—it was incredible to watch the reef fly by underneath my board and watch the fish dart away as my shadow passed over the bottom of the ocean. After playing around the sandbar at the end of Kakula, we rode upwind to the next island, Pele, just to explore the area. Along the way, we passed two fishermen in dugout outrigger canoes that yelled and threw their arms up in the air every time one of us jumped or even just rode by. At Pele, there was a group of kids gathered at the edge of the shore watching us and cheering us on as we rode in and out of the messy surf along the upwind side of the island. After leaving Pele, while riding back to Kakula, Victor and I stopped for a minute to talk. Not paying enough attention to our kites, my kite flew through his lines and our kites crashed. Here we were, the only two kites anywhere near each other, and we were tangled. After a few scratches from the coral, which was only covered by knee-deep water at that particular spot, we sorted ourselves out and headed back to the beach for lunch. After landing our kites, Fabiana, Kakula’s Italian cook, called us over to a beachside table for lunch. We sat down for a great meal of fresh fish and salad, finished with a huge piece of chocolate cake, and then we got up, walked 100 feet down the beach, and were back on the water. At the end of the second session of the day, we deflated our kites and left our gear right there on the grass next to the beach. There’s no need to put your stuff away when you know every single person on the island with you. Back at the resort we had a fantastic dinner and then made plans to ride before breakfast the next day, as the wind is usually best first thing in the morning. The next day proved to be clear and

The water surrounding Kakula is the clearest water that I’ve ever ridden on——it was incredible to watch the reef fly by underneath my board and watch the fish dart away as my shadow passed over the bottom of the ocean.

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Victor Korikalo grabs over the Kakula sandbar.

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Marco rotates above the crystal clear shallow water.

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windy as soon as the sun was up, so we were on the beach shortly after 7:00 a.m. for our first session. After a quick one-hour session we were back at the resort for breakfast, and then back on the water for another session. We stayed on the water until lunchtime, when the tide got too low for us to ride anymore. Around Kakula, the water is shallow, and you have to pay attention to the tide when you ride. At low tide, parts of the reef are exposed and the rest of it is under two feet or less of water. The clear water makes it difficult to judge its depth, but if you want to avoid small cuts and scratches, you have to stop riding before you find yourself bouncing along the bottom after you blow a landing. We left our gear on the island and headed back to Port Vila for a day so we could pick up Marco and Julien when they arrived at the airport. Before returning to Kakula, we spent a day in downtown Port Vila wandering around the shops and exploring the town. We also visited a Nakimal, a type of bar that serves Kava. Kava is the typical after work drink in Vanuatu. Nakimals are dark quiet places where you buy your bowl of Kava and a few small snacks and then sit quietly to “listen to your kava” as the locals say, as sitting quietly is supposed to produce the strongest effect from the drink. Kava looks like watered down mud, and it doesn’t taste much better. You drink the whole bowl at once, rinse your mouth out with water, and then find a place to sit and eat your sweet potato and banana pieces. After a few bowls, I began to feel the mellowing effects of the Kava, which are very similar to being slightly stoned. We left the Nakimal to join the rest of our group for dinner thinking that the effects had worn off. The next morning, we found out that we thought we were talking normally, but apparently the Kava was still affecting us, as we were told we were talking very slowly at dinner.

he next day, we picked up Marco and Julien at the airport and also found that my missing bag, which contained my camera water housing, had been located. We headed back to Kakula for another two nights but unfortunately clouds, low tides, and intermittent rain would make getting photos more difficult than usual. Marco, who

had spent more than 40 hours traveling to Vanuatu from France, couldn’t wait to get in the water despite the low tide, but he quickly returned to the beach after his board bounced off the reef a few times. We spent the next few days riding and shooting photos when there was enough water to ride and wandered around the island and reef when there wasn’t. Even without ideal conditions,

everyone was still able to get more than enough time in the water between Fabiana’s excellent meals and desserts. After an incredible three days of riding, lounging, and eating, it was time to head back to Port Vila so I could catch my plane home the next day. My flight didn’t leave until the afternoon, so we visited a traditional village outside of Port Vila that invites visitors in to learn how most of the people on the outer islands still live. We were welcomed into the village by the chief and then learned about how villagers catch and prepare food, weave baskets, spend their free time, and about the cannibalism that used to be practiced in the islands. We had seen huge spiders in the trees during our time on Efate and Kakula, but here we were able to play with one. Because the spiders are non-poisonous, the children use them as toys. “We don’t have plastic toys here, only the real things,” said our guide. At the airport, I said my goodbyes to everyone and then got on a plane for the trip home. Because of the International Date Line, it took me two days to get to Vanuatu, but I would be arriving home at roughly the same time that my plane took off from Port Vila. While reviewing the photos on my laptop during the flight, I had to remind myself that I had only seen two out of 84 different islands. The potential for both incredible kiteboarding and cultural experiences in Vanuatu is amazing. On Tanna Island, you can drive almost to the top of an erupting volcano and peer right down into the crater. On Pentecost Island you can watch the villagers jump off a rickety platform with nothing but vines tied to their ankles while they try to get close enough to the ground to grab a handful of dirt. The opportunities are endless and the week that I had there was not nearly enough time. While I was there, it felt like time slowed down, which made returning to Southern California feel a little overwhelming. Now back in my usually busy routine, I am already looking forward to the time I can get back to Vanuatu, the happiest place on earth, where I can be the boss of time and time is not the boss of me.

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Traveling to VanuatuVanuatu is an easy place to travel to, but the lack of infrastructure makes exploring on your own without local knowledge fairly difficult. If you would more information about staying on Kakula, check out http://www.kakula-resort.com/

Because the wind was usually best in the morning, we were able to get in one session before breakfast and a second before lunch.

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FROM THE GROUND UPHow Amery Bernard Became Slingshot’s Kite Designer

SPORTING DREADLOCKS AND A GOATEE, AMERY BERNARD BLENDS IN WITH THE TYPICAL KITEBOARDERS ON THE BEACH, BUT WHEN HE LOOKS AT A KITE, HE SEES ALL THE DETAILS THE REST OF US MISS. AMERY’S PATH TO BECOMING SLINGSHOT’S KITE DESIGNER WAS NOT A TYPICAL ONE – IF THERE EVEN IS SUCH A THING IN THIS INDUSTRY. Originally hired by Slingshot as a sales rep, Amery slowly became more and more involved in the R&D process until his role evolved into doing R&D full time. “Amery puts more time in on our products than anyone,” said Tony Logosz, Slingshot’s Chief Designer. “He works all hours of the day and never complains. That’s why we nicknamed him AM-PM. He helps me look at the whole picture and focus on what’s next in the industry. I can trust him to focus on the all details of each product, do all the background work, water testing, everything. We’re all Swiss Army knives here, but Amery is really willing to contribute in any way he can.” When asked about Amery’s lack of formal training as a designer, Tony said, “What we do is closer to black magic than aerodynamics and physics. We’re similar in the fact that our education has been in the trenches. We’ve both learned from instinct and experiences on the water. He’s paid his dues for sure.”

During the 2011 La Ventana Classic and KiteXpo, we were able to sit down with Amery to talk about his evolution from sales rep to designer and his philosophy on the kite design process.

Words and Photos by Paul Lang

Amery goes big during the Big Air/Old School competition at the 2011 La Ventana Classic.

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MY FOCUS IS KITES, SO I’LL DO MOST OF THE GRUNT WORK, TAKING THEM OUT, TESTING THEM, TYING STRING, CHANGING BRIDLES, AND ALSO WORKING A LOT WITH THE FILES.

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A lot of people, especially college students, have asked me how kite designers become designers. What was the path that you took to become a designer?Yea, we probably get a request every other month for an internship from college students that just want to do something in the industry. My path was very atypical. I was hired as a sales rep to start off with. At the time, the kites were kind of less than par on performance, so I just started tinkering with the kites and working with the R&D team. It was mostly bridling. I just played with the bridles and tweaked them. Through tweaking and testing, I was able to come up with something a lot better, so I became a little more involved in the R&D process. The next kite we came out with was the Turbo 2 and that became a good kite for us. I was still doing both sales and R&D at the time, but since then it’s migrated to more and more R&D until now I’m at the point where I’m doing R&D full time.

How do you and Tony Logosz split the design duties? It’s pretty collaborative. On some projects, Tony will do more work and on others I’ll do more. He’s the Chief Designer, so he oversees everything from the kites to the kiteboards and wakeboards. My focus is kites, so I’ll do most of the grunt work, taking them out, testing them, tying string, changing bridles, and also working a lot with the files. Tony oversees and approves what I do. He tells me, “Nah, that’s no good” or “That’s good.”

What’s your process of designing a new kite? First of all, it starts with listening to what the market is asking for. From there, you work off of what you know. So you take last year’s design and then add the modifications that you think will get the results for what the market wants. That’s the safe typical route for a project. At the same time, we always add in a few out-of-the-box concepts. Sometimes those will hit and sometimes they’ll miss. Say for instance we’re going to start a new kite model. Typically we’ll make around a dozen different prototypes of a nine meter, all with different shapes, outlines, and profiles. From there, we’ll pick a winner if there is one and keep on refining that. Once we’re to the point that something is good and we’re getting good feedback from the people we test with, then we’ll make a full size run and individually fine tune every size.

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How long does the process take? The process is ongoing all the time. On the good side it may take three months. On the longer side, it may take six to nine. Our kites are to the point that we’re making smaller refinements, so it’s on the shorter side, which allows us to spend more time on the out-of-the-box ideas. Hopefully that will allow us to come up with something new and innovative.

When do you decide if a design or concept is worth further development or not? It really comes down to the timeline of the project. We have certain dates we want to release kites by, so that kind of drives our decision making in how hard to pursue a project. Usually we’re pursuing a few ideas at the same time, because there is time between the prototype rounds. You can have plan A and concentrate on that, but plan B might be different and slightly iffy, but you keep that running in case it might beat plan A. You can run a few different ideas at the same time and see which one wins.

A few days ago you put up a new race version of the Rally. What are you looking at when you see a new prototype kite in the air? The first thing I look at is how it’s holding its structure in the air. Structure and stability are the two most important parts of the kite. You don’t want a kite that’s going to deform when it’s overpowered and you want something stable so it doesn’t fall out of the sky for the consumer. It’s getting interesting now though, because there are a lot of different disciplines. For example, you might have something for racing for dedicated racers. It might not be the most stable and friendly kite for everyday riding, but it could provide a big advantage to someone who is an experienced kite flyer and knows how to handle kites. In general though, the stable, friendly kites are the ones that will end up being the best.

I heard that you are a CPA. How did you make the switch from that world to the kiteboarding industry? Actually I’m not certified. I took the test a few times and missed it by just a few points every time. You’re supposed to study for three to six months before, but I wouldn’t start studying until the week before. If I would have studied for two weeks, I’d probably be certified. My degree is in accounting and I went to work for a CPA firm after college. I was doing that for

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about two and a half years, and I was looking at my managers wondering if that was for me. I saw all the time they put in. It consumed their lives and I didn’t think I could live that way. I kept my head down and was good at what I did, but they saw that I had no interest in progressing or moving up the ladder, so I was laid off. From there I went to work for a surf shop, All Surf Industry. I did kite lessons and eventually helped manage the shop. From there, Slingshot found me and hired me for the Northwest Sales Rep position. The good thing about the accounting degree I have is that there is a lot of information and tracking involved in the testing and development, so that’s been kind of an asset for me. Tony’s the mad scientist. He’s got great ideas and he’s a real free thinker, but when it comes to organizing the project and making sure everything is consistent from round to round, then I step in and help him out a lot with that.

I also heard that you are a musician. Yea, I was in a band for like seven years. I was in an island reggae band. Everyone was from Hawaii, and yea, it was great. I kind of started playing music late. Everyone in Hawaii grows up playing the ukulele at some point, but I never really got into music until college. My goal was just to play for a crowd that had come to see me. That was supposed to be it, and that would have made me happy, but then I hooked up with some other guys and we started this little project. That turned into some small gigs here and there. Eventually, we had a Monday night gig in Vancouver, Washington, and you wouldn’t believe it until you saw it, but at its peak, we’d have like a good 300 person crowd on a Monday night. It was a good time.

You have a background in two completely different worlds, an accounting/numbers based one and a music/creative world. Do you feel the design process is a creative process or a numbers and science based process? Fortunately, with that kind of background, it fits in perfectly with what I do, because it’s just as much an art as a science. You do have to be creative in the sense that you have to come up with new ideas and new performance goals, but at the same time you need to keep track of all the specs. The specs are super important. The whole music and accounting thing, the art and creativity mixed with the analytical side of things, it kind of meshes back in forth. Sometimes it’s split 50-50 and sometimes it leans one way or the other, but you just have to roll with whatever the project requires.

What are some of the ideas you are working on now? Right now we’re just kind of going through our cycle. We just came out with the Turbine, our light wind kite, so I’ve been working on that a lot. Now, we’re rolling in to next year’s Rally. We’re going to refine that some more. We’ve also got the next year’s RPM and Key — basically, we’re just going through the product line to refine everything we have. We’re still working on some new ideas, which I’d love to delve into right now, but those are kind of in our pocket right now.

What kind of feedback are you looking for from riders who fly your kites? The best kind of feedback is comparative. Whoever we get to ride the kite, we always know their background like how long they’ve been riding, what kites they’re used to, and what conditions they usually ride in. From that, we have a point of reference to base their feedback off of, because it’s really relative depending on what you’re used to. Usually we get people we know and have worked with in the past like our regional and international team riders. Once we get it to a certain point where we think it’s satisfying them, then we run the gamut and get it into anybody’s hands we can.

Do you ride kites from other companies as part of the design process? Yea, definitely, for sure we do. If I wasn’t doing that, I wouldn’t be doing my job. We keep our eye on what other companies are doing and the direction they’re taking. Now we seem to be at a point of slow growth with innovation, but if something does gain traction with the competition, then yea, we’ll take a close look at it and get as much information as we can. We’ll try to get our hands on the kite and fly it, but we’re never really spying on guys and taking photos. We’ve got too much work as it is to play that game.

As a designer, what are the first things you are looking at when you fly a new kite, either one of your own designs or one from another company? The first things I’ll look at are stability, relaunch, and range. I’m surprised to find that a lot of the kites, in my opinion, they’re kind of poor on relaunch. We try to focus on that and make sure it’s really easy for the consumer because that’s a big part of being satisfied with your gear in our opinion. After that it comes down to safety systems, bar configuration, and the finish on everything.

What do you have to say to people who want to work in the kiteboarding industry? Is there such a thing as a typical path to becoming a kite designer? I think it really comes down to who you know. If you want to go that route, then you really have to start building relationships with people in the industry. You want to be a good rider and know what you’re talking about and have experience flying a lot of different brands and models. If you’re good with a computer, you can learn all the CAD stuff relatively easily. It just comes down to building relationships with people in the industry and seeing if they need help. I’m sure a lot of companies could use help, so if you’re willing to take the time and do the intern thing, I’m sure a lot of companies would be able to work something out.

To watch the video of this interview, visit www.thekiteboarder.com/2011/02/interview-with-amery-bernard/

38 THEKITEBOARDER.COM

Amery is also a talented musician. Photo Enrique Abreu

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beachescorpus christi

With more than 100 miles of soft sand, warm waters, and Gulf breezes, our

pristine beaches have something for everyone. Corpus Christi adds up to

everything you love about the beach + more! Corpus Christi’s location and

wind patterns allows for great windsports year round. Windsurfers and

kitesurfers flock here for the perfect weather and waves from April

to June, with winds averaging 20 to 40 miles per hour at least

two or three days a week. You can have just as much fun as

the surfers off the water with kite buggying and

land kiting. Whether racing a kite-pulled vehicle

or sailing our open waters, you’ll feel the wind

through your hair and taste the salty air. Bring your board

—or rent one!—on your next trip to Corpus Christi.

windsports

VisitCorpusChristiTX.org 800.766.BEACH (2322)

Padre Island National Seashore

Page 36: Paul Lang Published Writing Samples

ANAL

YZE

THIS

TIP

S

PROS:

you to drastically change the Trix’s flying characteristics to your personal liking or the day’s riding conditions.

handling with the bridle on the F2-F4 settings.

CONS:

have to spend time changing settings and testing to see what you like the best.

THE VERDICT: The 2011 Trix is a very adjustable kite, but our test team liked it the most on the F2-F4 setting. The Trix is well-suited for riders who like a smooth turning, direct-feeling, and predictable kite. The Trix’s responsive handling and stability make it a great wave riding kite. The adjustable A-KPO bridle is interesting and can make the Trix feel like two kites in one if you like to spend time changing bridle settings. It doesn’t have the best upwind or boosting performance, but is a great all-around kite that suits wave or wakestyle riding well.

� Try the different bridle settings. They drastically change how the kite feels.

�� �To get a little more low-end range out of the Trix, consider using a line set longer than the stock 21m lines.

TESTER COMMENT: “I was shocked by how drastically the Trix’s flying characteristics changed when we moved the front bridle to different settings. After just a few minutes of adjusting, it felt like a completely different kite.” —Paul Lang, 200 lbs., Surf Kiter

68 THEKITEBOARDER.COM

GLOBETRIXTESTED: 9m AVAILABLE SIZES: 5.5, 7, 9, 12, 15mTESTED IN: Central California, 18-24 knots, small-medium waves

FROM THE MANUFACTURERThe 2011 GK Trix is a medium aspect ratio kite with full depower and adjustable bar pressure and turning speed. The GK Trix is perfect for wave riding and freestyle as it is a very stable kite with easy relaunch. It is perfect for beginners and allows riders to use the same kite through their entire learning curve to a top riding level. The 2011 GK kites, both the GK Trix and GK Sonic, are the result of over 10 years of kite design. The 2011 GK kites have retained their profile and overall shape while some details have been changed to refine performance and adjustability. The Trix features the AKPO (Adjustable Kite Power Optimizer) bridle adjustments to allow the rider to tune the kite’s bar pressure, turning speed, and performance in low wind.

THE KITEBOARDER REPORTOUT OF THE BOX: The 2011 GK Trix looks very similar to last year’s model. This is a five-strut one-pump kite with a unique and very adjustable bridle. The rear lines can be moved to change the kite’s turning speed and the front bridle can be adjusted to change bar pressure and the overall flying characteristics of the kite. The front bridle features two pulleys per side and the rear lines connect directly to the kite. The construction of the leading edge of the Trix is very heavy duty and features a webbing reinforcement over the seam. This kite comes with a humongous kite bag that should easily allow you to bring all your gear for the day to the beach.

The 2011 GK bar is essentially the same as the 2010 bar, but the quick release now has a small trigger to make it easier to reassemble than last year. The bar features a push away quick release, adjustable stopper, above bar depower strap, and a molded grip. Our 9m test kite came with a 53 cm bar and 21m lines.

ON THE WATER: We initially rode the Trix with the bridle on the F2-F4 settings and the kite was very responsive and smooth through the air. The Trix has good feedback and bar pressure that starts out light and gets heavier the more powered up you are. It sits back in the window and holds power though turns, even when looping the kite. Jumping is easy and predictable. We then changed the bridle settings to F3-F6 and the Trix felt completely different. On that setting, the Trix flew further upwind with lighter bar pressure, turned slower, and had very little feedback. The depower was much smoother than on the F3-F6 setting, but it didn’t seem to depower as much as on the F2-F4 setting. On both settings the Trix was easy to relaunch.

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THEKITEBOARDER.COM 69THEKITEBOARDER.COM 69

PROS: The MaxFlow inflation system makes the

Envy the easiest and quickest kite to pump up that we’ve ever used.

The Envy is a great all-around kite that will equally suit beginners, freeriders, wakestyle riders, and surf kiters.

CONS:

rigid end of the line points straight up at the rider. During forward rotations, it can get really close to your eye.

lines while riding and is too high to unspin by hand.

� As long as the depower line is cleated, the rigid end of the line doesn’t stick up.

� To make the Envy as easy as possible to inflate, make sure you reset the flapper in the MaxFlow Valve before you start inflating it.T

IPS

THE VERDICT: Overall, the Envy is a great all-around kite. It’s very easy to fly and has quick and responsive handling that is predictable and easy to control. The Envy is stable, relaunches easily, and drifts downwind in the waves well, making this kite well suited for both beginners and wave riders. The Envy’s unhooked stability and smooth power delivery means it works well for riders who like to unhook a lot. If you want better boosting and upwind performance, you might want to look at the Liquid Force Havoc or HiFi, but the Envy is an all-around kite that applies itself to a lot of different situations really well. The MaxFlow valve really works and makes the Envy very easy to inflate and deflate in a hurry.

TESTER COMMENT: “The Envy is a fantastic all-around kite that never does anything unexpected. Because of the MaxFlow valve, it feels like it takes about half the effort to inflate this kite compared to others.” —Paul Lang, 200 lbs., Surf Kiter

LIQUIDFORCEENVY

TESTED: 9m AVAILABLE SIZES: 5, 7, 9, 12, 15m TESTED IN: Central California, 18-26 knots, small-medium waves

FROM THE MANUFACTURER Rock solid stability, directional float, pivotal turning, and effortless re-launch highlight the Envy’s “beyond delta” design for all around performance. This ultra lightweight three-strut platform gives light, responsive bar feel with impulse pivotal turning. The Envy’s flight characteristics blend to produce a distinct “set it and

forget it” feel. This makes it the perfect kite for everything from progressive wave riding to kite low freestyle domination. Land a jump a bit too hot or under run the kite in a bottom turn? Forget about it! The Envy’s lightweight design allows the kite to float directionally, enabling you to forget about the kite and concentrate on the important issues: making grabs, spotting landings, and reading waves straight into the pit.

THE KITEBOARDER REPORTOUT OF THE BOX: The first thing we noticed on the 2011 Envy is the all-new MaxFlow inflation system. The valve opening is huge! We were a little skeptical of this new valve when we first heard about it, but after using it, we’re sold! This was the easiest kite we’ve ever inflated by far. The Envy is a three-strut one-pump kite with a bridle that features one pulley per side. The rear section of the bridle can be adjusted to change the turning speed of the kite. The Envy’s construction is beefed up in all the right places and one wingtip has two pieces of Velcro that allow you to store your bar attached to the kite, which is great for leaving your lines attached to the kite when you put it away.

The 2011 CPR Control System is similar to last year’s and features a push away quick release, below-bar depower cleat, kook-proof connectors, adjustable stopper, and multiple leash connection options. When you unhook, the harness loop automatically aligns itself to make hooking back in much easier. The CPR Control System is a very clean control bar. Our 9m test kite came with 23m lines on a 45cm bar.

ON THE WATER: The Envy is a very smooth and predictable kite in the air. Handling is quick and direct with light-medium bar pressure. The kite feedback is excellent and it’s easy to tell where the kite is without looking at it. The Envy is very stable and has a very light and responsive feel to it. This kite sits back in the window and delivers a very steady pull. Depowering is smooth and we had no problems getting the Envy to relaunch. Compared to last year’s kite, the 2011 Envy feels slightly more powerful and the handling feels more direct. Jumping is easy and predictable, but this isn’t the highest boosting kite available. Unhooked, the Envy remains stable with no tendency to back stall.

Page 38: Paul Lang Published Writing Samples

WoW rds and photos by PaPaul Lang

The main kiting and windsurfing spot at Fisherman’s Huts is home to the windsurfing and kiteboarding schools and serves up butter-flat conditions in amazingly warm and clear water.

Page 39: Paul Lang Published Writing Samples

AN YOU TAKE ANY TIME OFF WORK NEXT WEEK?” The Kiteboarder’s publisher, Marina Chang, asked me out of the blue over the phone. “I can

get you on a press trip to Aruba, all expenses paid, but you have to leave in a few days.” Soon after getting the OK from my day job, I was on the phone with Karl at Vela booking my flight. I would be joining a small group of travel writers who were going to learn to kiteboard while in Aruba. A short few days later, I was on a plane heading to the Southern Caribbean.

“C

THEKITEBOARDER.COM 39

Page 40: Paul Lang Published Writing Samples

the only kiteboarder on this trip, but I was also the only male. I had been sent to the Caribbean to hang out with a group of female travel writers. For dinner, we headed to Papiamento, which has been owned by the same family for almost 30 years and served up one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten. The next morning, the group met at Dare 2 Fly (the kiteboarding portion of Vela Resorts) to begin the lessons. The group’s instructors, Mike, Ties, and Darwin got the group started with practice kites and then headed out into the shallow water to practice flying and relaunching small inflatable kites. I took a few pictures, and then borrowed a kite and board (the only gear I had brought was my harness) and got out on the water at Fisherman’s Huts. I was way overpowered on a 12, and I immediately found out that the wind on this side of Aruba is gusty. The wind isn’t so gusty as to make riding unpleasant, but it’s definitely noticeable. The offshore winds at Fisherman’s Huts make the water very calm and it’s a great spot to either ride fast and jump as high as you can or to work on whatever skills you want to perfect. 11 am came up quickly, so it was time for us to get off the water (see inset). While the rest of the writers headed off to get massages, Ties and I went off to kite at Arashi, just a few miles down the coast. The wind at Arashi also blows offshore, so you need to have access to a rescue boat if you plan to kite here. To get there, I followed Ties’s directions: “Put up your kite and go right until you get to the end of the island.” Sounded easy enough to me. On the way to Arashi, I passed a large snorkel tour catamaran and the entire boat erupted in cheers when I boosted a large jump just downwind of the boat. Ties, who was following in a small rescue boat, zipped over

KITEBOARDING IN ARUBA Due to the conditions on the island, you have to be careful about kiteboarding on Aruba. The most popular spot is known as Fisherman’s Huts, which is where the kiteboarding and windsurfing schools are located. Fisherman’s Huts gets very crowded during the day, so kiteboarding is not allowed between 11 am and 4:30 pm (yes, there is plenty of wind before 11 and after 4:30). Currently, there are talks among the schools to allow kiteboarding during the middle of the day by launching and landing out in the water away from the beach, but no new rules have been finalized yet. Check out http://dare2flyaruba.com for the latest info. Fisherman’s Huts and Arashi are located on the leeward side of the island, mean-ing that the wind blows almost straight offshore. Even experienced kiters must talk to a local school to arrange to be picked up if they have any problems. The local schools are considering making checking in mandatory to make sure people are aware of the time limits at the huts and to make sure no one ends up lost at sea.

Boca Grande, on the windward side of the island, offers much steadier wind than the other side of Aruba and there is no danger of being blown out to sea here. However, the wind at Boca blows almost straight onshore, so you must be a very competent rider to ride safely here. Talk to the locals before you go out, and do not jump near the beach.

a large snorkel tour catjump just downwind ofj p j

KITEBOARDINGKITEBOARDINGKITEBOARDINGDue to the condi

The most popular spowindsurfing schools akiteboarding is not all11 and after 4:30). Cuthe middle of the daynew rules have been

Fisherman’s Huting that the wind blolocal school to arraconsidering makinlimits at the huts a

Boca Grande, onother side of Arwind at Boca blride safely here

Aruba is a small island, only about 20 miles long by six miles wide. Most people imagine lush tropical vegetation when they think of Caribbean islands, but Aruba is far enough south to be out of the hurricane belt, meaning that the island does not receive much rain. The vegetation on Aruba consists of not much more than hearty shrubs and cactus, but I didn’t travel here to check out the interesting flora. I came here for the wind. After checking into the hotel, I immediately went down to the beach and jumped into the warm water. Being from California, I very rarely get to be in the ocean without a wetsuit, and the 80° Caribbean water was a special treat. Aruba is famous for its white sand beaches, and the sand at the Fisherman’s Huts, the kite spot adjacent to the large hotels (known simply as the high rises), extends for about 150 yards from the beach under waist-deep water. The wind here blows almost straight offshore, but the flat, shallow, warm water and consistently windy conditions make it a great spot to ride.

After a quick rinse in the hotel room, I was off to meet the rest of the press group and our hosts at the Marriott hotel for

cocktails and dinner. As it turned out, not only was I

Local kiter Ties van Westing goes big at Arashi, with the California Lighthouse in the background.

The water at Boca Grande is even more beautiful than on the developed side of the island.

Paddocks in downtown Oranjestad is the place to go if you want to party with the Dutch college student crowd.

All geared up, press trip participants listen attentively to their instructor.

Page 41: Paul Lang Published Writing Samples

to the catamaran, picked up a rum and coke and brought it out to me. I knew you were supposed to drink rum in the Caribbean, but I didn’t realize that meant people brought it out to you while kiting. At Arashi, Ties beached the boat and we kited until we couldn’t go anymore. The wind had come up and we were lit on 8s. We packed up the gear and headed back to the hotel, stopping at a different snorkel tour boat on the way for another round of rum and cokes.

The next morning, the press group’s lessons resumed, with all of the participants getting a chance to get some experience body dragging. It was exciting for me to see kiteboarding used as a way to promote tourism to a group of travel writers and it became very apparent to me just how far the equipment in this sport has come in the last few years. If you had tried to use kiteboarding to promote a travel destination only five years ago, you would have done nothing except scare people away, and now it’s possible to give someone an enjoyable taste of what the sport is like in just a few quick lessons. After the morning lessons, I again split from the group to do some more kiting, this time at Boca Grande, located at the opposite end of the island.

I piled into the beat-up Vela truck with Darwin, Ties, and Monique and rambled across the island. Even though Boca Grande was at the complete opposite end of Aruba, it still only took us about 40 minutes to get there. Boca shows a completely different side of Aruba, as the entire windward coast of the island is largely undeveloped. The scenery here is beautiful and, for the most part, unspoiled. The wind here is much steadier than the other side of the island, but you have to be able to ride carefully and with control as the wind direction is almost straight onshore. Conditions here are great for boosting off large chop or getting one turn on the mixed-up waves. We kited here until just before sunset, and then made our way back to the Marriott.

Back at the hotel, I quickly changed clothes and joined the rest of the group for a final meal at Simply Fish, a restaurant that sets up nightly on the sand in front of the hotel. After dinner, I met up with Ties and a few other local kiters and headed to Paddocks, a bar in downtown Oranjestad. Aruba, being a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, is full of Dutch college students, and it seems they all party at Paddocks. I partied way later than I should have, and after saying goodbye to the new friends I had made, caught a cab back to the hotel, packed my bags, and had just enough time to catch about an hour of sleep before I had to get up to catch my early morning flight.

Standing in line at the airport, I was exhausted and hung over, but sad to be leaving Aruba after such a short trip. Aruba is a beautiful island with a surplus of amenities for tourists and is full of some of the friendliest people I’ve ever met. If you are looking for a place to take the family for a relaxing vacation where you can get some kiting in as well, take a look at Aruba. The warm water, warm winds, and warm people have me already scheming about how I can get back down there for another visit.

CONDITIONS: Windsurfers have known about Aruba’s

dependable wind for years. You can expect to ride in Aruba

year round, with October and November being the lightest

months. The rest of the year, you can expect wind in the

upper teens to low twenties almost every single day. Many

locals only own one kite, with a 10 being the most common

size. On the leeward side of the island (near the large

resorts), the wind can be gusty due to the offshore winds. No

wetsuits are needed here, but you should wear a t-shirt or

rashguard and plenty of sunscreen when you ride as the sun

can be very bright.

CURRENCY: The local currency is the Aruban Florin,

but U.S. Dollars are also widely accepted. The Florin’s value

is tied to the dollar, and the rate is 1.79 Florins

to $1 US. Major credit cards are also accepted just

about everywhere.

LANGUAGE: The official languages are Dutch and

Papiamento, but English is also widely spoken.

GETTING THERE: Aruba is an incredibly easy place to get

to, with daily flights to many U.S. cities from Queen Beatrix

International Airport (AUA). Aruba is only a 2.5 hour flight

from Miami.

FOOD: Aruba caters to tourists, and there are many

great places to eat on the island. If you want to treat your

significant other to an amazing and romantic meal, make a

reservation at Papiamento (papiamentorestaurant.com).

SCHOOLS: Aruba has a number of schools located at

the Fisherman’s Huts, which are adjacent to the Marriott

Hotel. Because of the offshore winds, you should contact

a school and arrange for boat support if you are going

to kite on the leeward side of the island, even if you are

an experienced kiter. www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/

auaar-aruba-marriott-resort-and-stellaris-casino/

LODGING: Aruba is home to many hotels and resorts. The

Marriott is closest to the Fisherman’s Huts and you can

walk onto the sand in front of the hotel to kite while the

rest of the family lounges at the resort. For travel packages

including accommodations, lessons, and/or boat support,

contact Vela at 1-800-223-5443 or velawindsurf.com.

CONDITIONS:

CURRENCY:

LANGUAGE:

GETTING THERE:

LODGING:

SCHOOLS:

FOOD:

THEKITEBOARDER.COM 41

Due to the offshore winds, students get shuttled back upwind by powerboat and dropped off for another go.

Press trip participant Jayme Otto was all giggles after this ride.

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30 THEKITEBOARDER.COM

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THEKITEBOARDER.COM 31

ot that long ago, La Ventana was nothing more than a sleepy fishing village down a nondescript road south of La Paz. Now, it’s hard to believe that there used to be nothing here except for a few basic houses

and pangas, the small outboard-powered fishing boats found throughout Baja California. Located in the middle of the most popular section of beach in La Ventana, Baja Joe’s resort has become an iconic place in the world of windsurfers and kiteboarders, but it was once just a piece of land covered with shrubs and cacti in an unknown Mexican village.

The owners/operators of Baja Joe’s are Baja Joe himself, a former Northern California logger with long white hair and a matching beard, and his wife Angie. You can usually find Joe quietly talking to visitors around the resort, and it seems like everyone who has ever been to La Ventana knows him. Joe and Angie were among the first gringos to buy land in La Ventana after a change in Mexican law made it possible for foreigners to own real estate here. La Ventana is now a relatively bustling Baja town, but 15 years ago, there were no businesses and you had to bring all of your supplies with you.

Before kiteboarding really took off, La Ventana was a windsurfing town. Even today, the campground is full of diehard windsurfers that set up camp for the winter. When kiters first started showing up here, Baja Joe was one of the few people to welcome them while some of the other resorts actually put up “No Kiteboarding” signs. During the recent La Ventana Classic and KiteXpo, we had a chance to sit down with Baja Joe and talk about the changes that he has seen this small town go through over the years as it transformed from a quaint Mexican fishing village to a world-renowned windsports destination.

By Paul Lang

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Baja Joe is a Northern California Logger turned windsurfer who now owns and operates the Baja Joe’s Resort in La Ventana. When he and his wife Angie originally bought the property that would become Baja Joe’s, all they were after was a place they could windsurf for the winter. Photo Paul Lang

This sign marks the entrance to the Baja Joe’s Resort. Photo Paul Lang

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How did you go from being a Northern California logger to a windsurfer? When I retired from logging, I wanted to get into sailing and go cruising on a sailboat. We had a 28-foot Catalina that we kept down in Sausalito. On weekends, we would go sailing out the Golden Gate and back into the bay. Angie and I were coming back in one day, and we were basically just sitting in one spot fighting the current. As we were sitting there, these windsurfers out of Crissy Field came out and did a few laps around us. We thought, “That looks like a lot more fun than sailing this boat,” so we took a six-week course on Black Butte Lake out of Chico. When you purchased property here, was your goal for it to turn into what it is now? No, we were just looking for a spot to camp and set up our windsurfing gear. We just bought this land and figured that we would have a place to go for the winter. Pretty soon, we had a lot of friends asking if they could stay with us. We said sure and built a few rooms. Then we figured we might as well charge a little bit for people to stay in the rooms, because then we could stay down here longer. The whole motivation was just so we could stay longer in Baja without having to go back to Northern California. Over time we made this our home, and we’re down here full time now.What are your biggest challenges running a resort in a small and remote town? The biggest challenge is being a foreigner working in Mexico. It’s not easy. You have to have a lot of patience to get things done here. Angie does a lot of the work with the bookkeepers and the bank. There’s an attitude of, “Don’t worry, we’ll get to it later,” or, “Don’t pay that tax until they catch you.” For us, being Americans, if we break the law, they’ll throw us out of the country. We kind of learned as we went along and made mistakes that cost us money. Anytime someone shows up here with an official badge, it’s like, “How much is this going to cost us this time?” Being one of the first businesses and land owners here, nobody knew anything so we were doing everything kind of blind. I’d be working on our property, and everyone would come up and ask, “How do you buy property?” We couldn’t get very much work done, because everyone was very hungry for knowledge in those days. When did kiteboarders start to show up in La Ventana? Ken Winner, Chris Gilbert, and Julie Porchaska came down here to film the video How to Rip Harder, and that’s when we started kiting. Everybody was fascinated by it. The windsurfers from the campground would sit on the beach here and watch them kite. The year before, we kind of dabbled with a two-line kite, but we didn’t know what we were doing. We were getting ourselves hurt more than learning anything. Chris and Julie brought the first four-line Naish kites with them. They basically gave us our first lesson. How long did it take before kiteboarding became the dominant sport in La Ventana? Well, we were the first ones to welcome kiteboarding. The other windsurfing operations didn’t accept it. They didn’t think it was going to stick around. It was probably about five years before there were more kiters than windsurfers. At first, people who didn’t want to give up windsurfing got into kiting to extend their season because you didn’t need as much wind to have fun. It seemed like it was doubling every year.Do you think that La Ventana will ever become too crowded on the water? How many kiters do you think can comfortably be on the water at the same time? It’s hard to say. There’s ten miles of beach to the north of us, and ten miles out to the island, so that’s 100 square miles of potential kiting. I think the popular areas will be crowded, but even at prime times, it’s not that bad. I can always go upwind and find a place with nobody around. I think it can handle a lot of people, but with the way kiting is growing, only time will tell. I’ve counted up to 150 kites on the water here, and there’s still plenty of room.How has the town of La Ventana been changed by the fact that it became a windsurfing and kiteboarding destination? Have these changes been a positive or negative for the people who live here? It’s changed a lot. I think it’s been mostly positive. I see changes now in the third generation,

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La Ventana has such a thriving windsports scene now that it is easy to forget that this was once an unknown and remote fishing village. How and when did you find this place? Well, we first went to Cabo Pulmo south of La Ventana 16 or 17 years ago just to find a windsurfing spot. We had heard about the area with the island and we thought there would be more of a Venturi effect with the wind up here. We drove up to check it out and there was only a little fishing village with about 20 of us staying in the campground. You couldn’t even buy beer or vegetables in this town; there was nothing here. If you wanted to buy anything, you had to go to Los Planes. I was staying in the campground, and was the first one to have an ATV, so I rode down the beach to check it out. After seeing what a pristine sandy beach it was, I thought if there was ever someday I could buy a piece of property in Baja, this would be the spot. I just happened to be here at the right place at the right time and was one of the first people to buy. We used to sit down here and wonder if we could get a few windsurfers to come down and hang out with us in the winter time. At first, we were happy to just get enough people to have dinner with us in the evenings. Now, looking at a day like today, it makes me think back on those times, actually. We never had any idea it would turn into something like this. Who were some of the other people here when La Ventana was first discovered as a windsurfing spot? There was Ron and Irene, Chuck and Lorna, Rick Tenent, Captain Kirk came in about the same time we did, Esteban was in the campground next door here; there was just a handful of us.What was traveling through Baja like back then in general? How is it different from today? Yea, back then gas was hard to find. You always carried 10-20 gallons of extra gas. Coming down here, we used to see them painting the white lines on the road with a paint brush. The first time we saw electrical poles going in, they were using a hand shovel with an eight-foot handle on it. Now they have a lot of good equipment and the roads are fine. The people were so great; we would break down driving down here, and there wasn’t a car that would go by us. They would all stop to see if they could help by giving you a ride or oil or anything else you needed. So, I fell in love with the place, not just because of the wind, but because of the people. What was your career before operating Baja Joe’s? I was a big logger in Northern California. I had log trucks and equipment. We did Cat logging and skyline logging and had up to 100 employees.

Before becoming Baja Joe, Joe Cheek had a company running log trucks and logging equipment in Northern California. Photo Courtesy Baja Joe’s

Now the happening spot in La Ventana, less than twenty years ago this was just a remote, unknown, and undeveloped stretch of empty sand. Photo Paul Lang

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the younger kids whose parents and grandparents have gotten money from their property sales. I see the American influence on the younger kids with the way they dress, the cell phones they have, and the cars they drive. A lot of the houses now are cement, there are a lot of businesses here, and there is plenty of work. I think the local Mexicans have a very good attitude towards the Americans here. Since you see so many kiteboarders and windsurfers passing through, do you notice a difference in personalities between the two? The only difference is that you are getting a lot of younger people into kiteboarding. There’s a cross mix of the skateboard and surfer types in kiting, versus the person who is strictly a windsurfer. It was a small group when it was all windsurfers here and everybody was very nice to each other and really helped each other out. Kiting is pretty much the same way, but you do get these different groups and different opinions and attitudes within the kiteboarders. What do you think about the violence going on in the border towns? How safe is travel in Mexico? It’s safer to come to Mexico, I think, than it is to drive through some parts of our big cities in the United States. There’s much more violence and killing going on there. The drug problem in mainland Mexico and the border towns is an issue, but there’s no problem traveling in Mexico if you use your head. If you cross the border in the morning and you head south for four or five hours, it’s very safe. I’ve been traveling down here many years, and I have a lot of friends who travel a lot, and nobody has had any real problems. If anything down here happens to an American or Canadian, it’s all over the news, where if they broadcasted every murder in an American city the same way, you would never go to that city.

THEKITEBOARDER.COM 33

Joe surveys the action during the La Ventana Classic. When he and Angie bought property here, there was literally nothing on this section of beach. Photo Paul Lang

As one of the first business in La Ventana, Joe and Angie had to figure out everything from scratch. Photo Paul Lang

Joe comes in for a landing during the Redding Airshow as a member of the Skybusters. Photo Courtesy Baja Joe’s

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Can you tell us about the Baja Paws project? Well, I’ll let Angie talk about that, since it’s her deal. Angie: It started out when a friend asked me to get a friend’s dog spayed. It was such a great deal when this dog stopped having puppies because she was having eight puppies three times a year. It evolved into this thing where we started raising funds and getting all the local dogs spayed. When all the kiteboarders are here, we try to place dogs with them, but that’s not really our mission. That’s just an extra. We want the dogs to become pets, and spaying and neutering is very successful at making these animals pets. Instead of being tied to a tree in the yard, they get to come down to the beach. It’s totally successful, and we have five dogs on the waiting list right now. We probably do about 25 a year. It’s $60-$80 to have a dog spayed, and the average daily wage here is $20-$40, so it just doesn’t get done. They dump the females and keep the males. Now the girl dogs are finding homes. It saves a lot of dogs from suffering.

Do you still windsurf? I pretty much kiteboard 98% of the time, but I still windsurf every once in awhile on a big day like today. I still have my gear out there in the sail shed, so I go out sometimes to have a little fun and to see if I can still do it, but each year, I get a little more rusty on doing a jibe. But definitely, kiteboarding is my main sport. Do you think there are still places like La Ventana out there that have yet to be discovered by kiteboarders? I don’t think there’s a place like this that has as consistent of a wind. There are a lot of places up and down the Sea of Cortez that are definitely kitable on the El Norte days, but they don’t have the thermal and the island Venturi effect. Of course, there are also a lot of

The treasured Mexico 1 sticker from Baja Joe’s proves that you’ve made it all the way to La Ventana. Photo Paul Lang

places on the west coast where you can do it, but I don’t see anywhere that has the potential of La Ventana. This is a pretty exceptional place. How many places are there where the wind comes up at 11 and backs off at sunset? It blows when you want it to blow. You don’t have to get up early and go out before breakfast, and it doesn’t bother you at night unless it’s an extreme El Norte. A lot of people seem worried that La Ventana will become too developed and the unique feel of this place will die if larger resorts are built. What’s your take on that? Are the resources here even capable of supporting much more development? I don’t think we’ll get really big like Cabo San Lucas because of the wind. The only people who enjoy this place are the people who do windsports. I don’t see it getting that far out of hand. I think it will stay at a low-key level for a long time. No big developer would want to come in here, because there’s a short season, and the people from Cabo don’t like La Ventana because it’s too windy, so we’re not going to get that kind of crowd either. The wind blows them all back to Cabo. We have fisherman in the summertime, but that’s an off-season for here. People want to go someplace warm in the wintertime. With resources, people are always worried about the water here, but the biosphere, which is a nearby wilderness area in the mountains, gets up to 35 inches of rain every year. That water comes out of the mountains and goes underground under these arroyos that go through Los Planes. They have thousands of acres of farms over there, so they have a lot of water. I do a lot of dirt bike riding and I can go up into the mountains behind La Ventana and see a lot of water up in the canyons. There’s more resources here than most people realize. A lot of people have the attitude of, “Well I built my house here, now don’t let anybody else build their house.” I think we’re going to grow, but not really fast. I think you are always going to have pros and cons about places growing. People want things to stay the same, but you can’t stop progress. You might as well go with it.

34 THEKITEBOARDER.COM

Baja Joe may have come to La Ventana as a windsurfer, but now kiteboarding is his main sport. Photo Paul Porter

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Brian Schwarz at the

helm of the trusty

Calikites truck.

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THEKITEBOARDER.COM 45

Head 20 minutes south from San Diego on I-5 and you will find yourself in a wildly different place. As soon as you cross under the large green, white, and red sign that reads “MEXICO,” make sure you line up in one of the “Nothing to Declare” lanes and hope for a green light. A red light means you must pull over and attempt to explain yourself in broken Spanish, much to the amusement of the local authorities. A green light means “Bienvenido a Mexico,” and you continue onward into a new country.

The change is shocking: In less than 10 feet, you go from being in an organized, slow moving lane to a complete free-for-all in which everyone, especially the taxi drivers, seems to completely ignore all rules of the road. Stay alert and keep your eyes open for the sign that will lead you south out of town to the toll road for Ensenada. Breathe another sigh of relief once on the toll road. This sigh is because you know you are already through Tijuana, and you have heard the stories about what has been happening there.

����������������� �������� �� �Words and Photos by Paul Lang

With its long sandy beaches and consistent side-shore

wind, San Quintin is an ideal place for kiteboarding.

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46 THEKITEBOARDER.COM

Kasey Campbell lines up on a San Quintin wave while the Calikites truck

takes a break from hauling kiters back upwind.

Baja is full of some of the nicest

people you will ever meet.

This crew of kiters filled up a bus and completely took

over a hotel 200 miles south of the border.

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���������������Anyone who has been to Mexico knows the country is full of some of the warmest and friendliest people on the planet, but unfortunately Mexico is also home to widespread poverty, corruption, drug and human trafficking, and organized crime. Tourism in Mexico, especially in Baja, has plummeted in recent years, due to the stories that are reported about the incidents that happen there. To explore Baja, most people cross through Tijuana where hundreds of criminals, police officers, and innocent bystanders died in 2008 due to the violence caused by organized crime. The fact that the stories about violence in the border region are picked up and sensationalized by the media only makes the problem worse and has caused some people I know who have been traveling to Baja for more than 20 years to swear off heading south of the border completely. The saddest part of all of this is that the rest of the country is not at all like Tijuana and the other border regions — there are

endless and incredible kiteboarding opportunities all over the more than 2,000 miles of Baja coastline.

����������To continue offering kiteboarding trips to San Quintin, a sleepy farming town 200 miles south of the border, the crew at Calikites came up with a bold idea: Instead of bringing kiters down in a 15-passenger van, they would rent a 50-person charter bus and completely take over the Desert Inn, a bunker-like beachfront hotel sitting in the middle of 12 miles of pristine sandy beach. They would also drag down a rescue jet-ski, a van full of demo gear from Liquid Force, Cabrinha, and North, and a pile of SUP boards in case the wind didn’t show. Because of the recent troubles in Baja, it was unclear how many kiteboarders would be willing to travel down, but the buzz about how good the kiting is in San Quintin was enough to quickly fill the bus to capacity. Early on a Friday morning, the bus was loaded up behind the Calikites shop in Coronado with eager kiteboarders and tons of gear for the five-hour drive down. We quickly passed through Tijuana and were on our way to three days of kiteboarding in the real Baja California.

�����������As soon as the bus was unloaded and everyone found their ocean-view rooms (every room at this hotel has an ocean view), the quiet beach was invaded by a hoard of kiteboarders eager to get on the water. San Quintin is the perfect place for beginner-intermediate kiteboarders to ride, as the wind blows anywhere from side-on to slightly side-off and there are no obstacles, except for the cars parked on the beach. The waves are usually very small and the wind is steady. This section of the Baja Coast is where deep ocean water is pushed up near the surface, so the water can be cold, typically 5-10° colder than San Diego. Kite sizes in San Quintin can range from 6-16 meters, depending on the season, but after more than a dozen trips here, I’ve ridden every single time. After a little water time, everyone packed up their gear and headed back to their rooms for hot showers to wash off the incredibly fine beach sand that manages to get everywhere before heading a few miles down a dirt road to the Cielito Lindo for dinner, drinks, and dancing. According to one rumor, John Wayne and Henry Fonda once frequented the Cielito Lindo, but now it’s the spot for good food, cheap drinks, good dancing with locals, and a chance to meet a few of the local ex-pat American characters, most of whom look like there could have been a Jimmy Buffett song written about them. Watch out for the margaritas here, they’re strong enough that they may have to find the wheelbarrow that’s always nearby (the locals call it the limo) to get you back to your bed.

On the way back to the hotel, most of the people in the bus ended up riding back on the roof of the bus, which, for some reason, is just the sort of thing that always seems to happen down here.

�������The next day, after sleeping off all of the excesses of the night before, everyone found their way to the beach and pumped up. The wind stayed fairly light, but most were able to get out and ride on 12-16 meter kites. Beginners worked on riding upwind or learning to jump while more experienced riders played in the small waves or used the shorebreak as a kicker to throw tricks. The amount of kiters on this trip was an unbelievably large group for San Quintin, so locals began showing up to watch the crazy gringos. Downwinders were organized and groups would take off and head the six or so miles downwind to the end of the beach, then pile into the Calikites truck to be brought back upwind. After a full day on the beach, everyone jumped into the bus to head to Jardines, a few miles up the road towards town. Jardines is the type of place that makes Baja special. To get there, you turn off the main road and ramble down a washboard dirt road through a field for about a mile and then come to a beautify maintained garden full of all kinds of exotic plants and one of the most beautifully manicured lawns I’ve ever seen. In the midst of this unexpected oasis is a restaurant that serves great food and a small hotel with rooms starting at $35 a night. After dinner and a few (OK, many) drinks, a slideshow and raffle were put on back at the Desert Inn, and a few intrepid people found out that not only do ice chests keep food and beer cold, but you can also fit two adults in one and ride it down a set of stairs.

�������Most people slept in on Sunday and then hit the beach, but it seemed like the whole town had heard of all of the kiteboarders riding in front of the hotel and had come down to watch. This created a bit of a traffic jam on the beach near the hotel, but since the beach is 12 miles long, there was still plenty of room for everyone to

������ �� �� ������ �!"�#�� $�#��"%!�&�' ���!( ���!)�* ����+ ��&%�!*�!���%�! *�,��������- �*�&$%-����.-��!��"!%)�� *�(%���%��$ '��$.�� *�(%""���*����!���!���%�%&���#$��,��/#� ��"%!�����#�!�� �!+�*�%������&��#�0THEKITEBOARDER.COM 47

Danny Schwarz shows his stuff on the dance

floor at the Cielito Lindo.

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spread out. The Calikites truck was working full time bringing people back upwind after hour-long downwinders. While walking on the beach a local waved me over to join him and his family. They had an awning tied up between an old car and older van, under which the women were at work preparing a giant bowl of fresh ceviche. I was promptly given a heaping bowl and a few tortillas and they asked me to stay and eat with them. As soon as I finished, one of the older women handed me a sandwich gently wrapped in a paper towel. “Fresas,” she said, the jam on the sandwich being homemade strawberry jam. I stayed with the family for a few minutes, took a few pictures, and said goodbye to them and wandered off to get in some more water time before heading back up north on the bus. Shortly after one more session, the bags were packed, the bus was loaded, and we were on the road, leaving the real Baja behind in order to go back to our real jobs. Despite all of the bad news about violence in Mexico, a bus load of 50 kiteboarders had made it down and back without incident, and everyone involved had a blast doing it.

��1��� �� 2GETTING TO SAN QUINTIN: Drive South on I-5 and follow the signs for Road 1 once in Mexico. San Quintin has a few landing strips, so it’s possible to fly down if you find an adventurous pilot with a small plane. For an easy trip, travel with the guys from Calikites (www.calikites.com).

WHERE TO STAY: The largest hotel closest to the beach is the Desert Inn (www.desertinns.com), $40-$80/night depending on if they’re offering a deal or not. Things may be changing soon, as this hotel was supposedly just auctioned off to a new owner. There are other places to stay nearby, including the Cielito Lindo (no website, just show up) and Jardines (near San Quintin Bay, www.hotel-jardinesbaja.com).

WHERE TO RIDE: Ride in front of the Desert Inn, or anywhere else on the amazingly long beach. On Sundays, local families flock to the beach, so you’ll have to go upwind or downwind to find a quiet spot. If you are going to drive on the beach, a four-wheel-drive vehicle and a tow strap are highly recommended. You can also ride in San Quintin Bay, where the water is warm, shallow, and flat, but the bottom is very muddy.

WHERE TO EAT: There’s plenty of good food around. For breakfast, the restaurant in the Desert Inn is very good. The food at the Cielito Lindo and especially Jardines is excellent and very reasonably priced. If you see a taco stand with a large crowd around it, you know it’s a good one.

ABOUT TRAVELING IN MEXICO: Yes, there are problems in Mexico, but you can stay well clear of them if you use your head. Mexico is not the lawless land that many Americans think it is and you cannot do whatever you want here. Treat the locals with respect and act as you would at home. If you drive your own car, get Mexican liability insurance (you can buy it online) and drive carefully. It’s safest to only drive during daytime, especially outside of the cities where there may be cows and/or horses in the road and where some locals have the habit of driving without their headlights on.

48 THEKITEBOARDER.COM

After an hour-long downwinder, riders could hop onto the

truck and be back at the starting point in 10 minutes.

Some of the locals don’t quite know

what to think about kiteboarding.

With a beach that stretches

for over 12 miles, there are

no problems finding a deserted

place to launch.

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For the past few years, it’s been known that the best way to guarantee a few windless days is to have a kiteboarding event. Even when scheduled for places and times that should provide tons of wind, any talk of holding an event usually causes the wind to completely shut off, leaving organizers scrambling to find something to keep everybody occupied. However, for the 2011 La Ventana Classic and KiteXpo, Mother Nature delivered near-perfect weather, which allowed a ridiculous about of kiteboarding to happen in La Ventana this year. As always, this event is not just about the kiteboarding. The main purpose of the La Ventana Classic remains bringing people together to raise money for the local schools. This year, a total of $18,759 was raised by people having such a good time it could almost be called criminal.

La Ventana Classic and KiteXpo: 20

11

MAKING A DIFFERENCE SOUTH OF THE BORDER

Words and Photos by Paul Lang

Baja Joe comes in for a landing to kick off the 2011 La Ventana Classic and KiteXpo.

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Shawn Richman dominated the Big Air/Old School competition.

It’s quite a sight to see well over 100 kites spread out over the channel for the race back to La Ventana.

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Damien LeRoy throws a huge Kung Fu during the Big Air/Old School Competition.

Local schoolchildren put on dance perfor-mances throughout

the event.

Caution Fight Night got everybody ready

to rumble.

As always, organizer Tim Hatler was able to come up with twisted beach games to keep people entertained for the brief periods of light wind.

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The TKB team got an early start in La Ventana this year and arrived early enough for No Mas Basura, an annual trash cleanup project in the La Ventana/El Sargento communities. Almost the entire town, including the schoolchildren, participated and collected 10.5 tons of trash in one day! We were also there early enough to catch the Burning Bush, an annual pyromaniac’s heaven held on the outskirts of La Ventana. Burning Bush is a hard experience to describe, but imagine what can happen when you combine flammable art projects, a few hundred people, copious amounts of gasoline and propane, and virtually no fear of liability and you’ll have a good idea what it’s like. Also during the week leading up to the event a number of different clinics were held on topics including strapless riding (Mark Bavis and Brendan Richards), kite racing (Andrew and Adam Koch), and a special women only trip to Isla Cerralvo (Marie Leclerc and Laura Maher).

The first day of the La Ventana Classic served up light wind, which actually worked out perfectly for the 11-mile Paddle Royale SUP Island Crossing. This year, 25 participants (including eight women) got up early for the boat ride out to Isla Cerralvo. Kiwi Fields was the first paddler back, finishing in just over two hours. Also, the light wind provided the perfect conditions for emcee Neil Hutchinson and the legendary Baja Joe to kick off the event by jumping out of a plane 10,000’ above the event site. Neil just recently got into skydiving and thought it would be cool to start

the event with the announcer landing on the beach, but had no idea that Joe was an experienced skydiver himself. When Baja Joe was asked if he knew where to find a plane, he said, “I’m a skydiver, I’ll jump too!” Joe has more than 800 jumps and jumped out of the plane with a 1970s vintage parachute strapped to his back. Both Neil and Joe landed safely at the event site as the crowd erupted around them. For the remainder of the day, participants talked with industry reps on the beach and kicked the tires on all the latest kiteboarding gear that was on display. The first official party was the annual Toga Party at Pablo’s and, as usual, details are fuzzy on what actually happened.

Friday morning found 127 kiteboarders and a few windsurfers on the beach waiting to be loaded into pangas for the trip to Cerralvo for the La Ventana Classic, the 11-mile sprint back to La Ventana. This is an event like none other in the world and this year the weather was perfect. After a clean start (no tangles this year), the race was on. As much as it pains us to say it, windsurfer Brian Metcalf–Perez was the first person back, setting a record time of 22:23. Kiteboarder Johnny Heineken (Ozone) was the first kiteboarder to finish with a time of 22:45. You better believe the kiteboarders will be training hard to take back the title of fastest across the channel next year. Once everybody was safely back, the Big Air/Old School competition got underway in near-perfect conditions. A mix of pro and amateur kiteboarders battled it out and board offs, one-footers, and dead-men were thrown down with pride. While all this was happening, the demo booths were working full time getting the many participants out on 2011 kiteboarding gear. Friday was finished with dinner on the beach by Ventana Windsports’ new resataurant, Coyas, and live music by KL Reggae.

The wind delivered again on Saturday, and the kiteboarding demos continued. The semi-final and final heats of Big Air/Old School were held and it was Shawn Richman (RRD) who came out on top in a unanimous decision from the judges. Shawn has developed a style of riding that is all his own and is one of the most unique riders to watch. Even the experienced riders on the beach have no idea what to call the moves he does. Michelle Gabriel (North) took the women’s title after a series of intensely competitive heats. Also on Saturday, the kiteboarding course racing got underway, with Johnny Heineken winning every race of the day. As the action on the beach wound down, the area was being prepped for a beach buffet provided by Su Amigo Pancho Taqueria and Caution Fight Night, a full-on Lucha Libre wrestling match held at the event site. Professional Mexican wrestlers were brought in and put on an amazing show for the crowd. After a number of body slams and broken chairs, El Zombie and El Spitfire walked away victorious after expert coaching from Peter Shiebel and Brendan Richards.

Sunday, the wind delivered again for the final day of the event. The demo booths were busy yet again as the racers chased each other around the buoys for another day. Unfortunately, Johnny Heineken had to go home early to return to work, which opened the door for Damien LeRoy (Cabrinha) to take first place. Also on Sunday, a group of SUPers were taken up to the Hot Springs for a 5-mile downwind race back to the event site. Overnight, a kicker had shown up, so that was put in the water for a few riders to session before the wind died. The event was capped off with an awards ceremony at Pizza Vela that featured a slideshow, fire dancers, live music, and the presentation of a check to the mayor of La Ventana/El Sargento.

After four days packed full of action, the La Ventana Classic and KiteXpo was a huge success, raising over $18,000 for the area schools while bringing the kiteboarding community together for an outrageously good time south of the border. Make plans to be there next year, as plans are already underway to take it up another notch for 2012! For tons of photos and video from the 2011 La Ventana Classic and KiteXpo, check out http://www.thekiteboarder.com/tag/la-ventana-2011/

LA VENTANA CLASSIC RESULTS

PADDLE ROYALE 11-MILE SUP CROSSINGMEN: Kiwi Fields WOMEN: Betsy Rudigoz

SUP 1-MILE RACEMEN: Jason Maartense WOMEN: Betsy Rudigoz

SUP 5-MILE DOWNWINDERMEN: Jason MaartenseWOMEN: Sky Robbins

LA VENTANA CLASSIC 11-MILE CROSSINGFASTEST: Brian Metcalf–Perez, windsurfer, 22:23 MEN 1. Johnny Heineken, 22:452. Damien LeRoy, 22:503. Sean Farley, 23:10WOMEN1. Kirsten Ulmer, 28:172. Shannon Gormley, 28:563. Marie Leclerc, 29:04

BIG AIR/OLD SCHOOL FREESTYLEMEN 1. Shawn Richman2. Damian LeRoy 3. Sean FarleyWOMEN1. Michelle Gabriel2. Britney Todd 3. Laura Maher

COURSE RACINGMEN1. Damien LeRoy2. Adam Koch3. Andrew KochWOMEN1. Britney Todd2. Cynbad Brown3. Kris Kinn

THEKITEBOARDER.COM 43

2011

Toga! Toga! TOGA!!!

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LOCAL BUSINESSES SUPPORTING THE 2011 LA VENTANA CLASSIC. WITHOUT THESE PEOPLE THE EVENT WOULDN’T BE POSSIBLE!

PALAPAS VENTANA http://www.palapasventana.comOpening Palapas Ventana was a result of many years of chasing wind, waves, and fish in Baja, and then figuring out how to stay without starving to death! Tim Hatler envisioned running

a small resort that offered guests the best of Baja: Cozy beachside casitas, kite lessons, killer Mexican meals, downwinders, fishing, diving, whale shark tours, and everything else that is unique about the area. That’s about what he has today except he also cleans a lot of toilets too! Tim loves eating chilaquiles, listening to Los Tigres Del Norte, kiting virgin spots, and spearing dinner. He started the Classic as a local event and is stoked that it has grown to what it has without losing its vibe and sense of community. Tim said it’s nice to see direct use of tourist dollars improving living conditions instead of lining pockets!

VENTANA WINDSPORTS http://www.ventanawindsports.comStephen “Esteban” Winarski first came to the La Ventana area in the mid-80s and spent the next several winters there

camping and windsurfing between sea kayak trips around La Paz. He fell in love with the place because of the natural beauty, the great wind, and the good community of tourists and locals. Esteban quickly became obsessed with the idea of buying land on the beach and starting a business. At first it was just going to be a small juice bar with a yurt for accommodations. From that humble beginning Ventana Windsports has grown over the years to nine separate cabanas, a bodega for kite, windsurf, and SUP gear, and Coyas restaurant, which is now open to the public for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Esteban said he is thrilled to be part of the LV Classic/Kite Expo as it’s a great opportunity to give something back to the community while sharing the stoke of the great sports that La Ventana has and have a panga load of fun!

BAJA JOE’S http://www.bajajoe.comJoe and Angie Cheek first came to La Ventana to windsurf and eventually bought property so they could hang out a little longer. Friends wanted to hang out too so they built a couple of extra rooms. They didn’t really have a vision for Baja Joe’s as

a resort. It was more of an evolution resulting from more friends wanting to visit and stay with them so they built more rooms and charged a little rent so they could stay even longer. Today, they live in La Ventana full time and have built up a good business with fly fishermen during the off-season. Joe and Angie support the Classic because the beach in front of their property is the ideal location for the event and they want to give back to the community that has accepted and embraced their endeavor and adventures in Mexico.

CAPTAIN KIRK’S http://www.captainkirks.comAfter buying the remains of a bankrupt windsurfing shop in Southern California in 1992, Kirk Robinson needed to develop a business in the off-season by creating an “endless windy

summer.” Captain Kirk’s Mexico then started running trips to La Ventana from La Paz and then bought a beautiful property there a year later to pursue this dream. Kirk chose his property because of its perfect gentle slope to the beach, the classic cactus that overlooks the beach, and the nice breaking swell right in front of it when an El Norte hits. Their neighbors at Palapas Ventana, Tim and Jimena, are good friends - they share the same beach and have always supported each other. Kirk and his wife Kitty gave computers and even an old school bus to the local schools prior to Tim’s creation of the Classic and now, through Tim’s efforts, Kirk said the entire community is involved so the support for the schools is really fantastic.

LA VENTANA BUILDERS http://www.laventanabuilders.com/Mike Donahue took the summer of 2000 off to finish his own house in La Ventana and while there he received a call from

friends Sarah and Garvin Cross who asked if he had time to build them a house as well. Making some money while finishing his house sounded great so he acquired the necessary documents to open a business in Mexico and he was off and running. The success of the business has grown beyond his expectations and has enabled

him to live in La Ventana full time for the last eight years. Mike said living and working in Baja is a dream come true for him as there is nothing like going to work and then going kiting without having to change clothes! Mike said he is involved in the La Ventana Classic and KiteXpo for two reasons. First, he will support anything that Tim Hatler is involved with. Second, making the schools better is the best gift we can give the children and the communities of La Ventana/El Sargento.

LA VENTANA BAY PROPERTIES http://www.laventanabayproperties.com/Lana and Dave Nixon first experienced La Ventana over 13 years ago. The laidback lifestyle and “every little thing is gonna be

alright” attitude of the community was really appealing to them. After a few years of winter vacations they decided to semi retire, purchase property, and build a home in the area. Soon after they had friends approaching and asking if they could help design and build their home in La Ventana too. Thus began the Nixon’s home building business adventure. Today they are averaging about four custom homes a year along with various other side projects. Their son, Corey, a journeyman carpenter, recently joined the business as project manager and now resides in La Ventana full time. He is an active member of the local community and enjoys volunteering for the fundraising event. Dave said, “The Classic is a fantastic way to give back to the community, which has given so much to us. We eagerly look forward to many more years of sponsoring and volunteering for this wonderful event.”

LA VENTANA SUR REAL ESTATE/LVX http://www.laventanasur.comLVX was formed on the basis of a friendship and a vision to combine local Ozzy Ramirez’s years of kiteboarding and

instructing experience in Bahia La Ventana with the business acumen of Jeff and Leni Neumeier to offer kite enthusiasts the opportunity to learn the sport in such an incredible location. They love working in the elements of the ocean and living by the rhythm of wind and water while having the freedom of an unconventional work schedule combined with a professional lifestyle. LVX also offers real estate and property opportunities, as many visitors fall in love with the area and make La Ventana their second home. Ozzy, Jeff, and Leni are involved in the La Ventana Classic because they believe it is a great event that promotes the sport and supports the local public schools. They said it is awesome to have the opportunity to see world-class kiters in action, learn about all the new kite gear, and enjoy the other evening events that bring everyone together for a good time in Baja.

44 THEKITEBOARDER.COM

KL Reggae put on a great show Friday night.

Nate Appel was able to session the kicker that

magically showed up overnight.

The winner’s podium for the men’s kite crossing.

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LA VENTANA CLASSIC AND KITEXPO SPONSORS

EVENT ORGANIZERS: Palapas Ventana and The Kiteboarder Magazine

GOLD LEVEL: Hands of Faith and Pelican Reef

SILVER LEVEL: La Ventana Windsports, Slingshot, Baja Joe’s, La Ventana Home Services, Dakine

BRONZE LEVEL: Sol Kiteboarding, Captain Kirk’s Kiteboarding, Morris Olson Courtroom Lawyers, Elevation Kite School, Isle Surfboards, SUP Mexico, SurfCraft, La Ventana Builders, La Ventana Bay Properties and Custom Homes, Patagonia, Caution, Wainman Hawaii, Oregon Screen, Scenic Charms, Teva, Best Kiteboarding, Mystic Boarding, Underground

VENDOR LEVEL: Downwinder Inn, Mokies, Team Duke Sunscreen, La Ventana Sur Real Estate, Diamante Real Estate, Corona Cerveza, Pizza Vela, Cabrinha, NPX, Caracol Milk, Baja Boardriders, Paddlesurf.net, Underground, Live2Kite, North, Mystic, RRD, Naish, Liquid Force, Ozone, Best, F-One, Airush, Ikitesurf.com

RAFFLE WINNERS:Piper Rexford (Mystic Harness), Carol Corlett (Wainman HI Surfboard), Jesus Allen Cosia Lucero (Best Short Stick), Jesus Davila (Caution Kite), Ellen Tercier (Underground Tahee 134)

2011

Luckily, the start of the La Ventana Classic 11-mile crossing was a clean one with no tangled kites this year.

The course racers chased each other around the buoys for two days of competi-tive racing.

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50 THEKITEBOARDER.COM

By Paul Lang

For many people, jumping is what kiteboarding is all about, and that’s what they want to do more than anything else in the sport. Jumping is not very difficult to do, but you will have a lot more fun learning how to do it if you wait until you can confidently ride in both directions and can at least hold your ground upwind.

1. Start off with good board speed and ease off your edge as you bring your kite up to about 60°.

2. While edging your board rapidly upwind, pull with your back hand to direct your kite up to the top of the window.

3. As your kite reaches overhead, stand tall and push off of your back foot to pop your board off the water while you sheet in with your bar. The timing here is critical and it takes a lot of trial and error to get right.

4. Pull your knees up as you leave the water. Pulling your knees up helps stabilize you in the air and letting your legs dangle doesn’t look good. Let the kite fly past overhead in the opposite direction that you were traveling.

5. At the apex of your jump, pull the kite back overhead to slow your descent.

6. As you approach the water, extend your legs and pull slightly harder with your front hand. You want to land traveling downwind with the kite on its way back into the power zone to give you power to ride away.

50 THEKITEBOARDER.COM

2010 INSTRUCTIONAL

learn. Keep at it.

going very high, you need to edge harder before you take off from the water.

plummet like a rock, you are probably pulling too hard with your back hand as you redirect the kite. TIPS

With a little practice, you’ll find yourself gracefully floating through the air before you know it. Photo Paul Lang

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THEKITEBOARDER.COM 51

SPIN. LIKE A RECORD BABYOnce you are able to land at least most of your jumps, you are ready to start spinning. Like most things in life, the secret to spins is all in your head, but we don’t mean your brain. We mean that round hairy mass on top of your body. Rotations begin and end with your head. Whatever way you move your head, the rest of your body will follow.

TO SPIN FORWARD:1. As you leave the water, rotate your head forward by putting your forward ear to your forward

shoulder and pull your knees up close to your body.

2. The harder you motion with your head and the tighter you pull your knees in the faster you will rotate. You can slow down or speed up the rotation by extending your legs or pulling them in tighter.

3. Assuming you are going for just one rotation, spot your landing as you come around and stare at it. Slow your rotation and prepare for the landing by extending your legs.

TO SPIN BACK:1. As you leave the water, initiate the spin by tucking your chin

to your forward shoulder. Pull your knees up to speed up the rotation, and to avoid those silly dangle-legs.

2. Speed up or slow down the rotation by pulling the board up or extending it away.

3. Spot your landing and keep your eyes focused on it. You want to slow your spin on a back rotation slightly sooner so you can land with the board aiming downwind.

Paul Lang is the Editor of this magazine and usually lets his legs dangle when he jumps.

THEKITEBOARDER.COM 51

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many you are going to do before you take off. Keep your body compact until your last rotation. Rotating blindly until you hit the water again doesn’t usually end smoothly.

or less time in the sky. If you feel like you are going to over-rotate slightly, sheet out to shorten your time in the air. If you are just slightly under-rotating, sheeting in might just give you the extra moment you need to get the rest of the way around. TI

PS

Wherever your head goes, the rest of your body will follow. Photos Paul Lang

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ABOUT

Paul Langhttp://[email protected]

Paul Lang is a writer and photographer working out of Santa Barbara, California.

He has published travel stories, how-to articles, interviews, watersports instruc-tional material, boating and kiteboard-ing repair articles, and opinion-based editorials. Much of his published writ-ing has been accompanied by his photos.

Paul is a nationally published photographer specializing in travel and sports photog-raphy and is currently Editor of The Kite-boarder Magazine. He is an experienced Baja traveler and has traveled extensively while on photo and writing assignments.

Paul is an avid kiteboarder and has ex-tensive boating experience in sail and power boats of all sizes. He has taught sailing and kiteboarding at top schools in Southern California and also enjoys stand-up paddling, kayaking, camping, hik-ing, snowboarding, wakeboarding, surf-ing, and traveling as much as possible.

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