The South Padre Wrap-up

The fun had to come to an end. Billy and I were able to get one last day of kiting in this past Saturday. It was Billy's first day riding without an instructor and he rode like a rock star. He jumped out there with little to no help from me or anyone else. I kept hearing someone yelling "Oh Billy" every time I passed through a crowd of kiters so I know he must have been ok.

I had another lesson with Mark Doyle. It was a bit humbling as I was trying to learn how to ride with the kite unhooked from my harness. So you just have to hang on to the kite with the strength of your arms instead of it pulling on the hook of your waste harness. It wasn't easy at all. I tangled by kite 3 times and completely lost it another time. Yes it actually flew away. My instructor accidently advised that I hook up my safety leash in a different way. It was a mistake and the first time I let go of the kite my leash popped at the same time and there went my $3000 kite flying out to sea! We both just stood there staring at it. He didn't have a jet ski at the time so we had to watch it tumble around out there for a while until someone arrived on a jet ski that could rescue it. I was feeling pretty beat up so I retreated for shore for a rest. Meanwhile Billy was out there just givn'r. Mowin' the lawn baby. Oh ya....

We wrapped up the day cookin' the biggest meal of the week. We had a lot of food so we cooked everything Texas size. Have you ever seen a Greek salad that big(see pic)? 

Billy got up on Sunday morning to head home while I attempted to squeeze in one last session in the waves. It wasn't meant to be though. I had a bit of a "run in" with a local on the beach and I packed up and left without getting any kiting in. It was the only negative experience I had on the trip. There is always one jackass at every party.  The wind was really light so it was no real loss.

My flight left from Brownsville at 4:45pm and I was home by 1:30am only to have to get up at 7am for a meeting with a venture capitalist. Nice welcome home! 

Ok so here is the final wrap up video I put together with cheesy music and all.....

Oh and the obligatory photo gallery:

2 Minutes in Heaven is better than 1 Minute in Heaven!

It's friday and my body is sore. I have pulled my calf muscle, groin and yesterday I bruised my upper chest after getting slammed into the water while doing a 720!  Now that was fun....a little hyper ventilating and and an out of control kite really wrapped up the incident well. This sport is so awesome. What a way to relax! Oh and I forgot to tell you in my last post that I was kiting with a shark the other night out in the waves. Big ass fin popped up about 15 feet from me. Of course, I started to make all kinds of mistakes. I have never got back on my board so fast in my life.

Other than that...we are having a blast. Well I am....let me check with Billy......ok Billy is having a blast too even though he isn't kiting as much as I am. Billy got up riding on Tuesday and probably could have spent the rest of the week practicing but he doesn't have his own gear. So it has been a waiting game for him trying to get the wind to be "just right" for him to go out with the instructor again.  It is either too strong or too light. 

Billy and I have quite the routine going on...we are like a married couple. I tell you what...it is lucky I have this MAC computer so Billy can talk to his "real wife" and child via iChat daily.  I have had to leave the room a few times as the content during these conversations has not been PG. That wife of Dave's is wild babe. 

Weather has been great with mostly hot and sunny conditions but the wind has been light all week up until yesterday. I have been able to kite every day but it was work trying to keep the kite in the air and the board planing on the water. It is still fun though.  Yesterday we had a NE wind storm that came through that was gusting 40mph. It was the best day this week. I rode for about 6 hours straight. I shut the place down....last man on the water with the sun setting.

The guys we are hangin' out with are a great bunch. Some from Edmonton, some from the lower mainland area. All professionals or business owners of some sort and they love to kite. We usually do a group dinner each night which is a fun way to get to know a bunch of new people. The Edmonton crowd has the routine nailed. They come down with a converted Greyhound type bus with a motor cycle on the back. These guys are real characters. Check out the video of the "bus"

This kiting crowd is your classic surfer type group. Many are nomadic by nature which makes for a unique culture. We met Dominique the other day who is on a trip to South America shooting a travel documentary. He was traveling in style on a BMW and had the thing rigged up to shoot video from the side of his bike. Here is a guy who just graduated from med school in Maryland and is now living out his Motorcycle Diaries fantasy. 

After a week of Billy and I calling each other Billy the rest of the guys we are with finally asked what the hell was up. I had to laugh that it took them this long as the name Billy was used at least hundred times per day.  Living with another Billy does bring up some deep seated identity crisis type issues and Billy and I have resorted to writing our names on food and clothing items before things got ugly in the house. This has cleared up a number of unspoken issues in the house..

The highlight of the week was our shopping spree at Walmart.....wow what a place. It represents everything America and especially Texas is about.  It was a one stop shop....we got groceries, turkey deep friers, clothes and even diamond rings. I proposed to Billy this week but don't tell him I put the ring on lay away with the latest Walmart financing options. I got Heidi one too but don't tell her I gave one to Billy otherwise we will have to move to Utah.

Alright....I think that pretty much wraps up today's update. I gotta go check the wind to see if we can get a kiting session in. It may be short lived but remember 2 minutes in heaven is better than 1 minute in heaven. It's business time baby!

Billy (aka crash) and Billy(aka redneck wanna be)

ps...here are all of the photos we took over the past few days.

South Padre Island, Texas - Kiting Trip

Sunday Nov 11 Update

If  you really want to know what the hell we are doing then read on. Otherwise skip to the end and see the photo gallery.

I was invited on a boys kiteboarding trip to SPI. I decided to convince Dave to come along and give this kiting thing a try.  If you don't know where SPI is check the map:

View Larger Map

We are in Southern Texas down on the Gulf of Mexico.  It is a long narrow island that is about 1km wide.  

Dave and I made it down to SPI in one piece but it wasn't without its adventure. I just barely made my flight out of Vancouver after arriving a tad late and Dave missed his flight from Houston to Brownsville. To top it all off I had my kiteboarding gear bag snagged by another kiteboarder that had the EXACT same bag as mine. By the time we arrived at our apartment I had the other guys bag in my car and he met us outside in the parking lot to make the switch.

Our Apartment is great...two bedroom, kitchen, living/dining area, wireless internet(that is critical stuff) with an ocean front view of the gulf. We wake up in the morning to the sound of breaking waves and the warmth of 90 degree humid air. It is sooooo romantic....OOOOOH BILLY!

Saturday was our first day of kiting. It was a full day for me. I think I actually spent 8 hours on the water with no lunch. It was that much fun. In the morning we rode on the west side of the island where the water is smooth and flat and in the afternoon we rode on the wave side. One of the popular things to do here is "downwinders" which means you have someone drop you off at a point and then you ride downwind to another point where you get picked up. Our morning downwinder was only a few miles but our afternoon downwinder was more like 5 miles or something like that. The best part of the afternoon downwinder was that we finished right in front of our apartment building.

Dave had his first lesson where he learned the basics of flying a kite, safety systems and procedures and some in the water techniques. He was pumped by the time he arrived home.

Saturday night was a mellow one for Dave and I but a few of the guys decided to drive up to Brownsville at 10pm looking for some late night ballet. They arrived home at 4:30am! It took them 2 hours to find the place and another 1.5 hours in the cop shop after receiving a speed ticket.  The best part is some of these same guys then participated in a quiet Sunday night dinner followed by the movie "Over the Hedge." From budget ballet to a kids cartoon. These old guys have such extremes! :-) 

Sunday was another windy day and I took a lesson on jumping from a young prodigy(Mark Doyle). It was really helpful and I definitely have lots of stuff to work on. Check the video of Mark Doyle below. I am not *quite* where he is at but I was working on the beginnings of this type of stuff. Back and front rolls/flips, big air jumps etc.  After my lesson I was hurtin' pretty good. I got slammed into the water so many times I can't keep track, my hands are aching, . my abs are on fire from using my core over and over and my legs are so tight. I feel like I was in the gym for 5 hours. The best part....7 more days of kiting and 2 more lessons with Mark Doyle!

Dave did his second lesson and was up and riding like a rock star. He is on his way to becoming addicted. He keeps telling me that this sport may not fit his lifestyle. He is just scared to admit that he might just become obsessed like the rest of us!

Check out the gallery of photos between Nov 9 - 11 below. 

Halloween 2007

Halloween at Steve and Kelly's house. I had the Leica there with my high speed B&W film. Check out the gallery below: