Video - Weaponized

Fresh vid from Slingshot, little compilation of most of the features I got to hit this year.

My First Slingshot Ad

I've always wanted to be featured in a Slingshot ad. Finally after nine years of riding hard here it is. My man Lance Koudele and I synced up for this shot during the 2012 Slingshot Photo Shoot in the Hood River, OR. On this day there was no wind in Hood so we drove like 3 hours to a place called 3 Mile. The wind was light and fluky when we first went out so I took a 13m, but as the sun started going down the wind strength increased (still fluky as shit). Lance set up on the pier so I was able to jump pretty close to him and still have time to avoid the beach after landing (barely), but if the kite went down it would for sure be on the rocks. Shymac held this huge ass bulb flash that pretty much lit up like the sun whenever Lance pulled the trigger. I looked into it a few times and had to land in a haze while my pupils re-dilated. The hardest part was getting close enough to the flash while maintaining solid power in the kite since the shore line was disturbing the wind. Usually I wouldn't be very stoked with a Raley shot but the lighting and scenery in this shot is one of a kind, gonna be hard to top this one. Watch out for the video coming out from the whole Hood River Shoot, should drop sometime before New Years. Peace.

Shots in Every NA Kite Mag this Month

This month was pretty good for me as far as mag coverage. Scored shots in Kiteboarding, The Kiteboarder, and SBC Kiteboard.

This shot of a Nuke Glide in The Kiteboarder Magazine was shot by Jamy Donaldson right in front of the launch at Sherman Island, CA. I was on the new Slingshot Turbine 17m so I was the only one out which made it easy to get a shot with no one in the background, which is a lot harder than it seems. I was so close to the beach that crashing the kite meant fishing it out of the bushes, but that is what it usually takes to get a good shot.

These two shots are from SBC Kiteboard.

The first one, a double page spread of a Switch 313, is an ad for the Dakine Renegade harness, shot at Kitebeach, Maui by Tracy Kraft. Tracy noticed that at low tide the green moss covered rocks at the mouth of the river were exposed and thought it would be good in the foreground of a shot. So we had to wait for the perfect day where the tide, wind, and lighting all lined up. In the background, on the rocks, you can see a pole with a wire that the Naish Team was using for tracking shots on the beach.

This Backside Tailslide was shot by Bryan Elkus in Hatteras, NC on the LTR Rooftop. Unfortunately, since Hurricane Irene took out the entire Real Slider Park last month, this will be the last shot of this feature. As usual Hatteras comes through with the epic sunset backdrop.

Finally the shot in Kiteboarding is a double page spread of a Front Mobe by Lance Koudele. I was in the Gorge riding in the 2012 Slingshot photo shoot with Greg Norman Jr. We were riding downwind of the Klickitat River mouth in a small slew that was only about a kite lines length wide, so there wasn't much room for error and we had to take turns going in and out. Afterwards I had some fun sending it over the bushes in the background until the rest of the team showed up and we set up the log jam that is featured on the cover of the mag.

Cali Coverage

Was in Cali for a few weeks last month helping Slingshot's West Coast Sales Rep, Brave Dave, with demos in the Bay Area. We hit up 3rd ave the first day but the wind was pretty light. We had riders out on 12's and 14's for a while before it died off completely. Then we headed out to Sherman for the weekend. The wind was better, riders were out on 10's and 12's and stoked on all the new boards. After the demos I stuck around Sherman and the Bay Area for a couple more weeks shooting with Jamy Donaldson. Unfortunately the kicker was MIA but the flat water behind the islands is always good for load and pop. Had some good sessions for sure, it was windy most of the time and I got a few shots including this shot that was just published in The Kiteboarder magazine.

Jamy also hooked it with VIP tickets to Deadmau5 at Outside Lands in San Francisco. So intense being in a field with 10,000 other people all going nuts.

Dakine Photo Gallery

New Dakine site is pretty sick. So easy to compare products and navigate through the different sports. I even have a small photo gallery on the kite team page this year so check it out, dakine.com

Triple S Invitational 2011

Triple S was sick this year, big ups to Real Watersports for throwin another awesome event. The music was bumpin every night and there were plenty of ladies geetin down. A winch was set up in the boat basin to ride when there was no wind that we shredded late into the night as the party started around us.

We got better wind conditions than last year allowing all of us to step up our game on the kite and the media department was on fire with daily updates. The park setup was the best yet with the addition of two new boxes, the Uf-Uf (up flat up flat) and the roof top (up down).

The party yacht was upgraded this year to a party complete with a flat rail and kickin sound system. So basically you would tack upwind to the top of the park, drop into a butter flat slick, hit all five features, stop at the barge and pound a beer while you get amped with some tunes, then do it all over again. Can't wait till next year.

Stance #45 featuring The NA Blend pt 2 now availible

My hommie Ben at Stance Magazine has just released DVD issue #45 featuring the second part of the NA Blend that we filmed in Hood River, Oregon last July. Check out the trailer and order your copy today at stanceplanet.com for only 8 euros.

Real Triple S Kite Camp, June 17th-19th

Sign up now for Real Watersports' 2011 Triple S Kite Camp by emailing me at ericr@realwatersports.com. Three days of intense Surf, Slick, and Slider action in world class conditions with coaching from some of the top professional riders in the USA. For more information on this camp, and other lessons and camps offered by Real, go to realwatersports.com or just shoot me an email. Hope to see you on the water!

Spring Season on Maui

After spending a couple months in the snow I decided it was time for a change of climate. It would be a few months before it started warming up anywhere north of the tropics so at the end of January I headed out to Maui for the spring. Maui is one of my favorite places to ride, especially in the winter since I hate wetsuits. The NE trade winds here are pretty consistent and strong through the winter, and on those off days there is usually some swell to surf. This year the conditions have been good with only a couple weeks of no wind. There have been a couple big swells but for the most part it’s been pretty average.

I’ve been spending most of my time hitting kickers at Kitebeach with the Newton wakeboard. The increased rocker compared to a kiteboard is just what I need to handle such hard, slacked landings. I don’t really need to worry about it slowing me down or dragging me down wind since it is usually blowing 20+ mph. The kickers are great since they aren't part of a surf break, allowing me to drop my kite without worrying about it getting eaten by a wave. If it is not that windy or there are no kickers I ride the Darkside since the flatter rocker lets me plane easier. The wind is rarely north enough to fill in at the pro pool but when it is it is a great flat water spot. Maui Sunset in Kihei is also pretty flat but only works on a south wind.

Recently I’ve been mostly working on adding grabs to my flat spins. It has been a lot of fun and feels unbelievable when you nail it right. My favorite thing to do right now is add the grab after the handle pass. You really have to have the spin down to be balanced enough to focus on a grab so late in the trick. If you want to see what I’m talking about click here to check out a video of a Backside 3 with a late grab.

When the swell starts pumping I bust out the Tyrant and hit the surf. I usually ride the right at Lanes, but if the wind is really strong and east there is a sick left near my house at Waiehu. Make sure you lock your car if you ever go to Lanes though because I had my gear ripped off while I was out riding. Luckily I was able to recover it all when the thief sold it to a guy at Kitebeach. Other than that I’ve hit up the lower reef at Kanaha, Pier One and Sugar Cove a couple times.

I’ve got a couple more weeks here to hone in some new tricks before I head back to the East Coast to kick off the summer season and hit up the 2011 Triple S Invitational at Real Watersports in Cape Hatteras, NC. Hope to see ya there! Peace.

Slingshot's 2011 Kite Teams

Slingshot has just posted their 2011 Kite Team page. I am honored to have been accepted to the 2011 Global Team along with Alex Fox, Ruben Lenten, Jeff Kafka, Karolina Winkowska, Andy Yates, and Youri Zoon.

2011 Triple S Invite List

Super stoked to get an invite this year instead of needing to win the wildcard. Going to be a sick event.

Click here to check out my update from last years event and check out the wild card video that got me into the event.

Go to Realwatersports.com for the complete list and info for the event.

Kite Snowboarding in Utah

It started with a ten hour drive in a van overloaded with gear and bodies. A crew of my friends from San Francisco were on their way to Park City for five days to host a snow kiting camp. We drove through the night, pulling into a coffee shop parking lot in Park City around 4:00am. After only a couple hours of upright sleep I was awoken by an elderly man knocking on the window asking if I was OK. At least he opened the coffee shop so we could caffeine up before grabbing the snowmobile and heading straight to Skyline.

When we arrived the wind was light, but I knew it didn't take as much power to go as on water and there would probably be more wind higher up the ridges. I still went with my 13m. It was perfect. I rode till the sun went down, gliding over rocks, jibing trees, and just making tracks.

The next day we headed back to Park City for the camp. We rode at Strawberry Reservoir for the next 4 days. The wind was a lot cleaner coming off the frozen water instead of through a canyon and over a ridge. Two days in, however, a rain storm rolled through and fucked up all the snow. Sticky snow is a nighmare. Riding... riding... nose dive!

After the camp was over we packed the van and mobbed back to Cali. With the snow getting worse and worse there too, I decided snow time was over and flew out to Maui to get reacquainted with my true love: kickers.

Water & Snow: Two Sides of the Same Coin

This last month has been pretty lax. I've been at home in Tahoe visiting family and friends before the 2011 season kicks in. We got a lot of snow before Christmas and the temperature has stayed pretty cold so it's not too hard yet.

Tried to get some snow kite sessions in but the wind here is tough to track down. I pumped up a few times but by the time I could make one reach the wind would shift and I'd have to walk back. That and you need a ton of power to ride upwind in waist deep powder.

I've mostly just been playing a lot of Black Ops and hitting the hand rail across the street from my house. Also been a few good days dropping some cliffs and shredding the park at the resorts.

I'm amazed at how well my rail skills on a wakeboard cross over to snowboarding. It's almost like they are the same thing. Kind of like water and snow: the same but different. I just wish we had features this sick in the water.

Tomorrow I'm off to Utah for a week to try and track down some wind. Wish me luck.