A new member of the club.

[bdawg]

Hey everyone I am just happy to share that I had my first two lessons Monday and Tuesday. Monday was kite set up and body dragging with two-line kite. Yesterday was trying to ride a board with a 4-line kite. I did manage to get up several times with my longest ride about 10-15 seconds. I have to hand it to you all because you guys and gals make it look a hell of allot easier then it is. The power of the kite is amazing and scary. I had only one real killer crash, so I was thankful for that. I did my lessons with Nat Lincoln of edge kiteboarding and have a third lesson planned for this afternoon at the Delta. I can't wait till I am able to hold my own and get out there and meet everyone. For now I will be doing down winders until I can stay on that damn board then work on going upwind.

See ya out there,

Blair

[bdawg]

Let me know if you can see the pics but here is the link.


http://f1.pg.briefcase.yahoo.com/bc/the_sh1t@sbcglobal.net/lst?.dir=/bayareakiteboarding&.src=bc&.view=

files "kitedeath #1 and #2"

I ruined my trainer's kite in a bad way.

I am only a beginner and i messed up pretty good.

Blair

[OliverG]

Blair,

When you say your "trainers kite" do you mean your kite that you are using for training or your trainers kite? It looks repairable from what I can tell. If you don't have anyone locally, you can always UPS it down here and I could drop it by Willy's at Advanced Kite here in Oakland for repairs.

I'd suggest you write up how it all happened and post the story in the "Tales From the Bay" (and outlying areas) section. Should be a good read.

But seriously, that's why I always recommend that beginners buy low-cost second hand gear. No one got hurt right? Everyone's OK?

Talk to you soon,
Ollie

[bdawg]

ollie,
Yeah it was my instructors kite. it basically runs from the center strut to the next strut out. I still felt bad that i exploded the kite even though i was paying $100 bucks an hour.

I will write it up in the future. It isn't that good of a story but it will be nice lesson for beginners to get lessons and not ruin their own gear.

Yeah, I was not hurt at all. I was more stoked than anything because I was getting some real decent rides in. The lack of nuking winds wednesday from tuesday really helped out.

thanks for your concern.

see you out there,

Blair