9/21 DC BLOWDOWN

[David Kyle]

Wow what a change! Dc came in around 12:30 and came in strong until about 5:00. We had a good turnout today with several riders riding mostly 11m and under except for myself who was stuck with a heavely overpowered 13m Waroo. So my day was more of a lower body workout than anything else. Great to see George the windsurfer, ride for the first time today on the beautifull 9m Niash, way to get after it.

[John Guay]

It was a great afternoon after a couple of marginal weekends. I was totally powered on a 9M Ozone and 132 Underground from about 1:30 to 3:30. It looked like you could still have fun on a bigger kite when I left. Way to go George I saw you get some nice rides. It's starting to get a little chilly... no more shorties!

[John Dubock]

A few elitist windsurfers packed Island Beach, as in me, JIm Southwick and Mark. On the beach windmeter said average of 16k, gust of 36 and Sundance had a gust of 40. We had 6.0's, no boats, smoking wind. The kiters might have had strong enough cookies for George to switch teams, but we had speed muffins. As long as you don't take Jim Southwick to the Dark Side there will still be a poleboarding benchmark on Island Beach. Stunning day, I wore a shortie, then again I haven't missed a meal in decades. Sarah woulda worn a dry suit, water is a litte 'turbid'. We noted the kiters took a break mid session, we think they were busy posing for tourist pics, a new moneymaker.

[JimSouthwick]

http://homepage.mac.com/jsouthwick/PhotoAlbum105.html

[Jason Klein]

Probably one of the nicer days for me at DC this year. Wind was fairly steady (by DC standards) low to mid 20's from around 1:00 to 3:30, when it died out for a while. I had the 11m out from 1:30 to 3:30, well powered. Wind was strong and smoothe enough to shoot up to island beach fairly easily. Saw a few windsurfers rigging there. Took a break when the wind came down around 3:30, and rigged the 15m for another 45min-1hr late afternoon session. I use the 15m so much here that i had to really work at the timing on jumps on the 11m. Also need to pay a lot more attention to what the kite is doing while you'te in the air. There were probably 10-12 kiters there, missing a lot of the usual suspects.

[Carl Christensen]

Silly me. The van is down so Kaerli and I went to ride the Olympic bobsled instead. Talk about the darkside. Nothing like squishing your eyeballs into the bottom of their sockets while pulling 6 g's absolutely pancaked against a concrete wall at 65-70mph. Those things are ridiculous. Full WFO smack into a 180 degree hairpin pile drives your helmet until it hits your shoulders. They tell you that is a good thing since it keeps your head from shaking off and prevents cervical injuries. I'm probably an inch shorter. Made me wish I had a back brace. Made me wish I had gone sailing. Remind me not to complain when I'm overpowered ever again.

[RickHeninger]

Carl just made me want to try out the bobsled course! What do they charge?

John, you elitist!

[Carl Christensen]

$60. This is the last weekend I think. It's a good time of year to do it. We drove up, signed up, walked out, watched the folks in front of us strap in and go, and then jumped in the next sled. No waiting. Let me know if you go. Shorts and flip flops okay. Helmets provided.