Cool Utah history

[DeanDavis]

I always saw Kenny and Mike as the legions of our sport in Utah which is really cool since they are very respectable people. These threads give me new insight to other Utah legions: Jason (aka Masterboarder), Jon, and Jeff. Again all very cool people. I think Apri should get in there with the “pioneers” since he started in 2001 with a 9m two-line kite which he found on the internet (obviously with no schooling). I missed the legions crowd by a few years, since I started in early summer 2002 and although we were using 4 line kites by then I think I still paid my dues with my total instruction time of maybe 30 minutes as Mike set up my lines, walked me in the water and said “now body drag”. I guess if I could think of a claim to fame I’m guessing that I must have the most kite time on the water at SSB.

[jason morton]

Speaking of old school Utah kiters. What happened to the guy who rode the ocean rodeo kites? I forgot his name?

[jason morton]

Speaking of cool. A kiteboarding engineer who designs designs wind farms. That's way cool.

[DeanDavis]

I think you are thinking about my buddy Jeff (tall 6' 4", I think bald at the time, rode a 16m Ocean Rodeo). He is a long time college (UofU) buddy of mine who grew up in SLC and then moved to Portland, OR in 2000. He was the reason I got into kiteboarding. When he moved up to Portland it finally gave me an excuse to learn to wind surf (a long time goal of mine since leaving surfing) so I headed up in the fall of 2001 to stay with him and take lessons at Hood River. We did that together for a few days and after one lesson we went over to the Hatchery to watch the really good riders. While driving over there we saw one lonely kiter on the water and it really caught Jeff's attention. I made nothing of it. I watched the wind surfers while he watched the lonely kiter. Then in the winter of 2001/2002 he hauled his 5th wheel trailer back to Utah to escape the rain (which took him a few years to get used to) and to help me with some work I was doing. It was supposed to only be a quick Utah stop before heading on to other destinations but he ended up staying with me for over 9 months. We snowboarded during the winter and then come spring that lonely kiteboarder was still on his mind. He did some more internet searching and eventually found Mike R. and talked me into laying down the cash for some gear. We meet with Mike, got our gear, and then started the steep learning curve. Jeff finished the season in Utah then headed back to Portland in October of 2002. Ironically he doesn't kite much any more. As much as OR is the mecca for windriding he missed the uncrowded, friendly atmosphere of Utah kiting.