I'm back.....

Ok, so I finally have a few days breathing room. The last two months have quite possibly been the most fun, exciting and busy time of my life so I haven't been posting. So what's new? Well I guess it started around the time of the Surf Expo in Florida. Howizard, T-Todd and I met up with Hunter & Gustav in Orlando and had an absolute blast. Still needing pics from this event from Gus but its suffice to say we had a lot of fun. T-Todd and I continued our tradition of pushing eachother into random hedges/trees when one least expects it. I have some serious scars. Who knew pain could be so funny. Turks & Caicos trip was next for the CrazyFly Catalogue / 2008 products shoot. Rocky, T-Todd, Howizard and I met up with the Slovakians (CrazyFly owners) along with Hunter and Gus again. I can't actually imagine having more fun in 10 days. It was a ridiculously good time. I'll be posting pics and videos from these trips over the next few days.

As for the WKC, I think its fair to say it was a great first year. We saw a lot of riders join in to the WKC mission and also saw some dramatic improvements in riding. Some examples: - just yesterday I saw Jonathan execute a sweet kiteloop. The Mcginnis family flew up the ranks and Stefanie is now jumping too although I heard she went to the mall instead of riding yesterday when it was warm and blowing 25. I guess she's set on taking 1st, & 2nd place in the "Lamest excuse not to ride" contest. Be sure to ask her what she bought at the mall. It better be good. We've had people donate gear (Prokitesurf, Deiter & Barbara) and contribute to fundraising for Rocky. Speaking of - ACE Chatwell made it to every stop on the tour and finished 9th overall which is nothing short of unbelievable. We actually don't have anyone in the "Tenderfoot" rank anymore so keep your eyes peeled for new recruits - especially kids for next year.

As for the community as a whole we have joined and formed a local kiteboarding association to give us a voice when it comes to dealing with the city and general public. Nils has started a racing series which I hope continues. (I was away on a cruise for this last one so I didn't get notice). Some bad news - Julian broke his leg, and apparently his friends laughed at him. Funny story actually - I heard it today - they meant well. I hope you get well soon and are back on the water for spring. Sounds like his wetsuit did a lot in preventing even more serious consequences like bleeding to death. Scary stuff but sounds like he will recover fine.

I know people are still out riding occasionally with the recent wind and north fronts. If you have any stories or pics to contribute, fire them over and I'll post them. It would be great to hear what everyones winter riding experience is like. We tend to get a little isolated until spring. The WKC will kick off the 2008 season in the end of April / early May. I'm sure we'll plan a party or gathering of some kind. Until then get out of bed and shred when you can. I'll still be posting here from time to time. Check out the videos below. Pump it & Chunk it!

Great Weekend.....

I can't speak for everyone but I know most of us had a pretty good weekend of riding considering we haven't had wind in almost a month. Saturday delivered a light breeze that several riders took advantage of. ACE Delegarza was out with that new radar evading Naish kite. The name escapes me at the moment. Howizard was instructing?! I guess his minions were down for the count or out of town. The wind picked up late Saturday afternoon at Wildcat and T-Todd, Jonathon, J.J and a few others rode well past sundown. I was having a blast on my 12m. I felt reborn, I shed a tear afterwards. There was rumblings of doing a midnight bay crossing since the wind was supposed to blow long into the night and peak at 1 am. Conservative minds prevailed unfortunately so we will have to save that adventure for another day......something silly about the absence of any moonlight and the word "Dangerous" was thrown around a lot - whatever that means. Local kiteboarding super star Rocky Chatwell has returned home after 6 long months and 9 hard fought battles against the best kiteboarders in the world, the last of which was in Chile amongst the seals. He finished 9th overall on the PKRA Tour and was awarded "Rookie of the Year". Totally unbelievable considering this is his 1st year on the tour. Major props to our local ACE. He is a bit under the weather as of late which is unfortunate because we all want to see how his sick riding skills have improved since the summer. Anyway he is happy to be back home for some much needed down time and we are all very proud of him. Way-to-go ACE. Thanks to everyone who has supported him in his quest for world domination. He will be hitting the tour hard again next year with a whole new bag of tricks.
Sunday's wind blew early so I put the word out that we were going to do a downwinder at the beach. The Mcginnis Team showed up along with John Cole, J.J and I. Danish and Duffy showed up later in the day. We rode aaaallll day at JP Luby and did two great down-winders. One was half way to Port A. Major props go out to Mark, Sean and Liam McGinnis and Rookair J.J. all of whom conquered the waves and completed there first downwinder. Protege Sean busted out the surfboard for the second downwinder and was thrashing waves in every direction. Rookair Liam rode like a champ too. When you are 4 feet tall, 4 foot waves are "head high". The two car deal is kind of a pain though so I think next time we should just go all the way to Port A and share a cab back - that is if we can find one that will take us. Maybe we can just pay some dude with a pickup $30 for a ride back with all our gear.
When I got back to Portland I dropped by Wildcat to see who was out. Rookair Josh was all fired up and attempting 360 air transitions. I did not get the full report on his success rate. Keep crashing dude, you will get it. I know there were others out this weekend too but I can't recall who and where exactly. The unimportant aspects of life have been quite demanding as of late so my mind isn't totally clear. This thing called work really takes up a lot of my time. I wish I new that before I got a college degree and all that. They want you to be there like 5 days a week for 8 hours, and sometimes more! Totally crazy. We must rise and revolt.
Pump it and Chunk it. Photo of Rocky killing it in the Canary Islands.

Downtown Cabrinha Racing Series 1

We finally had some wind on race day and a great turnout for the first event of the Cabrinha Race Series. The wind was light and everyone had their big kites and big boards out. The course consisted of a start line to an upwind leg of about 100 yards then 200 yards downwind and another 100 yards upwind to the finish / start line. I think the races took about 10-20 minutes depending on your finishing position.

We completed 4 races and the wind actually built slightly throughout the series. The races were surprisingly intense and competitive for the first event. I personally haven't raced kites before and its been 7 years since I've raced windsurfers. It seemed like everyone was having a great time, myself included. It was great to see young Protege Sean (13years) and Rookair Liam(10years) out there on the start line along with Rookair Josh and Johnathan, Captain T-Todd and several other riders from the bay area. Many thanks to Nils Stolzlechner and Ryan Riccitelli (the race committee) for organzing the event. For the first event, it was a big success and waaaaay more fun than we all expected.

We are hoping to organize some reeeaaaally laid back racing at Wildcat so that everyone can practice and learn how to course race for future events. We have some really experienced racers in the WKC who can give you some major tips that will make a big difference in you skills and finishing position. ACE's Howizard, Danish, & Delegarza all have extensive racing experience in windsports along with myself. Rookair Duffy is perhaps our greatest resource for racing since she is a high level coach as well an experienced racer. I'll let you know when the first fun racing "clinic" will be held at Wildcat. Basically the only thing holding us back right now is wind and some marks / bouys. If you have any leads on bouys, let me know.

Pump it and chunk it.

Welcome ACE Danish and Rookair Duffy

Please welcome Mike Danish and his much better half, Duffy Danish to the WKC. Mike is a vetran kiteboarder sponsored by North with competition experience in previous years. He is know as one of the best riders in the CC bay area and is also an Engineer/Officer/Pilot for the US Coast guard - hence he is a great guy to have on speed dial when you are 5 miles off shore out with Delegarza on his catamaran when the mast snaps off. (Luckily we had cell service). If my memory serves me correctly, Danish won the Red Bull King of the Air Qualifier in 2004 and took 3rd in the Velocity Games Boarder Cross in 2005. He also somehow convinced Duffy Markham to marry him in the past year or so which might be his greatest accomplishment.

Duffy is well know in the sailing and kiteboarding community and is the Sailing Director at the Corpus Christi Yacht club where she was awarded Developmental Coach of the Year in 2006 and I quote... " Duffy Markham created a flourishing Texas A&M Corpus Christi sailing team, an active youth and adult Learn to Sail program and expanded a current Sea Scout program. At the same time, she continued coaching and developing a race team of Lasers, 420s, Green fleet and top-ranked Optimist racers. As the head coach of the Junior Race Team, four of her team of six Optimist sailors qualified for and competed in the United States Optimist Dinghy Association (USODA) Team Trials. Duffy also coaches an Optimist sailor on the Optimist US National Team and two sailors on the US National Development Team. In addition, Duffy continually works to promote her fledgling Laser and 420 teams, encouraging sailors to switch boats to keep racing, while recruiting new sailors to crew for the more experienced sailors. She also collaborates with national coaches to promote opportunities for her sailors outside the local program." As far as I know, she is also the best female kiteboarder in town.

Danish and Duffy will make great additions to the WKC and with their combined skills, present and future WKC kids and riders will greatly benefit from tips and pointers from this duo. Welcome to the Crew guys.

Kite Munchings, Stingrays, Rocky kills it in Germany & Welcome The Danish Duo

Well this past week delivered some awesome riding with the waves from approaching storms. I trust everyone got a taste of the action, whether it was surfing or kiteboarding. I know I did. I took an afternoon off work and T-Todd, Jeremy, John Cole and I did a 10 mile downwinder from Port A to the fire station. It was sweeeeet. Totally lit on 12 meters and some monster rollers. I was having such a blast with T-Todd out in the big swell on the outside. We rode for a while within 100 feet of each other which made for some exciting moments. It was almost as fun to watch him cut up a wave as it was to ride it myself. Hang time was ridiculous when you hit a 8 foot ramp totally lit and send it, my harness started to get uncomfortable from hanging in the air for so long.

Unfortunately my ride was cut short when I started getting too fancy with the down turns and loops in the big swell and eventually I got caught paying too much attention to the wave and not flying my kite and so... it got munched, blew a strut and ripped off my 5th line. It was a blast while it lasted though and the long swim in was kinda fun in the big swell. The walk back to the car was made easy when the lifeguards gave me a lift. Jeremy went down too but for a Rookair he showed us all he has skills - major props to you dude, you've come a long way. Eventually John Cole went down too but T-Todd made it through relatively unscathed with only a broken fin. Patrick showed up a little later and was killing it too until he lost his board riding strapless in the surf. Luckily he had a second board. Lots of carnarge but everyone was still all smiles. Great times. Riding waves is such a blast, I hope we get some more storms!

In other news, Master Patrick took a hit in the foot from a sting ray this week. For anyone who doesn't know, the best thing to do is get it in hot water asap. As hot as you can stand it. Cold water will make the pain worse. Add a little clorox to the mix as well to kill any bacteria and to reduce the chance of infection - all this according to Captain / Paramedic T-Todd.

We are happy to have two new members join the WKC. Please welcome ACE Mike Danish and his wife Rookair Duffy! Both have been riding a lot a Wildcat this summer and have some serious skills as I'm sure you've noticed. They are on the East coast chunking sick moves at the moment but they will be back soon and I will do up a full post with some pics so you can find out more about the Danish Duo. Ha. Great to have you guys on board! It occured to me today that with the addition of ACE Danish, all the sickest riders in town are in the WKC. Sweet.

Speaking of sick riders, ACE Chatwell had a great comp in Germany taking 7th place!!! Awesome dude! You are the man! Rocky should be home any day now. Thats all for now. The forecast looks weak for the next few days but maybe by this weekend.

Later.

Thank you Dieter & Barbara Krins!

Stand up and give a major round of applause for Dieter & Barbara Krins. I'm sure most of you know Dieter & Barbara and have kited with them on some occasion. They are dedicated riders who really live the kiteboarding lifestyle. I received a call from Dieter this past Sunday. He said that he had some gear that he would like to donate to a good cause. I told him how the WKC is always in need of gear for new riders and kids to learn on so the next day T-Todd and I went to over to pick up the gear. They had seven kites to donate (yes that's right...seven kites: 4.5m all the way up to 14m) along with wetsuits (one of which was brand new) booties, and a couple of bars. Wow, now this is what the WKC is all about. We are going to get all these kites put together with old bars and parts from Prokitesurf and the other WKC riders so we will have a whole fleet of gear to get new kids going on. Its going to be great. The wetsuits will be great for new riders in the winter too. Thank you so much guys, your generosity is overwhelming and an example for the rest of us. We very much appreciate it.

If anyone else has anything they want to donate to the WKC mission, just let me know. Whatever it is we will put it to good use or sell it and re-invest the cash in new gear for Tenderfeet to learn on.

P.S. Dieter & Barbara - I'm going to come ride with you soon at some different spots. I've been spoiled here at Wildcat and Rockport. I'll keep in touch and we'll get together soon.

Congrats Rookair Liam "Serious Fun"

Chalk up another awesome weekend for the WKC. Wildcat started blowing a 1pm on both Saturday & Sunday built from there long into the evenings. The Mcginnis family, T-Todd, Patrick, Howizard, Kansas, Jeremy, Josh, Brent, El Jeffe, Slick Rick, Danish and Duffy, Nick, Ben and others all showed up to shred it up over the weekend. Weekend highlights included an awesome night session at Rockport on Saturday night. Rookair Jeremy, Protege Sean, and Captain T-Todd were all attempting new moves with some spectacular wipe outs. It was fun to watch and great to see the guys pulling the trigger, super powered. I of course landed everything perfectly while eating a sandwich. A large crowd soon developed including the Po-leese. Turns out they had heard about local rippers Sean and Liam and were there just to see them ride. Other highlights were ACE El Jefe simply showing up to ride on Sunday. His paramedic / fireman training has been keeping him busy. Liam was especially charging on a mission to earn his "Rookair" rank and guess what - he earned it by consistently hucking some big 8-10 foot jumps, table-top style. Pretty good for a kid who's only 2 inches taller than his board. I've also seem him do some sweet backrolls on occasion. Congratulations Rookair Liam! Liam also gets the quote of the week. After our night session at Rockport he said, "I had some serious fun today!" Me too buddy. Me too.

Pump it and chunk it.

Kiting 911 & Captain T-Todd beats down Master Kansas

So I'm driving home from a hard day of oil & gasing and I notice the wind is up on the causeway. Ten seconds later Howizard calls to say the wind is up. Game on. I text everyone "Its blowing at Wildcat!" and just like that everyone shows up in what seemed like minutes. Captain T-Todd, Master Kansas, ACE Howizard, Lurkers Danish and Duffy, Nick Alvey and moi along with some other somewhat familiar faces. It was like a kiting emergency and it turned out to be a great session on 12m's. T-Todd, Kansas & Howizard ripped across the bay and back. Apparently Kansas and T-Todd had the First Inaugural WKC Bay Crossing race on the way back and T-Todd won by a mere 100 feet or so. They were both flying 2006 12m North Vegas kites so it was actually like one design racing. Kansas cried for about 10 minutes but then he was ok and said he would just try harder next time. Danish, Duffy, Alvey and I stayed behind to ride freestyle. It was a pretty sweet session, not to mention totally unexpected. The awesome sunset made it even better. Pump it and Chunk it.

Hurricane Dean - Surf's Up!

Master Patrick called in "sick" today due to sick waves at the beach. No wind as of yet but hurricane Dean should change that. Below is a report on Dean issued by Baker Hughes (the company I work for). They are keeping a very close eye on it.

The Situation
TS Dean has been upgraded to Hurricane Dean. Dean is a currently a mid-level Cat 1 hurricane. Not much has changed since late yesterday. Dean is expected to cross into the Caribbean, over the Yucatan and then into the Gulf of Mexico (on Tuesday 8/21). Dean’s development is being slowed by dry air to its north (seen in brown on the satellite photo- this kills convection).The models (which use data from satellite observations) are having some issues as should be expected at this point in time. Please keep in mind that anything beyond three days out can often be invalidated by a number of variables. Tonight the hurricane hunter aircraft are scheduled to be in the storm taking on-scene precise measurements and as a result the models will become much more accurate/dependable starting on Friday. As the hurricane moves into the Caribbean the water is warm and there is no significant dry air to compete with. Dean should become a Cat 3 or 4 while in the Caribbean. There is a strong chance Dean could become a Cat 5 hurricane while in the western Caribbean. Waters in the western side of the Caribbean are at record heat levels not seen since 2005 (Katrina/Rita). As far as landfall it is anyone’s guess this far out and making plans based on the Weather Channel or internet should be discouraged. Currently, there is no frontal systems forecasted to come through our region until late next week (low pressure troughs steer the tropical systems north- in this case pushing Dean into Louisiana). The State of Texas is treating Dean as a threat to the state and anticipates landfall sometime early Friday morning 8/24. At this point the state is planning to kick of contra-flow and begin evacuating the coastline starting next Wednesday 8/22.

Workin it & Custom WKC Gear.

There has been some decent kiting going on this past week. A few good 12m days for sure. Last Sunday saw a great turnout at Wildcat and although I couldn't be there, T-Todd repeatedly assured me that it was one of the best days in years. Such good freinds I have. Apparently Nick Alvey even showed up! Sorry I missed you bud. In other news, ACE Chatwell had some of his gear stolen at the last comp but I believe its been replaced. He's in Germany now getting ready for his next comp on the 17th. Howizard has been riding smoother than ever (if thats even possible) on a new kite that he's testing. Its cool to watch him ride like he used to before he hurt his back doing all his old school moves. I think I even saw a deadman. This new kite apparently easy on the old boy's back but also has great performance. Hence he is getting cocky jumping all the piers in sequence and he also jumped directly over me once while I was riding full throttle towards him. Classic Howizard of days gone by. Good to have you back bro. Rookair Josh is on a serious mission to make it to the Protege rank attempting kiteloop back rolls and 360 transitions etc. Keep crashing dude. Its the only way to learn. I almost knocked myself out twice this week throwing slims in 12 inches of water and so I am sporting a suedo black eye that kind of looks like I'm wearing emo eye liner. Great look for a oil field engineer, very machismo. The McGinnis family has been riding a lot at Wildcat and Mark is definitely riding at a Rookie level now. Protege Sean is attempting dangle passes - its hard, I know. Just keep trying dude and you'll get it. Rookie Liam is attempting front rolls now too. Rookie Brent is thinking about learning to jump. Be sure to call him a wuss if you don't see him try next time he's out. Master Patrick has been teaching a lot and has discovered that he gets bigger tips if he throws down some stylish moves on the huge school board at the end of his lessons. Work it bro. And lastly, apparently Tenderfoot Stef is MIA because....get this......she is cleaning her house - very lame Stef....very lame. Mom and Dad are coming you see and I guess she needs to clean the light bulbs and electrical outlets and stuff before they get here. In her defence, she doesn't have a bar to ride since Josh sold the Boxer she was using. I gave her an old 12m Airush so if anyone has a bar you can lend her that would be cool, she's got everything else. Of course there is always Daddy's check book too. Work it girl. Oh, and your girls WKC Tenderfoot tag is in (photo by the other tags).

"Custom" WKC gear is now available. For $7 you can get the WKC logo put on almost anything. Its usually next day service here in Portland. I tried it out on my board shorts and it turned out great. You can pick your thread colors to match you gear too. Ask me or Rookair Jeremy about it and we can get it done for you. That's all for now. See you on the water. Pump it and Chunk it.

Glow Kiting....its all the rage.

I'm no longer depressed so there is no need to bring me anymore DQ sundaes. Saturday afternoon didn't materialize so we decided to have a big grill party at Howizards. It was just about 10:30pm when T-Todd noticed it was blowing. We checked the computer and sure enough it was blowing 20mph. I've never seen 5 guys get on the water so fast. We loaded up and were all at the park within 10 minutes pumping up 12m's. It was T-Todd, Howizard, Jeremy, Patrick and me. Brent was there too, but had to watch because his gear was at the shop. We rode until 12:30am under a full moon. It was sweet. With that many guys on the water at night you had to be careful not to run into anyone. Sometimes when the moon went behind a cloud, you couldn't really see your bro, just his kite so you had to kind of guess as to where he was and ride around him. Patrick just appeared in front of me at one point, I didn't see him coming at all on his 8m and surfboard. Judging water depth was a little tricky too. I was screaming along full throttle when I realized I was only in about 4 inches of water so I got waay over on my rail and barely sliced through the sand without eating it. Good times. We ventured out quite far into the bay and there was some discussion about doing a midnight bay crossing but the wind started to lighten up. Plus Howizard lost his board at one point and it took four of us about 15 minuntes to find it. We realized that none of us really wanted to risk losing a board in the middle of the bay at night. Next time we will bring glow sticks and attach them to our kites, boards and maybe put one of those glowing rings around our necks. I guess I should stock up on that stuff for next time. All in all it was a great session. One of those times you remember because it was with all your Bro's, all little bit risky and totally unexpected.

Sunday proved to be a decent 12m as well so hopefully this trend will continue so we can all stay manic for a while! See you on the water.

-Captain Greg'eh

God loves me!!

Apparently CC'ing god on my last post was a good idea because its blowing 11mph right now at Wildcat!! This means that it might get to 15mph today by 5 or 6pm. I'm so excited I wet myself (just a little). Going to pump up my 16m. Hope to see you there.

-Captain Greg'eh

P.S. Thanks for the sundae Brent.

I'm depressed....

The wind blows. What happened to it? I haven't been out riding in what feels like an eternity (10 days?) My mental health has taken a serious turn for the worse. Even DQ sundaes only pick me up for an hour or so, then I fall back into this slump. Someone suggested raquet ball but that's indoors and doesn't involve water. Plus you could lose an eye. I like my eyes. Sure I have lots of spare time now to do things like my taxes (yes I know, they are long overdue) or clean the garage out or mow the lawn or fix broken stuff around the house but that just isn't that much fun. I went sailing with T-Todd and El Jefe the other day and that was actually a great time. I jumped off the stern with a line and dragged behind the boat for a while. This was mildly entertaining. Then we anchored out in the middle of the bay and I watched T-Todd blindly toss a full beer bottle at El Jefe who was swimming around the boat. The bottle made direct contact with his head. Such good friends I have. Then we decided to see if we could swim down to the bottom of the bay and pick something up off the bottom. It was a little creepy going down because its cold and dark but its really only maybe 15-20 feet deep. I brought some mud up off the bottom and smushed it into T-Todds hair. Again, mildly entertaining. We did have a meat and cheese tray out on the boat. There was enough for about 16 people and we split it between the three of us. I did get some endorphines out of the salami I think. So all in all that was a pretty good day but that was like a week ago. It just occured to me that all this light wind would be great for paramotoring with Howizard so maybe I will call him today and go for a flight or two. Strapping an extremely loud 60 pound motor and prop to your back does kind of get your adrenaline going. But again, I'm not sure how long that will pick me up for so if anyone wants to bring me a DQ sundae today, I'd surely appreciate it. Maybe we could set up a rotation so that I get one every couple of hours or so until the wind starts blowing again. Just a thought.

Captain Greg'eh

Racing with Harland and Victoria!!

Some of you may have heard about the beginnings of the Cabrinha Kiteboarding race series here in Corpus. Howizard and I attended the last event however it was cancelled due to a vicious north front with lightning and all the fixings. The make up race for the cancelled event is this Sunday July 22nd at Oleander Park off of Ocean Drive in Corpus. The wind forecast doesn't look promising at this point but I will keep everyone updated. I encourage everyone to come out, especially Seekers: Brent, Liam, Mark, Jeremy, Stef, Josh and Protege Sean. This will be a fun event and a great opportunity to hang with other riders from the area. So bring your WKC gear and represent. As for the racing part of it, it will be a blast, I personally plan on taking out T-Todd at all costs, even if I have to chase him two miles off course or onto land. Again, this is a fun event so ALL level of riders are going to have fun, I will personally see to it and guarantee it. The race is scheduled to be at 2pm, Sunday. Afterwards we have been invited to hang out as guests at the super cush C.C. Yacht Club. Apparently they are excited to have some kiteboarders around to revitalize the yacht club. I don't know about you but after couple of fancy drinks I can be pretty revitalizing. They have a sweet outdoor pool & bar and you can rub shoulders with rich people with names like "Harland" and "Victoria". If you're really lucky you might find one of the ladies (or men-Stef) calling you "Darling..." whom is not opposed to subsidizing your expensive tastes in beer or your kite quiver for the next 12 months. See you there.
-Captain's Greg'eh & T-Todd
P.S. Don't forget about Rocky's garage sale early Saturday morning. If you need someone to pick something up from your house, give me a call. 361-944-7525

Seeker & Protege Homework

Protege Sean, Rookie Liam and Tenderfoot Mark McGinnis were ripping at Wildcat aaaaalll day today with Captain T-Todd and ACE Chatwell. I showed up after work and Liam asked me for some homework. So here it is.
Liam : 1) Back rolls - regular and switch. Remember to throw your head. Where your head and eyes go, your body will follow. 2) Front rolls - regular and switch. Try and pop off a little wave and tuck your head and chin down and under your back arm. Basically, try and get a good look at your armpit. 3) Big airs dude. 6 feet or more. Big jumps come from popping off the water with your board (kinda like an ollie in skateboarding) as you send the kite backwards. This will help you go up more instead of downwind. 4) Riding Toeside - regular and switch. Ok, so there you go Liam, study hard!
Sean: 1) Start practicing handle passes on a bar on a tree. Put the bar at about chin height. Throw you feet up over your head and spin away from the bar like I showed you and pass the bar behind your back. Try and keep the bar close to your body. Make sure you practice both sides! 2) Surface passes & flat 3's (I need to work on these too bud.) Hook up another bar or use any kind of handle really and practice jumping up in the air and spinning (180's & 360's) and passing the bar behind your back. Keep the handle close to your body. Study hard!
See you at school.
-Captain Greg'eh
P.S. Kiteworld Magazine put out a full two page great story & interview on ACE Chatwell in the latest issue. There is also a full page CrazyFly ad in there which Rocky has posted on his profile page. Check it out! Way to go ACE.
P.P.S - if you have any tips for these guys let them know.

As the world turns and the kite loops...

Wildcat has been busy lately with lots of action and good wind over the past week. Seekers have been improving quickly. Today I watched Tenderfoot Brent ride well into the "Rookie" rank skill level. Rookair Josh was hucking backrolls and basic jumps on Thursday (see video in WKC media Galleries) and Tenderfoot Stefanie was charging too. WKC Lurker Mike Danish has been spotted twice over the weekend tearing it up. Master Kansas has been chunking sweet down loop S-Bends, ACE Howizard has been testing all kinds of new kites and boards, I finally landed some slims and Captain T-Todd was representing as well (vid in media Galleries) and Rookair Jeremy put work on hold to get some great riding in. Master Patrick is MIA, Rookair Ben is spraying his cotton fields and ACE Chatwell is on the injury list at the moment with 11 stitches in his foot. It looks to be healing nicely though and he should be back on the water soon. Hope the wind blows tomorrow. See you on the water.
-Captain Greg'eh

Giant Garage Sale Fundraiser for ACE Chatwell

Well the day started out awesome with great winds and sun. ACE Chatwell just got back in town from the PKRA event in Spain and was chunking super smooth pro moves on a classic Wildcat day. It was great to watch him and his skills have definitely improved since we saw him last a few weeks ago. New Seekers were also out as well as some of the Consulate. Things started to get ugly when Rookiar Josh took a gash to the eyebrow. Then it really went south when Rocky got a nasty cut on his foot while helping one of the Seekers out, bless his heart. Rocky ended up having to go to the hospital and we are all hoping he will be able to compete in the next PKRA event. The shoreline is especially nasty at the moment after all the rain and its a bit of a mine field if you aren't wearing booties (which most of us don't). Thanks to our on site Paramedic Captain T-Todd for patching him up. It really sucked to watch Rocky go down at his home turf after he survived competing in 60 knot winds in Tarifa where other competitors were blowing out knees and breaking legs. It definitely made me more determined to get this project going to clean up our site. I know Rocky is probably feeling pretty frustrated at the moment so send him a message to cheer him up (rockychatwell@gmail.com). I also know that Rocky is running low on cash so we are also planning a huge garage sale to raise money for him so that he can get to the next 4 PKRA events to finish off the 2007 pro tour. If you have anything you don't want (and I mean anything) please bring it by Wildcat, Prokitesurf, my house, Rocky's house or just let me know (361-944-7525 or wildcatkitecrew@gmail.com) and we or Richard (Rocky's dad) will come by and pick it up. Anything you donate will be sold at the garage sale and the money will go directly to getting Rocky to the next PKRA events. The garage sale will be this Saturday morning July 14th at sunrise so if please get your things to us by Friday night. Please do what you can to help out our local WKC champ.

-Captain Greg'eh

Welcome new Seekers Brent, Stefanie & Josh

Welcome to the Wildcat Kite Crew, we are happy to have you as new Seekers. We hope you enjoy being part of the WKC and the associated benefits some of which are: Camaraderie and always having someone to go ride with , both at Wildcat and other spots like group downwinders at the beach. This comaraderie will go beyond kiteboarding as well. If you are doing something else fun or need help with something else in life, ask us, we are a dynamic bunch with access to a lot of knowlege, experience and material things. More access to gear. We encourage sharing when the need arises and also if you just want to try someone's board or kite or test something new that is out, we can usually provide. You will also learn faster as a WKC member, about both gear and riding. This is part of the reason we have the ranking system and awarded dog tags (hardware) for achieving different skill levels. Its an incentive/reward system and also helps prevent you from stagnating at a certain skill level. Feel free to ask questions to other WKC riders, especially the Consulate (T-Todd, Howizard, Greg'eh, Patrick, Rocky, Kansas). We will give you tips and pointers that will make you better, faster and we can also make sure you are on the right gear at the right price.
As new Seekers of the WKC certain things are expected of you (things you are probably already doing otherwise we wouldn't like you..lol). Basically it comes down to the WKC Creedo of Ride, Respect & Represent, which basically means, 1) get out of bed and shred - when we call you to go ride, go ride - its not just about kiteboarding, its about being a good friend. 2) respect other riders, the beaches and the public. Pick up trash even if its not yours, ride safely when non kiters and kids are around 3) represent the WKC - be a cool person, help others out, thank those that help you and most importantly show the Consulate some love! (occasional beer, snacks, drinks, wash salt off truck when we leave the beach etc). Basically you are role models for future new members, so be a good example and when you are WKC veterans new Seekers will look up to you for advice and help. Pump it and chunk it.
-Captain Greg'eh

Kites, Sailboats, Motorcyles, fast Cars, Planes, and Tractors = yeeehaw

My brother - Rookair KID (Keith Irish Despins) got some wind on the last day of the family vacation from Canuckistan (Canada). Overall the vacation was a great time with Andria and the kids, Naish & Knox, enjoying events including sailing with T-Todd, flying with Jeremy, a tractor ride with Ben, Porsche driving with moi and motorcycles with Howizard. Thanks to all for showing them some fun. Keith got a decent amount of riding in during the first week of his trip and was happy to meet some of his fellow WKC riders. There was talk about moving down here permanently if a good job could be sourced so I will be keeping my eyes open for opportunities. Hope to see y'all again soon. (Photo of KID getting his Rookair rank. From Left to Right: Naish, Keith, Greg'eh, Knox, Andria, Howizard) Miss you guys.

-Love Captain Greg'eh

Walmart supports WKC riders....

As you all know, a hard day of kiteboarding and trying to learn new tricks can really beat you down. So much so that often menial everyday tasks such as grocery shopping can become a problem in the days following. Grocery shopping can be quite difficult when every part of your body aches from the repeated, and violent impacts with the water. This is why it is so great to have the community of Portland's support for the WKC and its members. Walmart has set a great example as you can see and I encourage others to follow suit. For example it would be nice if the WKC members could have their popcorn and drinks brought to them seat side at the theatres so we don't have to stand in the concession line. I'd be happy to tip if this was the case. Mowing the lawn is also a major pain. Perhaps community parents who's children are spending too much time playing video games could volunteer their kids to mow WKC members lawn from time to time. Again I'd be happy to tip or provide a popsicle. Just a few ideas.

-Captain Greg'eh (and nephew Knox)

Sean McGinnis earns "Protege" Rank

Congratulations to Sean (age 13) for earning his WKC "Protege" rank! Sean was ripping at Wildcat last night and landed regular and switch front rolls, back rolls, and 2 switch backroll kiteloops, fishing pole style. Awesome dude. Sean is now officially a WKC member and will soon have his own profile page. Watch for Sean charging for his "Master" rank in the next few weeks and if you see him riding give him a high 5. Way to go Sean. Pump it and chunk it! (Photo: Mark McGinnis -Tenderfoot & Dad, Liam & Sean)

-Captain Greg'eh

Rocky takes 9th in the DR voodoo chop!

Awesome riding ACE! Way to represent the WKC!

Full details at ACE Rocky's profile page!

Canadian Rednecks in Texas...

Awesome wind lately has made for some great riding. My brother is down for a couple of weeks so we have been having a great time so far doing all things redneck. Howizard did a late night session at Wildcat last night so my bro and I decided it would be a great idea to try and shoot him with fire works while he was riding. This provided for great fun however with a 30mph head wind it was difficult to keep him in range. Good times none the less. Today proved to be another great day of riding and T-Todd, Rookair Keith and I did an 8 mile downwinder from the National sea shore border to Bob hall pier. Highlights included lots of naked folks (apparently its a bit lawless that far down the beach) a half sunken van (which I just had to grind) and an extremely large tree half in the water (which I also had to grind). Rookair Keith proved his skills riding static and over powered on a sixteen without any major incidents. Later that day T-Todd and I attended a meeting at Wildcat with some concerned Portland citizens regarding clearing some of the concrete out and removing the oyster hazards to make the park more kiter friendly. Initial plans are underway and we hope to see some action taken by the new year. We then ended the day riding at Wildcat. Awesome day yet again. Too many to count lately. Oh and ACE Chatwell is competing in Cabarete, Domincan Republic this week at his 4th PKRA event. We should here from him shortly. Pump it and chunk it. (Photo "Rookair" Keith cooking up some blue crabs after kiting)
-Captain Greg'eh

WKC East

Captains Joey72 and Inklegg have established the "WKC East" which is the East Coast Chapter of the WKC. Details are on Joey72's profile page and the WKC East link (to right). Check it out! www.wkceast.blogspot.com Nice work Captains. Hope to pump it and chunk it out there some day.
-Captain Greg'eh

My arm fell off....

What a wicked weekend. Great winds right through to today. Lots happened at Wildcat if you weren't there to see it for yourself. Spectator events included one of the gnarliest crashes we've ever seen. Captain T-Todd and I were pretty sure the guy was dead. Amazingly he walked away after looping his kite several times on land. He was dragged all the way up from the water to the posts by the sunshade through the tall grass, thorn bushes, and who knows what else. It was interesting that he did not make a direct path to the posts but instead zigged and zagged a little with each change in looping direction. This accident was easily preventable in that you could see it coming a mile away. A novice rider attempting a stylish beach landing, which went horribly wrong. Not to mention the inability to simply let go of the kite (bow kite as well). The other highlight happened early in the day. It was a domestic dispute involved a loving couple SCREAMING at each other (husband riding and wife flying kite on land) about what kite the other should be using and how lines weren't adjusted right etc. I carefully stepped in to see if I might assist in adjusting lines etc and almost had my face chewed off. It was so ridiculous I had to laugh. Isn't kiteboarding supposed to be chill, and fun? And isn't marriage supposed to be about compassion and understanding? Where is the love people, really? Anyway all this made me realize that it might be time for some "Rules" at the park that go beyond the "un-written" rules since apparently some people from out of town are just not that bright.
Rule #1 - Loving kiter couples - leave your boxing gloves at home. You're killing my buzz.
Rule #2 - Unless your name is Chatwell, your probably not impressing anyone with your skills, so save your face and take it easy around the shoreline.
Rule #3 - Let go of your kite. Free lessons in "how to let go" are available.

Anyway these are just off the top of my head. On a positive note, Rookair Jeremy did a solo bay crossing on Saturday. This was not a planned event, which makes it more fun of course, he just took off. Things got a little hairy on the way back as he was totally lit on my 16m with a static bar, but he did prevail. Props to Jeremy for making back. Seekers Liam and Sean tore it up again all day. Howizard, El Jeffe, T-Todd and I tested the new Vapour. Rocky was pumping and chunking, hungry man huge after just getting back from his Gorge trip. Soon to be Tenderfoot Brent got some good runs in and Patrick (aka Shaggy) got some night riding in after teaching. T-Todd, Jeremy, Liam, Sean and I all left Wildcat around 7:30pm and went to cut up Rockport until 10:30 that night. Rockport was going off, totally lit on 12's, butter flat water and darkness. I rode until my arm fell off, luckily T-Todd found floating in the weeds and stapled it back on. It was a great day.
-Captain Greg'eh

Wildcat attacks Wildcat and other news...

Captain T-Todd reports that apparently Master Kansas adopted an SPCA cat that looked pretty darn cool only to have it turn on him the next day and chomp on him about 16 times in a ferocious and apparently un-provoked attack of claws and teeth. It even bit through his toenail. This is all rumour and hearsay at the moment but we will keep you posted on his condition. In other news, we had a great afterwork session today with a good crew turnout. T-Todd did yet another bay crossing, this time on a surfboard. He wanted to land in the marina and enjoy a cold beer on the patio of Joe's Crabshack before returning home but the Police chased him out of the marina. Why can't everyone just get along? The McGinnis family came out from Rockport and Seekers Liam and Sean rode until dark hucking new moves and shredding it up (with dad too!) Liam (age 10) is hucking backrolls now so he is going to be promoted to "Rookie" as soon as I get him a chain. Sean was trying new moves like toe side backrolls, scarecrows, and surface handle passes. Keep it up bro's, you'll be local champs in no time. ACE Chatwell is in the Gorge schooling everyone I'm sure. A potential kite sponsor invited him down for a photo shoot and kite testing. Let us know what you think of the Gorge Rocky when you get a chance. As for me, I rode into the rocks today (first time ever) but thanks to some higher power and I guess some skill under pressure, my gear and I came out unscathed with just a small cut on my foot. Definitely a scary moment though. Its looking like it might be a decent weekend with kiteable winds in the afternoons and evenings. See you on the water!
-Captain Greg'eh

WKC News Reel

There appears there may be a lot going on this weekend with the WKC so burn something and pray to the wind gods for mas viento. ACE Chatwell is back in town chunking new moves. Captain T-Todd and I rode the beach today along with Jeff Francis who has been MIA for the last couple of years (nice to have you back dude), and WKC "Lurker" Mike Danish was spotted at Wildcat today and later rode at the beach, which was going off.....lots of wind and big waves. Eddy Petranik and friends are in from Boise (Eddy is an avid paraglider and kiter and good friend of Howizard and I.) Apparently he has a cracked or separated rib so be sure to give him a friendly elbow or two. Also rumour has it that several riders are up for induction or promotion as Seekers. WKC Captains will be paying extra attention this weekend to see whom is worthy so bring your "A" game.
-Captain Greg'eh

Breach of WKC Doctrine - Hardware

A few members of the Consulate have been seen in public not wearing their WKC hardware. You know who you are. WKC members of all ranks are permitted to enforce appropriate and multiple acts of roguery and shenanigan should you fail to don your ranking hardware.
-The WKC Captains

Sad day for the WKC - Joey72's Last Day at Wildcat

Somber Sunday was the mood. It was Joey72's last day as a Portland local as he is moving to Norfolk, Viginia to finish off the last years of his military service. Howizard, myself and Joey had a great time riding at Wildcat in close formation, sending walls of water at each other and bumping kites etc. It was classic of days gone by when we assumed we would all be here for life. T-Todd would have liked to have been there but he was busy cutting someone out of a car with the jaws of life. It was a beautiful day. The winds were light but it was great to just get out and ride. Later that evening we took the WKC bus out for some redline hairpin turns. Joey managed to go from zero to 50mph from stop sign to stop sign under the freeway at Buddy Ganem. It sounded something like this. wwwWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASCRREEEEEEECH. And took just about that long. Good times. On a positive note, Joey72 and Jeff Pottinger (AKA Inklegg, former Portland resident and an original WKC Outlaw) will be starting the "WKC East", as in the East Coast Chapter of the WKC. They aren't far from Hatteras so I'm sure they will be kiting together soon and bringing the WKC mission to the East Coast. Best of luck bro's. If you didn't get a chance to say goodbye to Joey, leave him a comment on this page or his profile page, or email him at iccsw72@gmail.com . Pics of his last day below. Pump it and Chunk it Joey, you'll always be local to us. You'll be missed.
-The Consulate

Joey72 Intiation Party....

With the much anticipated return of Captain Joey72, a special event was sure to unfold. It started with an innocent gathering at Howizard's place for some fajita's and gradually escalated into shooting eachother at point blank range with plastic pellet guns. Then of course wrestling came next, in doors and out (standard practice really) T-Todd took the worst of the shootings, resulting in an impressive cluster of welts on his right forearm, from multiple shooters (El Jefe & Kansas mostly). Kansas narrowly avoided another massive Shiner nightmare wedgy and somewhere in between events, we decided Joey needed a mohawk (which I executed with the assistance of Howizard -applied egg whites for structure and El Jeffe - final touches). The obvious next stop was the Seamans center however it was 11pm by this point and we arrived to closed doors, so we rolled over to Mulligan's pub. Here the fun continued with Joey72 and T-Todd going head to head in a pint guzzling comp. I think Joey72 won by a fraction of a second. That's when things started to get a little blurry with extremely large drinks the size of fishbowls, and Joey72 calling some special forces guy "metro" which ironically didn't end up in a fight but had the dude's girlfriend flirting with Joey the rest of the night. Great time, great friends. Some pictures below.
-Captain Greg'eh

Rocky is Mad!!

Bottled Rage about to be unleashed in a blinding flash of total kiteboarding domination at PKRA event in Italy. Check out Rocky's profile page for full details of his results as of today. (Click on"ACE Rocky" link on right side of this page under 'The WKC Consulate 2007").
-Captain Greg'eh

Training Day in Marsala, Italy - Update from Rocky

Hi All
I had a good day training today. the wind was up and down and alot like Venezuela. You have to find the wind and then when yo do, its strong, then it drops you. I hope it becomes more steady for the comp. we had a small storm yesterday and it mesed up things. I was the first one out today and left around 3:30pm. we are eating with my host family tonight, so I know it will be good. Nothing else to report other than we are fine and I am ready to compete.
Later, Rocky
Also Julia (Rocky's mom) reports that, "the lovely lady of the house gave him this special necklace as a welcome gift - she loves Rocky because of his blonde hair and blue eyes...."
Some Photos of Rocky in Italy are below (scroll down).

Update from ACE Chatwell

Rocky has arrived in Italy and sent this message this morning. Pump it and Chunk it Rocky!
"Hi All,
I arrived safe and all my gear showed up this time!!! YEA! We worked the checked gear bags ourself (did not check them all the way through this time). Two times losing gear is enough for me. I lost my gear in Caracas and in Paris, so this time, I decided to try something different. We picked up the bags up at each plane change and re-checked them every time. I know, I know a lot of work. Airline thought I was CRAZY It was alot of work, but all our bags showed up this time! so it was well worth it. I was so happy in Trapani when I saw all my gear!!!!
I am about to go and ride at the Red Spot - the location of the freestyle competition. The wind is good in the morning and afternnon, but shuts down in the night and the evenings are beautiful!! I will send pictures later as I am using the bed and breakfast computer. As soon as I can get the laptop going, will start using it. Needs to be charged.
I am staying at an authentic Sicilian home, and the lady of the house cooks me authenitic Sicilian Italian food! to die for! Everyone at the house speaks Italian, but we communicate somehow!
have a good day and will write more later
will talk to later,
Rocky"

**Joey72 Returns** All hail Captain Joey!

The WKC is extremely pleased to announce the safe return of our bravest member of The Consulate - Captain Joey72. Joey was deployed overseas doing all kinds of top secret stuff and putting himself in harms way (literally) so that we Americans (and we Canadians) can sleep soundly knowing Joey and his brothers have got our backs! Joey is in Portland at the moment however he has yet to surface for more than a moment or two as he has about 8 months of "family time" to "make up". The WKC will tolerate this inconvenience for approximately another 24 hours at which point we will be kidnapping him for a night of excessive excessiveness, part of which I'm sure will include taking the Seaman's center by force. Welcome back Joey, you were missed.

Also ACE Chatwell departed today for the next PKRA event in Italy. He is armed and dangerous and sure to cause some more major upsets. He will be checking in when he can to give updates on his results which I will post here. Shock and Awe ACE, Shock and Awe....

The WKC.

7 hour Rockport session & Welcome Seekers Sean & Liam

Saturday proved to be another classic day at Rockport with the wind building throughout the afternoon and peaking at about 8pm. T-Todd, Jeremy, myself and two new Seekers rode all day. Howizard didn't make it out (again)-girly man. I actually wore holes in my hands. The new WKC Seekers are Sean (age 13) and Liam (age 10!!) McGinnis. Sean started the day as a "Rookair" and by the end of the day he was very close to a "Protege". He even stuck an F16 on his 4th attempt. Liam stayed bay side and shred solo all day. I saw him land one of his first 3ft jumps and ride away. He's definitely at Rookie level and I bet he's going to be promoted to Rookair the next time I see him. Unreal. These two brothers are going to be the poster boys of Rockport very soon. Welcome to the WKC Sean & Liam! (Photo's and Videos in the galleries by May 8th-am). Jeremy hucked and landed a kite loop as well and honed some of his landboarding skills, although he wussed out on jumping off a 2ft concrete pad -girly man. T-Todd and I did our thing. T-Todd has decided he's going to jump the island at the tree next time, so be sure to grill him about it so he doesn't wuss out. We ate a late dinner at Pinito's ? (pretty good chow) in Aransas Pass where I also did some horse riding (see pics). Great day all in all.
-Captain Greg'eh

jellyfish suxx really bad

Taught at wildcat today for 3 hours and recieved about 100 jelly fish stings to my legs. It appears the jellyfish are cycling through our little piece of heaven.Just thought i would give the crew a heads up on fist aid treatment.First the do's (do rinse with salt water; do scrape the tintacules off with a credit card;use vinegar to reverse the toxic effect of the stingers (urine actually works well at neutralizing the toxins no joke) Now the dont's(don't rinse with fresh water this activates the stingers; don'trub with sand or scratch this only causes tissue damage and makes the pain last longer). Also be advised that repeated exposures may result in nausea vomiting,muscle spasms, diff breathing and in rare cases irregular heart beats. Also be advised that spring and fall are stingray periods and if you are stung get to hot water fast and seek medical treatment at er as these stings are very painful and can get very infected.

Rocky takes 4th place in Austria

Rocky had a great comp in Austria on day one, destroying his competition and climbing all the way to 4th in the mens singles elimination side. The double elimination didn't happen due to weather. Sick riding Rocky!

"Round two of the men's singles held the first big upset of the day when Rocky Chatwell (Crazyfly, US) took out crowd favorite and current World No. 4 Alvaro Onieva (Best, Spain). Even though Alvaro had the spectacular come back in Venezuela to wind up second, Rocky got in the ring today and took on the world, on his way into the top rankings. He passed Onieva with a smoother style and lower kite in 14m conditions, landing a front mobe, KGB, regular and switched mobe, and a big kiteloop slim against Onieva. "

Read more at "http://www.kiteblogs.com/component/option,com_jd-wp/"

His live results are at http://www.extremeelements.com/live_results/results.php?TNID02=25&TYPE04=SINGLE&SEX01=M
Way to represent dude!! See you soon!
The WKC

Rockport RTE - Rode To Exhaustion

Sunday was classic at Rockport. T-Todd, Jeremy and I and a new kid (13?) rode aaaalllll daaaaay. Wind was light so we had the big kites out. Jeremy tried some backrolls, I worked on tantrum to blinds, and T-Todd was hucking F16's with the new North Vegas, although in relaunching it he went into full Tourette's mode, hilarious. Later we ate at some Mexcian joint that Rocky said was good. It was, plus they have these ridiculously large drafts so T-Todd was stoked. Howizard did a solo bay crossing from Wildcat to the boat show on his 11m Ozone. Got back to Portland and I passed out on the massage chair at T-Todd house (aka "the Spa") after Carrey fed us some huge chocolate fudge ice cream deliciousnessness. What a day.
Pump it and chunk it.
Captain Greg'eh

Let the Games Begin.....

Finally got some heat at Wildcat today. Lots of sun and some wind showed up for the Birthday of the WKC. T-Todd, Howizard, and I rode along with Seekers Jeremy and Rodney. Light winds but still had a good time and it was great to finally feel the sun. Thursday night proved entertaining as well. Started at the baseball game and ended up at the Seamens center until they threw us out. Good times.
Pump it and Chunk it,
Captain Greg'eh

WKC Jellification

Welcome to the official website of the WKC - Wildcat Kite Crew. This site will soon be loaded with rider profiles, pictures, videos, weather links, gear info, local kiteboarding news and lots of other cool stuff.

Get out of bed and shred,

Captain Greg'eh