La Ventana

Mark · Fri Jan 23, 09 10:24 pm

No pantalones es Kraemer.... Hamanaco Bananaco

Mark · Sat Jan 24, 09 5:37 pm

Kite Expo got the wind it deserved today. Crossing was a ton of fun. Good job Tim and Marina. Job well done. Sweet to watch the pros rip it up. Neil once again was awesome on the mic.

Sad to be leaving.

carolb · Sun Jan 25, 09 11:34 am **grom**

party til ya drop!

Gman · Since 11 Feb 2006 4911 Posts Portland Unstrapped

awesome

EdG · Since 19 Dec 2005 425 Posts Just a Kook that's Obsessed

"living the life" Snow in PDX Confused

shymac · Since 20 Jul 2005 919 Posts Home Valley, Wa. Bigfoot

So the days have been good with mixed light and mid wind days.

Demos have been great and the kites have been flying....

Caught fish and ate them...

SUP Set down, front round for the band... Priceless....

Did the crossing; which is the sickest event ever! Everyone catches the boats at 7:00 and rides them about 15+ miles to the island out side of LV. Wait till the wind comes up and off to the races. Turn and burn. Shocked

Super epic...

Old school and short cross racing today. Went off!

More to come...

shymac · Since 20 Jul 2005 919 Posts Home Valley, Wa. Bigfoot

sorry for the size but this thing just has no programs.

carolb · Sun Jan 25, 09 11:11 pm **LaV Results**

And the winners are...

The kids - The fundraiser was for the locals school and health center. $18,302 US dollar was raised. Over 100 trees were planted at the elementary school, and a new mural on the wall was panted.

102 people did the 8-10 mile crossing from island to LaV. On the island they had a treasure hunt with 35 prizes that included a kite and a board. Lunch was quick since everyone was eager to get on the water.

The top 3 finishers were windsurfers. The wind angle was perfect for them. Sean Farley, Sean Richman, and Jim Bison came in 4,5,6. Way to go Jim! In the girls it was , Marie Leclerc from Nitinat, Cynbad Brown, Paula Sonnenberg (FL), and Britney Todd (1,2,3,4).

There were daily raffles that included about 3 boards and at least 3 kites plus lots of sweet swag. The demos and clinics were awesome too. A killer band played Friday night.

Here's a few pics from the school clean-up.

Mark · Mon Jan 26, 09 9:14 am

This pretty much sums up how we feel...

pdxmonkeyboy · Mon Jan 26, 09 9:17 am

Well, its officially over for me but man oh man, lots of memories. out of 9 days on the ground we had 8 days of solid wind. Couldn't ask for more.

Jeff fell victim to LV on the way home. He was like a walking corpse. It was a 3 vommit bag trip for him. Jeff in the LAX airport....

pdxmonkeyboy · Mon Jan 26, 09 9:17 am

how that for timing... LOL

Nak · Mon Jan 26, 09 9:22 am

Welcome home guys! Very Happy

Nice showing on the crossing! Who's up for a RR session today?! Looks like Jeff is ready... Very Happy

Mark · Mon Jan 26, 09 10:19 am

The crossing was fun. 99 Competitor class and 45 sportsman. Got some great video of the Competitor start. Looks like Sauve's gone mad!
Ps. I just followed Jesse and Shaun for the start. Raced side by side with Tony Bolstad for 90% of the race. Man he is fast!

tonyb · Mon Jan 26, 09 11:39 am

Sure! I'm fast but Mark recovers from the face plant a little quicker than I do!!! Smile

He got 30th, I got 32nd.

The race was really cool. Mark and I were literally doing the Nascar drafting, pulling ahead, falling behind, pulling ahead thing for about 7 miles. Until Mark fell the farthest apart we got was about 25 yards. It really got down to leg strength - you'd grit your teeth and hold all your weight on your back foot as long as you could which would shoot you ahead - then you'd have to ease up and stand up a little - and then Mark would go by me doing the same thing! His Naish Quad fish is a surprisingly fast board.

About 1/2 mile from the first bouy Mark face planted and I pulled ahead quite a ways but about 100 yards after the bouy I face planted and Mark passed me while I was dragging back to my board. Never could catch him at the end. I think we finished about 30 seconds apart. And we both got chicked by Marie! We did beat Chip Wasson who got 2nd last year. WTG Mark! Thumb's Up

Really a lot of fun to do. Sounds like the Double Cross race will happen this week before we leave. Over and back without stopping - Shocked

Tony

Mark · Mon Jan 26, 09 11:40 am

some more pics...
Burning Bush!!

Mark · Mon Jan 26, 09 11:41 am

Burning BUSH....

pdxmonkeyboy · Mon Jan 26, 09 1:09 pm

Burning bush was one of the highlights of the trip. not because it involved kiting in warm water, drinking cheap beer, or just stumbeling around Mexico without a care in the world - there was something bigger about it.

On the second night in LV people were telling us that the burning bush party was going to be in full effect. Staged way down the beach in a secluded area, unbeknownst to us, the full time gypsy community of LV had been working for weeks to put on a full boar party. So we park way to far from the event to avoid getting lost in the desert and walk down the beach with tired legs towards a huge pipe spewing flames about 50 feet in the sky. Upon arrival there were people everywhere and all manner of things on fire. Cactus flaming on the beach, fish made out of palm leafs waiting silently to be torched, wild shirtless people dragging around huge propane torches and piles of smoldering artifacts that were already sacrificed.

Amidst the burning pires and fire dancers you could look up and stare at a display of stars that you could never achieve in close proximity to the city. Huge bursts of random flames would illuminate the crowds and from the shadows would emerge the welcoming faces of friends from the gorge and strangers with smiles on their faces. In an amazing display of hospitality, some very well educated mexicans from LaPaz that I befriended gave me their last cold beer. Later on in the parking lot a conversation in tortured spanish ended up with an invite to a 15 year olds birthday party going on in town from two LV locals who looked like they walked right off the page of a Cormac Macarthy book; hunched shoulders, dried skin, and dusty cowboy hats.

There were lots of laughs and drinks for all. In the end, the towering dried fish was set ablaze and people scattered for cover from the heat and falling ash.

As I was riding home in the back of some SanFrancisco kiter's car, jammed on top of mountains of kiting gear, leaning on another guy who was completely passed out as the driver was doing four wheel drifts down the dirt road; I looked out the window at the stars. At that very moment, I couldn't help thinking that the burning bush was more than just people getting drunk and burning shit, it was a celebration of a common interest, an acknowledgment that there are soo many ways to live ones live and willfully break away from the stale pigeon holes that people unwittingly drift into. It was a very definitive place in time and the faces and memories of that night are gratefully etched in my memory with the fleeting permanence of huge flames bursting into the sky. My heartfelt thanks to all those individuals who made it happen I brought much more home from the event than a cool t-shirt.