Sarnia 2.0 System

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 21:42:24 -0400

Sarnia 2.0 Cable
Sarnia, Ontario Canada Aug 3rd

I’ve been at home for the past couple of weeks now since I returned from Hood River. So I taught some kite lessons with Kiteride.ca and worked on the cabin I’m building. Last week there wasn’t a ton of wind and I needed a break from my building project so I headed to Sarnia which is about 5 hours from where I live with a few friends and got to get a few hours in on the System 2.0 they have set up at the Marina there. The 2.0 felt very similar to a cable but boy-o-boy it’s much more expensive. It was 75$ for four of us for one hour compared to the cable park where it’s 30$ for a person all day! We had a few fun hours sessioning their dance floor and up the flat rail. Check out the photos!

RoSham Throw Down

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 21:41:07 -0400

RoSham Throw Down
Hood River

Mid July 8th I flew out of Hatteras North Carolina where I was shooting with Stance magazine and the rest of the NA Blend crew and, headed to Hood River to continue shooting with the Na Blend Crew but also to check out the RoSham Throw Down slider event that was happening at the sand bar in Hood River.
A lot of big names were in town for the event: Light, Hadlow, Lenten, Jensen, Van Malsen, Riestra and many, many more. For me, I was just stoked to ride with all my friends and get a chance to hit sliders and just have fun in the water. The event set up was three, one- hour mens’ heats and one womens’ heat. It was nice having such long heats because it gave you a chance to actually ride and get your tricks and hits in rather than to rush through an 8 minute heat.
My first heat was stacked! Reinstra, Hadlow, Lenten, Sexton, Jensen, Houtz, and Texier.
I looked at it like… “these guys are all my bro’s I’m just going to go out have fun on the sliders and try and keep my kite as low as possible.” The winds were cranking I was stacked on my 7m Best Team C and my signature Balance 38. I was able to pull off some good slider hits, a couple of air tricks and one kicker hit. The winds were super strong which was a little tricky for me to get used to but I gave it my all. Well… I guess my plan worked I came out second to Aaron Hadlow. Advancing into the final with Aaron in 1st, myself 2nd and Ruben 3rd - I was pretty stoked !
A few hours later and a few mph less and I was pumping up my 11m Team C for the Finals. The Finals were stacked with some of the top riders! Hadlow, Lenten, myself, Brady, Light, Bell, Scheid, Richman and Parker. The winds had dropped a fair bit from the first heat that I was in but I still had solid power on my 11. I managed to get some slider hits that as I was coming off the slider my kite was in the water. The judges were stoked on how low I was keeping the kite! About half way through the heat the wind died right out and riders were forced to either walk upwind or swim in….. That was it for the event!
At the awards that evening Aaron Hadlow took first, Brandon Scheid, second and Billy Parker, third. I was a little bummed out I didn’t make the top 3 but the wind died through the finals which made for a shorter heat. But I was stoked to be out on the water with some friends riding and to make it to the finals with some of the best is always a bonus!

NA Blend

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 12:20:07 -0400

Just over a year ago I was living in La Ventana Mexico with with North Team rider Jon Van Malsen.
We had started to brain storm ideas about getting a core crew of guys together to start to shoot some video.
We wanted to get a group together similar to the group in "Auto Focus" (ACL Productions) Together we would travel from spot to spot shooting, pushing our style and our view of the sport. I came up with the idea of NA Blend (North American Blend) It would be a mix or a blend of guys from all across North America.
Well my dream came true and we got a great group of guys together Eric Rienstra, Brandon Scheid, Billy Parker, Jon Van Malsen and myself.
Stance Magazine from France approached us and said they were on board to shoot a video of the NA Blend for there next DvD release in September. So off the crew went to Hatteras for a week then to Hood River for another couple of weeks. The video show cases Sliders, Freestyle and a few Mega loops. Here is a trailer for our video coming out in September.
Check it out and be sure to give me some feed back!
http://vimeo.com/13433164

Hood River

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 00:41:56 -0400

The Ro Sham Throw down went off this weekend! The heats were stacked with some of the top wakestyle riders from around the world. In the first heat it was blowing well over 35 mph and maxed out on my 7. Heat went well and I advance through with hadlow and lenten pretty stoked to have my name beside theirs on the heat bored. Finals were tough with rider such as Aaron Hadlow, Ruben Lenten, Jesse Richman, Brandon Shecied, Billy Parker, Sam light, Reed Brady, Sam Bell, and myself.
Heat went pretty well for the first half then the winds died out and we were forced to call it at that.
Aaron Hadlow 1st
Brandon Scheid 2nd
Billy Parker 3rd
I didn't make top 3 but was in the top 5 and pretty stoked just to be in the finals with some friends and a good, fun crew of guys to ride with. More photos to come!

Hatteras

Thu, 8 Jul 2010 00:37:34 -0400

Just spent almost a week in Hatteras with Videographer Ben from Stance magazine. Winds were not in our favor as we didn’t get a single kite session in. While there was no wind we spent most of our time shooting some wakeboarding on the A frame and skating a couple bowls near my.
Off to Hood to Shoot some more footage with Stance magazine and the NA blend crew. Then the Ro Sham throw down event start on the 15th!