Extreme Kiteboarding Invades Jupiter Florida


Story and Photos by our beach dude: John Czajkowski

 

You have probably seen them in singles or pairs, those huge, colorful kites near the beach or along a causeway.  There is a slight shock as you get closer and notice at the bottom end of the kite line there’s a person on a short colorful board skimming across the wave tops at a blistering speed.  Then suddenly they lift into the air, often going up 4- or 5-stories, and then gently returning to the water’s surface only to continue streaming along.  

 

This is the extreme sport of kiteboarding, a relatively new sport to America.  It has probably been around worldwide for 15 or so years. It’s exciting, fast, and about as radical as you can get without an engine.  You are at the will of the wind and it is a wild ride.

 

Now get together with 25 or 30 other kiteboarders from around Florida, the nation and the world and you have a jammin’ competition that is just shy of being an informal meet and greet on the beach.  That is what took place the weekend of January 26th 2008 at the Fifth Annual Jupiter Kite Invasion.  

 

Saturday was a slow day with poor wind velocity and not much happening, but they made up for it on Sunday by competing all day, until 4 pm.  With winds just shy of 20 mph, this day proved ideal for the kiteboarders and the action was fast and furious as wave after wave of competitors sailed, flipped, slammed, and flew on and over the surf.

 

Much like a surfing competition, the competitors did their thing in heats as judges looked on from the beach.  The competition ended at 4 pm and these were the results for this year’s invasion:

 

Men's Pro Results

1st - Andy Hurdman

2nd - Antoine Jaubert

3rd - Bryan Greenwald

4th - Jon Modica

 

Amateur Men

Alex Bloechinger- Slingshot

Anthony Levalels- Cabrinha

Dan Floyd- Cabrinha

Billy Parker- Flexfoil

 

Woman's Pro Results

Irma Harris- Globerider

Nicci Warshauer- Slingshot

Minda Bly- Best

Best Wave

Jon Modica- Cabrinha

 

Big Air

Dimitri Maramenides- Airush

 

Kite Loop

Antoine Jaudert- Cabrinha

 

Am Wave Ride

Mike Bradley- Slingshot

 

Am Big Air

Grant Scheffer- Naish

 

Am Kite Loop

Ray Lee Roy- Best

 

If you ever come across one of these Invasions, be sure to stop by and prepare to be entertained. These competitors are a combination of the informality of skateboarders combined with the thrills of the X games all rolled into one!

 

Interested in learning more about kiteboarding?  Visit the following websites:

http://www.kiteflix.com <http://www.kiteflix.com/>

http://www.kiteworldmag.com <http://www.kiteworldmag.com/>

http://www.kitetricity.com <http://www.kitetricity.com/>

 

RED BULL WAKE LAB INVITES 24 TEST SUBJECTS TO AN

INNOVATIVE WAKEPARK COMPETITION





The Red Bull Wake Lab came to town with all the hype and glory that was expected!  Red Bulls newest playground for wakeboarding's top riders set up shop at Lake Eola in downtown Orlando and the weather couldn’t have been better. Red Bull Wake Lab's course elements included an elevated pool, hand rails and sliders inspired by skate and snow parks. In short, an entire “skate park” was created amidst the buildings and parks surrounding the lake.



THE TEST SUBJECTS

Parks Bonifay, X Games Gold medalist and five-time Pro Tour Champion, hand-selected 24 wakeboarders to compete in this innovative new format. In short, the best of the best showed their stuff to a crowd of onlookers and true fans.

In 2006, JD Webb sailed more than 70 feet, ramp to ramp, over Lake Eola's signature fountain which stands 30 feet high. The stunt aired on Discovery Channel's "Stunt Junkies" and earned him a place in the record books and a key to the city.


THE CATALYST

In order to evolve the sport and create new experiences for riders, a new technology needed to be introduced to test the theory of Red Bull Wake Lab. The catalyst for this event came to fruition with The Wake Park Project and Sesitec's cable system technology with portability to create the System 2.0. This straight-line cable system eliminates the need for a boat or jetski to pull the riders.


All in all the event went over pretty well, perhaps a few bleachers and a couple of more vendors and the next one will surely put Lake Eola on the map for wakeboarders in the near future.