Was a fun Sunday for me spent teaching an early morning lesson and then dashing over to the East Coast of Florida for the first CKA event of the season! The CKA stands for the College Kiteboarding Association which was formed by former Eckerd College student Matt Sexton. After Matt graduated it was tough without a driving force to keep events and contests running. Fortunately now with the help from Ryan Druyor and the growing interest in college kiteboarding from the universities the CKA is back up and running and have a sick schedule of events to come!

This seasons first event was held in Cocoa Beach, FL at the 520 Slick. With prevailing north winds this spot sets up for butter flat water with some unique lift off the mangroves to say the least. The afternoon meeting started off with 30+ riders from all different school all looking forward to getting on the water. The decision was to run 3 different heats with the top 2 riders in each advancing to the finals. I was very impressed with the overall riding level gathered from around the state of Florida, and a little worried about making it into the finals myself.

The finals shaped up with a lot of talented riders and I managed a good heat myself and took 2nd place at the event behind Tommy Fields which I feel is acceptable 🙂

After the event was over we all went back out for a sunset session as the wind continued to build! One of the best sessions of the season so far, can’t complain when your on the water with your mates and have good winds!

Here are the final results for the CKA East Coast Roundup

Freestyle All Around – Men

1st Tommy Fields – U of Miami
2nd Drew Christianson – USF
3rd Brett Sullivan – FAU
4th Sean Buells – FAU

Women Freestyle Finals
1st Jaime Fields – Stetson
2nd Maya Robert – USF

Super Stoke/Smooth Riding – Jaime Fields Big Air/Best Trick – Eric Hough FGCU

Wanted to give a Big Thanks to all the sponsors that helped out and to the 3 judges Ryan Druyor, Oli Berlic, Billy Bosch for taking their time to score all the riders! Also thanks to Andrew Grossmann for taking the shots above!

For more about what the CKA is all about check out collegekiteboarding.com

Can’t wait till the next events, and the season final in The Florida Keys!