Wetsuits

CKA East Coast Stop #2

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With the second stop of the CKA aka “College Kiteboarding Association” is now in the books after a weekend spent over in Cocoa Beach, Florida! This stop was held in one of my favorite spots in Florida at the 520 Slick. This spot offers some of the flattest water possible when kiting with a fun little lift off of the surrounding mangrove trees.

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We got lucky and had enough wind to run the whole event on Saturday starting off with the Freestyle division. This time we had enough competitors to run an Amateur division and Advance division, which was exciting to see as in the first contest everyone was grouped together. The wind never got above 15 mph for the freestyle and had most competitors on 14-17m kites. I could barely stay up wind throughout my heat but was able to get in enough tricks somehow to manage a 2nd place in Freestyle.

af2c50a47d7211e38be3129f4076fa26_8After the freestyle was a wrap we started a course race on twintips with all the competitors together in one group. Where we had to downwind it to a marker then back upwind through are gate of markers then back downwind until back to the original mark. I managed to get a great start battling with my buddy Sean Buell for the first mark but once around the corner I was able to hold off everyone to win the race!

IMG_2621Huge thanks to everyone who came out and made this event what it was! Also a big thanks to Ryan Druyor and Billy Bosch and Bret Sullivan for organizing this event and making it happening not only work during the event but all the work leading into a event like this! Excited to tie for 1st after this contest and still be in the lead going into the 3rd stop of the series!

Mutiny In The Hood Edit

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Mutiny in the Hood:

Mutiny Team Rider Drew Christianson and Ambassador Matt Sweeting enjoying the awesome conditions in the Gorge with the latest 2014 P and F Series.

Music – Mexicans With Guns

Camera/Edit – David Sischo

Additional footage – Brendan Kerr

Please share it on to your friends! The more views the better the edits can get! Cheers

Why Hatteras needs to be on your Travel List

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After getting back home from spending a summer month in Hatteras, North Carolina it makes you realize how special the island truly is. There are not many spots in the US let alone world that you can walk across in minutes and kite waves and butter flat water all in one day. No matter the wind direction if there is wind you can kite somewhere on the island, waves or flatwater depending on how far your willing to drive north or south on the island. With a laid back relaxed atmosphere that moves at a priceless island time, everyone I ran into was so amped about getting into the water regardless of the activity required to make that happen. When a lot of like minded people get together your bound to have a great time!

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Lets not forgot why we went there in the first place! The wind and waves are world class and offer some of the most consistent training grounds for many of the North American Pro’s and up and coming Amateurs. Let alone thousands of kiters a year that come to Hatteras to take there first lesson through REAL Watersports and KittyHawk Kites!

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I personally recommend visiting the island either in the Fall or Spring as both times offer a large variety of different conditions to challenge yourself with. Finding a group of kiters to go with is what makes the Outer Banks experience what it truly is all about! Visiting the island during either time of  the year is also very cheap! Throw a group of 5-6 kiters in a house and you won’t be paying more then a few hundred bucks each for a week in a decked out house with your buddies.

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If flat water is what your looking for look no further as Hatteras offers some of the largest slicks in the US! If you find that there are too many kiters at one slick just kite up or downwind and find your own private slick! With waist to chest deep water its one of the safest and easiest places to progress your riding forward no matter your level. From going up wind to working on your next handlepass this is the mecca for progression! Start planning your trip to Hatteras, NC for a guaranteed good time!

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Florida Spring Sessions Edit

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After a nice windy and warm spring spent in Florida it looks like its time to head up to Hatteras as the wind dies down here. But before that its time to wrap up the sessions with a little edit! Check it out and please share it along!

Spring in California

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Sneaking away during the season at home is always kind of tricky to do but when you have family to visit in Lake Tahoe you kind of have to make it happen this time of year. This is at least my excuse 🙂

The trip started off in San Francisco with a nice tourist day of the city and some hiking. Spent the next day nice and early in the water. Surfing some of the most famous spots in Santa Cruz. Pretty glad I brought my 5/4/3 Hyperflex Amp-3 as it was freezing out there, compared to Florida pretty much everything feels cold though. After surfing we traveled south along Highway-1 to see some of the cliffs and roller coaster turns down to Carmel.

After the nice drive south it was time to get back to the mountains, a place I haven’t been in years! Getting up in the mountains was pretty fun with my own personal guide Brandon “previous kiting student that now shreds on the water and of course the snow” to show me around with a snowboard under my feet. Can’t imagine the tricks that the people pull over in the park. Tried a few myself and realized that the snow is not soft like the water and hurts a lot…

All said and done was an amazing trip filled with family and new friends, water and snow shredding and plenty of hiking. Can’t wait to get back out there this summer!

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Hood River Adventures

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Its been a very windy week here in the Hood River! Been on my 6m and 8m more then the whole last season back home in St.Pete Florida. Haven’t missed a day on the water yet! So I guess I could say I’m pretty excited about being out here!

I just got in the new P-Series from Mutiny Kites! And have been super stoked on the new kites, love the feeling of them and really digging the 10m and 12m for unhooking and sliders, so stable and predictable! A very fun kite to fly. Also just got in the new The Street by Shinn Kiteboards. Very happy with this board out here, has a little more rocker to help out with the flat landings and holding down your kite in the gusty gorge weather!

In between kiting my good friend Matt Elsasser took me to a spot called the PunchBowl where you can jump off at different heights into the deep water hole created by the fast moving run off from Mount Hood. Needless to say we didn’t jump from the heights part but we did plenty of exploring and crossing of the stream to make up for it! That water was freeeeezing!

Also to kick off my first week Rosham Throwdown kicked off this week and I’ll be trying to qualify into the event. Its a little different this year with almost everyone having to qualify for a spot in the next round making each heat have some of the best riders in the world in them, there is a very high level of riding at this event! I’m stoked enough to just be here and riding!

My buddy Jim Stringfellow is in town for the week shooting at RoSham, stoked with the photos he got of me on the first day of the event! Thanks again Jim!

Going to be trying to keep this updated every week with each adventure that comes my way while I’m in the Hood River! Excited for the time to come and a lot more good riding to be had! Thanks everyone for the support!

 

Time For A Scenery Change

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Just booked my flight out to Hood River, Oregon! Stoked to be back out there after being there for 2 weeks last year. This year I’m sticking around a little longer to train and compete in a few local events happening out there. Hope to ride in The RoSham and BOTG’s while I’m in town. Looking forward to seeing my friends from last year and the new faces out there this season!

I’ll be helping out Matt Sweeting with the Mai Tai event in the beginning of August which is pretty exciting! I’ll have the whole range of the newest Mutiny Kites out there with me for everyone to demo at that event! Also just got in the new Mutiny P-Series !

I’ll be living and training out there with John Perry so pretty stoked to be training with the previous winner of BOTG. Can’t wait to be back only a few days away!

SunBum Photoshoot

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Got invited to SumBum’s house in Cocoa Beach a few weeks back to help out with a photo shoot for there new catalog and be part of there first of many music videos on Sonny’s Porch.

It was my first private concert I’d ever been to, and being right on the ocean to get a session in afterwards wasn’t to bad either!

After many games of pool, and plenty of sessions in-between “working” I packed in the car for a nice drive home from Cocoa Beach with a lot of new friends and plenty of Sunblock! Big Thanks to Dustin at SunBum for getting me over there!

The Kiteboarder Magazine

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Just flipping through the pages of the recent The Kiteboarder Magazine and saw one of my shots was in it from my time out in the Gorge this summer! Stoked to finally get something in this Magazine 🙂 Big thanks Jim Stringfellow for floating around to get this shot, and The Sweeting’s for making this trip happen!

Go grab the new mag from one of your local kite shops if you haven’t seen it yet!

Gopro Line Mount Session

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Been playing around with some new mounts and the new Hero2 from Gopro that I got in from Camrig recently. If you don’t have these mounts yet for your Gopro or Contour check them out. It really offers a lot of new angles and ways to see yourself kiting. No need to make your poor mate stand in the cold again 🙂

Here are a few shots from a quick AM session at the Sunshine Skyway.

Weekend is looking windy! Look for a new edit to drop soon

-Drew Christianson