The Greek in Greece

[Satan]

Dimitri Maramenidis was in Athens yesterday with a bunch of his new Eclipse kites. Amazing guy to watch kitesurfing. I think even the biggest PKRA fanboy would say the guy rips.

To the point, I rigged my 12m Torch II. I had enough power to throw some reasonable F16’s but not enough to really get good pop for some wake moves. Wind was light to moderate steady and flat to choppy water conditions.

Malakamenidis, told me I could grab the 12m Thruster from his cousin (everybody’s a cousin in Greece). First off I was a little thrown off by how fast it turned on my first downswoop which led me to fully kooking out. I got up and going. I instantly realized it had way more low-end power then my 12m Torch. I was fully lit. The 12m Thurster is all I’d need for a light wind kite. I’m 175 lbs (80 kg). If you’re in a super light wind area and want to maximize you light wind sessions the 14m may be worth it. With the extra power I was able to now throw my full repertoire of wake moves (S-Bend, back roll, and raley to a blind wipeout). I think the kite has less grunt then the Torch but still plenty to throw wake moves. I’m not much of a jumper, but I did some boosting and was amazed by both the height and hang time of my jumps with the thing. The bar pressure was light. The thing he “designedâ€Â

[Satan]

Here's a photo of the Eclipse Thruster 16m in action. Guys were out ripping around on this kite in what I'd call essentially no wind. A little later when the wind came up a little I tried to steal the 12m Thruster by kitesurfing over to the island in the background at leat 5km away. Unfortunately I forgot to leave bridge toll money for my get away driver so I had to return.

[ELLINAS]

ore man,

this is Aris from Thessaloniki !
see you soon in Raches !!
Yoy should try the skywalker boards. Amazing !!!

Aris

[Satan]

Hey Aris, I think it was this time last year, maybe a little earlier you were down in Athens. I was making fun of you for riding a bow kite and saying C-kites were the way to go. Alghough, I did put my money on you to win the race in Raxes. Anyway, you gotta go check out the Eclipse Thruster. F-ing great kite.

Rode some Skywalker board today. Don't know which one. It was a bigger one for light wind. Reminded me of the Best Float which I really liked. Feels normal enough to to tricks but gets you going when the wind is light. Also really feels like your pop is supercharged.

BTW, the spot photo above is Oropo which is about 45 min north of the Athens city center. Fun spot. For all you tourists, if you're getting skunked in Paros, and the forecast looks like there's no wind in the Aegean, hop on the ferry, check out the Acropolis and kite here. When the wind goes dead in the Aegean, there's a thermic wind at Oropo.

[Satan]

Words from this Thruster user. "I'm getting one".

[Satan]

One cool thing about Greece is you can come right up onto the beach and throw your moves and not worry about some safety geek complaining or some snotty nosed lifeguards telling you your sport is banned.

[Satan]

One cool thing about Maramenidis' riding style is there really is no name for 90% of the moves he does. Although you might wonder why throwing the board through your legs is even a trick. Why not, I guess.

[ELLINAS]

thats our place near Thessalnoniki !!!

You see, the SKY is the same !!!! (and the boards !!!)

[ScottM]

One cool thing about Greece is you can come right up onto the beach and throw your moves and not worry about some safety geek complaining or some snotty nosed lifeguards telling you your sport is banned.

That's not surprising, I never got the impression safety in Greece was high on the agenda!!

For example check this out!! http://www.glumbert.com/media/flare

Nice write up though, like the detail, sounds like you had a good time!

[Dionisis]

xaxa where did you found this video. nice stuff!:)
the truth is that on the soccer stadiums we are barbarians before somedays we had the death of one guy between a fight of different team funs. which is also recorded in video with a mobile phone the whole action.

However our criminality levels are one of the lowest in the European Union. And imagine that we have boarders with Albania, Bulgaria and Turks where many illegal immigrands come from.

Now about the topic i met Dimitri and he is a realy cool guy.I brought a friend with me that he had no relation with kiting and when he saw Dimitri kiting and doing his tricks he was like with his mouth open:)
I met some people that tried Dimitri's kites and boards talking with him and everyone was amazed about those kites.