Day two of the Islamorada Invitiational kiteboarding competition was notable for many reasons.
Including incredible riding from both the amateurs and the Pros. Some of the amateurs should slide easily into the Pros in the near future.
We had fair to a bit too strong winds, a squall during the later part of the day and the arrival of a strong cold front with STRONGER offshore
winds into the high 30 mph range. It was an exciting day full of dazzling moves on and over the water and the ...
Winners of the Pro Division:
1st Place - ANDRE PHILLIP, Antigua
2nd Place - PETE WEISBERG, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
3rd Place - JEFF BIEGE, Lake Worth, Florida
ANDY HURDMAN, was doing very well but broke TWO kite lines in honking winds during that over powered final heat.
Andy won this event last year.
Winners of the Amateur Division:
1st -TRAVIS DETWEILER & BETO HILLMAN tied for first. Further competition was called because of severe weather.
2nd - ZACK HLEPPE
and with that, lets look in on some images from the event ...
Early kiter
Riders tumble out of the sack and rig up for a great day of wind!
Wind is on, riders are ready ... Fabian rides into a game of aerial "Pac Man!"
Judges roost
Beto without feet? Beto tied for first with Travis in the amateur division.
Travis (?) jumps ... IF this is Travis, he tied for first in the amateur division.
Zack flys ... Zack is a very promising 16 year old competitive rider out of the panhandle who took SECOND in the amateur competition.
Beto has at it!
Ben, Zack's brother goes to it!
Lots of strong young talent in the amateurs. This Jupiter 16 year old pops a jump.
Beto turns off gravity and floats for a while.
Travis (?) flips in space
Toby shreds along and dreams of icebergs back home!
The crew shoreside gears up.
Toby shows off some new boards AND the latest concept in flipping hardware, the backpack kite!
The Pros shred out to do battle ...
Driving hard ...
Andy Hurdman a Gaastra rider, rips loose a jump ...
He is a strong Florida rider and the FKA Delray AC (area coordinator)
Francisco Escudero and friends shred in ...
Kent Marinkovic of Adventure Sports ignores gravity and drifts through space ...
Transition!
Oliver Butsch, a Cabrinha rider shows great style and the power of cocoa butter in better shredding technique!
Blasting in review ...
Greg Kuklinski of Globerider kites and Jeff Beige, an F One rider, take it all in.
Both are FKA Area Coordinators. Jeff came in third in the pro division.
Jeff Beige pops one!
Fabian blasts in for an expert one handed assisted relaunch of this kite on the fly. Way to go!
He is sponsored by Globerider kites, Lightwave Designs kiteboarders, Hype, Eycatcher, Blue Planet Surf
(the yellow kite pants people!). Fabian is originally from Germany but now calls Hawaii home, sounds good!
Oliver blasts along ...
Describing a new kiteboarding trick ...
What a day!
Mystery rider #1 flys one foot free ...
Lightwave Dave shreds on!
Hamish MacDonald throws a nice one!
Shredding ... SPLAT!
Toeside ...
Back at the beach ...
Andy Hurdman flashes by ...
Walking in ...
Twisted
Out there ...
Kite fans ...
Cabrinha Kent takes a seat!
Rob Hassle makes it seem easy ... Rob is a strong Pro rider from Sarasota
and is the FKA AC for the city.
Up!
Andy flys, Mina shoots!
Pete WEISBERG, second place winner, rips on out with company ...
Rob Hassle floats ...
Brad Lange, event organizer of SevenSports shows off some moves ...
WITH A LEASH - WAY TO GO BRAD!!!
Hamish shows the proof of it ...
Andre, winner of the pro division, talks to Brad Lange and the crowd ...
Kent floats, Oliver and Dave watch ...
In the middle ...
Toby hanging out at the end of a GREAT DAY!
Lots of shots to be sure. More to follow along with a squall and some INTENSE riding during the Pro division's final heat.
Also, there are a number of sequenced shots to be assembled and posted (thanks for your expert input on PS tactics Blow Me!).
More shots will appear in this post and others, so stay tuned ...
NOTE: If you can supply missing names or improperly identified riders, sponsor information, etc. PLEASE DO.
If you would like you can respond to this post or contact me by private email at: flkitesurfer@hotmail.com
Copyright 2003 FKA, Inc.
More photos from this event and a great video appear at:
New Islamorada video on KiteFlix.com
phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=8747
MORE PHOTOS from WIND in Paradise, Day Two ...
index.php?page=http://kiteforum.com/php ... tton=forum
Action shots from Islamorada ...
http://kiteforum.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=8565
Shredding in Paradise - Day One, Photos and Story
http://kiteforum.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=8478
Andre Phillip of Antigua wins in the keys
http://kiteforum.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=8390
Kite Leashes Suck ... ?
http://kiteforum.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=8395
Islamorada, FL - Kiteboarding Events and Prime Riding
http://kiteforum.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=7272
