PlacesPlaces toto RideRide 88 Chris Gilbert inin thethe NorthwestNorthwest Photo Christian Pondella HOW December 2004 TO Launch from a Boat 12 Plus: Florida Hurricanes, USA $5.95 Oregon Snowkiting & Exploring Mauritius 0 7447004392 8 2 3 On a whole other level. Guillaume Chastagnol. Photo Bertrand Boone Contents December 2004 Features 38 Northern Exposure Brian Wheeler takes us to eight of his favorite places to ride in the Northwest. 48 Exposed A photo essay of the kiteboarding lifestyle. 46 The Legend of Jim Bones Adam Koch explores the life of veteran waterman Jim Bones. 58 Journey into the Indian Ocean: The Island of Mauritius Felix Pivec, Julian Sudrat and José Luengo travel to the island just off Africa. DepartmentsDepartments 14 Launch Ten of the world’s best riders get together in Cape Hatteras to build the world’s biggest kiteboarding rail. 34 Close-up Bertrand Fleury and Bri Chmel 70 Analyze This Up close and personal with some of the latestlatest gear.gear. 72 Academy 10 Skim Board Tips to Help you Rip Cover Shot Tweak McCore Chris Gilbert launches off the USS Lexington in Corpus Christie, Texas. 81 Tweak McCore Photo Christian Pondella Contents Shot California’s C-street local Corky Cullen stretching out a Japan air. Photo Jason Wolcott Photo Tracy Kraft Double Check My phone rang the other day and it was my best friend telling me the wind was cranking at our local spot. Running around like a chicken with its head cut off, I threw my 15-meter kite and gear into the truck and made the quick rush down to the beach through 30 minutes of traffic. As I got closer to the spot I could faintly make out my friend’s kite on the skyline. My adrenalin started to rush. As I parked my truck, I opened the tailgate and started pulling out my kite gear. My wetsuit, my kite, my board, my bar and my ! Wait a minute ? Where is my harness? I continued to tear everything out of the back of my truck in a panic. I couldn’t find my harness. I left it in the shed at home. I hung my head in disbelief. My session was done. I decided to walk out to the beach to see if I could borrow a harness. The local crew was running around like mad pumping kites and trying to get on the water. No one had a spare harness or the time to talk about it. There was nothing I could do. I launched a few kites, walked back to my truck and start- ed the long journey home. I am writing this so you can learn from my painful mistake. I can’t tell you how frustrated I was sitting there watching my friends having an all-time session. The moral of the story is simple. Double check to make sure you have all your gear before heading to the beach. Ryan Riccitelli [email protected] 10 I only read The Kiteboarder for the pictures. 100% Kiteboarder Owned and Operated — xoxo Amanda December 2004 • Volume 1 • Number 2 EDITOR RYAN RICCITELLI [email protected] ART DIRECTOR JAMES BROWN TECHNICAL ADVISOR GARY MARTIN SUBSCRIBE SAFETY EDITOR RICK IOSSI ILLUSTRATOR CARL LOS PRESTON EDITORIAL INTERN BRIAN WHEELER EDITORIAL CONSULTANTS Neil Hutchinson, Damien Wright, Joe Bidawid, Lou Wainman, Matt Nuzzo, Casey Houtz, Trip Foreman, Paul Menta, Kevin Top Hat Senn, Nick Bowers, Greg Gnecco, Jay Crawford, Buck Ashcraft, Zach Kleppe CONTRIBUTORS James Brown, Greg Gnecco, Neil Hutchinson, Rick Iossi, Gary Martin, Carl Preston, Adam Koch, Joe Bidawid, Bertrand Fleury, Bri Chmel, Casey Houtz, Matt Nuzzo, Felix Pivec, Alexis Rovira, Marina Chang, Bryan Lake PHOTOGRAPHY Stephen Whitesell, Tracy Kraft, Paul Jav, Jeff Pfeffer, Mike Ellis, John Bilderback, Greg Gnecco, Adam Koch, Dave Smith, Bill Mieckle, Jason Wolcott, Christian Pondella, Clay Rogers, Robert Vreeland, Dan Sherwood, Charles Oreve, Dustin Penman, Michelle Zuniga, Clark Merritt, Todd Norby, Alexi Rovira, Lou Wainman, Karen Bureker, Denis Poroy, Trent Pederson, James Brown, Kim Kern, John Carter, Bertrand Boone, Gary Martin, Jonathon Baker, Mike Stephen, Keith Edwards. Thanks to all editorial and photography contributors for supporting our magazine. SUBSCRIPTIONS [email protected] PUBLISHER MARINA CHANG (805) 801-0036 [email protected] BRAD LANGE [email protected] Buy a year subscription CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS (6 issues) & 2005 Kiteboard 1050 Chinquapin Ave #2 • Carlsbad, CA 92008 Calendar for $29.99. Save $24 MOUNTAIN STATES OFFICE 1360 S. Ivy Way • Denver, CO 80224 Limited time offer! INTERNET Order online at www.kbmag.com WWW.KBMAG.COM These guys had the drive and desire to “build something bigger and badder than ever before in this sport and then charged it. - Gregg Gnecco LAUNCH Camel Toe Photographer ” The CamelStory and Photos by Gregg Gnecco To e Slider Moehau Goold fearlessly charges the Camel Toe. the Ulti mate Location: Building REAL Slider Park — at The Slick — Cape Hatteras, NC Riders: Jason Slezak, Sam Bell, Andre Phillip, Bertrand Fleury, Jeff Tobias, Moe Goold, Davey Blair, Stav Niarchos, Kai Lorusso, Andrew Doyle Summary: One summer afternoon in Cape Hatteras, 10 of the world’s best free riders decided to build a ridiculously big slider. It took them a few days, but they conquered their goal and the Camel Toe rail was born. The Camel Toe is currently the largest rail ever to be built for kiteboarding. Tobias and Slezak techin out about the sliding Bertrand and Stav team up to unload supplies. Jeff from Dare Building Supply properties of the plastic-vinyl fence rail. loads the Red REAL Ranger while The Facts: Slezy and Beaver inspect the beams. 1 The Camel Toe is 60’ and 16’ High at the center with an 8 wide plastic-vinyl sliding surface. 2 Jason Slezak’s body (ribs and 1 vertebrae aside) is more durable than a section of pressure treated 2x4. 3 The REAL Slider Park is recognized and registered by the North Carolina Coastal Area Management Group (CAMA) as well as the U.S. Coast Guard. 4 REAL actually used the name Camel Toe while registering the structure with the US Coast Guard. 15 LAUNCHLAUNCHLAUNCHLAUNCH LAUNCHLAUNCHLA Andre Phillip reflects Style master, Andre Phillip gets the shot of the day. Building the Kiteboarding rail engineering on the days events. at it’s finest. As night fell, the Halogens lit up Ultimate Slider and the work continued. Working into the evening connecting the top rail. The boys try to get organized. Square on the rail, Jason Slezak makes it look easy. New face in the crowd, Wood hurts. Kai Lorusso, shows some South Carolina style. “- Jason Slezak Liquid Force Team” Rider Bertrand Fluery styles out a front side board slide. To actually approach it and “look at it (riding) was a lot different than looking at it on land- it was pretty scary - We knew that someone was going to go down on it. - Jeff Tobias Slingshot Team Rider” Jeff, Ben, Andre and Bertrand Jeff Tobias takes donuts. make final adjustments. Jeff Tobias serves as water taxi. The crew levels the rail. Wipe Out Awards: 1st Place- Jason Slezak- 3 Broken Ribs, 1 Cracked Vertebrae 2nd Place- Jeff Tobias- Camel Toe to butt slide 3rd place- Moe Gould- Check out the LF Relentless video… 411411 News and Information Dimitri Maramenides rides Hurricane Francis off Nags Head. Photo Bill Mielcke The East Coast recently took a beating — four hurricanes hitting one state in a year, actually in less than 6 weeks. Last time this happened was 118 years ago. The following is the perspective of contributing editor Rick Iossi during the hurricane. By Rick Iossi Hurricane Jeanne over Florida The crew took the day off to go surfing. Jeanne Charley Photo Dena Pelletier I am writing on the eve of Hurricane Jeanne’s visit to Florida. Lots of us are won- There are times with hurricanes when everything comes together. We are talking intense dering what tomorrow will bring and have tried to secure things the best we can. life or death riding — big waves and high wind. We had an afternoon like that off SE Florida isn’t alone in this hurricane slam-fest. Lots of people have had to deal with Florida the day before Charley demolished Punta Gorda on the SW coast, Friday the 13th this season of devastation — and it is not over yet. no less. We crave wind but sometimes there is a price to be paid. Some of the hurricanes approached as Category V storms, like Ivan packing winds I decided to go off the beach of Delray, Florida with an 11m kite completely depowered. over 165 mph. That will get you thinking, if anything can. Confronting something After a couple of hours, the building wind made me rig a smaller kite. Being overpow- that can erase your home, place of work and even your life can motivate some ered if something goes wrong can really trash your day. So, in 45 minutes, I went from introspection. That is between exhausting bouts of preparing for, sitting out the an 11m to a 5m kite. There was one other guy out, a fellow 40 lbs. heavier than me also raging of the storms, cleanup after, trying to restore normal living absent power. on a 5m. Favorite haunts are closed, phones don’t work, normal foods are unavailable and As the waves were breaking double overhead about a mile off shore with two other finding widespread power and cool air nothing but a memory. This has been the breaker lines closer to shore, the wind was blowing around 25 to 35 knots. There were story of my life for the last few weeks.