Someone shot a video of me getting started in Squamish :)

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Hopefully this embed code works:

edit: Nope. embed code did not work.. maybe this direct link will:

https://video-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hvide ... e=55A6A2D4

Weeeeeee! With a little luck & if the weather holds, I miiiiiight get the chance to go out again & kite tomorrow! Mmmmaaaybe!

I've had 4 kiteboarding sessions in the last week - 2 of them yesterday.

I drove up the night before, had beers with some guys, slept in my car... and was awoken at 5am when my car started rocking. I had my head against my drivers side window.. opened my eyes to see a BIG FKING BEAR right beside me!! My window was cracked a bit and dirt was falling off it's claws onto my face! I stayed totally still and tried to just control my breathing.. and prayed that his claws wouldn't catch the edge of the window allowing him to rip it off/open! As soon as he was gone I rolled the window up tight, found my keys and peaced out to an industrial park area to sleep.

Then in the morning I had a great session, made it out farther than I'd ever been in Howe Sound, then on my way back in I lost my board... but managed to get right back to it with one big tack up wind and one back to my board!

Then I tried to make it to a dentist appointment but the road was gridlocked so I couldn't get out of North Vancouver.. so, obviously I turned around and went for another kiteboarding session in the evening.. and I made it out even farther than in the morning! Not by much, but a bit.. and no one else was out that far that day by a long shot. A long distance open water swimmer guesstimated that I was 4-5kms away from the shore, which means I must have tacked at LEAST 30kms (maybe 40-50kms?) back and forth across the the wind to get that far up wind. Also, the water is pretty deep there.. according to a diver, it's over 200' in some places. While I was WAY out there, there was a lull & a gust in the wind that sent me tipping over the front of my board & my kite crashed down to the water.. I miraculously managed to hold onto my board by ONE TOE while simultaneously successfully relaunching my kite on the first try!! I let out a pretty awesome laugh and then got right back up and riding out farther up wind. I figured I was almost bear food at 5am, so F it, may as well make the absolutely most of my time on the water and push the limits!!

I TRIED to go today after work.. got home, grabbed my gear, headed towards Squampton.. but traffic was gridlocked and there's no way I'd have made it in time to get any kiting in while the rescue boat was still there, so I turned around and came home. Ah well, maybe tomorrow or the weekend.. weekend would be sick - it's Kite Clash, the Canadian Kiteboarding National Competition. Would be sick to catch some of it... but chances are I'll end up working too late to see any of it. :/ Ah well, I need the money.. and I've certainly been blessed with kiting time recently!

DAM bro, I would seriously s**t myself if that happened! I gotta see some of your videos, that link didn't work for me though. I've been wanting to get into that for ever now. How much did your setup cost?

lol

Kited yesterday after work, drove to Whistler to see Straight Outta Compton last night, kited today, drove to Whistler to buy a birthday present.

Hmm, that video is down for me too.. must be a host problem. I don't have any videos of me. I'm still a novice.. I can cruise around and have fun, but I'm just learning to start taking small jumps now. There's a LOT of really talented kiters at The Spit in Squamish, though, that are certainly worth taking pics and vids of as they boost huge airs and do cool tricks.

I have quite a bit of gear that I bought years ago for a few grand-ish. These days they say budget $3K - half for gear to get started on, the other half for lessons so you accelerate your learning big time. I only took one proper lesson and then have just practiced. I think I'll take an advanced lesson to learn a few more proper techniques and things that will get me jumping and landing bigger and better a lot quicker next season.