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Published on December 16th, 2008 | by Lonny

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Great Day to be Alive

I don’t know about you, but how often do you find yourself out riding and taking a moment to reflect and say, “man, it’s a great day to be alive”?

This past weekend I had some great days on the water.  December is my busiest time of the year for my “real job” and I cannot escape the grind as much as I normally do, or as Todd likes to tell me everytime its windy!  Therefore, when the weekend comes and there is wind in December it is extra special.  On Saturday I went and rode South Beach.  Yeah, its world famous as a tourist destination, but I couldn’t tell you where the first trendy bar or restaurant is located.  But when its breaking up to head high and blowing 20 out of the NE I can find my way around South Beach pretty well!  🙂  I hit the first session on my surfboard ripping up some waves and dropping in on some nice faces with my 8 Switch.  They were not a long as I would like, but fun none the less, and I only lost my board once due to being cut off.  Its all good.  People have to learn somehow.  The second session was a sweet skim session, with only 3 other kites on the water.  It was super nice and riding the waves all the way up to the beach is always fun!

On Sunday, I rode Crandon on a East wind.  Its pretty on-shore on that direction, but it does make for some nice long rides even if it is not true wave riding by some people’s standards.   The whole reef fires, and you can ride in waves for miles back and forth.  I started on the skim this time, and was nicely powered on my 10 Switch.  Coming off the waves with the wind on-shore made for some super speed runs down the face on the skimmer.  Definitely a challenge and I ate plenty of water on that session, but I also rode one of the biggest waves I ever have on the skim and when I pulled out the feeling made it all worthwhile.  Then I jumped on my surfboard, and had a super session with the perfect amount of friends in the waves.   You know the perfect amount right?  Enough to make sure someone you know saw you tear it up, but not too many that make you miss a wave!  I knew it was a great day when Todd’s kite got rolled pretty well and after 10 minutes of screwing around with it miraculously relaunched!  Keep in mind the break we ride is about 2 miles from the launch.  Its a long swim back to say the least, so you tend to be a bit more conservative with your kite handling.  As my surf session was coming to a close I think at some point I just looked around to take it all in – being in tune with nature, kitesurfing with my friends, being healthy and stoked to be out.  All in all – ” A great day to be alive”


About the Author

Founder and Admin of Lose the Straps, the original site dedicated exclusively to the progression and evolution of strapless kitesurfing, Lose The Straps.



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