July 2005

Hurricane Dennis Update...
We had a great day of kiting and surfing yesterday. Although we stayed on the East Coast, well out of the way of Dennis, we caught a good wind swell at Ponce Inlet. Check out the gallery for a couple of shots in between filming. We filmed with Rodrigo Miranda and Eddie Toy. Rodrigo is an amazing surfer. He was definitely dominating the line up yesterday. With his powerful rides down the line, slashing the lip, going reverse and snappy bottom turns, the jetty onlookers had all eyes on Rodrigo.
Eddie, as you all know, kites with more intensity than anyone I know. If there is wind, he's a go. After a brief surfing session, he decided to put up his 13 meter flexifoil stryke and take to the air. The wind, as he described, was perfect. Making the wave riding look effortless, he stole the attention of the jetty onlookers between Rodrigo's waves. The two of them were definitely captivating the audience. I will have the footage of the day posted on the video page by the end of the week...
Then in the middle of the second filming session, I took my attention off the camera to see a lone surfboard washing towards the rocks of the jetty. About 30 yards away a surfer was making his way to the board. With too much distance between him and the board, the waves beat the board against the rocks. It must have hit the rocks 2-3 times before he started swimming in. We were all yelling to him that the board was down here below us on the jetty walkway. With a distraught look on his face, he threw his hands up in the air. I couldn't believe he was just going to leave his board behind, neither did the dozen onlookers. Every time the board hit against the rocks I cringed. I had to stop this senseless abuse of this brand new board. After negotiating the slippery rocks and crashing waves, the board washed up onto the rocks. I grabbed the board and made my way onto the jetty. With the surfer now on shore, I held the board up in the air as to show him I got it. He just coiled up his leash and kept walking. I couldn't believe he was leaving. Out of the audience of on lookers I heard one guy say, "looks like you have a new board, spend about a hundred bucks on ding repair and a new fin and it's good as new." I held onto the board while I continued to film but he never came to get it. Oh well, that's a first.

Max