San Diego CKA Event at Misson Beach
What better way to expose kiteboarding to the masses, than to hold an event on one of the busiest west coast beaches. Thats exactly what Will Caldwell and the CKA did. The event started off with a riders meeting at 10 am every one managed to show up, except for the wind. The forecast looked grim for the day so it was decided to run a surf contest instead. All the riders hit the water boards in hand hoping to win the event.
Liquid Force showed up in full force and made sure that everyone passing by got a glimpse of kiteboarding. All the new gear was there, 2010 Havocs, Envys, Hi-Fis, and a few of the new 2010 boards.
Gary Siskar, the new brand manager for LF, arrived and helped judge the surf contest. The swell was up and the current was ripping, which made for quite a few interesting heats. Riders were getting 2 to 3 turns a wave and the winner even managed to pull into a nice little barrel. All the riders were stoked to get in the water and get some waves. The contest, although it lacked wind, still went off with a ton of excitement.
After the surf heats were over, the wind started to show itself. The 16m Havoc was the only kite that was working in the light winds. People could have easily been staying up wind, if it wasn’t for the current. While all the desperate riders were schloging on the beach, the others were over looking through all the new LF gear. John Romais even managed to run a few introductory clinics for all the new faces.
The after party was held right down the beach at the Wave House. The bar/wave park is a perfect venue for a good party, there’s always plenty of entertainment. All the riders hopped into their suits eager to give the artificial wave a try.
Not only is it great to watch people rip the wave up, but it also leads to some hilarious wipeouts.
After all the riders had gotten their fill, we headed to the stage and Will ran a raffle. Everyone there was really excited to win all the gear provided by Dakine, H2O Audio, and Liquid Force. Everyone left the event with smiles on their faces and some free gear in their pockets. For a lack of conditions, the event couldn’t have gone any better. Big ups to Will Caldwell and the West Coast CKA for putting together San Diego’s first kite contest. Hopefully it won’t be the last
