Florida Spring Sessions Edit

After a nice windy and warm spring spent in Florida it looks like its time to head up to Hatteras as the wind dies down here. But before that its time to wrap up the sessions with a little edit! Check it out and please share it along!

Spring in California

Sneaking away during the season at home is always kind of tricky to do but when you have family to visit in Lake Tahoe you kind of have to make it happen this time of year. This is at least my excuse

The trip started off in San Francisco with a nice tourist day of the city and some hiking. Spent the next day nice and early in the water. Surfing some of the most famous spots in Santa Cruz. Pretty glad I brought my 5/4/3 Hyperflex Amp-3 as it was freezing out there, compared to Florida pretty much everything feels cold though. After surfing we traveled south along Highway-1 to see some of the cliffs and roller coaster turns down to Carmel.

After the nice drive south it was time to get back to the mountains, a place I haven’t been in years! Getting up in the mountains was pretty fun with my own personal guide Brandon “previous kiting student that now shreds on the water and of course the snow” to show me around with a snowboard under my feet. Can’t imagine the tricks that the people pull over in the park. Tried a few myself and realized that the snow is not soft like the water and hurts a lot…

All said and done was an amazing trip filled with family and new friends, water and snow shredding and plenty of hiking. Can’t wait to get back out there this summer!

February Kite Sessions

Its been a good February with quite a few sessions and a lot of lessons taught! Been really excited with the last few lessons being advance lessons. We worked on backrolls both ways with my mate Ian and by the end of the session he was sticking them both ways! My buddy Anthony is a young rider I started working with a few weekends back and he is not riding up upwind and working on transitions and jumping! Really exciting watching them progress!

Last week I got out on the water before sunset with my buddy Luis Chavez in the water and we walked away with a few pretty sweet shots! Check them out below!

 

Jupiter Invasion 2013

The longest running event in the US “sort” of happened this past weekend. With a 3 day weekend event in store everyone was hoping for wind… Unfortunately as you know when you want to run a kiteboarding event on set dates the winds don’t seem to always be in your favor. Especially in Florida it seems this season has been off to a bad start but while I’m typing this its windy so go figure.

Needless to say it was still a fun event that was kicked off with some fun surf and standup paddling throughout the 3 day contest with winds that seemed to tease all of the kiters on and off everyday. Not really anything worse then that borderline amount of wind to prevent you from getting on the water. Pretty good turn out of kiters coming from all over North America and Aruba. Many seasoned pro riders mixed in with the rookies made for a good blend of skills when we all got in the water doing something that wasn’t our first sport of choice whether it was surfing or sup. Excellent conditions on Saturday to watch everyone try and get through the Jupiter shore break which made for a good laugh

As always a kiteboarding event isn’t complete with a few details missing and I guess there wasn’t a permit for the event so basically it was canned on the second day and the third day moved to a new location down the beach. Regardless there wasn’t much wind so it didn’t affect us much other then the mood of the event a touch. Still a fun event to attend without wind with a huge thanks to Jeremy at the Jupiter Invasion bringing food and drinks for the riders during the whole event and having a good time out there regardless of the conditions. Also a big thanks to Mutiny and my sponsors for helping me get over there and making the trip happen!

Time to get in the water we have wind!

-Drew

Winter Wonderland

So far Florida this season has not been the best for kiting, although not to complain too much it has been around 80 degrees nearly everyday! So regardless of there not being a lot of wind, with all this perfect weather we’ve been outside a lot to say the least. Pretty amazing to be surrounded by all FL has to offer year around with great weather to boot

With a new Canon 60d in my hands and no wind I seem to think I’m a photographer all of a sudden but with all good fun pretty neat stuff!

Good Winds to come!

CKA East Coast Round Up

Was a fun Sunday for me spent teaching an early morning lesson and then dashing over to the East Coast of Florida for the first CKA event of the season! The CKA stands for the College Kiteboarding Association which was formed by former Eckerd College student Matt Sexton. After Matt graduated it was tough without a driving force to keep events and contests running. Fortunately now with the help from Ryan Druyor and the growing interest in college kiteboarding from the universities the CKA is back up and running and have a sick schedule of events to come!

This seasons first event was held in Cocoa Beach, FL at the 520 Slick. With prevailing north winds this spot sets up for butter flat water with some unique lift off the mangroves to say the least. The afternoon meeting started off with 30+ riders from all different school all looking forward to getting on the water. The decision was to run 3 different heats with the top 2 riders in each advancing to the finals. I was very impressed with the overall riding level gathered from around the state of Florida, and a little worried about making it into the finals myself.

The finals shaped up with a lot of talented riders and I managed a good heat myself and took 2nd place at the event behind Tommy Fields which I feel is acceptable

After the event was over we all went back out for a sunset session as the wind continued to build! One of the best sessions of the season so far, can’t complain when your on the water with your mates and have good winds!

Here are the final results for the CKA East Coast Roundup

Freestyle All Around – Men

1st Tommy Fields – U of Miami
2nd Drew Christianson – USF
3rd Brett Sullivan – FAU
4th Sean Buells – FAU

Women Freestyle Finals
1st Jaime Fields – Stetson
2nd Maya Robert – USF

Super Stoke/Smooth Riding – Jaime Fields Big Air/Best Trick – Eric Hough FGCU

Wanted to give a Big Thanks to all the sponsors that helped out and to the 3 judges Ryan Druyor, Oli Berlic, Billy Bosch for taking their time to score all the riders! Also thanks to Andrew Grossmann for taking the shots above!

For more about what the CKA is all about check out collegekiteboarding.com

Can’t wait till the next events, and the season final in The Florida Keys!

LeftOvers

Before cleaning out the hard drive I decided to throw together the scraps and make something of the leftovers.

Huge Thanks to Katherine Pyne, Stephen Sullivan and Hannah Christianson for getting in the water and shooting!

Check out Katherine’s work at Fitbodynow.wordpress.com and Stephen Sullivan’s at StephenSullivanPhoto.com

Music by The Clean- Beatnik

The Season is now starting to get in full swing here, keep an eye on my page for new edits and what I’m up too!