Fredstem

No wind yesterday, but 3 hours of great music from my all-time favorite band: The Cure.

I (with my friend DimiExter) have never been so far from the stage in 25 years following The Cure, but at least we had a lot of room to dance. Here is a wrap-up video of yesterday concert at the HP Pavilion in San Jose. For the fans only...

It has been nuking between 30 and 40 MPH three days in a raw in our beloved 3rd Avenue channel with some epic ebbing swells. I don't even remember getting this kind of strong recurrent wind for years...

During these 3 days, I have been out both windsurfing and kiting. Here is a picture of my close friend Jean-Marc and myself after today's fabulous 2 hours session in the channel with my 7m... Just look at our smiles!

It couldn't get better than this... Closing the MaiTai Cam 2008 by a 5 hours sesh at Kite Beach on a Bandit 9m... Super busty jumps and nice wave riding with friends... I was wrecked to catch my plane but so stocked!!! 

Maui: I will be back soon!

I started this amazing day with some Stand up paddling and a beautiful wave which carried me up to the shore. Then some longboard surfing waiting for the trades wind to pick up...

And at 5:00 pm, a light breeze woke up the entire MaiTai gang and thanks to Steve's 14m Contra and his surfboard, I had a blasting sesh. Jeff Kafka, Steve Gibson and I were having fun upwind playing with some clean swells on a true butter day.

And then we all headed to Naish Maui for a nice party hosted by my long time waterman idol, Robby himself.

And the treat of the day, a fun after-party to celebrate Susi Mai's birthday. Susi is as beautiful as she is good at kiting. Did I mention she also speaks French fluently?

And NO, I haven't used photoshop!!! The lucky guy standing next to the 3 times RedBull King of the Air champion is really me... Joyeux Anniversaire Susi!

For a tattoo like this, I am ready to ride Cabrinha anytime

(Clarissa Hempel at Kite Beach)

More seriously, we did some Stand Up paddling on the morning (very cool but I still need more practice...) and we had a super nice party at Cabrinha Maui to unveil the new Xbow. Was fun to chat with Pete and others...

It was even lighter today but I managed to ride a little thanks to Steve's Switchblade 12m and his Cabrinha surfboard. The stance of the straps was to wide for me but who cares when it is just for a quick downwinder in paradise... Thanks again Steve for making my day!

Pictures from Phil. (Easy relaunch by the way...)

And for those who think Phil has an easy life in Maui, look at this photo (sorry taken from my treo) of Phil at Neilpryde Maui trying to sell a kite on his day off..

I have been invited by my friend Bill Tai to attend to the MaiTai Camp 2008 in Maui. The wind was not great yesterday but we were able to do an evening session in Kihei. It was very sweet and so agreeable to be back in Maui, hanging out with so many cool people from the bay area...

But you need to watch the palm trees, as they have the bad tendency to attract kites :-)

I finally found some time off to put a video together of my little champ, Fiona, riding like daddy at Mammoth Lakes...

Enjoy her amazing skiing and snowboarding skills and the music!