Kiteboarding's Original King of the Air

Last summer I had the pleasure of meeting Flash Austin in Maui. For those of you who don't know him, Flash was the winner of Red Bull's FIRST ever "King of the Air" competition. He was, and is GREAT for this sport. Click on the picture below to start the clip.

Robby Naish describes Flash as 'the best rider in the world hands down'.

On a day that was 'scary windy' for most kiters - with gusts in the 35 to 38 mph range - Flash was out there boosting 40 foot jumps on a 14 meter AIRUSH kite. Here's an AVVENU to the video clip (downloadable right off my home hard drive!) that gives you a feel for his spirit, energy, and authenticity.

No wind?? Try this Kiteboarding Simulator

It's that time of year. I have not been on the water for several weeks now and am having severe withdrawal. I'm going to have to head to hawaii, mexico, fiji.... SOMEWHERE windy to get another fix... unless....
If you are in the same boat -- one of 3rd's anchor tenants, J.R., has written something that can give you a temporary hit.

In his spare time away from kiting, J.R. Gloudemans is a NASA specialist on aircraft design -- who incorporates 'real world' laws of physics into his code. Click HERE to go straight to his download page.

I've asked him if he can integrate it into SecondLife where my name is "alan greenspan golem" -- my intention was to wreak (in a fun way) havoc with the money supply -- but instead, now i'm relishing a chance to see if alan can kite!!