Tree a Kite in Kihei? Coco Mike(s) TO THE RESCUE!!!

One of our riders treed a kite during Mai Tai 2008. Apparently a pretty common occurance in Kihei behind the Maui Sunset. Attempts to fly it out in one piece failed of course, so half a kite was left in the tree.

After repeated calls to the Maui Sunset with no response, Kon Othmer was finally able to find a GREAT resource to come to the rescue. Coco Mike (who's email is plural because the singular version was taken) can climb huge palm trees, BAREFOOT, without any spikes, cleats or anything that can damage a tree!! The ropes you see in the picture are not used to tie HIM down, only to lower things from the tree safely.. If you are ever in the same situation that we were, contact Mike Shortell at (808) 572-2845 or reach him by email at cocomikes@gmail.com.

What to do on a windless day on Maui - Freebord!

Just before heading out to Maui, I brought Susi and Tom up to SF to visit Freebord to try out their gear on a windy day at Crissy. We wanted to see if we could snowboard on asphalt and stay upwind with a kite. 35MPH winds, with a trainer kite and a freebord...

The product is like a longboard with two truck wheels along the center that swivel - so it rides like a snowboard. Here are some cool shots of the board's evolution :

The intention was to bring them to Maui and try them out with 4 line kites so we could also depower if needed. We planned to kite but the wind was too light. So we rode 'em anyway! Susi Mai, Tom Court, plus Jesse Richman (winner of PKRA France) and Clarissa Hempel, who just won the Texas Velocity games last week.

100 Mile Hawaiian Crossing - Maui to Oahu, 3 Islands, 2 Channels

FIRST ATTEMPT EVER - kiteboarding crossing July, 26 2008 from Ho'okipa in Maui to Kaunakakai in Molokai and then from West Molokai to Kailua, Oahu = total of 100 miles. Contact Paul Franco at (808)357-4976 or Paul@HawaiiKiteboardCrossing.com for more info..

Susi Mai teaching the Raley

Back to Mai Tai Kite Camp lessons... Susi does an amazing Raley, and she looks almost as good off the water as on.

Incredibly limber with great power - and by definition, unhooked.

I've not kited unhooked (on purpose) for 5 years - but given the quality of her moves, i'm going to focus on the baby step of kiting unhooked this summer.

NEW Radical Kites from Naish

When I was on Maui, Robby Naish told me that I should NOT buy a new kite this season until AFTER JUNE 3 -because Naish was going to change the game with a completely new design. These kites were introduced to dealers that week. The pic is from a post on kiteforum - a click will take you to the discussion page. Really different wing design. The commentary suggests that these kites have great lift and gliding ability once in the air. Stay tuned!

Surfboard vs. Twin Tip

When I started kiting, many folks were using directional boards - small surfboards with straps. Just as I stepped on the learning curve, I was excited to see the move toward twin tips - one less thing to deal with as I never had to 'jibe' and could ride heel side all the time. But it's time for a change - back to basics.

To commemorate the MaiTai Kite Camp, Jimmy Lewis made me a cool 5' 6" small surfboard with straps - and for further encouragement, kiting pioneer Lou Wainman stepped in to give me pointers on how to set it up for my stance. It was an honor for met to meet the man who has been in more kiting videos than any other waterman I know of.

Surfboards are fun to ride with a kite. A smooth, curvy, floaty, ride. Upwind performance is awesome. These pictures compare surfboard and twin tip sessions on days with identical wind and tide conditions.

The first snapshot is the path I rode with my surfboard, and the next is a ride on my twin tip. One picture is wider for obvious reasons. A click on either pic will take you to motionbased to 'follow the little red dot' of the actual ride tracked by GPS that day.

Mai Tai Kite Camp 2007


Last week, 3 dozen kite addicted Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and VC's converged on one of kiteboarding's epicenters - Kite Beach Maui - to learn and improve with coaching and help from Natasha Casebolt and Susi Mai. Pete Cabrinha and crew also provided a TON of help -



Lots of pics are have been posted by Susi Mai at MaiTaiSports .

And here are a couple lessons from the trip : First, here's Susi showing us how its done --

And if ever Cameron Dietrich (who tests all the Cabrinha prototypes)says "here's how you jump" - just hand him your kites - thats what I did..