Puerto Rico trip (day 7)

Time to Ride!!!!

Yes, that is what is on my mind, and about all I have planned for the day.

Also, it is time to get Becky out there practicing with me.

So after a decent breakfast we both pump up and walk upwind a few hundred yards.  I meet a local kiter as I walk, who happens to work at the jetski rental place on the beach.  Very nice guy.  He was interested in where I was from, if I was an instructor (more on this in a minute), and he also had some questions about my LF Comp harness.   His girl friend has the same model and complains that it rides up.   Becky showed him and his girlfriend her Dakine harness board shorts, and recommended she get a pair.

After the meet and greet Becky and I lay out our lines and rig up.  I plan to follow Becky and retrieve her board for her, should she wipe out and get dragged too far away from it.

I launch her, Sean launches me...and we are off.  Becky has a few small problems, but overall we have a good 1/2 mile downwinder together.  However, downwind we have been traveling.  Towards the end of the beach I start to think it is time for Becky to head in, when instead she keeps riding out further towards me...until she wrecks and downs her kite. 

I hoop and holla, and then I get her attention.  I try to make it apparent to her that she needs to get her kite up and make it to shore ASAP, as in there is no more downwind area, just a straight line to the beach if she holds her ground.  Also, we are both getting into the reef which is literally like 12 inches or less under the water.

I ride in and self land my kite.  I end up with a seaweed salad on my lines...dammit that sux!

Anyways, Becky does get her kite up and in one last desperate ride she makes it to shore....with no downwind space to spare, holding her ground the whole way in.  I laugh when she gets in and tells me that she was chanting a mantra to herself the whole time while making that last ride in, "Bitch, you better get your act together Becky.  You better ride for your life bitch".

So, after a little help getting the seaweed off my lines, I launch and head out solo for another hour or two.  Then I come in when the wind starts to back off.

As you can see in the above picture I was wearing my Urban Surf instructor rash guard.  Why?  Well, most of my rash guards are either black or they don't have sleeves.  Black is of course hot in the sun, and I was already chaffed under my armpits from wearing sleeveless rash guards.

Anyways, it turns out to be a great way to get students in Puerto Rico.  It seems like most people there have not been exposed to the sport.  They tend to come hang on the beach, point, watch, and very much get excited about the jumping and hang time.  Adding an instructor shirt meant these gawkers all felt at ease coming up and asking me about the sport.  I could easily have lined up prospective clients from these encounters.  So yeah, I learned wearing an instructor shirt when riding or teaching lessons is a great way to drum up new business.

Ok, so now the wind is down, riding appears to be over....but after a beer or two I just can't help but want to get back into the ocean.  I just love it!  Becky and Sean join me. You will notice Sean has on a fluorescent yellow shirt I loaned him, which we hope will reflect as much sunlight off of him as possible, making his burns bearable.

At first we try launching Becky into the air....

Next we all try our hands at body-surfing.  I seem to have the best form and get the furthest each time, although you can see Sean certainly has the most style.

Sean body-surfing with style...

"look at me Mom, no hands"

Becky's face says it all as she misses the wave, "This Stinks!"

OK, she caught it that time....

Sean's turn....

Ryan cleans house though with massive rides to shore.....

At some point I grab the camera and decide to take picture of waves, hoping to catch a cool pic or two of the lip rolling over me.

And while you can see I got a couple OK shots, most looked like this.....

However, I did get two really cool ones, and with a little color correction they turned out like this....

So yeah, I was pretty stoked at the end result.

After thouroughly wearing ourselves out playing in the surf, we head in and start putting kiting gear up.  While we are sitting drinking beers......

We look down into the bushes below us....

No silly, look closer....

Yep, we find little crabs that live under the bushes in the yard.  They must come out at night and scavenge.  Of course, I jump down and rummage around until I capture one.

And boy oh boy does this little guy put up a fight!

After letting him go, Sean gets a great picture of the "light" beer we have been drinking all week.