Hurricane Irene passes Cocoa Beach

This Hurricane season has certainly been one to remember. With the first near strike in Cocoa Beach being Hurricane Irene.

The week prior I was at home in Connecticut with my family and lovely girlfriend Chelsey Pletts watching the hurricane skirt the east coast of our fine state, anticipating the epic conditions I would be returning to.

I flew home to Cocoa Beach Wednesday night and thursday was going to be the big day. With seas double to triple overhead I knew I was in for a wild ride. Billy Bosch(my roomate) had class that morning so I woke up at 7 and hit the beach solo. the smallest kite I have is a 2008 9m Naish Torch.
I pumped her up and launched with winds around the 20-30 knot range. Now This isn't a kite that i normally ride since the winds here on the East coast of Florida normally dont exceed the 20mph mark but today was a very special day.

The Ocean looked mean with an ominous gray sky and a great deal of movement in the sea I jumped in to play in one of my favorite conditions; strong wind and big waves.

I knew that Mikey Walsh from the Otherside Boardshop in the Keys, and Matt Sexton would be coming through to ride with us, so I decided to stay in front of the crib kiting just south of the pier while I waited for them to arrive.

I was approached by a photographer for the Orlando Sentinel and he got a few good shots of me while I was out on my twin tip. you can see more of thouse photos here: OliB I also did a short interview with News Channel 3 Cocoa Beaches local news channel, but I have yet to see it.

at around 10:30 I put my kite down and went home to grab some water and a bite to eat. I couldn't stomach the food I had bought in the morning due to the sheer adrenalin pumping through my veins. Now was a different story I was hungry and needed my battery to be recharged.

As i was eating thinking of the amazing rest of the day to come billy walked in the house stoked on the fact that it was Nuking outside and the waves were massive. We called Sexton and he assured us that he would be there within half an hour and Mikey was ahead of him. We knew we would do a few downwinders but had no idea what would be in store. with their arrival we walked down to the beach and everyone rigged up.

I was now on a 8m since my torch would not hold air for more than 20 mins at a time. I had my Totora 5'4 placebo surfboard and we all charged the downwinder strapless. I have been in some big waves in Brazil but these certainly topped them with what looked like buildings and medium houses chasing me down an endless line.

We would go on to do another downwinder after this one but after riding all day I was so beat on the second my muscles were cramping the whole way.

This was one of the most memorable days of the summer spent with some of my best friends, why cant more hurricanes just skirt our coast.

This was a short recap I am going to retouch on this subject in the coming days. Again thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed

Kiteboarding on CNN!

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to shed some light on kiting through a mass media source CNN. this segment ran the entire memorial day weekend and we have gotten a great deal of feedback from it.

Big thanks to Mike Prazmark for making it happen and the wind for being there when we needed her most!!





I hope you all enjoy!

Please leave comments and thoughts.

Cocoa Beach Madness

So since I left the Meercat. I have moved my operation to the East Coast of the Sunshine State, Cocoa Beach. Otherwise known as the Space Coast. Since i have been here working for Good Breeze Kiteboarding and The Ron Jon Surf school I have gotten to experience what it is like to work and live in a perfect kitesurf paradise.

My Room mate Billy Bosch is the sole proprietor of Good Breeze Kiteboarding a shop and school located here in Cocoa Beach. I have been diligently teaching surfing and kiting to locals and tourists.

Our Kite spots are top notch. With endless coastlines for downwinders and a flat water heaven known as the 520 slick for teaching and freestyle are a kiters dream.

the town has a trolly system so when you do your downwinders you don't need to leave a car behind for the ride home just plan accordingly and you can catch a trolly right back to your starting location. It isn't unheard of on a windy day for someone (most of the time Steve a local shredder who is always doing downwinders) to do more than 4 downwinders of more than 10 miles a day!!!

Not to mention the fact that one of the best cable parks Orlando Watersports Complex is just a 30 min drive from our front porch!

So if your looking for a place to chill, Surf, Skate, Kite and shred cable holla at your boy!!!

Check us out at: www.goodbreezekiteboarding.com

A little surf vid rough edit.

Enjoy I know the waves are small...I make funny faces

But they were still fun!

Aruba Bound with some good Beats

Im stoked to be working with a good group of individuals. Next week Sexton and I will be doing a private course in Aruba the Wind looks consistent and strong so im sure we will have great sessions and I'm Really stoked to be able to help some great guys progress in this amazing sport.

As I was looking into spots in Aruba Matt sent me some of these beats and I thought this would be a perfect time to share it with all of you. 

I hope everyones 2011 has been going great and will only get better!!!

And with that here you go! Two of my favorite MC's over some Dub beats mixed by, Max Tannone.

Mos Dub by Max Tannone

Dub Kweli by Max Tannone

Cheers and Enjoy!

New opps in New England

Since I am no longer traveling with zenith I will not be posting much here. Although I will bring it back once I make my way back down to Brazil. Thanks to everyone who stopped by and read a story.

You are the ones who really made this possible.

Cheers,
Oli

The Gwada Waddle, biddies and some good ol' surfin'!!!

your average sight at a Gwada wada beach

After a long set up and prep for the trip, it was on!

I grabbed a taxi who spoke almost no english and made my way over to the airport to pick up homie Matt Sexton. I arrived at the airport to find him inside the baggage collection area sitting on his camera case. 

Yellling out "der go matty boy" he smiled and the shinanigans began. Although he arrived at 11 pm we both knew we wouldn't call it a night and pass out we would have to go out and check out the scene in town.

After a quick stroll around the marina we found a bar rightfully called the Zoo Rock Cafe & Bar, and decided to grab a few pints. 

Kicking back a few brews we got to catching up and telling stories from the past few months we have been both away doing our things. We got to talking to the bartender who ended up being a kiter himself and he gave us some insight on where the best spots to ride would be here on the island and he stressed the fact that we should get up early tomorrow and catch the wind at a spot not too far from where we were. The bartenders name was Dume and he was in fact the owner of this fine establishment. So we kicked back a few more took a few shots and called it a night. Heading back to the boat I was stoked to have a good forecast for wind for the next two days.

I awoke to the sound of wind passing through the mast...dope!                                                                              

Yes thats overproof rum and Yes the GoPro caught on fire!.... and Yes we have the footage

Grabbing a bite to eat Matt and I loaded up the dingy for the day to come filled with the camera gear, kites, boards, and our fat selfs we were ready to jam out in style.

As we left Meercat, we saw that Dume was getting some fuel at the fuel dock and stopped over to see what was good.

He told us to throw our gear in his boat since it was much more sea worthy than our dingy and we did. I drove the dingy up to the island about 2 miles from where we were docked. As I got closer to the island I could see that the spot and the conditions were just right for a good photo sesh. 

We pumped up and got out for a warm up ride. Matt was on his 11m Slingshot Fuel and I was on my 12m Naish Torch. The power in the Torch is exactly what I needed. After having a great warm up sesh I grabbed the camera and started shooting, producing some great shots, with a sick background. Matt was throwing down reppin our St. Pete and Fl. Crew!

Since we are here in St. Francis right now I will be back a little later with to fill you all in with the rest of the trip this was just the beginning and first day, as well as post some pics.

Yeah you should be here and you CAN!!!

Cheers!