The first of the 2007 Gorge Performance Kiteboarding Demos at Sauvie’s Island was a great success!! Although many watched their computers all day and had no faith.. Sauvie’s delivered in unusual style… with winds kicking in about 5pm and forcing us to small kites by about 6-6.30pm.
NW Liquid arrived around 3pm to a hot sun and glassy conditions. No one would ever believe that it would be a kiteboarding spot by how it looked when we arrived. This was my fist Sauvie’s experience.
Without Haste, we tossed up the Liquid Force Tent, as we needed some serious shade to survive the 80deg+ heat. As soon as the tent went up, the coolers came out and it was as if there wouldn’t be a session at all.
Since not too many people have had a chance to check out the new Liquid Force Havoc and Assault2 Kites, Shawn and I started pumping so the kites would be out and ready.. for when the wind filled in. We even arranged the kites opposite of the usual wind direction, upwind of the tent. Perfect! If the kites blow into the tent.. we’ll know it’s on. Just in case.. I had made the mission to the LF warehouse on monday and picked up a 19m Assault2… as the sacrifice. We were just about to begin pumping it when the kites started blowing into the tent… it was on!
First out, Portland local and GP employee Tucker headed out on the Slingshot TD2 14. Much to everyone’s surprise, he was cruising upwind on his first tack out. Seeing this, Hood River local and Gorge Performance employee Shawn Shawn put up the Assault2 16m and grabbed a new LF Recoil 136 with Luxury Footstraps and headed out. With enough power to cruise upwind and start jumping, and the texture increasing on the water, it looked as if it was going to be a firing afternoon.
With the breeze filled in, we got Matt ready on the Havoc 12m. Coming from 2004 Cabrinha C kites, matt was in for a great time riding the Havoc. It wasn’t long before he was way upwind of everyone and starting to get the feeling of jumping it.
Within only a few moments, kites were in the air and there were about 15 people on the water. People were able to get out on the Slingshot TD2’s, Liquid Force Havocs and a variety of Slingshot and LF Kiteboards. When the LF flags snapped their poles and the tent was about to blow over, it was windy enough and time for the Ruben Len10 show. Without a wetsuit, Ruben went out for a quick flurry of moves in standard, chill, smooth, handle pass 30′ up, Len10 kind of way.
As Matt came in with the Havoc 12m, and Shawn watching the booth and getting people stoked on demo boards, I found a few minutes to grab the 12 and head out for a short session. Litt up on the 12m at Sauvie’s… and that is for a 230# guy! This was my first time to Sauvie’s Island, but I hear that doesn’t happen very often. Pretty soon, I was so powered that unhooked wake tricks were getting a bit uncomfortable, so it was time for some old school big air.
I have been on a personal mission this season to bring back the deadman. For so long, everyone was anti big air/dangle ohh that’s gay, etc, etc. Then the depower kites came out and dangle really didn’t work anymore. Without a second harness loop and with so much depower, it wasn’t possible to let go of the bar and do any classic danle moves, without the kite depowering and you falling out of the sky.
With the new Liquid Force Control Systems and the new, easily adjustable stopper balls, it is very easy to ride a kite with full depower capability, such as the Havoc and then right before jumping, slide the stopper down a bit, do your jump, hang lofty from the kite, as the bar sits on the stopper and then as soon as you land simply slide the stopper away to have your max depower and sheetability back!
Just about that time I was hucking deadmen, I saw the Liquid Force tent catch some air of it’s own. From where I was, there was nothing I could really do, so I just hoped Shawn could take care of it… and that it didn’t land on my surfboards, which were on the downwind side of the tent. Within a couple minutes it seemed that Shawn and the crew had everything taken care of and I was too juiced on the 12, so it was time to come in.
Perfect timing! It was just after 6pm, Philip and the Portland 9-5 crew had just arrived and I was headed back to the van to pick up more 8’s and 10’s !
Stevie P- Gorge Performance Kite Manager grabbed the Liquid Force Surf 5′8″ and was ready to give that a try.
We figured it was the perfect time to get him out on the Assault2- Liquid Force’s Bow style kite, with 2:1 Control System Stevie put up the 9m Assault 2 and headed out to get the feel of the Surf board.
After tending to the family, Matt was ready to head back out on a Havoc, so we got him set on the 10m. Since he was getting comfortable with the kite, he was ready to add a Recoil 136cm to is demo experience.
It just happend that this was when I had a few minutes to take a few shots. While they are not the best, I’m sure Matt will be stoked to see that for this demo, he was the star for a bit. Way to jump on a new kite and new board and have such a great session! It is seeing the stoke people get from kiteboarding and riding new gear that takes them to new experiences that keeps me so stoked on doing these demos. Thanks Matt, for having such a great time demoing the new LF gear! Maybe it’s time to put those Cabrinha’s on ebay and go see Bob and Stevie at Gorge Performance to get tight with some new LF gear!
Windy enough now for big guys to be on 10’s it was time to pump up the 8m Havoc and get some people out on it. Philip, the godfather of NWKite.com Was the first out on the 8m, after coming in on a TD2 9m.
Following his session, Tucker and Amery both had a chance to check it out.
With that, the breeze started backing off again and we were back to the 12m’s as the day was winding down. Back at the booth, JP and others were checking out the extreme comfort of the Liquid Force Luxury Interface kit. I think there will be some of these moving out of Gorge Performance in the next few days!
What a great reward to get such great conditions for the Sauvie’s Island Demo!
As everything was winding down and getting packed up, it all came full circle as the breeze died off to almost nothing and Shawn took the last few tacks of the day on the Assault2 16m that started it all off.
Thanks to Gorge Performance for putting on the demo and for all of those who had the faith, or willingness to give Sauvie’s a shot, even though the wind wasn’t guaranteed and was a roll of the dice. For those that missed out… we arer going to give it another go this afternoon and hope it holds. If you miss them both and are still looking to get some demo time on the new Liquid Force Kites or Kiteboards, just give the guys a call at Gorge Performance- 503.246.6646 and let them know what you’re looking for. We can arrange demo gear at most any time, either from Gorge Performance/Sauvie’s or we can meet up in Hood River or other spots in the Gorge.
DEMO to WIN !! As you may notice on this blog there is a page for Demo to Win. This is all still coming together and figuring out the programming, etc, for people to register. If you demo’d at Sauvie’s yesterday, don’t worry.. you will qualify. Just send me an email at gregg at NWLiquid.com and we’ll go from there.
This month’s Demo to Win prize will be a Liquid Force Luxury Interface Kit Winner will be chosen from all those who demo gear in may (or prior to may) and who register and post a comment about their demo within these pages.
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