Kitesurf Atlas, Kiteboarding Holidays, Kite Surf Lessons

This week end I got the opportunity to be in a kitesurfing film with Oxbow www.oxboworld.com. I was approached by the producer of the film to do the "lifestyle" part. They already have all the footage of their team riders but needed the rest of the footage. The scenery at Amayo Kite Beach is amazing with the wind turbines and the volcano's creating an almost magical atmosphere. The entire process of making a film is interesting. It's crazy how just a few minutes of film took over 11 hours to shoot. There is a lot that goes into it and the rider has to be good. In exchange for my time in doing the film, the producer shot a promotional video for me, which I can use to try and get sponsored. I spent more then a few hours taking jump after jump which is actually is hard to do on spot with changing conditions. When the wind kicks up so do the waves and Toma could only stand so deep in the water. Trying to get a good jump off between the white wash was brutal.

I’m starting to develop a routine here in San Juan now. It’s taken quite a long time to do because I have been moving around a lot in the past two ½ months but now I found a house to rent by the month. It’s nothing fancy, something equivalent to a favela but it’s only $120 a month and a close walk to town. It’s nice being able to finally unpack my bags. I’ve been basically on the go since September 2007 and to be honest with you I would like to chill out for awhile.

Yesterday I did my first official lesson here in Nicaragua. I ended up taking Oliver, a local surf pro out to a baseball field near the lake to do the first part of the lesson. The wind this week is good but I ended up using my new 7m as the "trainer kite" because I was having a hard time catching the wind from the ground. It ended up working great and after only one hour he was feeling comfortable enough to get in the water so we jumped in the truck to San Jorge. I would have liked to do the body dragging right from the beach access near the baseball field but it was pretty rocky. Anyhow taking the kite down and set it up again but it was good practice for Oliver. When we arrived at San Jorge to my surprise the beach was actually cleaner then the last time I was there, no dirty diapers this time!! What a bonus and we ended up having the water to ourselves, which was nice not having to worry about my student crashing the kite near swimmers.