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The 2011 La Ventana Classic got off to an amazing start this year. To kick off the event, Neil Hutchinson and the legendary Baja Joe (who was once a member of a skydiving group known as the cloudbusters) jumped out of an airplane from 10,000 ft above the event site in front of the Baja Joe’s Resort.

Bets had been placed on where they would land, and both Neil and Baja Joe came in close to target, with Neil landing slightly upwind on the hula hoop and Baja Joe slightly downwind. According to Neil, they could hear the crowd on the beach cheering them on.Within a few minutes of landing, Neil was on the microphone with the help of translators Claudia and Luz and the 2011 La Ventana Classic and Kite Expo was underway here in La Ventana.

At the same time that Neil and Joe headed down to Cabo to catch their airplane, 25 SUP competitors (including 8 women) loaded their gear into a few pangas and headed over to Isla Cerralvo, 11 miles offshore of La Ventana. The La Ventana Paddle Royal is a race from the island back to La Ventana, and Mark Kiwi Fields again finished in first place. Official results have not been released yet, so we will announce those tomorrow.

The wind was light again today in La Ventana (but is predicted to be very windy tomorrow), allowing the demo portion of the event to get off to a mellow start. To keep the crowd entertained, Tim Hatler’s twisted mind had come up with a series of beach games, all of which involved drinking. The crowd favorites were the frozen wetsuit relay and the bilge pump race. The bilge pump involved a kite pump, two hoses, beer, a snorkel, and a funnel.

Tomorrow at 7:30 am, a fleet of pangas will arrive at Baja Joe’s to take the 130+ competitors to Isla Cerralvo for the La Ventana Classic, a 11 mile kiteboarding and windsurfing crossing from the island back to La Ventana. Last year, the top finishers were back on the mainland in just over 20 minutes, and we’re expecting them to cross even fasted this year.

Tonight was capped off with the annual Toga party at Pablos. In fact, it’s still going on as this is being written. As you can imagine, when you dress a bunch of kiteboarders up in sheets, madness ensues. More to come manana.