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The final day of the Pismo Beach KiteXpo was blessed with blue skies and wind, a great finale to three days of clinics, raffles, parties and demos for the 12th annual event.

The day started off with a final “How to Help an Injured Kiter” presentation by Kirk Talon at 10:30a, followed by a “Shove It” clinic sponsored by Litewave Dave. Attendees then converged on registration for the final raffle at noon, right before the wind line hit the beach.

Brian schwarz of CaliKites throws a kite loop and a grab in Pismo.

Brian Schwarz of CaliKites throws a kite loop and a grab in Pismo.

Traveling all the way from Poland to demo at KiteXpo, Gosia Rosiak-Brawanska gave away the grand prize of Sunday’s raffle, a 10m Nobile Kiteboarding Fifty/50 kite to Southern California kiter Dave Boston. Local central coast rider Alli Pareti was beyond stoked when she won the Best Armada board presented by Rich Sabo from the Gorge. Attendees then took to the water to demo gear and enjoyed 9-12m conditions until sunset.

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Nobile’s Gosia Rosiak-Brawanska hands a shiny new 10m to a lucky Dave Boston.

Over $14,000 in gear, accessories and trips was donated by 17 participating companies including Airush, AXIS Kiteboarding, Ben Wilson Surf, Best, Cabrinha, Dakine, F.One, HQ Kites USA, Litewave Designs, Liquid Force, Loyd Surfboards, Mystic, Naish, Nobile, North, RRD, SAKOS Waterwear Apparel and Slingshot. Grand prizes included a Ben Wilson Surf Noise Pro (winner got to choose size), 10m Nobile Fifty/50 kite complete, 12m Epic Screamer, 132 Litewave Designs Carbon Kick, 134 Best Armada Twin Tip, 138 Liquid Force Focus,  a custom 5’8” RIPPA Kite Surfboard courtesy of Loyd Surfboards, a Cabrinha Wakeskate, harnesses from North, Naish and Manera and custom made wine barrel beach chairs courtesy of overthewavesdesigns.com.

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Special thanks to Helen Trotman and Dimitri Maramenides of Epic Kites who couldn’t attend this year but donated a Screamer to support the fundraising efforts. Canyon Beachwear, Over the Waves Designs (custom wine barrel beach chairs), Kurtis USA, Murray’s, Frank Vedres (winter and summer luxury Mammoth condo holidays), MonaVie Energy Drinks, Elemental Herbs, Pena Surf Brazil, and GliderUSA.com also generously donated toward this year’s raffle.

Photographer Alexis Rovira gives the young guns some direction.

Photographer Alexis Rovira gives the young guns some direction.

Between the winemaker dinner sponsored by local kiter Dan Tudor of www.tudorwines.com on Friday night, the Sat evening BBQ hosted by Maui Mike and the Lujan family, and the daily raffles, the event raised $11,187.78 for the ThomasWong family to help event founder, Kinsley ThomasWong, in his ongoing recovery efforts.

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Alli Pareti wins a Best Armada board from Best Kiteboarding’s Rich Sabo.

Thank you to all the vendors for their support, the volunteers who helped out with the event and the riders who came from all over to partake in the festivities and demos. The 2015 Pismo KiteXpo will be April 10-12 with more clinics planned including surf and freestyle. For more information on Kinsley’s ongoing recovery efforts, see www.friendsofkinsley.com