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Day two at the Pismo Beach KiteXpo started out slow with a deep layer of fog blanketing the beach well into mid-day. But similar to Friday, the early afternoon sun drew in a mild sea breeze which ramped up in the late afternoon for a couple hours of prime time demo conditions.

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The mellow start was perfect for SUP demos with F-One, Slingshot, Naish and RRD sending SUPers of all skill levels out into the glassy event site surf. With soft mushy lefts and rights, the conditions were perfect for learning some new skills or trying out the latest shapes.

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The first clinic of the day was the Kiter Safety clinic in which Kirk Talon walked a group of kiters through the tools and techniques that are crucial for caring for kiteboarders who have suffered an injury. Kirk shared a number of important concepts for minimizing injuries during emergency response situations.

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With the sun barely peeking through the fog, the crowd headed over to the next clinic of the day with Ben Wilson Surf. Here the growing group of 50+ participants heard about all aspects of surfing with a kite from equipment choices, overall strategy and basic wave safety from Ben Wilson himself.

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As the clinics wrapped up, a gentle breeze filled and the biggest kites hit the sky. A slight uptick in the wind allowed a few foil-boarders to get out on the water, while others attempted to get a feel for flying the the latest kites from the beach.

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Participants flocked to the late afternoon raffle to collect some of the kites, boards and apparel donated by participating brands. Greg Gnecco from LIQUID FORCE gave away a 138 Focus kiteboard to Jeff Stokes, a power kiter from the valley who just moved to Oceano a few weeks ago, while a 12m EPIC Screamer was raffled off to San Diego kiter Marko Bartscherer. Kirk Talon scored a Loyd 5’8 RIPPA surfboard.

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When Marco Bini heard his raffle ticket called he ran from 300 yards away. The look on his face was priceless when he discovered that Ben Wilson was handing over a BWSurf Noise kite in the size of Marco’s choice.

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The evening wrapped up with a beach bonfire and a showing of the documentary With a Kite. The forecast for Sunday is looking stronger than all days combined with solid 9m wind in store for the 17 brands demoing their 2014 gear. There will be another safety clinic Sunday morning and with plenty of raffle items remaining, Sunday is sure to be the best day yet.

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Raffle items still up for grabs:

  • Dakine backpacks
  • Cabrinha Wakeskate
  • North Styler Harness
  • Nobile 10m 50 Fifty kite
  • Slingshot Trainerkite
  • Best Armada Kiteboard
  • 3 night stay in Mammoth Lake, CA
  • Sakos apparel
  • 2 gift certificates to Canyon Beachwear.

*Raffle tickets sell for $5 each, with a starting minimum purchase of $10 (2 tickets). From there, take advantage of the following price breaks: 10 tickets for $40 and 25 tickets for $100. Good luck!