Brands and riders were busy demoing gear at this year’s KiteXpo. Everybody was pretty exhausted but happy after three solid days of wind and wave conditions on California’s Central Coast.
Mother Nature did not fail us this year and delivered a spectacular last day of wind and waves for the 13th Annual KiteXpo held in Pismo Beach, CA. The event was blessed with three days of top notch conditions for kiteboarding enthusiasts with many participants coming from all over the state of California — others came as far away as Washington, Oregon, Canada, New York, and Minnesota. We even had a few sign up sheets with riders from Europe and South America stopping in while in vacationing in the Golden State.
This kiter from Foster City, CA, made it down on Sunday at 3p. Looking to upgrade his current quiver, he was stoked to be able to demo so many brands to help him make his decision.
This special event is held every year and is now a fundraiser for Kinsley ThomasWong, a long-time local kiteboarder from the Central Coast region of California who was involved in a serious kiteboarding accident in 2010. This year’s event raised over $7,000 towards his continuing medical expenses that help his ongoing rehabilitation.
Super happy, Eric Vanek from Southern California only brought a 6 and 12m to the event. Winning the 9m Epic Screamer was just what he needed! Thanks Epic.
As always, many of the industry’s leading kiteboarding manufacturers supported this event by not only attending the demo, but by also donating plenty of great raffle prizes toward the fundraising efforts. This year’s items included several harnesses courtesy of North, Manera and Slingshot, twin tip and directional kiteboards donated by Airush, Cabrinha, AXIS, and Xenon and two kites thanks to Epic and Royal. Former Surfer Magazine staff photographer and artist Aaron Loyd, father of Gabriel Loyd of Loyd Kite and Surfboards, also donated a beautiful photographic print of a classic barrel at Pipeline, kiter Paul Dayton of Over the Waves by Design made one San Diego raffle winner very happy with his new custom wine barrel “Kinsley” Rocker chair, and a few ladies got some generous gift certificates courtesy of Canyon Beachwear. VersaMount, Airtime/Hood River, Dakine, and Kite Zombies also kicked down some great raffle prizes, All Good helped us out by providing sunscreen protection for all throughout the weekend, Red Bull kept participants energized, and Tudor Wines treated everybody to an amazing winemaker dinner at the Cliff’s Friday evening.
We would like to thank everyone that showed up, donated items, purchased raffle tickets, volunteered and contributed to the overall stoke of this great event, without you this would not have been possible. Special thanks to volunteers Kyle Thomas, Hunter Kilpatrick, Mrinda Brown and Jamie Hoff for their help at registration. THANK YOU FOR HELPING US MAKE THE 2015 SUCH A GREAT TIME FOR ALL!
Upcoming Tkb Events:
- SPI KiteXpo, Oct 2015, Dates TBD
- La Ventana Classic and Kitexpo 2016: It’s coming back! January 5-10, 2016
