It's been a few weeks since my last News Letter. So much has happened and I have been so busy the time has flown.
So I'll summarise a few of the highlights in case you haven't been at he beach catching up on all the Gossip.
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Hadlow Visit
Anabatic Back on Beach Full Time
Man Attacks Shark
Tamaki NZ Boardstore Closing Down
Moose Meet tomorrow & Sahara Crossing by Buggy!
Tech Issues smashes Anabatic web site and NZ Kiteboarding online magazine site.
Site Rebuilds under way
$745 Kiteboards wow!
Next Generation Waroo should be Called the Yahoo!
Hey I have a Twitter account, so if you want short bursts of mindless Kite action: Follow Me It's currently running live on our NZ KiteboardingTM / NZ KiteboarderTM site as is Darrens's Live Auckland Wind Feed.
Aaron Hadlow dropped in for a quick visit. There was a short notice BBQ over at PT Chev where everyone had the chance to have a quick chat a beer with Hadlow, Brian and the crew. Nice to have a rider of this level here again as it's been a while since the Shannon Best visit and Kirsten Boese visits etc. And lets face it, a 5 x World Champ is a legend! So is he a nice guy or full of attitude. Well as I expected he's a super friendly guy. The owner of Flexifoil was there too and we had a good chat. He's had some good discussions with BEST earlier this year about the international market and how everything has changed. Flexi is now leaner and meaner, they cut staff down from around 45 to a core of around 7 just as the recession reared its ugly head. And are stoked to have acted so quickly. Timing is everything. Look at the changes Anabatic made and imagine what is going on at all the factories in the recession. Orewa turned it on and after being dragged all over the North Island in search of wind Hadlow threw out a few moves for the crew. I counted 60 kiters on the water and a good crowd of spectators. Not a big turn out by international standards at all but very good for Auckland. Read Aaron Blog - http://ow.ly/qUIi
Anabatic Kiteboarding is operating Lessons and Kite & Board Demo days full time at the beach again. We have printed our new Waroo and Lessons brochure, Stickers and have the demo kites about ready to land in Auckland any day now. TXT me 021-520438, (include your name) to kite with us or call to book a lesson.
Man Attacks Shark! True story, report just in of local Kiteboarder Mauritz (Mo), who was kiting out west on Muriwai enjoying strong winds and good conditions. The shark on the other hand was enjoying the solitude Muriwai is famous for and basking in the sun not bothering anyone. Neither was aware of the other until... and I only have the Sharks version of events to go by. The mighty Mo lit up like a freight train bore down on our unsuspecting victim and took him out at full speed. The train wreck of a crash sent Mo and his equipment derailing across the water in spectacular fashion. On recognising what he'd just hit apparently Mo walked like Jesus across the water to shore. The Shark being a Spike Milligan fan swam off to Shark Nose Hospital. True Story!
Tamaki - NZ Boardstore Closing down, so big sale of wetsuits and Paddleboards on there at the moment. - Source Deane Joyce. They are consolidating at Pt Chev so business at usual. It's a tough market at the moment and we wish Brian and the crew every success under the new structure. I know what it's like making the decision to close a retail store having closed our Orewa one earlier this year.
Moose Meet Tomorrow - The annual Kite Works Moosemeet at Muriwai is on this weekend. See you there! Drive down the beach from 10:30am. Peter Lynn crew of insane buggiers are coming too. You can hear all about Steve Gurney and Craig Hanses Sahara Crossing by kite buggy.
Web Sites Smashed Anabatic Kiteboarding Web site and our Kiteboarding magazine web site have been delt a final technical issue glitch. I have built so many web sites over the past year but wasn't really looking to rebuild my two main Kiteboarding sites just yet. yes I knew they were looking ready for a rebuild but it's a big job and something I rather do in winter. Summer months are for Kiteboarding, not web design, or so I thought. Anyway with the moving of my site to a new server, so crunch time came too. Turns out LDU the back end is redundant technology now. Or maybe the support for it at least. So now I am midway through a complete ground up rebuild. Yes that explains why Anabatic has little in the way of product news from 2010 stuff. It's all being published on the new site. NZ Kiteboarding will follow along shortly too. It's still working but all the ordering is shot to pieces. I will recover users files but probably not blogs, so cut and paste them if you want them.
The New Site is Coming! www.Kite.co.nz - will be all 2010 within the week all going well. Stay tuned.
New Kiteboards for $745 I have a shipment of brand new BEST kiteboards arriving next week. These boards can be ridden with fins or finless for sliders and kickers and have a channelled bottom too. High end construction, amazing price! Limited numbers available. Give me a call to snatch a new board at just $745 incl GST including all hardware!
The New Waroo should be Called the Yahoo! I have a 11m sample 2010 NXG (Next Generation) Waroo here now. It's been great to put this kite to the test in a variety of conditions. It's not like any Waroo I have ridden, the
Twister tech is exclusive BEST technology and that combined with the
Delta wing shape make this kite unique. Delta Shapes have been emerging over the past 12 months and Best have taken their KAHOONA model and blended it with the Hi tech Nemesis to produce the 2010 Waroo. Here is a little insight into the new Delta / Twister Tech / One Pump 2010 WAROO.
I have always ridden the Waroos on 25m, so rode my 11m on the same with out thinking.
Big airs, huge power etc, solid bar pressure.
Found it was best on a-a setting for turn rate.
But I liked the feel of AB better for feel.
Spoke to Jeff at Best and he pointed out the kites are designed to run on 22's not 25m lines so we quickly changed to that.
Wow, now I have it quicker than on A-A and I'm riding on A-B.
The power is still there, if not even better as I can throw the kite around the power stroke quicker.
I love the twister Tech + External one pump too!
It's an unbelievably high quality and hi tech kite when you take a close look at it.
I do regret letting a few people ride it on the 25m lines a little as it's
more fun to ride than the 09 Nemesis when on 22's and that's saying
something.
Will have to let them fly it again just to experience the difference. It smokes any Bow or Delta kite out there. Just so much fun and it goes huge too!
Only mistake BEST made with this kite is calling it a WAROO, it's so much better and so different to any Waroo I've ever ridden.
Should have called it the YAHOO!
I'm serious! Huge marketing blunder... this is fresh new stuff here!
Needs a better name than Waroo and I'm a huge Waroo fan!
FYI, i have ridden the 11m in marginal flat water conditions up to
28 knots in heavy onshore beach break surf. At 95kg I'm no light weight
and this kite packs some punch in the low end and behaves perfectly in
the ugly stuff. I am sure it will remain the Worlds #1 selling kite model for a few more years given this huge leap in technology.
The DELTA Waroo 2010 has arrived! Now I know why they call their 2010 Waroo range NXG = Next Generation.
Here are a few photos so you can see all the details up close.
Here we have some secondary content:
Waroo Details: The finest quality and latest technology available. This exclusive BEST Kite technology is only available from Anabatic Kiteboarding. Imagine if the price for one was under $2000, just imagine ;)
Sahara by Buggy - Are you Mad!
A Charity raising adventure of epic proportions and all for a good cause too. Keep Monday Night Free!
Sand in their undies,… and more. The Sahara Desert
By Kite Buggy - Another Mad Adventure!
Steve Gurney & Craig Hansen share yarns and show
pictures of their audacious Sahara adventure. Braving storms, land-mines,
unhospitable terrain, terrorists, broken bones, blood and hospitals they
are the first ever to Kite-buggy across the Sahara.
Hear how they very
nearly didn’t make it, and learn how to manage risk.
Time for questions
and answers at the end.
7 pm Monday 19th
Lecture theatre # AF114, AUT
University, North Shore Campus, Akoranga Drive, Northcote. Auckland.
