What: Get a chance to ride the new 2010 Best Kiteboarding gear with BEST team riders Miguel Willis and Kris Kinn. Check out the new 2010 Nemesis NXG and Waroo, as well as the new Balance boards for this year.

When: Saturday and Sunday, September 19-20, 2009

We are planning a kite crew reunion that Saturday night September 19th, location and details To Be Announced. By the way, it's September, and the WIND IS BLOWING!!!

3930 A1A South, St. Augustine, FL 32080

When will you guys be be following up with the more details part? This weekend is approach soon and we want to know the location – Huguenot? The kite crew reunion could be fun as well, look forward to learning more about it.

Thanks

Roomer has it that Huguenot will be the site for the " Best Customer Appreciation Day". Be aware that the tide will be very high. Some places may not have dry sand below the rope line along the dune. High tide should be around 10 to 11 am. I will call the park to be sure and post it. With the tide all the way in the park may have to close for a short while. This may actually be a good thing. The very high tide will keep large crowds off the beach. By the time it begins to drop (45 mins. to an hour later) most people will not want to go to the beach. So we will have larger and larger areas and less and less people. If we get an East or NE wind we have the advantage of an out going tide to ride in. My advise is to go early and drive all the way to the point where there usually is dry sand to park even at high tide. Or if there is no wind in the morning you can visit Nicole's restaurant for lunch around noon. They are just west of the ferry next to the firehouse. They have a good menu and are not expensive. Enjoy a nice relaxed lunch till the tide is low enough to get to the point without driving through the water. You can call the Park office to ask if they are closing for the high tide. The # is 904-251-3335. If you call the park do not refer to the Best Event as more than just a customer appreciation day as they are not there for any commercial reason. its all about getting to ride and meet new friends.

For all who come to the park please remember the guide lines for riding in the park and stay well away from other beach goers or surfers. Collectively kiters have over 1/2 million hours of kiting in the park without hurting a single member of the general non-kiting public. Help us maintain our good reputation. If you have other questions about riding at Huguenot Park please send e-mail to kitelessons@aol.com

Thanks and we will see you there!

Some dates have been changed.

The Best team will be at Huguenot Park around 12 or 1 today. Tell your friends. Come try the new stuff.

I guess St. Pete/Tampa with about 100 or more Best riders isn't worth their time (sort of just busting balls, since St. Pete is the windless capitol of the free world this time of year).

Have a great time out there today guys. I am hoping the new 'roo doesn't get compromised.
I am not a big fan of changing something that already rocks and has a huge following. But hopefully it's actually better (I am having a hard time seeing how that is possible at the moment).
I look forward to reviews on here.

The Best guys will be at Matanssas today around 1 or 2 pm. It was great meeting Miguel and Chris yesterday at Huguenot Park. They had one of the new Nemi's to try out. It was light wind to start and slowly built to about 15 mph as the day went. My 10x10 tent almost blew into the dunes! The out going tide helped as well. About 12 or 13 kites were in the air at times. Thanks to Miguel and Chris and Best for bringing some of the '10 gear to try. I bet the conditions are going to be even better in St. Aug.




response to skyway.......

Scott,

I think they plan to be in the south Fl. area fro a while. Call them and see if you can set up a day for them to visit. They are van camping their way around so see if you can set up a place to stay while they are in town. They seem to be flexible.

I too am wondering about the new roo. It is supposed to have a more delta design like the Kahoona among other changes. I like the way the K flies but it catches the bridle in the wing tip almost every time you try to relaunch it. The smaller size may not have that problem and they say that Best is addressing the issue with the '10 gear. I have a 13.5.
If the new Waroo is a big improvement then great. I think the '09s will be a hard act to follow. They are just one of the nicest flying all purpose kites around. If the new one does not really improve the line or takes a step back perhaps they will offer the old Waroo for a while longer if enough people want it. They could call it the Waroo Classic! I would like to see the Bullaroo back in the line up too that was one of the best teaching kites I have ever used.

Thanks for inputs, Paul.

I was mainly being sarcastic about the winds here in St. Pete at the moment, along with the fact we have no dealer here.

I too hope that Best considers offering a Waroo Classic and just keeps it as is. B/c I too think it'd be really hard to improve on the current 'roo... especially the 9m.
Maybe I am close minded (usually not... after all, I was one of the first to praise the '08 Waroo... after years of thinking it was just so-so).

I just think the kite right now is so good, why mess with a good thing?
Anyway, interested to see how the new one performs. It'd be awesome if it's better.
I just bought Ralo's slightly used 09 9m just in case.

Paul, do the smaller Kahoonas catch the bridle on relaunch? Easy relaunch at the cost of it being a a cluster### relaunch turns into "not so easy" ......

Had a chance to try the new Nemesis NXG 12m on Saturday. Winds were pretty ligh(12-15mph), but enough to ride and get a feel for it.
Overall, thought it was really nice. Turns pretty fast and seemed to have more range on the bar than last years... Definitely a different feel if you ar used to a Waroo or similiar kite... would have liked to give it a go in more wind...as I hear that is when it really becomes a killer kite....

Although there was sufficient wind for kiteboarding both Saturday and Sunday for the Best Kiteboarding Demo Tour, a number of people were disappointed about the lack of kites available for demo this weekend. We thought Best was going to have more gear as well? To make up for it would like to invite everyone to a more formal demo with many different brands of kites and boards to try out over the Halloween weekend.

Stay tuned for updates on this year's Matanzas Halloween Blast!