Anticipation
As I write this post I am gearing up for our first day of our season. This time of year is always my favorite. For me the Fall means football, the holidays, and most importantly, the beginning of our windy season. This past Summer was pretty horrible. I went several spans of 4 – 5 weeks with no kiting, which is very usual for South Florida. South FLA is definitely not known for its wind in the Summer, unless we get a nice little tropical depression or storm blowing off our coast. Generally, even in the worst of Summers you can usually count on at least a few decent days each month, but not this year. Needless to say it was a long, hot, windless, Summer. My wife was probably close to divorcing me this summer – I probably would have deserved it. 🙂 No wind makes Lonny a bit of a turd, and then some… Fortunately, I had so many great members on LTS to keep the stoke going and get me through.
Back in August I wrote to Bob Smetts, owner and master shaper at Zap Skimboards and Phase5 about coming up with a design based exclusively for kite skimming. I have spent the last 5 years riding tons of different styles and shapes in skimboards, but I have never found a board as easy to ride, durable, or better for kite skimming than a Zap/Phase 5 Skim. Check his resume and you will know why… Bob quite simply has magic in his shaping and, and the guy knows how to build a kick ass board. Naturally, when I thought about building a design based on my hundreds of hours logged on the water kite skimming I went to “the Man” and talked to him about my vision for some boards for Todd and me this season. Well last week my vision arrived and I can tell you that I am drooling with anticipation to get on the water with this bad boy.
Lonny's 2009 ZAP Custom Kite Skim
Hopefully I will get some good time on the water over the next few days and will give you all some feedback on how this new beast rides. However, I can tell you just looking at it I think it has the right stuff, and cannot wait to rip of some water with this puppy! Let’s just say the anticipation is high. Till then…
Lonny's Custom Zap Kite Skim
About the Author
Lonny Founder and Admin of Lose the Straps, the original site dedicated exclusively to the progression and evolution of strapless kitesurfing, Lose The Straps.
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