Source: pressure-drop.us
For a trio of foiling kiters, Joey Pasquali, Nico Landauer and Stefanus Viljoen, Saturday June 4th was one for the books. The original idea was to hook up with the start of the Ditch Run boats and blast upriver and establish a new record for the 67nm inland assault. Utilizing a borrowed chase boat, Mark Ivey’s 25′ RIB with 250 horses strapped to the back seemed like a perfect plan. Till it wasn’t.The wind failed to comply at the start area and the crew returned to their launch area at Marina Bay in Richmond ready to toss in the towel. But then the wind started to pick up and the quest was renewed. Back to the Richmond San Raphael Bridge they went, and with Bérénice Charrez driving, and Brent Davidson along to document the event, the trio launched again at 5:00 PM. Joey lead the procession across San Pablo Bay in a nasty ebb that took its toll on the other two foilers that resulted in crashes and rescues. Between the recoveries and powering the rib through the San Pablo Bay slop, Joey ended up hovering at the Carquinez Bridge for some 20 minutes before reuniting.
It was down to one kite and the clock was ticking. With his 15 meter ram air kite aloft, Joey blasted across the Carquinez strait and toward the next big obstacle, the narrow gap of the Benicia Railroad Bridge. The gaps between the support trusses can be intimidating on a sailboat flying a spinnaker, but threading the needle with a kite on a foil board is a whole different animal. ” I got really lucky with the wind 90 degrees to the bridge and was able to get pulled straight through” Joey says.
A fast blast across Suisun Bay and things started heating up, literally. ” It was getting real warm and I was still in my wetsuit, so I had to float the kite for a about 5 minutes while I drank a bunch of water” Joey notes.
Rehydrated, Joey speed off again, with smooth water and his board jamming in the 30 knot range, the miles went by in a blur. He caught up the back of the fleet just past New York Cut somewhere near 5:45 or 6:00, and kept picking off boats left and right. The only noise to be heard being the chase boat in the distance running full throttle trying to keep up! “The only bummer was the reeds and weeds that I kept picking up” Joey mentions” Had to stall out 5-6 times and clear them off” After the S-Turn at Marker 19, it was a hot reach to the finish, Joey could be seen rushing down the course like a slalom waterskier, blasting to the finish at about 7:30 PM, a 2.5 hour, 67nm record run for foiling kites.
” My legs were definitely feeling the Bern”, Joey laughs…
Plans are already in place for 2017 to get a crew of kite foilers to the Ditch Run, ” I think the ratio for chase boat needs to be 2 kites to each support boat, the separation happens to fast and we need to keep the gap as close as possible” Joey notes.
Though unofficial, the 2.5 hour run has set the bar high, very high indeed. Stay tuned for the video documentary on the run from http://brentdavidson.me/
Photos: Brent Davidson
More at: www.pressure-drop.us