Archive for Liquid Force Travel

Back in action for 2010

// January 15th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Liquid Force, Liquid Force Travel, REAL Travel, REAL Watersports

Welcome back to jasonslezak.com for 2010! It has been 6 months since I last posted anything to my site!!! It was not for lack of things going on, if anything I have been almost too busy to keep up. After the LF oahu shoot in June I flew to Hood River, Or to meet up with a bunch of the REAL Team for the Slider Project/2nd WInd Slider Jam and it was a blast! Our crew consisted of Sam Bell, Brandon Scheid, Laura “Lulu” Vromen, Claire Lutz, and photographer/rider Bryan Elkus. We all had an amazing time in the Gorge! It is almost impossible not to….great kiting, killer skate park, summer snowboarding, and all with amazing friends! The REAL Team trip to Hood River is sure to become an annual event!

Post session at the Hood River sand bar

Post session at the Hood River sand bar

From the Gorge Sammy, Bryan and I flew to NY for the first annual REAL Alumni Retreat. After visiting with a former REAL coach, Steve Speath, and checking out his new business venture, Brooklyn Boulders indoor rock gym, and skating around NYC, we were picked up by Matt Nuzzo in the REAL Mobile Session Unit and headed east to Montauk. For the next 4 days Sam, Bryan, Matt, Trip, myself, and all of the REAL Alumni that attended the event surfed, kited, and partied. At the end of the weekend I met up and grabbed a surf session with a legend and good friend, Jimmy Buffett. We traded off waves and stories from our adventures since we had last surfed together in January in the BVI’s.

Fun longboard session at Ditch Planes

Fun longboard session at Ditch Planes

After the REAL Alumni Retreat I headed back to Hatteras to spend the 4th of July with my family and regroup before heading off to Tahiti to meet up with Mauricio Abreu, Josh Mulcoy, & Moe Goold for a Moorings Charter with the amazing visual media duo John and Alexis Bilderback. We embarked on that excursion to film a section for Bilderback Productions upcoming DVD project and also shoot a travel feature for Kiteworld Magazine. The trip was amazing and as a bonus we were able to surf Teahupoo while staying on Tahiti waiting for our boat to be ready. This was my second trip to Tahiti and the beauty of the people and the islands always amaze me! (Check back for a full piece on our Tahiti trip in the near future!)

View from the pearl farm in the Tuamotus

View from the pearl farm in the Tuamotus

Upon returning from Tahiti on July 20th I barely was able to unpack and unwind before we were gearing up for our first annual REAL Peru trip to Mancora in Northern Peru August 1st through the 10th. The crew for this adventure was; Trip, Sam Bell, Bryan Elkus, Ted Batustia, Mark Brown, me and a handful of other REAL friends. Northern Peru is a goofy footers wet dream for both kiting and surfing! And seeing that I am goofy I was in heaven!!!! We scored great surf and kiting every day that we were there! (Check back for a full travel piece in the 2009 REAL Peru adventure in the near future)

Beach break slash right in front of our place, Samana Chakra, in Mancora.

Beach break slash right in front of our place, Samana Chakra, in Mancora.

We returned from Peru to an active Atlantic Ocean hurricane season, which produced plenty of quality surf and kite conditions on Cape Hatteras as well as up and down the east coast. Fall is by far my favorite time to be in Hatteras and this year was no let down! Warm water, picturesque sunsets, uncrowded sessions! What more could you ask for?!?! But as the fall came to a close we started looking again to winter travel destinations, which leads us to where we are today.

Thanksgiving swell, Mirlo beach Rodanthe

Thanksgiving swell, Mirlo beach Rodanthe

It is that time of year again and the REAL BVI 2010 boat trip is only a few days away! Warm blue water, quality caribbean surf, plush Moorings boats, and fantastic kiteboarding and kitesurfing with a epic crew of people. We are on our way south breaking out of the deep freeze that the east coast of the United States is in, in search of the best sessions and best boat drinks that the Caribbean has to offer!

Check jasonslezak.com over the next few weeks for periodic updates from REAL BVI 2010. And for more visual stimulation and stories of the REAL BVI adventures also browse;

REALWatersports.com
bryanelkus.com
brandonscheid.com

And for all of you “Tweeters” out there, follow us at;
@jasonslezak
@REALWatersports
@bryanelkus
@brandonscheid

Thanks for checking in, and I hope that all of you are getting out on the water as much as possible in 2010!

~Jason Slezak

Light wind and sunshine on Oahu

// June 11th, 2009 // No Comments » // Liquid Force, Liquid Force Travel

The product shoot officially starts today. We have kites pumped, boards ready, & riders waiting but no wind. A few of the crew; Petter, Jan, & Sylvester went with J-Ro, Tekko, & JB to the studio for some necessary studio work. The wind looks to be filling in for the remainder of the day. We will see how it goes.

The past few days have provided some much needed rest and recovery after the Triple S and the travels from Hatteras to Hawaii. Two days ago we went back into town for some more surfing in Waikiki. The waves were fun but the lineup was crowded. We all caught a few and fun was had by all. The evening ended with dinner, drinks, & games at Dave & Busters. The 8 player head to head Daytona 500 car game was the highlight! Sylvester won the first match and I won the second round.

Yesterday started off with a killer team breakfast at the condo. Petter helped me make banana pancakes and scrambled eggs for everyone and JB joined us to get to know the new guys and help make a plan for the week.

With hopes of a chill session to try out the new 2010 gear for the first time, we all headed back towards JB’s to check Backyards for some breeze. With nothing much happening with the wind there JB broke out the Hobie 16 and a bunch of stand-up paddle boards for the crew. Eventually the wind filled in enough for a 12m and surfboard session for Morris and Petter rode a new LF board, the Twin Skim. I took the setup from Morris when he was done and went to catch some waves at Backyards. The day was made complete when Tekko served up his famous beer can chicken.

I have high hopes for the riding today. It is sunny the water is blue and I’m chillin with good friends in Hawaii, it doesn’t get much better than this!!

Check back soon for more updates!

South swell in town! Waikiki longboard session with the boys.

// June 8th, 2009 // No Comments » // Liquid Force, Liquid Force Travel

Woke up this morning to a beautiful Hawaiian day. Coffee with the Bilderbacks and a walk to the beach to check the conditions started things off perfectly! Without much wind we ran some errands and had my favorite breakfast on the North Shore… The Açai Bowl!

JB and I continued to Haleiwa to meet up with Moe, Tek-9, J-Ro, Petter, and Jan for a casual pre-shoot planning meeting. We then broke off from JB and scouted some of the North Shore kite spots so that Petter and Jan could check them out for the first time.

With no surf at Mokes and light wind we all decided to take advantage of the perfect day and south swell and bomb straight to Honolulu for a classic Waikiki surf. As we pulled up we saw the South Shore firing!! The six of us all rented 10′ longboards and had a SUPER fun surf session!

Sitting in traffic right now heading back north with a Cosco food and supply run in our near future. The forecast looks good for both swell and wind through the week and weekend. I will get some action pics posted as soon as it all begins!

Aloha from Hawaii for the 2010 LF product shoot

// June 7th, 2009 // No Comments » // Liquid Force, Liquid Force Travel

Fellow LF team rider Petter Johnsen & I just arrived on Oahu, Hawaii for the 2010 Liquid Force product photo shoot. Petter and I flew from the east coast this morning and met up with Tahitan LF rider Moe Goold at the Honolulu airport. LF team manager Gregg “Tekko” Gnecco and photo shoot director and LF jack of all trades John “J-Ro” Romais picked us all up and headed to Kailua to snag up our sick new 2010 gear.

After a drive around the east side of the island we finally made it to the North Shore and to JB and Lex Bilderbacks. I love coming back to Oahu and seeing all of my friends here. Being lucky enough to shoot with JB, spend some quality time with the LF family, and have it all happen in Hawaii makes me feel so fortunate to have the job I have and to be able to work and travel with the people involved! I can’t wait to wake up and get my first acai bowl of the trip!

Check back here and liquidforcekites.com for daily updates from the 2010 product shoot.

Stormchasers reunion tour to Powder Mountain for the 2009 Superfly Open

// March 12th, 2009 // No Comments » // Liquid Force, Liquid Force Travel, REAL Travel, REAL Watersports

Don’t call it a come back, we’ve been here for years . . . Many of the  original crew from the REAL Storm Chasers 2003 snowkite tour is going to be reunited today in the small town of Eden, Ut. Eden is the home of POWDER Mountain. Powder is not only the resort holding the title of the most skiable acreage in North America @ 5,500 acres, it also hosts a heli operation, very reasonable snowcat service, AND is the FIRST ski resort in North America to provide an area, pass, and lift access for snowkiting. What more could you as for as far as a venue to host a progressive snowkite contest? Maybe a bikini contest??? Well they have that too!! The opening night party bikini contest has become legendary and I personally hope that this years proves to be no different.

The Storm Chasers original crew of Gregg “Tekko” Gnecco, Llew Simmonds, Kristy Moller, and myself. Will be joined by one of the newest members of the Liquid Force Family Norwegian snowkite sensation Petter Johnsen, East coast kite wakestyle guru Ted Bautista, photographer Bryan Elkus, LF kite designer and team rider Julien Fillion, and a revolving cast of characters including the rumored appearance of wake and kite icon SHANNON BEST!

Check back here daily for contest updates and freeride photos, and surf over to REALWATERSPORTS.COM Bryans offical REAL posts, contest results, photos, and videos!!