Capt. Sammy and me departing from Richmond, Va

We arrived in PR at 4:30am and were in the water paddling out at Wilderness aka “Wildo” by 6:30am. The four of us were joined by REAL team rider Brian “BCS” Smith plus our good friend, long time REAL client, and Liquid Force kite flyer Mark Brown. The six of us traded off solid overhead waves until almost 11am, at which point we were all exhausted from dehydration and lack of food/sleep from our previous day of travel. During our lunch break we were informed that our customs paperwork was held up and we would not be departing for the BVI’s that evening as originally planned. So, rather than being bummed out about our change of plans, we observed the most important rule of REAL BVI….SESSIONS BEFORE SCHEDULES! We then all took naps (Which counts as a session in all REAL Travel trips!) and went for a beautiful sunset surf at Surfers Beach.

Trip hitting the water at Wildo

Yesterday morning our flight to Tortola turned out to be one of the most interesting and adventurous of my life! We showed up at the private air terminal to meet our pilot, Edwin, to help him load the plane. We even had to put in our own seats!! Edwin took us in to show us the heavy cloud cover and rain that we were going to be flying straight into. We made the decision to push through and go for it. As the little plane took off and we started violently bouncing around heading into the clouds I think that we all were second guessing the decision, but it ended up being all good! The flight was socked in until we got over St. Thomas when we broke through the clouds and it was smooth flying all the way to the Beef Island Airport.

The REAL Crew on our private flight

Matt “Lt. Nik Nuzzitofski, of the USS Triple S Submarine Squadron” Nuzzo greeted us at the airport and we were rolled straight into provisioning. As soon as we finished it was straight to Apple Bay for an evening cool down surf session. The wind was a bit onshore but no one was complaining; warm temps, blue water, and good friends. The session ended with the mandatory Bomba Punch at the Bomba Shack. It is so good to be back in the BVI’s! Our night ended with our opening night briefing for all of the clients, given by Trip Forman at the Mooring Base bar.

Capt. Sammy and the Mountain of Schafer

Nuzzi, Brandon, Bryan, and I woke this morning in the dark and headed back to Apple Bay for one last surf before shoving off the dock. It was a bit onshore but bigger than last night and all of us scored a few fun ones! We are off of the dock in the next few hours and the fun begins.

Stay tuned for more updates in the next few days on jasonslezak.com, and also check;

REALWatersports.com
bryanelkus.com
brandonscheid.com

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

~ Jason

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

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

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.

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

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

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!

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!

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.

2009 Triple S Invite by Chris Stephany Photo: bryanelkus.com

For those who do not know Triple S stands for Surf, Slicks, & Sliders. 24 of the worlds best kiteboarders will compete for the next week in the three disciplines while pushing both each other and the sport of kiteboarding as a whole.

To follow all of the action of the 2009 Triple S check back here to jasonslezak.com daily, realwatersports.com and click on the Triple S logo, liquidforcekites.com for the daily updates from the LF team or any of the following Twitter links;

http://twitter.com/TripleS_Invite The official Triple S Twitter site

http://twitter.com/jasonslezak My twitter page

http://twitter.com/bryanelkus REAL rider and photographer Bryan Elkus

http://twitter.com/tomcourt4 North rider Tom Court

http://twitter.com/SusiKite Cabrinha rider Susi Mai

http://twitter.com/BrandonScheid REAL and LF rider Brandon Scheid

http://twitter.com/BarrettPerlman LF wakeboarder Barrett Pearlman

http://twitter.com/ryan_p_evans REAL and Best rider Ryan Evans

http://twitter.com/Tobybromwich CORE Mag editor Toby Bromwich

http://twitter.com/AaronHadlow Flexifoil rider Aaron Hadlow

http://twitter.com/ClaireLutz REAL rider Claire Lutz

http://twitter.com/LauraVroman REAL and LF rider Lulu Vroman

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Photo: Bryan Elkus

Today was another amazing Hatteras spring day. 30 to 40 knot winds blanketed the island from sun up to sun down. A strong NE wind had been blowing for a few days, sending some sizey windswell down the coast. Sam Bell, Bryan Elkus and I gathered our gear and headed for the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse late in the afternoon.

Launching 8m LF Havoc Photo: Bryan Elkus

The wind was howling and the waves were exploding at the jetty and peeling down the beach. The amount of current was much more than usuall and the outer sand bars were breaking for easily upwords of a mile and a half out to sea.

Sam Bell cruising down the line Photo: Bryan Elkus

Sam rigged his 6m Cult while I broke out a fresh 6m LF Havoc that had arrived the day before. The perfect size kites for the wind at hand. However, with the easily 6 to 10 knot current in the water the small kites were not getting the job done.

Messy wind swell slash on my LF 6'2" EVF Rawson Photo: Bryan Elkus

I tossed up my 8m Havoc and Sam his 9 hoping that the extra pull would help. Although we did have more power it was still not enough to combat the forces of Mother Nature and staying upwind proved to be a difficult task. The outside swell was large and moving fast. I’m not sure what it is about being out in the ocean that makes you feel alive! We both had a few good waves but overall the moving water won and we headed for the beach.

Trying to set the rail on a powered up top turn Photo: Bryan Elkus

Sammy headed home but Bryan, a friend on mine Ed, and I headed to the Buxton Bowl for a sunset stake session. Ed is an amazing skater and is in town building a mini ramp and was in need of some building motivation.

Taking a break in between runs Photo: Bryan Elkus

Ed quickly warmed up and started throwing down endless lip tricks and busting out airs! We had a super fun evening skate. Check out some pics from the session below. For more photos from both the Lighthouse kite session and the Buxton Bowl skate, check out photographer Bryan Elkus’s blog!

Unknown surfer in a Ramp 23 Photo: Bryanelkus.com

Today was an amazing day! We surfed at Ramp 23 in perfect chest to head high freight train rights. The crew was Ken Early, Sam Bell, Jullien Fillion, and, Steve Meyers.

Unknown longboarder on a clean Easter weekend right Photo: Bryanelkus.com

After a four hour surf session we headed back to Laughing Gull Lane for drinks and dinner at the Earley’s. Good Friends, Good Food, Good Times! Check out the pics below from Easter dinner.

Matt, Trevor, & Lucie enjoy the Earley Easter feast

Ken Earley and his "mini" plate

My LOADED Easter dinner plate

Justin, Grace, Sarah, Leanne, Lindsey, Maggie, & Steve enjoying some grub!

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!!