Alex Brown at the 2007 Ireland Kite Jam

Posted Friday 26th January 2007

According to Alex Brown, Best landboarding expert, there are basically two types of kite-related events: 1) the pointless ones, and 2) the non-pointless ones. While the non-pointless one get good media exposure, are well-attended, and are sometimes fun, the pointless ones are generally only fun. As everyone knows, we can't just have our team riders having fun, so as a test, I immediately suggested … as team manager … that he only do the pointless ones.

Fortunately, however, he was onto my tricky ways, and ignored my suggestion. Actually, he didn’t even find it all that funny. He further suggested that I trust his judgement in matters of what determines pointless v. non- pointless. Since he’s already shown to have quite a brain in his head, I reluctantly agreed, but not before making sure of two things: 1) that I get the final right of veto, and 2) that he won't just SAY one of the pointless ones is NOT-pointless, just because it looks like fun and he wants to go.

Fortunately, for Alex, however, the non-pointless events are still sometimes fun, as he learned on a recent trip to Ireland to attend the Ireland Kite Jam, over the last weekend of January.

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Words by Lil' Alex Brown

I’d never been to Ireland before but I had always wanted to visit there. I was super excited when I heard that there was an upcoming event there, so I made sure I booked a place on the plane as soon as I could to avoid disappointment. I got in contact with David Mulvey, who belongs to the Dublin Kite Club and organised the event, the riders, media and location. He kindly offered to be my host for the weekend, which turned out to be a great trip where I met cool new people and had a blast riding.

My plane landed in Dublin late Friday evening, on January 26th. I was travelling with my good friend Russ Nestor, who had spent many years as a kid in Ireland and was happy to be going back. David met collected us and told us his plans for how the meet was to unfold over the weekend over a sweet Chinese meal!

We woke early on Saturday, I hate waking up! It was a disappointment to see low wind, but the forecast was looking good for later on. Over breakfast I put my board together with David hyping up the beach we were going to ride. It was a short trip to the beach, which turned out to be as good as David’s words. Dollymount Beach stretched for miles, with hard packed sand going right up to the sand dunes. I rigged up my 13mWaroo Pro (in PINK, THANKS Stacey!) which would be the ideal kite for the conditions. It was slightly off-shore wind, but it was slowly picking up and becoming smoother. It was good to catch up with old friends and meet some new people at the event. There was a real good turn out, with a handful of kiters from various parts of England, and most of the Dublin Kite Club. David told me that this was the most kiters he has ever seen in one place!

I took a few hours to ride the beach and work out the conditions. There were some other really good land boarders and it was good to see people rocking it. The event had originally intended to be a competition, but instead featured a free ride session for all the land boarders. We set up a sick slider and hit it for a good few hours. It attracted a ton of kiters looking in, and loads of public beach users. It was a great feeling riding with the other guys and putting on a show, to the best we could in the light wind. We had a mini kicker that you could hit and jib the rail. I managed a few front and back side boardslides, a nose press and a tail press. The other guys got to grips with it also and by the end of the session everyone had ripped it on the rail, and a rider called Craig also managed to snap it in half with a fat bail!

That evening I was taken out to explore Dublin, I’ve heard they like to drink?! We had a great meal with some of my good friends then visited some real cool bars.

On Sunday, everyone decided to visit another beach as the wind had got worse. I was still stoked to go check new places out though. We got to Portmarnock which had huge sand dunes by the beach, completely messing the wind up. A few guys got their kites up but there was the usual mess of lofting kites and crashes. Some of the riders got it working in the end. I had to pack up around lunch time and try to fit all my gear back in the bags and to comply with Ryan Airs’ silly baggage limits.

Thanks to David Mulvey for being a super host for the weekend and Russ Nestor for transport in the UK. I had a blast over the weekend, and I want to go kite Ireland for sure again some time!

- Alex

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To read more about what Alex has been up to, visit his team rider page at www.bestkiteboarding.com/Alex-Brown.