Testing the 2008 Nemesis HP in Brazil

Posted Wednesday July 25th

By Alex Shogren

Saturday 21st July: Peter and Shannon Arrive

I've been down here in Brazil with my girlfriend Veronica for the past few weeks testing the Nemi HP, and it's been awesome. Wind everyday and my dilemma when arriving at the Best Lagoon and R&D Center in Tiaba is whether to pump up the 9m HP or the 10m HP - life is good.

So Friday night, Peter arrived and he promptly opened a cerveza and plopped down on the couch to watch the movie Rounders with us. You see, when we're not kiting or working hard developing new kites, we play no limit texas hold'em, so the movie Rounders was just to get us pumped up.

Then yesterday morning, Shannon arrived from Miami with three golf bags full of gear and prototypes.

It was like Christmas morning ripping open the bags. Even though Shannon brought down about 8 new protos, I was searching for that one gift kids always hope is under the tree and scramble to find - the newest version of the 10m Nemi HP, and I found it!

Peter and Shannon were talking inside the house and shannon learned that Peter claimed the room with the air conditioner...

So after some ruckas, we headed off to the lagoon, but, as always, safety first here at Best and we always put sun screen on before we ride and Shannon was nice enough to help Peter apply some SPF 50 to one of his vunerable spots...

Veronica gets her lines ready.

As Peter, with the help of one of the local kids, pumps up a 9m proto Nemesis HP.

Then we all launch and off we go...

Gavin, the Best photographer, isn't here right now and we're stuck with a little digital camera that has one of those 2 second delays from the time you push the button to take the picture to when it actually takes the picture. Veronica volunteered to be the action shot photographer for the day, but she was handicapped by the camera...

Shannon and Peter did a downwinder from Tiaba to Pararucu and Veronica and I hung out at the lagoon for a bit waiting for my friend (and unoffical Best mascot) Marco. Marco showed up about 2pm fresh off the plane from Italy.

Marco loves his Waroos, but after a short run on a Nemi HP, he was blown away by how fast the kite turned, how easy it handled and how it jumped so high.

So Veronica and I climed in the truck to head to Pararucu as Marco hit the waves on a downwinder. When we arrived, we found Peter and Shannon drinking a cerveza after 5 hours of intense riding and testing.

We sat under an umbrella for about an hour when we realized none of us had any money and we racked up a pretty big bar bill, so Shannon left his Best cap with the owner as colladeral with a promise to return tomorrow and pay the bill.

Meanwhile, Peter had lent the 9m Nemi HP to a guy named Gabrielle from Argentina who is a hard core wave rider and as we were getting ready to leave, Gabrielle came in with a smile from ear to ear exclaiming that this was in fact the best kite he'd ever ridden in the waves or anywhere and like a little kid said, "are you guys going to be here tomorrow???? I need this kite!"

Since I arrived, the tiaba lagoon has been very small. Every year a breach forms and the lagoon water runs off into the ocean and then it naturally closes usually around August 1st every year. It hasn't closed up yet, so everyday on our way back from Pararucu, Veronica and I stop at the breach and kick sand in to help nature take its course. It's a futile effort, but it feels like we're doing some good. So yesterday was no different, but now we had a team of 5 to help stop the flow of water and shannon instantly stepped up exclaiming, "come on guys, 30 minutes and we can do this!"

Armed with nothing but an old piece of plastic we used as a hand shovel and a few logs, we tried to build a dam. And even though Peter's "German Engineering" was brilliant, we soon realized that we needed either sand bags and shovels or about 50 beavers to get this job done, as the water just kept on winning...

So after a wonderful dinner cooked by Branca, we sat down and played some poker. Unfortunatley, the crappy little camera we have ran out of batteries or I would have taken a picture of the huge chip stack I had and of course a picture of Shannon, Peter and Marco's money that is now mine! :grin:

to be continued...

Monday 23rd July: Manual Labor

After a lame attempt to close the breach in the Best Lagoon on Saturday afternoon, we were all stoked to give it another try on Sunday morning. Shannon, Peter, Marco and I vowed to meet at the lagoon at 10am armed with some shovels, sand bags and some old proto kites to assist mother nature and stop the outflow of water.

So sunday morning came and I went out to find some tools, returning with three shovels and a small wheelbarrow while Peter managed to find an old foil kite and the first SLE kite we ever made with a Cuben Fiber leading edge in my garage. We were loading up the truck when Peter said, "guys, I think I'm going to stay here for a bit so I can finish a kite file and send it off to China. I shouldn't be long ..."

Good excuse, Shannon and I thought as we want the newest versions of the kites as soon as possible, so off we went. When we got to the lagoon, mother nature had actually made the breach wider overnight, so our task was daunting, but Shannon and I started working with no sign of Peter or Marco.

What you can't really see from the pictures is that there is a very strong current, but Shannon and I started filling sand bags as we slowly bridged the little river.

Soon, a couple locals in speedos decided to lend a hand.

An hour went by and still no sign of Peter, but at least he was working hard on a Sunday morning...

By about noon, a whole crowd of people gathered to watch the stupid gringos try to stop mother nature.

Shannon and I had closed up all but two sections when help in the form of some of the local Best team riders showed up.

It was almost 1pm and still no sign of Marco (maybe he didn't have gas money after his crushing loss to me the night before in no limit hold'em) and we assumed Peter was still working hard on a sunday morning developing a new kite...

Possibly the best use of a foil kite...

After a good three hours of hard manual labor, we were almost done. We just had one final section to close but we were out of sand bags and the current was ripping through the small opening eroding our prior work at an alarming rate, so we broke out the very first cuben fiber SLE...

After about 20 minutes a frantic digging, we did it, we closed the breach in the Best lagoon so over the next few days, the lagoon should quadruple in size!

Still no sign of Peter...

So shannon and I rewarded ourselves for our hard work by taking the 9m & 10m Nemi HP out for a spin.

At about 2:30, a familiar red buggy pulled up and we heard a german accented voice say, "Wow, you guys are done already? Can I take that 9m Nemi HP for a spin?"

Thanks for the help Pete...

Tuesday 24th July: Mother Nature Won

After all our hard work filling the breach in the Best Lagoon, Mother Nature proved to be much stronger than us... We showed up the next morning, and our dam was busted and the opening was even wider than before we started - #%*!@*

But before I get any further, as I've mentioned previously, No Limit Texas Hold'em Poker is the official night time sport of Best Kiteboarding, and Monday night we had a marathon game...

Marco "I'll call with anything for all my chips" didn't fare so well, and after reaching his maximum credit line with the house (me), he decided to watch...

For as loose as Marco is, Peter is so tight that if you stuck a piece of coal up his butt, it'd be a diamond by morning... He only plays good hands and it was frustrating Shannon and I to no end...

Shannon did very well in the beginning, but he actually counted his money / winnings before the end of the game, and that was the kiss of death for him...

For some reason, they always think I'm bluffing...(ed's note he ususally is...Bluffy the poker player)

Peter, with 1/20th the chips shannon had, staged an amazing comeback and ended up taking all of shannon's chips for a huge win of about $R200 - about $100 US dollars... not bad...

So anyway, we arrived at the lagoon yesterday morning to find the breach even bigger than before.

So we got to work all over again...

We were almost done and having learned a lot from the day before, it only took us about an hour before we were ready to bridge the final gap, and what's better to do that than an old prototype Best kite?

Shannon - "Mate, how come you're taking pictures and not shoveling?"

We stopped the water and then BOOM - another breach - @#&$!#!!

So back to work again...

After another hour, victory at last!

With perfect timing, Peter and Veronica show up right as we finish... thanks again for the help Pete... We know you like waves, but come on...

We then spent the rest of the afternoon testing the 9m, 10m and 12m 2008 Nemesis HP in about 20-22 knots of wind. Here's me and Peter discussing the kite and changes that need to be made while we're watching it in the air with Shannon on an empty and soon to be much bigger lagoon!!!