A couple of weeks ago I met a young man and his girlfriend after watching him fly a super-giant kite that dragged him across the ground and lifted him into the air while he rode on a skateboard with giant wheels. Last Friday, he sent me a text that kiteboarding was on, and I dashed off after work, cameras at the ready.
Keith Harris is a senior at Augustana College – where he majors in classics (or maybe linguistics?). He tells me he’s a bass player, and his dad is a professional jazz pianist. How cool is that?
When I met Keith, he told me that he sometimes kiteboards with a group of friends – and a couple of them are quite experienced. He says it is much easier to do this on a lake. I would imagine so, as I’ve seen him skinned, bruised and bleeding. But all the same, it’s pretty amazing to see a skateboarder lifted 20 feet in the air by a kite the size of a parachute.
I was able to shoot some video of Friday’s flight. Another friend of Keith’s, Steve Ray, shot some and attached a camera to Keith’s kite for a bird’s eye view. You can see the edited video (with clips from both of us) here.
Hopefully, we’ll have an opportunity soon to shoot multiple flyers – I’d love to get some still shots with multiple kites in the air.
You can catch the flyers on windy days in the big open park at 53rd and Eastern in Davenport. Stop by and watch – they love an audience and enjoy talking about their sport.
No comments:
Post a Comment