SoCal Beaches Magazine Blog

Kite Surfers Becoming Popular Amongst
San Diego Surfing Crowd and Coastline

Kite Surfers enjoy a windy day at Tourmaline Surf Park in Pacific Beach

Surfing in San Diego and the Southern California coastline is as
traditional as The Beach Boy’s, Woodies, Palm Trees and beautiful swimsuit models. On any given day you can find hundreds if not thousands of surfers
out in the water waiting for the next great set to come in.

Surfers however need to have certain weather conditions to make a trip out in the water worth while, namely some good waves and also calm wind conditions. When the wind starts picking up it starts to blow out the wave form making for shorter, if any rides. Normally the best time for surfing is in the early monrning and during the sunset times of the day when the wind is normally calmer.

There is a new kind of surfing hitting the Southern California coast, one the depends on the wind, and that is a new craze called “kite surfing”.

Kite surfing involves a harness system along with a modified surfboard to manuever the

Surfers strap on harnesses that allow them to control a paragliding type chute that allows them harness the wind and ride a modified surfboard over the surf at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour.

“It is alot of fun”, said kite boarder Max Thorne, who with a group of other local San Diego kite boarders, like to go to Tourmaline Surf Park in Pacific Beach on weekday and weekend afternoons. “We love the wind”, he exclaimed as he began to walk his kite and board out for another run through the north Pacific Beach area.

Thorne is not alone. In the last 2 years the number of kite boarders has greatly increased to the point where there are now hundreds of active kite boarders taking advantage of the windy days along the coast at Mission Beach, Mission Bay, Pacific Beach and the Southern California coastline.

“We have seen a huge increase in the kite boarding sport, especially in the last year”, said action sports retailer Bob Smith of Bob’s Mission Surf Shop in Pacific Beach. “This is a sport where you not only get a great workout but also are able to catch air riding off the waves as high as 15 feet on windy days along the beach.”

A group of kite boarders take a break on a Saturday afternoon in Pacific Beach. Kite boarding clubs are becoming popular in the San Diego area.

Kite boarders have even formed small groups and now have their own travel groups and contests to see who can do some of the best manuevers and also “air contests” to see who can get the most altitude riding off the waves.

It is a fast growing action sport that is catching fire and one that many industry experts expect to see growth off for a long time to come. 

There are normally good wind conditions along Mission Bay and other locations in San Diego that make it easy to go out for an hour or tow and enjoy the San Diego sunshine.

The next time you are along the San Diego coastline on a windy day look for these colorful paragliding chutes cruising the coastline for some great entertainment and photos, and who knows you may just be out there some day yourself when you see how fun it is!

Windy days create perfect conditions kite surfing along the San Diego coastine

For more information on kite surfing including equipment and lessons in San Diego visit the following websites
http://www.westcoastkiteboarding.com/
http://www.mantawatersports.com/
http://www.calikites.com/
http://www.xdreamsportz.com/

Kite Boarding Videos
Watch Kite Boarders in Action! 

Kite Boarding video #1

Kite Boarding video #2

Kite Boarding video #3

Kite surfers along the Pacific Beach San Diego coastline

2009 La Jolla Motor Car Classic
January 11, La Jolla Cove Ca.The 2009 La Jolla Motor Car Classic marked the fifth year of the event and the best turn out yet from car collectors all over Southern California.

2009 La Jolla Motor Car Classic Show at La Jolla Cove

The show featured as many as 200 cars in a wide variety of categories including vintage cars, woodies, high end sports cars and classic cars.

There were rare cars in the show that included a 1925 Rolls Royce Phantom, 1936 Delahaye, 1909 EMF touring car and a 1941 Packard One Eighty.

A 1925 Rolly Royce Phantom from the Peterson Museum was one of the very rare cars at the show.

The cars were all showcased on the green grass of La Jolla Cove making it an absolutely fabulous event. Add in the fact that the weather was perfect and temperatures reached the high 70’s along the coast.

The La Jolla Motor Car Classic is starting to bring in some very high end classic cars that match and rival car shows in Pebble Beach and other locations along the Northern California coast.

“There is an avid group of car collectors in the San Diego and Southern California area that make this show special” said collector Max Epstein.
For many collectors, this is the only show of the year that they participate in making it more special”.  

A 1909 EMF was the oldest car in the show. It started right up with a crank on the front end.

The oldest car at the show was a 1909 EMF, a car that was produced by EMF and then sold by Studibaker. The car had a front end crank and it started right up for judges when the time came.

Another very rare car was a 1925 Rolls Royce Phantom which was brought down from the Peterson Museum in Los Angeles.

“These are cars that the poublic rarely gets a chance to see and it is a tribute to Promote La Jolla and the other groups responsible for organizing the event” said Hans Erickson another avid car collector and classic car fanatic.

“I am already getting ready for the 2010 car show and this one isn’t even over yet” he said smiling as he walked through the event.

A rare Bentley is another one of the cars featured at the car show.

For more photos and over 12 videos from the 2009 La Jolla Classic Car Show
visit the SoCal Beaches Magazine webpage at:
http://www.socalbeachmag.net/californiabeachevents/2009lajollacarshow.html

Classic cars from the 2009 La Jolla Motor Car Classic

2009 La Jolla Motor Car Classic Videos

The 2009 La Jolla Motor Car Classic - A look from above

1957 Chevy Bel Air Convertible video

1972 Rolls Royce Phantom video

Corvette Row at the 2009 La Jolla Motor Car Classic

1938 Mercedes Benz Touring Car

1941 Packard One Eighty

Delahaye Convertible classic

1955 Sun Chief Convertible

1931 Cadillac classic

1958 Ford Fairlane Skyliner 500

1911 Mercedes Benz

1911 Mercedez Benz #2

1909 EMF classic - crank starting the car to start

1909 EMF classic

1960 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner

1924 Rolls Royce Phantom

1936 Delahaye 135 Competition

Bentley classic

Ferrari Row - rare sports cars

A rare hood emblem from one of the cars at the show

For more information on the show and other California classic cars visit the
SoCal Beaches Magazine website at www.socalbeachmag.net

For more information on La Jolla visit www.lajollavillageonline.com

2009 La Jolla Motor Car Classic at La Jolla Cove

Surf Web Cams Growing in Popularity for Advertisers

Surf and beach web cams are fast becoming a cost effective way for advertisers to target and reach a captive action sports audience for much less than traditional print media.

The Pacific Beach Surf Web Cam on the Crystal Pier

Surfing web cams are fast becoming popular for advertisers to reach
their target audiences for less than traditional media outlets. Major fortune 500 companies are now stepping on board to secure advertising rights with web cam providers.   

Hollister Clothing (created by Ambercrombie & Fitch in 2000) recently signed a deal with the City of Huntington Beach to provide live camera feeds to its retail stores in the midwest and nationwide at a cost of 4.8 million dollars over a 25 year period.

The deal provides Hollister with exclusive camera feeds along the Huntington Beach boardwalk and pier areas. The deal also nets
370,000 dollars for marine safety equipment.

In addition, local surf camera websites like WaveWatch.com, SoCalBeachMag.net and Surfline.com are also starting to see an increase in advertisers who want to run small
“pre roll” commercials on these live feeds.

“Advertisers are finding out that they can get their message out much more cost effectively by running small 15 second commercials on surf cameras”, said SoCal Beaches Magazine marketing director Mark Fitzgerald.

“In addition, they are also to focus on specific demographics that focus on the action sports crowd for local communities up and down the coastline”.

“The deal that Hollister has made with the City of Huntington Beach is a sign of things to come for the beach and surf web cam industry”

Surf cameras have been around the beaches of Southern California for years but it is the recent technology of adding pre roll commercials that has gotten the interest of advertisers.

Surf cams can now run a 15 second flash commercial as a prelude to the camera feed loading, giving advertisers an excellent chance to get their message across to a captive audience of surfers and beach goers.

Surf web cams provide a constant source of live content and advertisers can get thier message across for much less than they would spend on print ads and other forms of advertising.

Advertisers can reach their target audience much cheaper and provide updated commercials as they seem fit.

“As times in the economy get tough advertisers going after the “Action Sports” demographic  have to find more cost effective ways to get their message across and surf and beach web cams are the growing media source to do that” said Fitzgerald.

Web cams are now being located in some of the best surf spots around San Diego and Southern California and web cam providers are chopping at the bit to get prime locations along the coast.

“We have seen a  huge increase in the number of live web cam feeds going in along the coast and beaches”, said Ray Dellerson, who works with CAMZONE, one of the largest providers of feeds in Southern California.

“Advertisers are seeing a positive responce from their customer base and finding that cameras can do as good, if not better job, than traditional print media in helping to get their message out.”

One of the most popular surf web cams is located at the end of The Crystal Pier and is owned by SoCal Beaches Magazine. The camera has been there for over 4 years but it has been in the last few months that the phones have been ringing for advertisers to run the feed and advertise.

“It is certainly the wave of the future and something which will continue to grow as we move forward” concluded Fitzgerald.

Time will tell, but this seems to be a growing business of the future as companies try to secure some of the best beach locations to entice advertisers to use their web cam network to advertise on.

To view live surf web cameras visit

www.SoCalBeachMag.net  
3 live cameras including the most popular camera on the Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach, La Jolla Scripps pier and the Del Mar lifeguard tower.

www.wavewatch.com
a dozen cameras focused primarily in
Orange County and Los Angeles beaches

www.Surfline.com
cameras from all over the United States including Hawaii and the east coast.