The Journals - Ocean Rodeo's Weekly Report

Weekly Update - So this is Friday

What a week!

Phew am I glad this one is over, we have had a very busy week here at OR.

On the news front, I have some updates:

- 07 9 and 12m One kites ship this weekend to us, so we should have them landed and ready to ship to you by about the end of next week, early the week after. The 7m's might be in that shipment too, the 14, 16 and Diablo line of kites are all coming about 2 weeks after that.

- Boards will be here soon too, so get excited, we have all our gear ready to roll in the next few weeks!

- The shipment will include with it the 06 One kite bridle mod kits. If you are not happy <a href="http://www.oceanrodeo.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=270"><strong>making your own</strong></a> then you can contact your local dealer and get a pre-made one sent to you!

- Clothing!!! - Contact your local dealer and order up your clothing! I have just put the finishing touches on the dealer / distributor order forms for these new garments so pick your fav's and order them now! We will have clothing available for shipping in just under 3 week's time - just in time to ship with the 07 gear! <a href="http://www.oceanrodeo.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=313"><strong>Click here to see the full line of clothing we now have available!</strong></a>

More to come! Hope you all have a great weekend!

John Z - OR

Tuesday Oct 24 R&D Session

Tested new breathable fabric concept for OR drysuits,....still need many more hours of salt water exposure for full evaluation. 15 to 25 knots wind provided nice conditions to try new fin profiles on Mako. Richard M.

What would you do?

Hit the photo studio today with our new pyro drysuit accessories in hand. Original plan was nice product shots with a standard white back ground for use on the website....but we thought our loyal OR crew deserved more than that!

As luck would have it, Kristine S. of Maxxim Magazine, UMM, and soon to be Playboy Magazine fame is a good friend of Ocean Rodeo's very own John Z!
What to do,...being one to not to let this opportunity pass, we suggested to Kristine that a shoot with OR gear would be good for her portfolio!

After the shoot I asked Kristine a few questions:

Q: Where where you born?
A: Norway!

Q: How did you end up in Victoria BC, Canada?
A: My family moved to Seattle where I grew up and came to Victoria for Universtiy.

Q: How did you get started in modeling?
A: Two years ago I entered the Maxxim talent search which went very well. Since then I've done swimsuit calendars, modeled for UMM, and will be off to the Playboy Mansion after winning the Playboy talent search.

Q: Have you ever tried kiteboarding or surfing?
A: No, but I would love to try both! I currently wakeboard and water ski.

Q: How about other sports?
A: I played volleyball in college and practice gymnastics. Ran my first half marathon in Victoria last week!

Q: Steak or Tofu?
A: Steak!

Q: Beer or Wine
A: Wine

Q: Camping on the beach or staying in the Hyatt?
A: I'd stay in the Hyatt,...at the beach!

Q: West Coast or East Coast?
A: West Coast all the way!

You will see much more of Kristine in the new OR drysuit website to be launched in a few weeks!

Monday

Another week and another posting! If you have not caught on yet this is our new Blog and will be a spot all you OR Crew can check in to for somewhat weekly updates on our comings and goings, what's been ticking and what's not been so hot.

In the news today is our most recent posting on the forum: New clothing options for Ocean Rodeo! We are set to make available about 6 different T-Shirt and Sweatshirt design options for around Christmas. This is the first foray into a more aggressive clothing campaign that will ultimately be called the Approach line of clothing from Ocean Rodeo. Up next is a technical hoodie / jacket style garment and most likely some board shorts to work with the Session Harness System.

Other updates include the disappointing news that the 2007 kites will be delayed in their delivery by about 2 week's time. The silver lining on this issue is the fact that the kites will all ship with the newest bar designs and that our manufacturing partners have all agreed to commit to a tighter delivery time line for the balance of the season, so we should have rock solid delivery times the rest of this year and into the future!

Not much else to report from OR HQ. Drop a line via the comments or the forum if you have any thoughts, questions or insights!

John Z - OR

Kite Power!

I have to admit, this has very little direct relevance to Ocean Rodeo but we are a kite company and I saw this on the internet late last night. Apparently a company in Italy has made what they call KiteGen, a kite powered electrical generator that is capable of producing as much energy as a nuclear power plant! Now, I know nobody here would laugh at such an idea but it does sound like this could become a reality shortly. KiteGen apparently convinced the Turin utility company AEM to foot 40% of the prototype expenses and to sign on as a partner in the project. You don't need to convince me that there is a lot of power in the kites we use!