15-Year Old Prodigy Jessie Richman Wins Nelscott Kiteboard Rodeo (SLIDESHOW)

A fairly new sport, kiteboarding becomes a main attraction on the Oregon Coast.

Photos by Richard Hallman FreelanceImaging.com

(LINCOLN CITY, Ore.) - The Nelscott Kiteboard Rodeo concluded Sunday with a 'no go' in the freestyle competition scheduled for the Siletz Bay due to the lack of adequate wind. Saturday's scheduled waveriding competition turned into a beach party-barbecue waiting for the 12-15 mph threshold to be reached which it never did.

Friday however was another story as the contest director Steve Gunn finally called the 'Downwinder' a go at about 4:00 PM.

The contestants were already in the water staying loose in the 2-3' surf wowing the crowd in the building wind doing 'tailslides', 'off the lips', 'aerial transitions' and 'barrel riding'.

Under blue skies the horn was blown and rounding the first buoy was Jessie in the lead followed by Damien Leroy and Jeff Kafka.

Tracking the leaders at speeds up to 25 mph the 5 miles from Roads End to Nelscott Beach didn't take much more than 20 minutes before the leaders rounded the last buoy with only 20 seconds separating them and headed to the beach. 1st. Jessie Richman-Maui 2nd Damien Leroy-Florida 3rd Jeff Kafka from Northern California.

The amateur division finished in the next flock with Tony Bolstad from Stevenson, Washington taking 1st and his wife, Carol Bolstad, taking 2nd. 17-year old Josh Brady of Langlois, Oregon took 3rd.

The 'Media Dinner-Awards Banquet' took place Friday night and was generously provided by the 'Chinook Winds Casino' with phenomenal food and hospitality along with a slide show-music provided by award winning photographer Richard Hallman of his exploits documenting snow kiting in Alaska, kiting all over the world and some shots of Lincoln City's own 'Nelscott Reef Tow In Classic' the Premier big wave tow in contest in the world and set to run again this fall.

Even though everyone didn't get all the wind they hoped for the contestants all left with a smile on their face knowing that they would be back and that Fridays tease showed the potential of this 'World Class' venue and the Lincoln City Aloha was present everywhere in town.

The organizers would like to thank "The Chinook Winds Casino' Liquid Militia Clothing' Oregon Sports Authority' Red Bull' Russo Surfboards' Nelscott Reef Surf Shop' Beth Sears Glass Center' Wind Over Water Kite School' and all the contributing Motels and Restaurants that made this event possible along with all the volunteers who gave their time to make this work.