BRENDA GOUGH
NEWS Contributor
It took a month of waiting, but Mother Nature finally cooperated on Monday and provided the much-needed wind power to send a group of kiteboarders on their crossing of the Strait of Georgia.
Four members of Kiting For Kids launched from Columbia Beach just after 9 a.m. with southeast winds blowing about 17 knots at the shoreline. The group of Oceanside kiteboarding enthusiasts had been waiting since the beginning of April for the right wind conditions to take them to Sechelt and then back to Pipers Lagoon in Nanaimo.
Their epic journey is a fundraiser for B.C. Children’s Hospital and to date the group has raised more than $7,000.
Heading out into the whitecaps were Ken Droog of Parksville, Dennis McDonald of Parksville, Harold Grindl of Nanoose Bay and Allan Berry of Nanaimo.
All four got off to a great start, but before they made it to Sechelt, Grindl and Berry ran into difficulties and had to drop out of the event.
No doubt receiving updates was Sir Richard Branson of the Virgin group of companies. Branson is an avid kiteboarder who is also an honorary member of the local kiteboarding team.
