I have to second everything Brian said about Chris. I had never really met Chris before, just seen him and his boat at an event or two over the past few years. Brian was helping step the mast and I came over to check out the boat and admire some of the things Chris had rigged up and ask a lot of questions. When Chris was bringing Brian back to the beach I was hanging around by the water so I grabbed his beach wheels and started heading down to meet them. Chris said he didn't need the wheels yet so I put them down and was going to help hold the boat off the pebbly beach when he asked if I was ready to go out! I grabbed a life jacket from my wife who had just got back from paddling around on Brian's kayak and asked to borrow Brian's gloves and then we were off. I'm still grinning! Al tho I have a spinnaker for my 18SX I have never used it as I still have a lot to learn about sailing with just 2 sails so this was a first for me. Chris heads down, sets the chute and stats flying a hull, too cool. He instructs me on how to retrieve the chute and we head up. He then asks if I want to drive. To say I was hesitant would be an understatement but he assures me I'll be fine and I take the stick. He is a great instructor! "Tack over, head down", he sets the chute. Within minutes he as me skimming the hull out of the water, downwind, a first for me. He was very patient and talked me through the transition to spinnaker sailing, "We're getting a little high, bare off to bring the boat down a bit.. We're slowing down so head up a little.." Definitely a patient instructor. After a while we headed back to the beach and Chris took someone else out for a ride, introducing a lot of us Hobie sailors to these big kite boats. It was an awesome sail, with plenty of great advice and racing stories.

His words are still echoing in the back of my mind, "Welcome to the dark side"