When my friend Jeff told me that he wanted to head to Hatteras for a week and improve his skills, I immediately thought of Dimitri Maramenides. We had worked together this year on a Kite Adventures Kite-With-A-Pro tour this past year and just had a blast.
Then Dimitri offered his house for us to stay, so how could we possibly say no.

A week with Dimitri and his family? If you’ve seen Aerial Assault, this week surpassed any kind of craziness. We first met Bob, his “partner in crime” aka karate guy he kicks the sh*t out of. Every time I left the house and saw his silhouette, it scared the hell out of me! We met his wife Gillian, daughter Olivia, 7, Cameron, 3 and his sister Olga, who was visiting for Missouri.

We kicked off the first day at Kitty Hawk Kites launching area. Of course, we dusted off the wetsuits (actually, I took off the tags of my new shortie since I’ve never had to kite in a wetsuit before!) and started pumping the kites. We later found the automatic air pump, but let’s just skip that part. We met some great locals who helped us launch and did a 4 km downwinder to Jockey’s Ridge. The wind was pretty steady and increased during the day from 15 knots to 25 knots. It was my first time kiting not only in the states, but also since Vietnam and I’ll tell ya, that water is COLD!

We had a great day and came into shore where Dimitri was teaching his 3 year old how to steer a 6-meter kite. If it was anyone else, you’d think that was insane, but if you know Dimitri, it’s part of his daily shtick. We ended the day hanging with the kids on the trampoline working on our handlepass moves and chilling family style in the hammock.

Over the next few days, I worked on my jumps with my BIG kites (10-12 meters, I know this are normal sizes for girls, but I am used to my 6m and 8m in Brazil) while Jeff took jumping clinics with Dimitri. Everyday after he came off the water his face was just LIT!
“I’m doing grabs, 360s, front and back rolls it’s INSANE.” Before he got to Hatteras he was jumping a bit, but nothing like this.

Another purpose of my journey down south was to meet the man behind my board. We spent some time in Buxton and Avon meeting GS from Aggression Kiteboards and the Real crew. GS gave us a tour of his workstation and it was awesome to see how his boards are made. I even talked him into making me a custom designed board for Kite Adventures, which I will post in a future article. We kited with them at Kite Point, which is the flat sound side of this area. Waist deep, warm water with an excellent point to launch and meet the area kiters.
Kicking back in Hatteras, drinking MGDs and waiting for the wind is a favorite pastime here. The locals are very friendly and super helpful with launching and landing of kites.

By night, it was time to return to family life. Gillian and Olga prepared a Greek feast for Orthodox Easter that consisted of eggplant parm, stuffed green peppers, lemon/pepper chicken and a huge greek salad. We ate leftovers for the next 3 days. It was really amazing!

Cameron and Olivia took a real liking to Jeff and I. One night, Dimitri and Gillian were at a wedding so I decided to make us all macaroni and cheese. I suddenly found myself barefoot in the kitchen with an apron on. As Jeff (who had Cameron on his lap) pointed this out to me, I said, “Oh my God, I am WAY too young for this!” We both laughed and I decided not to cook for the kids again, it was just too scary for me.

One morning in Avon, we woke up early to kite and I found myself getting blown downwind. It was about 15 knots and I was hanging on with my 12 meter, but as I tried to make my way back to the launching area, the wind had weakened. I was way far down and couldn’t see any other kiters around me, so I stopped in my tracks in a swamp and landed my kite. I decided to ditch it in this area because water moccasins are known to mate here. I took my board with me in case of danger and started heading to the road. I walked for maybe 15 minutes traveling through wet grass and brush hoping not to disturb the snakes. I luckily made it out alive but then I found myself fully dressed in a wetsuit and harness walking down the highway in NC. I wasn’t 2 minutes down the road when Dimitri and Cameron came to my rescue. It was pretty funny. We joked that we weren’t doing a downwinder… Dimitri and his friend Chris saved my kite while explaining the dangers of the situation. I was pretty lucky, the only injuries I had were the thorns in my feet and a good story to tell.

Other than that, we had smooth sailing. The wind cooperated during the week and the last day the weather dropped to about 50 degrees. I was impressed by the hardcore nature of Jeff and Dimitri who rode a 4-hour downwinder that day… Count me OUT!

We had a great time and will definitely return to Hatteras not only for the kiting, but the clinics and Maramenides family… Who knows I may need a lesson in childcare sometime soon!

We have one spot left for an ultimate Greece Kite Adventure with Dimitri Maramenides from July 26-August 4th. Contact Jessie@kiteadventures.com for more details.