air pledge dale slear manager / pro As air's first instructor, Dale has gone from lanky high school
kid to to air's first full-time shop manager.
Sponsored
by Flexifoil and Mastercraft, he's always
on the water
training for the pro kite and wake circuits.
vitals
with air since: 2003
kiting since: 2000 alive since:1985
We met Dale at the 2002 North Sports Dealer meeting in Cape Hatteras. He was in high school and working for a Myrtle Beach Sail & Ski shop that was carrying a few kiteboarding items.We hung out and seemed like a pretty cool kid.
We keep in touch after the meeting and about 8 months later, he emails to tell us he's moving to Charleston for college and wanted to know if we needed any help. Well, the shop was about 2 months old and Adam was already having a hard time juggling the shop and teaching. So, Dale was the first to join air and make us a team, instead of a me.
nickname: air pledge
When Dale first started teaching at air, he was a College of Charleston freshman and just pledged a fraternity. One night, after an air party, a group of us were walking down King Street, Charleston. From three stories up, we a guy yell "HEY PLEDGE...you...Slear...get up here."
Well, Dale is well beyond his pledge days and has since pledged his life to kite and wake boarding. But, we still like to haze him.
mantra you live by
Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible. –Jonathan Swift
When Dale's not kiting, he spends his time training for the pro wake board circuit!
teach
instructor basics
why you became an instructor I became an instructor in this sport because I wanted to pass the feeling to someone else. I found myself always teaching wake boarding and when I go into this sport it was a natural progression to get other people in it as well.
tip for kiters wanting to improve If you want to become a better rider you train even when the wind isn’t any good by tieing a bar from a tree or practicing stuff on a trampoline. You have to visualize yourself doing it before you can do it.
tip for those kiters just starting out If you’re a beginner the best thing you have going for you is to fly your kite on the beach as often as you can whether it be in light wind, heavy wind, gusty wind and even no wind. Familiarize yourself with your kite as much as possible this way you can concentrate solely on riding when your on the water.
favorite gear setup Flexifoil Ion 2 10.5m with the Flexifoil pro board and Mystic Fire Starter waist harness. I love this kite in real heavy wind conditions…
favorite kiteboard moves My favorite move is a massive jump with a kite loop. I don’t think it can get more visually appealing when some one is that high and gets yanked from doing a kite loop, then landing softly.
hardest trick you're working on now The hardest trick I’m working on is a sent kite loop. The hard part is getting my timing down so that I don’t kill my self on the landing.
kiteboarding influences I would say the kiteboarder that influenced me the most was Andy Owens because he is who got me into the sport and pushed me every time we would ride.
NON-kiteboarding influences Shaun Murray influenced me in wake boarding because he was so humble yet the best rider there was. He would talk to anyone who wanted to talk about wake boarding.
worst kitemare I was being stupid and tried to jump over a downed kite. Totally misjudged it and ended up upside down wrapped up in the kite, like a hotdog in plastic wrap. Somehow got out, but I left a holly kite behind because of my fins. Very scary event. Moral is don’t jump other’s kites... and DO NOT try to be a HOT DOG!
guide
personal ride guide
favorite Charleston riding spot The best place in town is the south end of Folly on a hard west wind in between low and high tide with a good swell. Amazing (details here).
favorite riding spot outside Charleston North Carolina Outer Banks.
favorite riding conditions 20 mph on a slight side off wind with shoulder high waves is my favorite condition to ride in.
places kited I have ridden in Myrtle Beach SC, Charleston SC, Outer Banks NC, St. Augustine FL., Jupiter FL, Fort Lauderdale FL., and Miami, FL, Cozumel MX.
kiteboarding trips planned The next Air Retreat, Baby!
other
non-kiting notes
other sports & hobbies ocean floating, photography, wake boarding, computers.
something outside of kiting most would not know Something a lot of people do not know about me is I like to mess around with magic tricks. Abracadabra!
favorite color Blue
favorite food My mom's honey covered ham balls.
favorite music Linkin Park's original stuff.
bests stupid human trick I can make a grape or peanut M&M hover over my mouth and then eat it. Learned it in physics. Great worthless trick. Hehe.
located near & kiteboarding in historic Charleston, SC in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina serving
charleston, sc - myrtle
beach, sc - beaufort, sc - hilton head island, sc - savanah, ga - south
carolina lowcountry
