ABOUT FIRST COAST KITEBOARDING

First Coast Kiteboarding was first started 4 years ago with the need for professional kiteboarding instruction in northeast Florida. The name itself comes from the common name of the northeast Florida coastal region, which was home to the first European settlement in the United States. Being a Florida native, Eddie Toy grew up in Melbourne, about 2 hours drive south of St. Augustine. By the age of 5, he was skateboarding everyday, then began surfing at 8 years old, wakeboarding at 10, snowboarding at 12, and flew stackable diamond shaped stunt kites with his brother at an early ago. After working as a chef at several ski resorts in Washington state and Utah in the early 1990s and snowboarding over 200 days a year, Eddie decided to return to Florida to pursue a college education. Back in Melbourne, he discovered wakeboarding behind a Sea Doo in the surf. All of this experience was the perfect training for kiteboarding, although the sport wasn't even invented yet.

Eddie graduated with honors from University of Florida in 1998 with a B.S. in Environmental Science with a concentration in Natural Resource Management. He was employed at the computer labs while in school at U.F., and gained experience in website design. Then in 2000 he graduated from Florida State University with a Master's degree in Chemical Oceanography. Ready to move back to the coast, his first job was with the Duval County Health Department in Jacksonville, Florida. An OPS position without benefits, it was a temporary job and after battling traffic daily going to and from work, it only lasted 7 months. So he accepted a position as a Database Manager with BCI Engineers and Scientists as a contractor for the St. Johns Water Management District in Palatka. Which brings us to St. Augustine...

Eddie Toy moved to St. Augustine in October of 2001, and while looking for apartments, ran into Jimbo Manning and Daryl Drown. Having already been introduced to kiteboarding by Jeremy Greene of Jupiter Kiteboarding, Eddie was very excited to get into the sport. Daryl explained that he was opening a kiteboarding shop called Extreme Kites the very next week. The day it opened, Eddie went in with credit card in hand and bought a brand new Cabrinha CO2 9 meter, Cabrinha Prankster, and a DaKine Fusion seat harness. At the same time, he spoke with owner Daryl Drown about possibly designing his website. This was to be the beginning of a lasting partnership.

The following summer, Jimbo had decided to start teaching kiteboarding, but he didn't have the patience to stand on the beach while everyone else was riding. After a close call with a student diving the kite across the power zone, Jimbo decided he was over it. Eddie decided to give it a try, and quickly discovered that he had a knack for teaching. Soon thereafter, he travelled to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina to get PASA certified by master instructor Paul Menta. He also filmed, edited and co-produced a kiteboarding instructional video called Summer School'd with Paul in association with Go Fly a Kite. Paul now runs the Kite House, based out of Key West, with trips to the Bahamas, Dominican Republic and Turks and Caicos.

3 months after learning to kiteboard, the Toy family took a trip to Maui, Hawaii, home of Kite Beach. Eddie brought his kites and got a quick introduction to one of the windiest and gustiest places on the planet. Since then, Eddie has traveled to the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, Cape Hatteras, Tobago, Puerto Rico, Bahamas and Cape Cod for kiteboarding. Always an avid traveller, Eddie has had the dream of running adventure travel tours for over 10 years. Last summer, he planned a kiteboarding trip for 20 local kiters to Cabarete, in the Dominican Republic, where they stayed at Extreme Hotels and had wind every day.

Now it is 4 years later, and Eddie has taught over 250 students to kiteboard. In June, Eddie took a position as Digital Editor for Kiteboarding Magazine, in charge of content and video development for the web. The demand has grown exponentially, as kiteboarding is the fastest growing segment of the water sports industry worldwide. So this season, in response to this demand, First Coast Kiteboarding was born. Another professional kiteboarding instructor with 5 years of teaching experience in San Francisco Bay will be joining us in November. We are expanding our operation to include kite landboarding, 4-day intermediate kite camps, and travel for intermediate and advanced riders.

On October 28, 2006, Eddie will marry his long-time sweetheart Kate ViVenzio here in St. Augustine Beach. Kate owns the Bikram Yoga studio here in St. Augustine near the lighthouse, which is one of the fastest growing yoga franchises in the world. Kate is from western Massachusetts, but her parents also have a house on Cape Cod, which has some of the best kiteboarding in the United States during July and August. Next summer, we will be heading up north for July and August to sample some of the consistent SW thermal winds.


				To find out more please call or email Eddie Toy at: First Coast Kiteboarding Email: eddie@firstcoastkiteboarding.com Information Request Form Phone: 904-347-6872

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	ABOUT FIRST COAST KITEBOARDING First Coast Kiteboarding was first started 4 years ago with the need for professional kiteboarding instruction in northeast Florida. The name itself comes from the common name of the northeast Florida coastal region, which was home to the first European settlement in the United States. Being a Florida native, Eddie Toy grew up in Melbourne, about 2 hours drive south of St. Augustine. By the age of 5, he was skateboarding everyday, then began surfing at 8 years old, wakeboarding at 10, snowboarding at 12, and flew stackable diamond shaped stunt kites with his brother at an early ago. After working as a chef at several ski resorts in Washington state and Utah in the early 1990s and snowboarding over 200 days a year, Eddie decided to return to Florida to pursue a college education. Back in Melbourne, he discovered wakeboarding behind a Sea Doo in the surf. All of this experience was the perfect training for kiteboarding, although the sport wasn't even invented yet. Eddie graduated with honors from University of Florida in 1998 with a B.S. in Environmental Science with a concentration in Natural Resource Management. He was employed at the computer labs while in school at U.F., and gained experience in website design. Then in 2000 he graduated from Florida State University with a Master's degree in Chemical Oceanography. Ready to move back to the coast, his first job was with the Duval County Health Department in Jacksonville, Florida. An OPS position without benefits, it was a temporary job and after battling traffic daily going to and from work, it only lasted 7 months. So he accepted a position as a Database Manager with BCI Engineers and Scientists as a contractor for the St. Johns Water Management District in Palatka. Which brings us to St. Augustine... Eddie Toy moved to St. Augustine in October of 2001, and while looking for apartments, ran into Jimbo Manning and Daryl Drown. Having already been introduced to kiteboarding by Jeremy Greene of Jupiter Kiteboarding, Eddie was very excited to get into the sport. Daryl explained that he was opening a kiteboarding shop called Extreme Kites the very next week. The day it opened, Eddie went in with credit card in hand and bought a brand new Cabrinha CO2 9 meter, Cabrinha Prankster, and a DaKine Fusion seat harness. At the same time, he spoke with owner Daryl Drown about possibly designing his website. This was to be the beginning of a lasting partnership. The following summer, Jimbo had decided to start teaching kiteboarding, but he didn't have the patience to stand on the beach while everyone else was riding. After a close call with a student diving the kite across the power zone, Jimbo decided he was over it. Eddie decided to give it a try, and quickly discovered that he had a knack for teaching. Soon thereafter, he travelled to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina to get PASA certified by master instructor Paul Menta. He also filmed, edited and co-produced a kiteboarding instructional video called Summer School'd with Paul in association with Go Fly a Kite. Paul now runs the Kite House, based out of Key West, with trips to the Bahamas, Dominican Republic and Turks and Caicos. 3 months after learning to kiteboard, the Toy family took a trip to Maui, Hawaii, home of Kite Beach. Eddie brought his kites and got a quick introduction to one of the windiest and gustiest places on the planet. Since then, Eddie has traveled to the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, Cape Hatteras, Tobago, Puerto Rico, Bahamas and Cape Cod for kiteboarding. Always an avid traveller, Eddie has had the dream of running adventure travel tours for over 10 years. Last summer, he planned a kiteboarding trip for 20 local kiters to Cabarete, in the Dominican Republic, where they stayed at Extreme Hotels and had wind every day. Now it is 4 years later, and Eddie has taught over 250 students to kiteboard. In June, Eddie took a position as Digital Editor for Kiteboarding Magazine, in charge of content and video development for the web. The demand has grown exponentially, as kiteboarding is the fastest growing segment of the water sports industry worldwide. So this season, in response to this demand, First Coast Kiteboarding was born. Another professional kiteboarding instructor with 5 years of teaching experience in San Francisco Bay will be joining us in November. We are expanding our operation to include kite landboarding, 4-day intermediate kite camps, and travel for intermediate and advanced riders. On October 28, 2006, Eddie will marry his long-time sweetheart Kate ViVenzio here in St. Augustine Beach. Kate owns the Bikram Yoga studio here in St. Augustine near the lighthouse, which is one of the fastest growing yoga franchises in the world. Kate is from western Massachusetts, but her parents also have a house on Cape Cod, which has some of the best kiteboarding in the United States during July and August. Next summer, we will be heading up north for July and August to sample some of the consistent SW thermal winds.