What a weekend! the kind that takes the whole week to recover from :)
I got down there on Thursday evening and had a quiet beer or two with the locals on the sea front before calling it a night.
Friday was a scorcher with very little wind forecast, so was spent soaking up some rays, and enjoying the other attractions such as the bmx/skate/parkour demos. Again when the evening came about, its was time to kick back and sink a few more cold ones whilst listening to the live bands in the neighboring marquee.
Friday was a scorcher with very little wind forecast, so was spent soaking up some rays, and enjoying the other attractions such as the bmx/skate/parkour demos. Again when the evening came about, its was time to kick back and sink a few more cold ones whilst listening to the live bands in the neighboring marquee.
Saturday showed a little more promise wind-wise, so got the Chrono rigged up early, and was the first out on the water together with Steph Bridge's amazing littlun's. The wind picked up slowly from being skimboard conditions to Twintip, and before long the BKSA started up the junior comp and progressed onto the girls before the wind dropped off again. It was good to get out even though the conditions were far from ideal, it was such a great sunny day, and the sea was amazingly warm - board shorts and rash vest weather!
Sunday started as I awoke to the van being buffeted by the wind, and as I looked out over the sea I knew that the competition was going to be on. It was high tide early in the morning, and the competition couldn't start until the water had receded past the groynes. We were told in the riders briefing that Pro men's were going to go first, followed by pro ladies, then the amateurs. The forecast was for the wind to drop slowly and was good 7m weather early on, so opted to pump up the 11 and 7m Furias. When the tide had dropped a little the Pro's hit the water, which was a great spectacle in the strong conditions. Ned particularly stood out with some big powered tricks, but didn't stick around to watch them all, as I wanted to test the water myself in order to decide which kite to compete with. I opted to take the 11m out for a ride, and although I was a bit overpowered, I assumed it would drop sufficiently by the time it was my turn.
After they got all the Pro's out of the way it was finally my turn, I was up against Marcus Hawkins (2nd overall in seniors last year), and the Kenyan Cup winner . The heat was over in a flash, I landed a few good tricks, a big kiteloop, off axis grab frontloop, back rolls, railey and some transitions, but didn't really go for anything incredibly technical. I was pleased to hear I came second, as there really was no competition for 1st place as the Kenya cup guy was miles ahead.
Second place lead me into the losers playoff, in which I really struggled - whenever I tried to go for a big trick the wind wasn't there, and was struggling all the time to keep upwind. I landed a railey, railey to blind and an inelegant tantrum, which fell well short of the mark. When the results came through, it was of no surprise that I was out of the competition. After waiting all weekend it was over in a matter of minutes - It was still a great experience and I'd learned a lot - Its a different ball game to have to try and pull off your best moves in a confined space no matter what the conditions happen to be at the time.
While the other competitions continued, I got the rare chance to watch Aaron Hadlow nail some big moves - he'd been playing football with Lewis & friends most of the weekend, while waiting for the wind, and it was really good to see him in action. I rounded the afternoon off with a good session on the 15m Chrono.
All that was left to do then, was to pack up all my gear, say my goodbyes and start the long drive back up to the North East, whilst listening to the World Cup Final - A truly amazing weekend, which leaves me looking forward to the next round all the more.
