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Saturday, 4 December 2010
ForceSix goes live!
Wednesday, 20 October 2010
2nd at Blackpool and 2nd Overall!
Myself, Simon Light and Marcus Hawkins at the awards ceremony
Action shot from one of the heats (Photos courtesy of Craig Sawyer)
Action shot from one of the heats (Photos courtesy of Craig Sawyer)
Last weekend brought the final stage of the 2010 BKSA kitesurfing tour on the windy shores of Blackpool.
The event started with the morning briefing, in which we were told that Friday was likely to be the only windy day, and that it was likely that we'd need to get all the events complete in the 5 hours before the tide came in. This meant that heat times were reduced and everyone needed to be on the ball to make sure they didn't miss them.
In my first heat I was drawn up against Simon Light in the Amateur Mens, and I struggled to land anything decent in the choppy conditions. Simon came out on top and I had to go through to the play-off to progress.
This put me up against Marcus Hawkins, who had also struggled in his first heat - Once the play-off had started the wind dropped almost immediately, both of us were struggling to stay upwind and even remain in the judging area. I failed to land any decent moves again, but I took some old tricks out of the bag to make sure I scored some points in the horrible conditions. This was enough to put me through to the finals on what must have been a pretty close call.
I decided that I wouldn't risk the wind dropping off again in the finals, so opted to use my 11m Furia, rather than the 9m Pure which I used through the heats.
The final went better, but still struggled to land any handle-passes in the conditions. I pulled some powered hooked in moves out of the bag which ensured I would get some points on the board, but as the final ended I had no idea how I'd do compared to the others.
We were all left to wonder about the results, as they wouldn't be announced until the presentation on Saturday. I had a good free-ride session after the comp, until the tide came in and there was no beach left to land.
On Saturday there was no significant wind. I had a couple of hours on the water with my 15m Chrono, but everyone else gave it a miss. We then all hung around killing time until it was time to go to the prize-giving celebrations. After relaxing with a few beers and demolishing the buffet, the ceremonies began and results read out. I was surprised to hear that I'd beaten Simon Light in the final, with Jake Moore taking the win. This meant that I'd also pushed ahead of Simon in the final results leaving me in 2nd place for the year... I was gobsmacked :)
After all the results were read out, it was time to party on, drink some more beer and get down and dance. We stayed on at the venue until about midnight then moved off into town to continue the merriment. I called it a night sometime after 3am, but for a few others that was only just the beginning!
When the morning came, nobody was particularly in the right frame of mind for more kitesurfing, and it was a good thing that there was no wind anyway. Before lunchtime most of us has said our goodbyes and started our journeys back home.
Wednesday, 13 October 2010
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
Takoon Chrono 2011
As some of you may know the new Takoon chrono 2011 is now available from S2AS. Both me and pete have taken delivery of 15m. So i'm looking forward to getting out on the water with it. Also I have the 10m demo kite at the minute and am sending it on to richard after Ive had a couple more sessions on it. So if anyone else wants a demo give Angelo a call at S2AS.
There is some nice updates on the new 2011 kite and bar. There's a new moulded one pump system, extra reinforcements on the kite, New one-piece bar grip and new cousins SKeletor line set which look top quality.
Heres my thoughts after my first session on the 10:
flew the 10m chrono 2011 today in 18-28knts , 4-6ft swell.
Went out first on my 133 twin tip, and the first thing I noticed was how far forward in the window the kite sits. The kite absolutely flies up-wind more so than the furia LTD which I thought had excellent upwind ability but the chrono is in a different league. When jumping the kite is really floaty which is great if your into your old school riding. The bar pressure is slightly heavier than the furia LTD which is pretty light. I had the turning set on the middle setting and found it nice and responsive .Didn't have chance to check out what it was like un-hooked as I was desperate to get on the surfboard as the waves where sweet. id imagine it wont excel un-hooked as thats not what its designed for and it sits too far forward but ill wait untill ive tried it first as I might be surprised.
I then spent the rest of my session on my burning 6'2" strapless. I was well powered on the 10 by this time and should have probably been on something smaller. The chrono felt fine in the waves turned ok but could have done with it on the faster setting. The thing that supprised me is how responsive the turning is even when the kite is depowered.
ill write a bit more once I have had a few more sessions on it but up to now its shaping up to be a really nice kite if you want to do a bit of everything from old-shool freestyle to waves.
There is some nice updates on the new 2011 kite and bar. There's a new moulded one pump system, extra reinforcements on the kite, New one-piece bar grip and new cousins SKeletor line set which look top quality.
flew the 10m chrono 2011 today in 18-28knts , 4-6ft swell.
Went out first on my 133 twin tip, and the first thing I noticed was how far forward in the window the kite sits. The kite absolutely flies up-wind more so than the furia LTD which I thought had excellent upwind ability but the chrono is in a different league. When jumping the kite is really floaty which is great if your into your old school riding. The bar pressure is slightly heavier than the furia LTD which is pretty light. I had the turning set on the middle setting and found it nice and responsive .Didn't have chance to check out what it was like un-hooked as I was desperate to get on the surfboard as the waves where sweet. id imagine it wont excel un-hooked as thats not what its designed for and it sits too far forward but ill wait untill ive tried it first as I might be surprised.
I then spent the rest of my session on my burning 6'2" strapless. I was well powered on the 10 by this time and should have probably been on something smaller. The chrono felt fine in the waves turned ok but could have done with it on the faster setting. The thing that supprised me is how responsive the turning is even when the kite is depowered.
ill write a bit more once I have had a few more sessions on it but up to now its shaping up to be a really nice kite if you want to do a bit of everything from old-shool freestyle to waves.
Monday, 20 September 2010
BKSA Round 4: Ayr
When I arrived at Ayr just before dusk on Thursday, there was a good amount of wind and one kite was out on the water. The wind blew all night long, and we were all looking forward to a good competition the next day.
When Friday came, the wind was still blowing strong and I was eager to get out on the water, so pumped up the 2011 Chrono2 which I had on demo, and was first out on the water. An excellent kite which builds on the success of its predecessor - I'll leave a full review for another time though.
By mid morning the pro's had hit the water and were a real spectacle to watch in the 20-25 knot conditions. The competitions were all wrapped up by early afternoon, leaving plenty of time for free-riding for the rest of the day.
The winds were somewhat lighter on Saturday, so opted to compete with my trusty 15m Chrono, which gave me a real power advantage over the others. I won my heat with a clear margin with a railey to blind, big grabbed frontloop, tantrum, big s-bend and a switch pop to blind which put me straight through to the final against two of the locals.
The final started well, pulled a big railey, a tantrum and a backroll transition, but crashed out on a railey to blind and my kite was unrecoverable. This gave me a 3rd position podium placing, ahead of the current championship leader (Marcus Hawkins) who came 4th, putting me in 3rd place overall. This leaves it all open for the final event in Blackpool in a months time.
Saturday night was party time, and we all hit Cactus Jak's which soon turned into a crazy evening with most of us showing our competitive side on the Bucking Bronco. Nicky Rudd Schooled us all with a 120 second ride and scored a bottle of bubbly for her efforts!
Sunday was more sedate, we were all feeling the effects of the night before, and the wind was pretty light also. The landboarders put on a good show, but there wasn't enough wind for a best trick competition on the water. After the prizegiving ceremony we all packed up and made our way home after a truely epic weekend.
Video is available now here : http://www.vimeo.com/15167854
When Friday came, the wind was still blowing strong and I was eager to get out on the water, so pumped up the 2011 Chrono2 which I had on demo, and was first out on the water. An excellent kite which builds on the success of its predecessor - I'll leave a full review for another time though.
By mid morning the pro's had hit the water and were a real spectacle to watch in the 20-25 knot conditions. The competitions were all wrapped up by early afternoon, leaving plenty of time for free-riding for the rest of the day.
The winds were somewhat lighter on Saturday, so opted to compete with my trusty 15m Chrono, which gave me a real power advantage over the others. I won my heat with a clear margin with a railey to blind, big grabbed frontloop, tantrum, big s-bend and a switch pop to blind which put me straight through to the final against two of the locals.
The final started well, pulled a big railey, a tantrum and a backroll transition, but crashed out on a railey to blind and my kite was unrecoverable. This gave me a 3rd position podium placing, ahead of the current championship leader (Marcus Hawkins) who came 4th, putting me in 3rd place overall. This leaves it all open for the final event in Blackpool in a months time.
Saturday night was party time, and we all hit Cactus Jak's which soon turned into a crazy evening with most of us showing our competitive side on the Bucking Bronco. Nicky Rudd Schooled us all with a 120 second ride and scored a bottle of bubbly for her efforts!
Sunday was more sedate, we were all feeling the effects of the night before, and the wind was pretty light also. The landboarders put on a good show, but there wasn't enough wind for a best trick competition on the water. After the prizegiving ceremony we all packed up and made our way home after a truely epic weekend.
Video is available now here : http://www.vimeo.com/15167854
Tuesday, 14 September 2010
Jo Wilson coaching session
Last weekend, I happened to spot Jo Wilson on our shores, who was up here to do some coaching of another local rider. I took the opportunity to get a bit of 1 on 1 tuition to spot any mistakes I was making and help with backs to blind.I was pretty tired and my hands were shredded after 4 days on the water, but got a lot from the session, even though I didn't quite land the elusive Back2Blind.
If you need some motivation to push yourself on the water, check out Jo's website here: http://www.jowilsoncoaching.com/ - I'm sure you'll have a good experience!
A video containing some of my best wipeouts can be found here http://vimeo.com/14974053 (Thanks to Jo for the recording :)
Friday, 13 August 2010
BKSA Round 3: Barrow
Another month, another competition - this time over to the windy west coast Isle of Walney.
This time we were greeted with loads of wind Thursday, Friday and Saturday, which allowed all the competitions to go though without a hitch.
On Friday it was the turn of the professionals - they got through all the heats pretty swiftly, only for the wind to drop down for the finals, which was postponed for an hour or two, while waiting for the wind to pick up again. When it got underway again Ali Barrett scored a popular win after failing to progress from the heats in the previous competition.
When Saturday came, it was the turn of the amateurs - starting off with the juniors, youths and girls, as the wind was forecast to pick up during the day.
Soon enough it was my turn to compete, and had drawn Marcus and Jordan in my heat, the wind was blowing in the high teens, and water fairly flat with small wavelets. I landed a few decent tricks including an S-Bend and a downloop frontloop transition, but failed to land some others, inlcuding a railey to blind and a tantrum. As the results came through we were told that Marcus went straight through to the final, with me second and Jordan last (who really went for some big tricks but failed to land them).
The losers heat was about an hour later, in which it was time for me to struggle - the wind had picked up and the sea state was much rougher - I failed to land anything decent, and it was no great surprise to hear that I placed last - I just couldn't handle the onshore chop common on the west coast.
When I practice I always seek out the flattest most ideal spot to do my tricks in, which is all well and good, but doesn't really help when you could be landed with any conditions in a competition scenario. I'm going to force myself to practice in onshore mush, waves etc. in future, as its not just what trick you can land, its what conditions you can land it in.
I also got the opportunity to try course racing, along with quite a few others of the freestyle crew who decided to give it a go. I guessed I'd have a fairly good shot at it, as I had my trusty 15m Chrono to power me along :) After we had the briefing and got down onto the water, there were supposed to be 4 buoys which marked out the course, yet unfortunately I could only see 3 of them - so decided my best option was to find someone who knew what he was doing, and follow him :) The start went off fine, was a little behind the front men but no problem there, got through the 'gate' and followed everybody upwind. after several MINUTES of going up wind I could finally see the fourth buoy - about half a mile further upwind than where I currently was, my heart sank a little :) I managed to round the upwind mark, and head back directly downwind to the start (which in marginal winds is a lot more difficult than you think).
This time we were greeted with loads of wind Thursday, Friday and Saturday, which allowed all the competitions to go though without a hitch.
On Friday it was the turn of the professionals - they got through all the heats pretty swiftly, only for the wind to drop down for the finals, which was postponed for an hour or two, while waiting for the wind to pick up again. When it got underway again Ali Barrett scored a popular win after failing to progress from the heats in the previous competition.
When Saturday came, it was the turn of the amateurs - starting off with the juniors, youths and girls, as the wind was forecast to pick up during the day.
Soon enough it was my turn to compete, and had drawn Marcus and Jordan in my heat, the wind was blowing in the high teens, and water fairly flat with small wavelets. I landed a few decent tricks including an S-Bend and a downloop frontloop transition, but failed to land some others, inlcuding a railey to blind and a tantrum. As the results came through we were told that Marcus went straight through to the final, with me second and Jordan last (who really went for some big tricks but failed to land them).
The losers heat was about an hour later, in which it was time for me to struggle - the wind had picked up and the sea state was much rougher - I failed to land anything decent, and it was no great surprise to hear that I placed last - I just couldn't handle the onshore chop common on the west coast.
When I practice I always seek out the flattest most ideal spot to do my tricks in, which is all well and good, but doesn't really help when you could be landed with any conditions in a competition scenario. I'm going to force myself to practice in onshore mush, waves etc. in future, as its not just what trick you can land, its what conditions you can land it in.
I also got the opportunity to try course racing, along with quite a few others of the freestyle crew who decided to give it a go. I guessed I'd have a fairly good shot at it, as I had my trusty 15m Chrono to power me along :) After we had the briefing and got down onto the water, there were supposed to be 4 buoys which marked out the course, yet unfortunately I could only see 3 of them - so decided my best option was to find someone who knew what he was doing, and follow him :) The start went off fine, was a little behind the front men but no problem there, got through the 'gate' and followed everybody upwind. after several MINUTES of going up wind I could finally see the fourth buoy - about half a mile further upwind than where I currently was, my heart sank a little :) I managed to round the upwind mark, and head back directly downwind to the start (which in marginal winds is a lot more difficult than you think).
By this time a load of the other freestylers had given up, and I think I was the only person on a non-raceboard remaining. Having completed the course the first time, the second was much easier.
I think I was the first twin-tip over the line, but haven't seen the results.
By the end of Saturday I was pretty nacked - but beer had to be drank, and merriment had to be had after going to the red-bull BBQ.
Results-wise it was another poor event, but I'm learning more and more that competition isn't as straightforward as you'd expect. I was told when I first started that I should expect to do poorly in my first events, and I'm beginning to learn why now :)
The events are always a good craic, and it was good to see some local north-east riders make the trip over too, bring on the next one in bonnie Scotland!
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