Surf Diary

Dan Sweeney Airhead team rider went down to the BKSA round 1 at Watergate Bay and this was the action as seen by him.

So over to Dan for his view of the weekend

Dan sporting his new kit from Hurley

“Friday - So here it was the first competition of the year was finally here but the forecast wasn’t looking so good, north easterly 20knots and most probably gusting up to 30. Still then plan was to get up early Friday morning to miss the traffic and get to Watergate by 9am, so a bright and early start it was, 3am in the morning we left, in my dads girlfriend’s VW passat packed full of kites and boards. There isn’t really much to say about the journey because I was wrapped up in my duvet in the back dreaming about what the weekend was going to be like.

So we turned up at Watergate at 8:15am, said “hi” to some of the guys we hadn’t seen since last years comps and then settled into the hotel and checked out the beach.
The wind was a strong north easterly as forecasted so the pro’s were all registered and set up there kit, I saw I few kites fly off as they were not tied down properly, one Naish Torch was lofted into the air about 40-50 foot high because of the turbulent winds coming from the cliffs.

Flexifoil Kites at Watergate

As the day when on, nothing really happened, the red bull tent was up and most people were chilling under the red bull tent sitting on the beanbags.
Around 2-3 o’clock some riders got back from a local spot where they had been out as the bay was in a good direction for north easterly wind, so Ali Barrett and Sam light went for it and tried going out in the gusty wind. Ali was the first one out so the Turbulence sponsored rider went out in the gusty turbulent wind, he got lofted about 25-30 foot with his kite spinning around his head, he was travelling over the beach but he looped his kite to get into deeper water where he could release onto 5thline. Where as Sam Light got out for a while and got a kiteloop in, and still managed to get back to the beach safe and sound. For the rest of the day nothing really when on, some surfing and just chilling out.

Saturday- I woke up fairly early to get breakfast and go and register, after registration there was a riders meeting, just really for the plan of the day and if we get out they would most probably be a slope style comp where you have 3 runs to do you best trick and the best trick out of your 3 would win. So I went down to the beach and pumped up my lovely new clean 7 9 and 11 Flexifoil Hadlow pro models later in the day to be drenched and sandy!
Nothing went on for the rest of the day really; my dad and I went for a surf which was good, big sets coming in well over head high.
The party - The Saturday party was held in the Watergate bay hotel, and it was a good laugh, most of the new juniors were running around with kite-surf stickers planting them all around the hotel, windows and on hotel staff! Around 11:30 a load of people got taxis into Newquay and from what I hear they had fun!

Bill on his Jimmy Lewis SUP

Sunday- Looked a bit better in the forecast more cross shore winds and also not as strong, the morning started off with a riders meeting again, this time saying today may be more do-able and the juniors would be send out first which was me so I went to the car and grabbed all my kit and pumped up 7 9 and 11 then the wind came a bit more onshore so I grabbed my 11 and flew it on the beach as was tom butler and Robbie flying there kites. By this time it was about 2:30 and we were waiting for the cancellation of the event to be called. But it wasn’t called and more and more riders were pumping their kit up so I ran to the car and got changed into my suit and put on my new HURLEY boardies. But still nothing really happened and a few people went out for a short time with their kites flying all over the place in the gusty wind so I didn’t bother giving it a go, and went on the back of the jetski with Colin for a bit jumping off in the huge waves!
So there it was the event was called off, lack of wind and riders wanting to not make the long drive home too late.
It was still worth going to meet the new riders I’m going to be up against this year in the juniors.

Keep looking out for news on www.air-head.com for the latest new on events.
Next to come, BKSA round 1 course racing Littlehampton May 31st- 1st of June.
Also, BKSA round 2 freestyle Barrow, Cumbria June 13th-15th.

Thanks to my dad for taking me, Andy Cooper at Air-head for making it happen, kites, boards wetsuits, and thanks to James at HURLEY clothing for arming me with quality clothing and keeping me warm over the weekend.

cheers Dan”

Nice one Dan really good write up… More from the Airhead and Dan real soon

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Kite. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.