The forecast for the weekend wasn't great, and as I turned up on Friday afternoon, I wasn't sure whether the competitions would run. There seemed to be enough wind to have a muck about, so headed over to Paddy's Hole for a bit of a practice - the wind was up and down, but enough to bang out a few tricks.
When the evening came, we all gathered for the excellent BBQ, hosted by Mark Ward and Sukie Robertson then sank a few beers and had a good chinwag with the riders.
Saturday dawned with light winds from the SouthEast and a fairly poor forecast, yet we all remained optimistic; The wind was up and down all day, and was sufficient to get some course racing done, but no good for the freestyle. The wind did pick up a little in the early evening, after the events had been called off for the day, so managed to get a bit of time on the water. Saturday night was party time, and we all headed down to O'Grady's for some bevvies infront of the live band. I called it a night at 12, but several riders hit the clubs after, knowing that the prospect of decent conditions on Sunday was unlikely.
I awoke on Sunday to heavy rain, but the forecast was for it to clear up fairly quickly. The forecast was still pretty marginal, but we were fairly optimistic that we may be able to get some events run. When we went for the morning briefing, a sizeable section of the seafront drive was flooded, and we were all talking about going skimboarding on it.. a few hours later we put our plan into practice, whilst waiting for the winds to improve. This proved to be a real laugh, and the youths even made a kicker and slider from a piece of wood which was lying around. A short video of the action can be found below.
As the day progressed the wind improved enough to get the junior kitesurfing done, and to also run some race and land events, but it wasn't consistent enough to get a full programme of events done. Events were called to a close at 3pm, and we all gathered for the prizegiving before starting out on our trips home.
As usual I managed to score more time on the water than anyone else (bar the racers) and hit a few tricks infront of the photographers who were anxious to capture some action on an otherwise pretty disappointing weekend. Here are a few great shots by Colin Falcon (http://www.pixvault.co.uk/pur):
When the evening came, we all gathered for the excellent BBQ, hosted by Mark Ward and Sukie Robertson then sank a few beers and had a good chinwag with the riders.
Saturday dawned with light winds from the SouthEast and a fairly poor forecast, yet we all remained optimistic; The wind was up and down all day, and was sufficient to get some course racing done, but no good for the freestyle. The wind did pick up a little in the early evening, after the events had been called off for the day, so managed to get a bit of time on the water. Saturday night was party time, and we all headed down to O'Grady's for some bevvies infront of the live band. I called it a night at 12, but several riders hit the clubs after, knowing that the prospect of decent conditions on Sunday was unlikely.
I awoke on Sunday to heavy rain, but the forecast was for it to clear up fairly quickly. The forecast was still pretty marginal, but we were fairly optimistic that we may be able to get some events run. When we went for the morning briefing, a sizeable section of the seafront drive was flooded, and we were all talking about going skimboarding on it.. a few hours later we put our plan into practice, whilst waiting for the winds to improve. This proved to be a real laugh, and the youths even made a kicker and slider from a piece of wood which was lying around. A short video of the action can be found below.
As the day progressed the wind improved enough to get the junior kitesurfing done, and to also run some race and land events, but it wasn't consistent enough to get a full programme of events done. Events were called to a close at 3pm, and we all gathered for the prizegiving before starting out on our trips home.
As usual I managed to score more time on the water than anyone else (bar the racers) and hit a few tricks infront of the photographers who were anxious to capture some action on an otherwise pretty disappointing weekend. Here are a few great shots by Colin Falcon (http://www.pixvault.co.uk/pur):
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