BKSA Wavemasters 2019 Brandon Bay WHAT A WEEK!

The BKSA wavemasters has literally been ‘going off’ here in Brandon bay with the final showdown finishing up yesterday in overhead 6m weather on the infamous Mossies lower reef.

Three solid days of competition in 25 to 50 knot winds with some of the best and largest waves ever seen in British competition history.

Monday saw perfect cross offshore 7m winds and double overhead plus surf at Kilcummin, for the packed pro men fleet.

Lee Pasty Harvey clawed his way back through the heats to clinch the victory from Neil Gent. The final saw these two expert riders going head to head and matching set waves showing their competition calibre in the epic conditions. Andy Gratwick and Mark Shinn battled it out for 3rd place in the small final with Mark taking the win to give him a British podium for the first time in almost 20 years.

An amazing display of courage and control was demonstrated on the Tuesday amongst the amateurs and especially the Ladies fleets in huge howling conditions at Kilcummin, before the comp was put on hold as the conditions became incontestable due to the wind strength and wave size. Graham Halliday showed how to survive in the formidable conditions taking just over an hour to find the set of the day and ride it.

Wednesday saw the competition move to the north of the Bay and continue in excellent cross onshore winds at the lower end of Mossies reef known locally as ’S*******s’.

The amateur fleets battled it out in challenging and occasionally squally conditions. Local bracklesham rivals Jim Roberston and James Fitch from BBR progressed into the final with new competitor Jacob Marshal who took the win overall. Jim beat James too to settle their local rankings;-)

The Pro Womens fleet was small but highly competitive between Katie Evans and previous amateur wave champion Gemma Soloman. Katie took the first round, but suffered kite issues and couldn’t quite pip Gemma’s wave selection in the second two rounds giving her the overall win.

The masters Fleet saw a great competition between Andrew Kenyon, David West Watson, Pete Stephens and IKSURFMAGS Rou Chater.
The final saw some great wave selection and clinical cutbacks from Chater to take the win from Pete. David bagged one of the waves of the competition in his heat riding up the sand whooping, showing everyone you can still rip at 70 years of age.

Biggest wave of the competition went to Ozones Tom Beaton for a huge monster at Kilcummin on the Tuesday just before the comp was put on hold.
Best wipeout went to Tim Harley for a triple effort bouncing down the Mossies reef and then taking two huge hits in the mens pro strapless freestyle expression session.

Local legend Ryan Coote took the IKSURFMAG sponsored strapless freestyle crown from logan Jezard, who was showing some amazing moves in both the freestyle and the waves. Andy Gratwick was looking promising in the strapless session until he unfortunately crashed out breaking his ribs.

All in all it has been a great fun, positive successful competition in some of the best conditions we have ever seen in British competition.

Event organsier BKSA MD Andy Gratwick says: The wavemasters finally delivered here in the kingdom of Kerry, everyone has had a fantastic week of kiting, waveriding and craic. Thankyou to everyone involved for making it such a great event.

Sponsors Bluefin Insurance, F One, Mystic, Easyriders, WMFG

---

Pro Men

1st	Lee “Pasty” Harvey
2nd	Neal Gent
3rd	Mark Shinn

---

Pro Women

1st	Gemma Soloman
2nd	Katie Evans

---

Amateur Men

1st	Jacob Marshall
2nd	Jim Robertson
3rd	James Fitch

---

Masters

1st	Rou Chater
2nd	Peter Stephens
3rd	David West Watson

---

Strapless Freestyle

1st	Ryan Coote
2nd	Logan Jezzard

Gallery