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Blackpool Kiteival
Sponsors– Centrica
Location Sponsor- Visit Blackpool
Co- Sponsor– loopingit.com
Tour Sponsors– King of Waters ports, Ion, Palmera Local
Dates – October 6th-8th
BKSA Blackpool 2011 – Images by Craig Sawyer
So the final Freestyle Kitelandboard, Kitesurf and Race event was to be held at Blackpool for the third row in a year.
Up for grabs were Championship titles in all disciplines 13 in all across all classes.
The forecast for the 3 days was windy to say the least with 40 knots promised on the first day – so windy in fact the Marquee could not be erected on the Wednesday when we arrived
Thursday
Thursday dawned wet and windy – however it soon dried up- it was decided to run a second discipline before the main Freestyle events on the Friday due to the extreme conditions. Riders grabbed there 5 and 6 m kites and hit the water for 7 mins one by one being judged on the following – kite loop, trick and big air .
The ladies struggled in the conditions hitting 40 knots with noticeable absence of Hannah Whiteley who was booked to go to another event. However they all put on a great performance none the less.
In the men’s it was a totally different story with some record high jumps , kite loops and tricks in the extreme conditions – Ali Barratt do some sick kite loops , Luke Whiteside and Ned Taylor do some of the smoothest landings – watch the video .
It was too windy for the land boarders to even put the kites up!
Friday
The rest of the fleets registered with a riders briefing held at the kindly adopted Fishing club who helped us all weekend providing much needed shelter.
The room was packed and start time was called for 11 am to allow the tide to dropdown from the Sea Wall
A full day of competition was held for all except the Racers as it was too windy to get the boat out – it was tried however it was deemed to unsafe for the Race crew.
The Land boarders and Buggies found a great ridge of sand that had been packed hard due to the stormy conditions – The Buggies has some great fun with an epic wipe-out by Phil Revill and Josh Hough having equipment failure in a blown out tyre.
The Lanboarders put on a great performance throwing down some kite loops – Jack Elston and Ash Garwood showing their style to get the two top spots, In the Am fleets Carl Kirton suffered a bad crash leading him to retire leaving Ned Taylor and Will Rose to battle it out – Ned showing some great moves taken from kitesurfing to take the win.
Next up was the Freestyle comp and the riding this year has gone through the roof! All the riders were well powered on anything between 6-9m depending on weights.
The senior men competition was to be a hard fought affair as Pete Whiteley (4 times British Champ) chooses not to compete. In the final was Pete Jones , Steve Mews and Kevin Matthey made the most of the conditions with some great moves including a few pops to blinds showing that at + 35 you can still ride hard – a very happy Pete Jones took the win .
The Ams were next up and Chris Foreshaw was not to be beaten this big man made it five out of five wins followed by Oli Clatworthy and finally a ripping Jack Ridel.
In the absence of Hannah Whiteley the Pro ladies were really excited to see who would take the win – Nicky Rudd was the girl on the day riding really well to take the win.
Luke Whiteside was given a good run from Dan Sweeny to make the final while Ned Taylor did not make the final and his chance of the title slipped away. The final was amazing with Ali Barratt also showing his consistency to make the top 3 again.
The juniors rode really well in the conditions with George Dufty taking his first deserved win of the season. The Youth fleets saw Sam Bull revel in the strong conditions with poor Will Makinson injured – however it was Jack Daykins smooth style that again got him another Podium 1st
The Am Ladies saw 9 riders registered the biggest fleet – they were last on the water and had a lovely lagoon to do there tricks in they and rode almost till it was dark
The Durrant girls again making it to the final with Poppy Hawkins making it an all Hunstanton final, Chloe showing good form to take the win.
With only ½ hour to go – we all left the beach at six thirty.
Friday evening 50 riders hit the Ice Skating ring at Cleveleys – what a great night.
Saturday
A little bit less wind and less waves meant that the racers have a course race – buoys were laid and the 1st race stated just after 12pm. Ben Todd riding fast took a few wins with 3 back to back races . A short break was had while a new course was set upwind and downwind which favoured Denzil Williams and Callum Edge winning some of the races
The Freestylers did a fun comp kindly sponsored by loopingit.com which involved a Le Mans start – (running into the water ) and riding down to a point out of the sea around another object then back to the water and then back to the start
Riders were sent out in fleets with one making it to the final. A great deal of laughs was had – Ali Barratt took the win to bag a lovely Go Pro camera.
Saturday night saw the end of year prize giving held at The Savoy
Full results and End of Year results can be found HERE
Many thanks to all our sponsors for the year and our fantastic race crew.
