Issue date
President of the Kiteboard Racing Class, Mike Pepper has filed this blow by blow account of the first ever Kiteboard Racing National Championships held in December 2013.
For a video account click here.
Day by day Blow by blow account below.
Day 1 started with the Breeze dying out on the race course. But up north and out west the breeze was building but from entirely different directions. Finally at about 2:30pm the west coast sea breeze filled in across the course. Matt Taggart was out there in a flash, the rest of us weren’t really convinced he was going to keep his 13 up in the air, but he did. So in double quick tempo the rest of us rigged and went out. A couple had their 15’s up but the rest of us were on 13’s. The first race was a bit soft for the heavier fellas amongst us, but by the time the second race kicked in it was honking (technical kite racing term) and the two guys on their 15’s were rueing their selection. The breeze stayed in the 15-20kt SSW range for the next 3 races which PRO Ian Clouston and his able side kick Mahia Pepper cracked out in double quick time.
Day 2. Around 17-23kts & sunny, with met service anticipating it to build 20-25kts. -Bullshit it did! Most of us opted for 10m kites with yours truly believing the forecast and opting for a 9 consequently taking a pasting, but at least I was not alone with several picking up DNFs in the 3rd race. All agreed PRO Kim Ardmore made a good call to call it a day after 3 races in fading wind.
However by the end of day 2 a clear pattern was beginning to emerge. Dave Robertson, Matt Taggart and Torrin Bright were in a class of their own clearing out in every race. While in the rest of the fleet there where big gains and losses to be had especially around the top mark today which was located about 600m from Kohi Beach in a dying offshore breeze.
Day 3 we had 28 gusting 35kts on race course SW offshore making for exhilarating departures from the beach on 7, 9 and even 10m2 kites (crazy Torrin- with awesome kite skills). Most made it out to the course but some didn't. & all made it back to the beach intact, no damage but for a few bruises, no equipment failure, with some spectacular whip outs and insane pedal to the metal- pray and hope, runs downwind. Ian Clouston rattled off 3 or 4 races- I can’t remember exactly. And the king was crowned for 2013.
Mentions and thanks
New Zealand’s first ever bona fide Nationals is under the belt, exciting times! Congratulations Torrin our first ever National Champion and hot on his heels Matt and Dave.
Special mention to big climber Dave Johnson coming in a respectable 9th in his first regatta, Justina who is just unflappable and heads out in winds gusting 38kts with the same size kite as guys 20+ kg heavier.
And to Ben, Les, Craig and Brad who have done a lot of hard yards over the last 6 months - a lot of time on the water a lot of regattas and are closing the gap down between the pack and the top three. Then there's the woossies - Mike and Brad - who elected to stay on the beach on the last day, -wise heads make old men.
Of course we couldn't do it without Kohimarama Yacht Club supporting us, we couldn't do it without the enthusiasm of the PRO's Ian and Kim who give of their free time to get barked at for making the course to long or the start line too short and so on. I for one am so looking forward to the next match up- Oceanbridge Sail Auckland starting February 1 and shortly thereafter the 2014 Nationals early April.
Last but not least, we received generous support from Flyozone, WSP, boardstore, Mystic and Optima watches. We thank you for getting in behind this event. This is only the beginning, the momentum is going to build from here. We are very excited with our youth development plans, we are very excited with new technological developments like foiling and the buzz being created around that, not just here but around the world, we are very encouraged by recent Olympic developments such as an extra medal for Kites in 2020. Watch this space!
