Gone was the Wind

Kite event winds down for the year

A long summer of wind, waves and fierce competition came to an end last weekend with the final instalment of the 9th British Kitesurfing championships taking place over four days of decidedly mixed weather in Redcar.

Organised by the British Kite Surfing Association (BKSA), it is the first time that all four powerkite disciplines – freestyle kitesurf, course racing kitesurf, freestyle landboard and freestyle kitebuggy have all been brought together in a competition format.

Held over six weekends in different towns up and down the country, including three ‘kiteival’ super events, this year’s championship has proved a roaring success. Many of the events attracted over a hundred competitors for the first time ever and thousands of spectators were thrilled by some serious kite-based action.

The first day at Redcar saw the pros enthusiastically hitting the water for the freestyle, with a 20-knot breeze and 10-metre kites promising plenty of fun, only for the wind to drop disappointingly away throughout the day. While the ladies managed to get all their heats done (Hannah Whiteley taking the win ahead of Helen Thompson and Nicky Rudd), the men were left unable to complete their final. That meant the rankings stayed as they were with Sam Lite taking the crown ahead of James Boulding and Ned Taylor.

Friday saw the course racers making the best of it inbetween huge 12-foot waves. The racing was hard and fast, with Denzil Williams showing everyone how to do it most of the way but dramatically crashing just yards from the finish line, letting Andy Gratwick take the win. Williams fought back however to take both the second race as well as the overall title, with Gratwick coming in second overall ahead of Steve Stubbs.

The kitelandboarders and kitebuggies struggled valiantly in the light wind but eventually the competition had to be called off. Surfing, parties and a best tricks event took up the rest of the weekend before everybody headed home to catch up on a bit of rest and to start planning their strategy for next year.

More information on the competition, including photos, videos and a full list of winners can be found at the Kiteival website