Animal Windfest returns

Organisers anticipate biggest festival yet

The UK’s biggest free watersports and extreme sports festival – Animal Windfest – is returning to Dorset for its 12th consecutive year in 2010. The event has been confirmed to run from September 10th to the 12th and will feature competitive windsurfing, kite surfing, stand-up paddle boarding, thundercat racing, trials biking, skateboarding, beach volleyball and ultimate frisbee.

An estimated 15,000 people attended the event last year and this year’s three-day festival is expected to lure thousands more. Visitors can expect the adrenaline junkies to be displaying some extreme feats of athleticism, which have in past years contributed to the aphorism that Poole is the ‘sand-banked spiritual home’ of water sport enthusiasts.   

This year, kite surfing fans will be happy to see the return of the course racing competition, only this time it will be a part of the UK's national series, which is sure to raise the level of competition to even dizzier heights. Windsurfing's British National Freestyle Championships will also be returning after a few years in hiatus.

“Obviously, we were really pleased with how last year’s Animal Windfest went, but we’re not ones to rest on our laurels," organiser Gary Willingham says. "Every year we try to think of new and interesting ways to make the event even better.

“All our brainstorming sessions for the 2010 event get us more and more excited. Hopefully between now andSeptember 10th the ideas will keep on flowing and Windfest fans will see an even more incredible show next time. I can’t wait!”