Australian Kiteboarding Nationals - Day 1 Wrap Up
Riders at the briefing this morning
On the agenda for day one was registration and briefing for the riders, most of which were seeing the event site for the first time. Marvin and the organisers have a very professional setup running, with things going silky smooth all day - a huge judging tower, easy rego and plenty of room to set up. Alva is an amazing beach, with butter flat water and is suited to a wide range of riding conditions.
Throughout the day the wind steadily increased from a lazy 5 knots, right up to 12-13 knots just before sunset. This allowed only one race to be held, which was won by the event organiser Marvin, who expertly flew a new Spleene X-19 foil kite to victory. It was a sweet win over the inflatable kites, but Marvin's skills on a race board really shone through.
For the cool kids, all of the kickers and sliders are coming together nicely - albeit with a slightly choppy slide surface thats sure to cause some carnage for the spectators! There's some famous faces around, both riding and judging - you'll find out who they are over
the long weekend.
For the evenings entertainment - the XXXX summer bright Kombi was pumping out music and everyone just sat back and relaxed after a hard days watching. The music ran on into the night with the Save the Ocean music festival kicking off at 7pm.
Tomorrow afternoon is showing some promise, with a moderate 15 knot South Easter forecast. Bets are on for Sunday; with a super cool 20 knots blowing in from the South East, continuing through until well - it's green arrows as far as the eye can see!
For the current conditions and forecasts for the rest of the event, click here & scroll down to the Townsville forecast or Alva Beach live report.
Thats all from today, stay tuned for more updates every night - live from the Australian Kiteboarding Nationals in Alva Beach, QLD.
VIC
