Local kiteboard racing events to get you started
Caution! Kiteboard racing is coming to a beach near you!
Over the last few years, there's been heaps of small racing series that started up and faded away to obscurity, with only the Sydney racing scene really remaining active in 2012. This year, after kite board racing was accepted into the 2016 Olympics there's been an explosion of activity in all corners of the country, so here's a few details on what's happening in your state over the next few months.
QLD - There's stacks happening in the sunshine state, just this month there's been heaps of events already run. All of which had a strong fleet of race boards which is great to see!
If you're up north, hook up with Marvin from In the Loop kiteboarding, he runs casual training frequently and is the man to know when it comes to events and race gear. Conditions are perfect up there for most of summer, so there's no excuse not to train!
On the Sunshine coast, Kite Thrills are hosting the Sunny Coast Spring Racing Series out of Caloundra, Mooloolooba and Lake Cootharaba. While many of the first heats have been cancelled due to lack of wind, the season is hotting up and the next ones are sure to be awesome! Find the details in the kiteboard racing forums here.
Further south, Surfconnect is hosting the Brisbane Race Series, which is a monthly series on every first Sunday of the month. The last one was a cracker with 20 knots and steep swell making it very interesting for the race boards, but great fun for twintips. The next one's on the 4th of November, don't miss it!
NSW - This weekend we saw some fantastic pictures from the Kitepower and Sydney Racing collective's race series, the strong fleet of raceboards is very promising, but it's not just the Metro boys getting in on the action.
Up in Newcastle, there's a trouble brewing from the race boys! Training furiously to keep up with the Sydney guys, it's only a matter of time before Newcastle gets their own racing scene set up. This week they all made the treck down to Sydney.
Speaking of Sydney, this is where it's all happening in NSW. Kitepower host the Botany Bay racing series and if this weekends event was anything to go by, the next events are going to be insane! Check out the facebook event page here for all the details on when the next one is happening.
VIC - Where do we start, Victoria is hosting the biggest kiteboarding event in the world in only a few weeks, so the racing down there is happening on a daily basis.
It's all based out of Melbourne, or Sandringham Yacht club to be exact because this is where the first ISAF event of the year will be held, Sail Melbourne. While it's the first ISAF event to include kiteboarding, the big deal is that it will also set up the front runners for selection in the Australian kiteboarding team for the 2016 Olympics. Stay tuned to the kite board racing forums to find out who's training where and when.
WA - Finally, over the other side of the country there's a fierce contingent of riders just waiting for the next big event.
Last year, a team of racers flew over for the Australian Kiteboard Nationals, but were disappointed when the wind failed to blow all event, leaving them without the title. They're still training hard though, over there where we don't know what they're up to! We reckon the results from Sail Melbourne will show just how hard these guys are racing, watch out!
So there's a quick run around of all the little pockets of kiteboard racing in Australia at the moment. All of these events have a twintip division (except Sail Melbourne) so there's absolutely no excuse not to get involved in racing this season! Keep an eye in the Seabreeze.com.au news for all the latest news, results and reports from the Australian Kiteboard Racing events throughout the summer, and if you know of an event, be sure to post them in the events section!
Kuluin, QLD
