Sail Brisbane wrapped up over the Easter long weekend, and it can't be argued that it was one of the best kite racing events Australia has even seen. With 27 competitors battling it out over 4 days, Jordan Girdis was left standing on top of the podium after an incredibly consistent performance in all races, saying the light winds really favoured his riding style. 

Day two and three saw variable winds, with two races being abandoned due to the wind dropping below the cutoff threshold of 6 knots. Starts were very close, as was rounding the top mark, all it took was for one racer to miss the marker and require an extra tack to throw the fleet into chaos with kites going everywhere, riders in the air and screams of ‘protest’ flying thick and fast.

Key decisions like choosing the left or right side of the course meant making up or losing 10 places, but several racers decided to steer clear of the pack and stick to clean air and flat water. The tactic paid off for riders like Jordan and Marvin, who every time emerged at the top mark in front, scooting off downwind gaining even more ground on the rest of the pack who were left struggling in choppy water, wind shadows and right of way bingles.

Incredibly, even with forecasts of less than 5 knots on both of the final days, a total of 11 races were completed over the series. This gave riders two drops, meaning they could scratch their two worst scores. A godsend for some, not quite enough for others who got caught up in the protests or suffered gear damage due to the starts. Overall the damage wasn’t too bad, only two boards damaged and one kite got torn on the fence. Considering the beach was littered with up to 70 high end race kites like the Ozone Edge and North Dyno, it was quite remarkable that more wasn't damaged! It just goes to show how professional the racers are, despite the sport being so new.

Speaking of damage and bingles, the protests were a constant thorn in the side of the regatta. For those who don’t know, if one racer feels as if they’ve been disadvantaged in any way; they can ‘protest’ the other racer. The offender then has a chance to do a 360 degree turn to slow them down and exonerate them from the infringement, otherwise both parties end up in the protest room after the race. Each racer pleads their case to a jury, which is all very official and serious. Then the jury decides who was in the wrong, disqualifies one rider and awards the other redress in some cases. The problem, is that kiters are still new to the racing rules of sailing, so there was a few unnecessary protest hearings (each going for about 30mins). Also a problem, is the significant differences between kites and boats, which caused a lot of explaining between the riders and the jury. So at the end of the event, the overwhelming response from all racers, was that the protests got out of hand. Will next event be different? Do we just have to wait for the jury to learn more about kites, or do the kiters have to stop whinging at each other and get along with one another better? 

Time will tell when the next event in Townsville takes place in a few months. Stick around for the news, or get yourself on raceboard and start training so you can enter! 

Check out the results below, and there’s about 1000 pictures on the Australian Kite Racing Facebook Page here. Check them out!

Sail Brisbane 2013 Results
1st Jordan Girdis 
2nd Ejder Ginyol
3rd Marvin Baumeister
4th Ric Black
5th Jalen Andreatta
6th Mathew Vandervoort
7th Rhys Porter
8th David Sorensen
9th David Trewern
10th Dale Paul Stanton
11th Torvar Mirsky
12th James Neeson
13th Jonathan Keys
14th Eneour Puill-Stephan
15th Craig Roberts
16th Mike Walker
17th Ben Turner
18th Joel Aulich
19th Christopher Argent
20th Lisa Hickman
21st Jason Cane
22nd Max Taylor
23rd Sean Mauk
24th Graeme Simpson
25th Tom Brewer
26th Moti Levy

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