Does any one know where? When? and how's running the 2007/08 Freestyle Championships?
Would be good to get it officially announced.
Regards,
JB
As yet, I don't think anyone has volunteered to organise it.
As soon as someone does it will be announced on aksa.com.au
Hey JB,
I heard there WASN'T ONE this year due to no group wanting to put their hand up and run the show. Seems a shame but thats the way it goes apparently.
That sucks, Can anyone get council approval for free? We should hold a riders event, anyone keen. No bells, no whistles. A draw table, 3 flags and a hooter! Split the days into sessions of 3 groups, people showcase their stuff in their session, and the other two sessions vote the best rider, then so on. Over 2 days, should be able to get enough session in to get an idea of who Da man! Obviously you would change people in the session in each round to get the best variety. He who gets the most votes wins! Just need a Venue.
Regards,
JB
yer i heard theres not going to be one because every1 was complianing so umm quite a shame!!
Unfortunately it is hard to run kiting events as infrastructure is quite expensive. I looked into running a comp at main beach 18 months ago; however Kiteboarding/Surfing events are very hard to find monetary partners. (Companies big enough to throw substantial cash) As you all well know conditions sometimes don’t happen and it is hard to explain to a sponsor that an event may or may not happen depending on weather.
It is also very hard for a company to run and event with such a small budget. I have also noticed Kite boarders are the first to criticize an event which is not perfectly run. I know this sounds harsh however i remember going to an comp that didn't have any wind and guys were complaining about not getting there money back. Don't get me wrong i love Kiteboarding events, however it is just hard for companies to run these events at cost or ultimately at a loss :(. Just my opinion.
I think the idea of running more socially focused comps are a great idea. The downwinders Paul organized last year on the gold coast were a great success.
It would be good if someone would stick there hand up to run the Nationals but I guess noone can expect others to if you yourself are not willing to.
I also think a more layed back type of Nationals would be the go. Similar to the running of the Tannum Coconet Classic. Maybe just a freeride event with maybe a 1 hour timeslot each day dedicated to ladies, juniors, masters and mens. Just so the good riders will have their time to shine. Then on the final day have finals, maybe 2 heats of 5 then cut it down to the top 2 riders. This would all be wind dependant however which is something kiteboarders have to deal with. Just putting some ideas out there.
I really hope someone is willing to run the Nationals...It would suck to not have them..
Jaimie-Lee
everyones too busy doing wavestyle comps to care about the impressive side of kiteboarding.
come to adelaide, the kiteboarding capital of the world!!!!
I think it would be a good idea if AKSA offered some of our thousands of dollars of membership money to pay someone to run one, rather than waiting for free work that clearly isn't happening? and every1 missing out
Man on man heats, man on man semis and finals that would be the best. Like the PKRA.
Aksa has thousands of dollars of our money? I didn't know that. I thought the money went on insurance and stuff. Makes sense to use all the members money so 5% of them can have a comp.
As I recall, the state associations get at least half the money. And all are run by volunteers. It costs thousands to run a comp and hundreds of hours work. Most of the time the volunteers aren't competitors.
Why don't the competitors get together, fund the nationals and volunteer their time? I'd rather see our thousands of dollars spent on keeping my local council from restricting kitesurfing at my beach than wasted on a bunch of egos.
[}:)]
hey Jb might be worth havin a chat to the boys down at katani in st kilda i know weighty had a lot to do with the last nationals that was in vicco and think it went pretty well plus he's up there when it comes to gettin permits to plus big wheels bar is awesome......
you read my mind
[}:)]
I think one of the biggest problems at the moment is interest is low in the wakestyle area. Its not the best for the general public to watch, as they do not know the technical side of the sport.
I think the idea is to take a step back and include some oldschool stuff in the comp eg.. boardoffs, spins , transitions.
This way, the best all round rider should win and it might get some of the older guys back into freestyle plus it looks good for the media after all it is kiteboarding and jumping high is part of it as well.
We are in general still just a new sport and the only way we are gonna attract sponsors and $$$ from out side of the industry is if we attract big public crowds and the only way we are gonna do that is to bring back the big oldschool tricks.
Remember most of the public can't tell the difference between a front mobe, Slim or a KGB.
It also seems the maybe we shouldn't even have a juniors division as most of the juniors are able to beat most of the open men anyway. Maybe have just an Open division and Armature disivion, this will encourage new people to enter and also increase the size of the draw.
Would be great to have a national freestyle event with a full draw for once.
So a rider that has got it all has a chance to win the title.
My thoughts anyway.
Paul J
sorry, but im going to have to disagree with u on one thing Angie. about the spins, board offs and trannys. thats like taking a step backwards in time instead of forward. i thought the nationals was about finding the best (freestyle) rider in this country, not impressing the crowds. i thought this was a comp about the riders not the audience. the more u get them used to technical stylish tricks the more they will force themselves to learn them and eventually figure out the stuff that people are doing. and the sooner that happens the sooner people can stop doin big danglers just because thats all the audience knows. Just my honest opinion.
Josh.
Agree with Josh.
Also how about someone hold it somewhere decent for a change, not where the wind is going to be crap (too windy or too light) and in an actual decent place. Last nationals was a good location but at a crap time, I wish someone over here in West Oz would get something together because at least you got almost garunteed wind, and a selection of spots to hold it at....
IMO
Nationals in Waves and Freestyle need to be allocated State to State. The State holding the event gets to nominate time and location to have the best chance of wind and or wind and waves.
AKSA needs to be looking to the future and planning years ahead.
Our council is very supportive and I dont think i would have any trouble getting the appropriate permits.
These events take and lot of time and effort. Anybody out there want to put there hand up to do the work?
I have enough on my plate trying to get things happening for the Wave Nationals here in Port Macquarie February
Richard T
Ok How about we hold in in Raglan in the Eastern Australian Islands.
Awesome location and hard to fail windwise.
We could rustle up a crew to run it.
Seriously!
What da ya think?
TA Adrian
There you go .Someone has offered to run it .If ur interested get behind it and get involved
you know what would be best, if there was a spot that you could use some ramps as well as the flat water to do your tricks (maybe even rails and kickers to) because not everyone rides perfect flat evryday to learn stuff.
p.s. its like holding a wakeboarding comp and being told you may only do air tricks (tricks where you dont use the wake) its just doesn't make any sense. Now why would a 6 foot tall wookie live on a planet full of three foot tall ewalks? i ask you that, its just not right.
Gero works, and the locals are keen. AKSA have been made aware of this a while ago. But no contact recieved
We can do infastructure if WAKSA wants to run something.
We aren't interested in chasing money to make it work though, so AKSA/WAKSA will need to fund it. The kite companies pitched in for all the entainment costs last time and I think it was MORE than adequate (Huge effort by AIRUSH & SLINGSHOT)
They already have an idea how much it would cost (we provided full cost breakdown last time)
Council loves us and all risk management plans are developed.
One problem......was a tad windy for the East coast riders
I do agree though that the 5% that are into freestyle, and are pretty much all sponsored need to be more proactive and contribute by getting involved in organising a little bit. As we don't all love you guys as much as you might think to do it for you.
I agree that if you are holding a wakestyle comp then, the competition should be based on wakestyle tricks, but the crowding pulling aspect needs to be considered.
People who come and watch and get involved in an event from the general public also bring in money to help fund the competition, which means it can grow and become a regular feature.
Maybe just fudge it, so that it is compulsary to pull three or four 'old school' tricks in your heat in order to make all your wakestyle points count. Otherwise you get penalised in some way. That way you are being judged on the technical aspect of your riding, but pleasing the general public at the same time.
Brooksy everyone can participate in the nationals, we had the same problem for our state titles last year. Lots of people who are good riders didn't enter because they knew they werent going to win, so in the end we had a small pool of riders. You enter comps for the fun of it, not to win it. Any kook can enter nationals....
I like the sound of making each rider have to do a boost move, or old skool! and they should also have to do an unhooked one, and a transition. The best kiteboarder in the country should be able to do everything, not nessecarily every move, but a bit of everything, variety should score high!
and it will be much more fun to watch.
JB
The thing is, people want to kite. You've got to have an event that is over many days with lots of wind and space so that everyone can kite their brains out....that is if you want a crowd. Spectators and contestants do not want to spend time and money to go to some event where they get little to no water time. Standing in the wind watching others is rather boring after a while. That is one of the reasons that Kitestock is such a great success and even profitable.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Australian kite boarding is too small and the country too large to have a comp in a different State every year. Find the best place in Australia and have your comp there over and over again and get the recipe right. I believe that what Gav and crew put on in Gero a few years back meets this criteria.......but it is in WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.........
