'From the 1st to 9th of March, Australia?s top wavesailors and local stand up paddle surfers will descend on Phillip Island for the 2014 Wind & Surf Festival. This event hosts the 2014 Australian Wavesailing Titles, as well as the first Phillip Island SUP Classic surfing competition, and will be held at some of Victoria?s best beaches.
The Phillip Island Wind and Surf Festival will see the return of the Australian Wavesailing Titles to Victorian waters for the first time in nearly 15 years. The event is a great opportunity for the Victorian wavesailing community to show off in national level competition, with other competitors travelling from around the country to test themselves against Australia's best.
Phillip Island is one of Australia?s premiere destinations for all water sports ? be it surfing, windsurfing or stand up paddle surfing. The event is lucky to have access to Phillip Island?s best beaches, including Woolamai, Surfies Point, Right Point and Flynn?s Reef. The event is mobile between these locations, ensuring that competition is run in the best possible conditions and likely to give competitors a variety of reef and beach breaks.
We are excited to announce that aerial photographer Col Leonhardt (windsurfaustralia.com) and local sports photographer Jodi Stevenson (whitecapsphotography.com) will providing media coverage of the event. Col will be capturing stunning aerial images of windsurfing at Phillip Island for the first time. Together with Col, we will be producing an online movie of the event to showcase all of the great action at Phillip Island. Stay tuned for more!
The wavesailing will include divisions for all levels of competitors, including Open, Womens, Juniors, Masters and Amateur. The Open Division will feature the country?s best riders competing for the Australian Championship Title in epic conditions. Womens, Juniors and Masters divisions will offer Australia?s best talents a great opportunity to show off their wavesailing skills. The Amateur division will concentrate on getting everyone involved in a friendly competition.
The event is presented by Windsurfing Victoria, and is running thanks to the generous support of our sponsors, SHQ Boardsports, NeilPryde, JP-Australia, Severne Sails, Core Boardsports, Hot Sails Maui, Island Surfboards, Shoreham Solar, Flymount, K4 Fins and Goya Sails.'
Forecast:
At this point the forecast is looking promising for the Friday and registration day on Saturday. For anyone turning up early they will probably get two good days of sailing to kick everything off. We can't run any official competition on Saturday but it looks like a pretty good day to me - sunny, cross to cross off with around head high waves at Woolamai. Hopefully this develops further.
Registration:
To be in the lucky draw to win the pre-registration prizes you have to complete your registration tomorrow. We will draw the winners on Thursday. The link is here - http://www.shq.com.au/products/2014-wavesailing-nationals-registration
Accommodation:
We have got a pretty sweet house booked and currently have a couple of spare beds - contact me for more details. There will be options for those who want to crash as well.
Otherwise check here - www.phillipisland.com.au/ for some nice rental properties.
Please follow the event page on Facebook - www.facebook.com/windandsurffestival and check the website for updates - windandsurffestival.com/
See below for event details for Registration, Forecast Summary & Pre-registration prize winners.
Registration:
Registration will be open Saturday 1st March, 12-3pm & Sunday 10am-1pm. We will confirm when registration closes based on the forecast.
Alternatively register online using this link here - http://www.shq.com.au/products/2014-wavesailing-nationals-registration
Please make sure you have current AWA membership via your relevant state body.
Forecast Summary:
At this point the first day of possible competition will be Monday, with Wednesday looking very promising for nice conditions at Cat Bay.
So far the forecast is calling for S-SE Seabreeze on Saturday - there will be no official competition on Saturday but we may score a fun session at Woolamai if the wind tends more to the SE.
There is a solid long period swell arriving Saturday night that will light up all of the breaks around Phillip Island on Sunday. At this stage the wind looks fairly variable but we may get lucky with a seabreeze in the afternoon ? there is the possibility that Cat Bay will be sailable but otherwise the surf will be great.
Monday - we are considering moving the competition to the back up venue of Sandy Point on Monday afternoon if the wind is not strong enough to be contestable at Phillip Island. However the forecasts are now looking more promising so we may get some nice E-SE at Woolamai and kick off the competition.
Tuesday - looks like a surfing day, offshore with fun sized swell for the beach breaks.
Wednesday - a cold front is moving in along with a new swell, this should provide S-SW wind - perfect for Cat Bay. The tides are not super favourable so competition will be early morning before the water drops, and then after lunchtime as it fills back in. Make sure you stay updated on this.
Later in the week - the long range forecast is showing a strong SE pattern on Friday - this could potentially serve up epic Woolamai. Fingers crossed this develops and stay posted as the forecast develops.
Read up about the spots here:
windandsurffestival.com/location/
Pre-registration Winners:
Check out the video below to see if you won a prize from Flymount or K4 fins!
Ben Newson came over from WA early - he was rewarded with a fun session yesterday down at our back up location for the event - Sandy Point.
Daily update
Registrations:
Last minute registrations tomorrow 9-11am at the same address. Registrations will be closed at 11am Monday March 3rd, to allow us time to finalise the draw - for all those thinking of competing please register by sending an SMS to 0400 483 760 and include your Name & Division (Open, Junior (under 18), Masters (35 +), Womens, you can enter two if you wish). You will need to complete paper work on arrival before hitting the water.
For those who may not be able to make the next few days, the forecast is looking very good for Friday and Saturday (7th & 8th). We would strongly encourage everyone to register now so you are at least in the draw and can still compete in the Double Elimination.
Today:
There is a nice groundswell building today that should offer good surf. We are having an Opening Social Night at Magic Lands Cafe & Bar (on Vista Pl, Cape Woolamai) from 7pm in the pool room. The food is good and the beers are cold. See you there!
Competition:
Competition is likely to start tomorrow with a move to Sandy Point to take advantage of the easterly wind acceleration there. We are expecting 15-20 knots cross off and 3-4 foot of swell. Likely to start heats is around 2-3pm. At this stage we would like everyone to be there at 1pm to prepare. Conditions are expected to serve up something like this.
Prizes:
We have got plenty of great prizes lined up from our sponsors, including this Goya 4.5m Guru from Core Boardsports. This sail will be won by one lucky amateur division sailor so make sure you register to be in the running!
Forecast update:
Tuesday - Surfing day.
Wednesday - looks like Cat Bay could be good although swell is slightly smaller than initially expected.
Thursday - Surfing day.
Friday - this could serve up seriously good conditions at Woolamai - logo high, cross off.
Saturday - probably similar to Friday.
Monday - 3rd March
Registration:
Rego and the draw are about to be closed.
Today:
We are about to head down to Sandy Point. The cloud is burning off and the temperature is rising - looks promising for the Easterly breeze to kick in down there in a few hours.
Briefing will be at 1.15pm on the grass across the road from the shops where the Surf Lifesaving Club is.
The plan is to then go to Shallow Inlet to prepare to sail Long Arms across from the Inlet with first possible start of heats at 2.30 pm.
See you down there.
Event update so far.
Sunday: A solid long range ground swell filled in across Phillip Island on Sunday, lighting up all the reefs in the Cat Bay region. Everyone got out and made the most of the awesome weather and great waves.
Monday: With no wind forecast at Phillip Island, the event was moved to the back up location Sandy Point. The warm temperatures, sunshine and easterly airflow provided all of the elements necessary to accelerate the cross-offshore wind. With waves anywhere between shoulder and logo high the conditions delivered for the first round of competition.
Photos thanks to Jodi at Whitecaps Photography.
We have completed the first round of Opens, Masters, Juniors and Amateur division and the results are now live here: http://windandsurffestival.com/results
Tuesday: Glassy, offshore conditions for most of the day saw all of the beach breaks firing across Phillip Island. Everyone made the most of the great surf, particularly at Woolamai. The sand banks are lined up nicely at the moment which could potentially provide us with epic windsurfing conditions later in the week when the wind swings back to the South East.
Pics by Ben Newson
Tomorrow:
Competition is set to resume tomorrow – briefing will be at 11.30am Right Point, Cat Bay. We are expecting 15-20 knots, cross to cross-offshore wind and waves around 2-3 ft.
Select to expand quotestehsegler said...
Thanks for the update.
How nice is the wave in that last shot!
Yep, best left beach break, and I got to surf it all by myself! Yesterday's surfing alone was worth the drive.
Select to expand quoteYep, best left beach break, and I got to surf it all by myself!
Lucky bastard!
Here's some images from yesterday, it's windy and sunny now and helicopter arrived last night so we should have a heap of photos done today.
www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.733527383344159.1073741858.299496563413912&type=1
Just 2 photos from the last day of the wave nats, we did several hours with the heli today and have way too many shots to edit so will take several days to post.
Saturday saw an epic conclusion to the event with sunshine, cross off wind around 20 knots and waves building to mast high in the afternoon. Results are:
Opens:
1st - Ben Severne
2nd - Stuey Martin
3rd - James McCarthy-Price
Masters:
1st - Shane Finigan
2nd - John Jacob
=3rd - Jonathon Bouillir
=3rd - Martin Batstone
Amateur:
1st - Martin Batstone
2nd - Sean Cleary
= 3rd - Harry Walker
= 3rd - Nic WalkerJunior
1st - Nic Walker
2nd - Lachie Bouillir
3rd - Harry Walker
Women
1st - Lisa Edlund-Tjernberg
2nd - Kym Symonds
3rd - Louise Bricknell
Here are a few of Jodi's pics of Saturday. There will be plenty more going up on the website and facebook page.
Starting to work on the event video and event report so check back soon.
I'm sure Col will also be posting some great stuff from the helicopter soon.
Thanks Al and Hudson and everyone else involved for organising, sponsoring, supporting and competing in the event. It was great to be involved in a tiny way. Everyone was so supportive, and inspiring to watch. Would never have gone near those conditions without the event. It was fun. Big thanks. Louise
He slapped the water hard from crashing a forward - thought to have broken ribs but the diagnosis turned out to be a 'bruised heart'. All ok now.
thanks for the detail on that mishap Al,
yeah lucky it wasnt his spleen as can happen, if you hit the boom at the bottom of the rib cage. Must have been rotating with a lot of centrifugal force though for the concrete water effect.
And yes must add that it looks like you and all others involved, really put in massive effort for the event with great success and best possible outcome with conditions for the final and the lead up during the week. amazing heli photos really give a clear perspective on the area of the event, thanks to that team too, and Jodi superb images as usual.
congratulations to all who attended as everyone was a winner.
thanks for sharing the incredible event and PI vistas
I guess its now time to tell you all about the very large GW (5.5m female) that's been having a snooze in the San Remo channel for the past few weeks. Turns up every few days for a rest then goes off again for dinner. Nice vid too 
