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

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

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.

Hmm..

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

i herd of another nationals being held, cant remember wat it was butttttt.

lol

Josh K said...

i herd of another nationals being held, cant remember wat it was butttttt.

lol

I'll help you out its called the Wakeboots Nationals, and only people riding boots are allowed to enter, regardless on how they ride.

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......

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

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....

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

angie pangi said...

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

hold it a gero again. problem solved

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.

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