Gravity Games H2O - Kitesurfing Report

Thursday 14th Ocotber 2004

Day one of the event started in fantastic style with a seabreeze coming in around 12:30. A

forecast of 10-15 knots was slightly stronger with 15-18 knot SW winds.

The competition draw had been made early that day with all riders selecting a number to

decide who they would be riding against in round one. The format of the event/scoring can be

found at gravitygames.waksa.org.au.

The event started at 14:00.

Round One results:

Daniel Walstab (81.86)
BEAT
Jacob Gordon (35.65)

Mattew Tobin (102.74)
BEAT
Andrew Cooksey (35.14)

Ryland Blakeney (203.13)
BEAT
Tom Hebert (150.21)

Adam Ratajewski (140.90)
BEAT
Stuart Martin (71.46)

Rueben Lenton (194.71)
BEAT
Ofri Argov (131.21)

Mark Doyle (177.28)
BEAT
Hudson G-Smith (139.14)

Aaron Hadlow (201.90)
BEAT
Adam Koch (165.48)

Julian Kidd (153.32)
BEAT
Rich Stenning (136.14)

The winners of round 1 then progressed to round 3 (it was decided to run round 3 before

round 2 to take advantage of the favourable wind), the losers of round 1 will be competing

on the 15th October 2004 in round 2.

Round 3 - results:

Daniel Walstad (215.78)
BEAT
Mattew Tobin (177.24)

Adam Ratajewski (192.38)
BEAT
Ryland Blakeney (159.68)

Rueben Lenton (230.85)
BEAT
Mark Doyle (168.99)

Aaron Hadlow (237.01)
BEAT
Julian Kidd (129.36)

The winners of round 3 now move on to the quarter finals.

Round 2 is due to start between 13:00 and 14:00.

More scores as they happen.

Latest Update - 15/10/04 @ 14:45 WST

Wind is not looking good at the moment; currently hovering around the 10 knot mark. A couple of the competitors have tried putting kites up, but it just wasn't happening.

So far there has been no action today and it looks unlikely that we will see any unless the wind decides to pick up a few more knots.

After the cracking start yesterday it's a bit disappointing; but hopefully we will have plenty of action over the weekend.

More as it happens.

Thanks for your results!

Iam glad that our dutch homie is doing so well, go ruben!


..May the wind be alwyas at your back, and may the sun always be upon your face....

Latest Update - 16/10/04 @ 11:00 WST

The wind is currently blowing SW 10-15 knots with a forecast of 15-20 knots.

There is the potential today that the event will go all the way through to the final as the forecast for tomorrow is not looking too good.

If you are thinking of coming down, then today is the day.

Action is due to start around 13:00.

Latest Update

Competition started @ 14:00 WST

Wind SW 15-18 Knots

Round 2

Jacob Gordon (122.09)
BEAT
Andrew Cooksey (68.08)

Stuart Martin (37.00)
BEAT
Tom Herbert (0.00)

Hudson G Smith (184.77)
BEAT
Ofri Argov (121.36)

Richard Stenning (173.92)
BEAT
Adam Koch (147.79)

Round 2 winners now progress to round 4

Latest Upate - 16/10/04 @ 17:00 WST

Quarter Finals - Results

Daniel Walstab (218.67)
BEAT
Ryland Blakeney (147.62)

Adam Ratajewski (189.09)
BEAT
Mark Doyle (158.61)

Rueben Lenton (267.26)
BEAT
Jacob Gordon (202.41)

Aaron Hadlow (224.38)
BEAT
Stuart Martin (119.54)

Winners of Quarters now move to semi-finals

Latest Update - 16/10/04 @ 18:30 WST

Permission has been given to release the final results prior to tomorrow.

3rd and 4th Final

Aaron Hadlow (244.51)
BEAT
Adam Ratajewski (124.30)

Final

Rueben Lenton (291.74)
BEAT
Daniel Walstab (213.32)

Final Placing for the Gravity Games H20 Kitesurfing Medal Event

1st = Rueben Lenton
2nd = Daniel Walstab
3rd = Aaron Hadlow
4th = Adam Ratejewski

Congratulations to all the competitors for putting on an awesome show. The organisers for running a slick event and all the crew, officials and people behind the scenes who ensured that the event was a great success for kiting and WA.

Rock 'n' roll!!!

Safe kiting everyone.....until next year.

Thank you Owieb for keeping us posted with the results. Go Adam

bonny

No worries guys, it was great fun doing it!

Re photos, I did take some, but nothing major, will try and get them online at some point. There were plenty of people snapping away so hopefully they will appear on the net at some point.

you must have had a super dooper lens to get shots of the "action"
all i could see was a couple of colours whizzing as the kites went into loop, which was pretty much every trick.
the guys did the best they could with such a venyue,but sadly compared to the wakeboarding setup at mcallum park it was nothing.

interesting to see the moves of today's big guys. they all do the same thing:
spin, handlepass, grab the bar in hope, then kite loops cos of grabbing on the end of the bar.
looks sik if pulled off, but it would be nice to see more of a selection of tricks, there are so many other great tricks.
my personal favourite of saturdays watch tho were "balls" where he lays out with a big raley and loops the kite super low.
on ya ballsy.
lets hope the venue gets changed for next year.....

Yeah hopefully the organizers have learned their lesson - too many compromises at Mosman Beach. They said that the event was primarily for TV and even when we pointed out that the afternoon shots would be directly into the sun they wouldn't change their minds :-(

From a safety perspective I was not prepared to bring the JZ in any closer to the reef and cliffs. Despite the distances involved JB and his judges did not miss a thing and there was not one dispute over the result of any heat.

The advice we gave the organizers was that if it had to be in early October then the kiting should be up North - Gnaraloo, Carnarvon or Gero (even Gero had no wind on Fri). If it had to be in Perth it should be at Woodies, but they thought that that was "too far out of the way" and wouldn't get enough exposure.

The organizers will now edit all the footage they have down to 5 hours across all aspects of the Gravity Games H2O which will go to air on cable networks - I believe that the TV programming will appear www.gravitygames.com - should be some sick shots from the jetskis in close to the competitors in the finals as well as the TV cameras with kick arse lenses on the beach!

Obviously the priority of effort was the McCallum Park and the final of the world wake boarding titles and this probably won't change for the next two events.

Despite this the event was a success and the feedback I got from the competitors was all positive, particularly with the fairness of the judging system and the PBS so that all judges only look at one competitor at a time. Aaron Hadlow and a number of others told me that they are going to show the PKRA the system we used so that maybe it can be used Internationally.

At the end of the day it was great to see Aussies holding their own against some big name Internationals, see competitors get some serious prize money and see the profile of the sport in Australia raised to the next level.


Cheers,
Ian Young
www.flysurf.com.au
0414 716 812

I'm probably not qualified to say thanks Ian for all the work you put in as I didn't get to see any of it between work and getting tied up at McCallum Park, but I'm sure you did a mighty fine job and from all reports that seems to be the case, so Thanks. And thanks for looking after my kite on Saturday night, that was a blast too -> -> .

Si hoc legere scis numium eruditionis habes