Volunteers are wanted again this year. Please contact me if you're willing and available to do jobs like:
?Beach Marshals
?Judges Assistant
?Flag Marshal
?Time Keeper

This year the event is part of the KPWT circuit. Rules, etc can be downloaded from www.hugedomains.com/domain_profile.cfm?d=kiteboardpro&e=com

This year the organizers have gone for Herrison Island as the venue with kickers and sliders in full view of the McCallum Park Village. If wind is no good on the river then Cottesloe is the go! I understand that the City has approved main beach for use on Thu-Fri and Dutch Inn on Sat & Sun if required.

Keep an eye on www.waksa.org.au for further info as it becomes available.

Ian Young
Race Director
Gravity Games
[email protected]
0414 716 812

Hey Ryland hows the freebord going? Plenty of no wind days to use it hey?

Luke

Bravo to those that got Kiting at Cott. happennnin........IF there is no good wind at the River.....well done...BRAVO, BRAVO, BRAVO.

Now all we need is the Foam Party

thats what they said about last years venue and it went from bad to worse. lets hope its cott.

gday Ian i'm off the water for a while so if you want a hand send me an email.
[email protected]

It won't be that much different from last year - the KPWT Rule Book was changed earlier this year - mainly the judging criteria which is now 40% Technical Difficulty, 40% Overall Impression + 20% Variety. The main difference really is that riders will score points on the KPWT circuit.

In terms of venue - it's funny, I just got an email from Aaron Hadlow "The event this year sounds great and i think a better location for the people to see the sport". At this stage Aaron has not committed as he has to be at King of the Air (Red Bull is one of his major sponsors) on the same day the GG finish - Hawaii is 18 hours behind us so maybe there's still an outside chance?

Re invites, my understanding is that AKSA nominations are:
Zebb Peters
Rich Stenning
Daniel Walstab
Cambell Barker

WAKSA nominations are:
Adam Ratajewski
Ryland Blakeney
Dale Stanton
Jake Gordon

All riders need to register on the KPWT website www.kiteboardpro.com People wishing to be considered for wildcards can also register online. It is expensive for Internationals to come here so I'd suggest that many wildcards will get a slot. Australian wildcards will be accepted in priority from AKSA's National ranking list.

re moving kickers and sliders to Cott - think about it - got to get them out of the river, strapped down on a pretty big truck, taken to Cott, anchored so that the waves can't move them - hardly a 10 minute job. If the wind is that dodgey then we can't afford to lose any time at all.

The challenge to us all,

We are a new sport. We have to nod appreciatively with what we are given and then do our best to make it work no matter what the obstacles are.

We are yet to have cred as a sport. We are not that well organised at a National level and only in the early stages at the state level here in WA. That's not a criticism, it's the reality of all young sports and kiting is no different.

There are a bunch of people giving a lot of time to our sport.This is an opportunity for everyone to give back to the sport the endless hours of enjoyment that it has provided and show that we here in WA take our sport seriously and want to be taken seriously as a sport. Ian needs as many volunteers as he can get.

I really hope that everyone out there that can help where the leaders can direct them, will throw their hand up and be counted in this awesome opportunity.

The event has been moved away from it's initial christening last year and the Government seems to have pulled out a big one with the River and Cottesloe as a back up. In my book, I thank those involved for getting us what we have now. Well done!!.

I'll see you down there Youngie, you have my support where needed again.

Maybe next year everyone can be fully stoked because we have exactly what we want. For now we have the Gravity games in Perth and kiting is on the menu. Walk before run, run before sprint.

I'm stoked!.

waiting for na decent sw youngy as you know we havent had one. also i guarantee a foil wont feel the gusts as much as an inflatable so considering thats what most if not all the riders involved will be riding them,that also has to be taken into consideration. do u agree. so until someone has been out on an inflatable as well its also hard to gauge.. i personally think that the kickers should be set up at the beach. coz its probally a 99% chance thats were it will be. have spoken to other people and they say herrison is a FKN joke. Airborne tried to run a demo there and said it made kitesurfing look like a joke. why dont the organisers learn from experience of others and place the event in a location thats going to work. especially know that there is womens event involved and twice as many in the mens event as last year. it will be tight to fit it all in, without having to juggle between 2 venues.

also i have not even heard 1 person say that they think herrison is a good idea. ruben probally said that without thinking or knowing how gusty and sh!t it might be. but i will give it a try with some others. probally should try but when everyone else, besides yourself,that has tried it thinks its a bad location maybe it should be changed as soon as possible to a coastal venue.

Ry all I'm asking for is what you've said - get some crew out there and at least give it a go ... quick. We may have to run heats in any wind we get incl Easterlies in the mornings - we have up to three times as many heats to run this year but still only 3.5 days to do it in!

Met with Tim today and he told me that you're the man making the kickers and sliders - so tell me, how long will it take to rip them out of the river and set em up @ Cott? What is needed to move them? Will they anchor OK at Cott?

We all know what the problems are - we just need solutions ... and a willingness to undertsand that none of us ever get it all our own way - compromise is a fact of life :-)

i have a massive 1 that me jake and simon have nearly finished. out 1.7m high by 1.6m wide and about 3m in length. its just needs to have foam then its done . 2people can lift it on a trailer and it will be floating in a couple of days. if you are keen feel free to come take a look. im just around the corner from you near bunnings. also have 3 other kickers that a few of us have also made. mad wayne hancock also has a good 1. it honestly takes 10 mins to setup. its just ancored with 2 weights on rope. and all u do is lengthen or shorten 1 rope to get the right angle easy. iam very keen to have trial run with others just need the right wind. cal;l us if u want to see any of the kickers. RY 0414721782.fanx