^^^^ At the race briefing the starter clearly said a horn will sound at each change of the flags

Slack said...

^^^^ At the race briefing the starter clearly said a horn will sound at each change of the flags

Yep and he said there would be a longer sounding one when the yellow came down with one minute to go......a minute takes a while when you are so eager to get going though.

Great race and congratulations to everyone who competed!

Conditions were so similar to last year's race and I had a few mates come up after who told me they opted for the larger kite - the wind at Rotto a majority of the time is stronger and coming into Leightons I've always found the wind to be slightly gusty - so props to the first women who crossed (Keira Macfarlane) with a time of 30 odd minutes!! AWESOME

And of course Dale Stanton aka Ned Kelly - I didn't even recognise him!! But great efforts buddy - what did you use? Kite size and board type?

I guess all that training did pay off...

What were folks thoughts on the 100 kiters vs 50 kiters - I've heard a mixed review of this?

tightlines said...

Slack said...

^^^^ At the race briefing the starter clearly said a horn will sound at each change of the flags

Yep and he said there would be a longer sounding one when the yellow came down with one minute to go......a minute takes a while when you are so eager to get going though.

my God!! what is that chopper doing!!! was it part of the event?

In fact there wasn't supposed to be a sound when the yellow flag (4min) got removed before the other yellow flag went up.
That's why the 10 first racers got disqualified!
They got confused with that sound but for sure they had to wait to see the green flag up!!
Anyway,great event,our sport is growing in the right way.
Freestylers and racers sharing their passion,AWESOME!!

Congrats to all the participants and the organisers, and of course to Dale the winner!
Maybe next time have flags only for the final staging, and then ONE long loud blast of an air horn as the green for GO flag is raised. This way no-one will leave the beach until they hear a horn blast.

Multiple horn blasts to signify change of flags is a recipe for confusion as was the case with the false starters, oh well better luck next time guys.

Can't wait to see the video!

And whats with the weather this year, 14M kite wins the race! Light winds all over the country, and lots of rain!!!

Briefing was perfectly clear. I thought the explanations were clear, precise and simple.

I suspect that 1 or 2 got it wrong and the rest followed.

Starts to sailing races are always a mixture of strategy, intelligence, skill, confusion and of course luck.

This is a big part of why it is such fun and so engaging for participants.

No changes needed for next year.

I echo what everybody else is saying .. fantastic day.

Many many thanks to the volunteers & organisers, it was an fantastic day that ran perfectly on schedule...

From the moment we arrived at Rous head to register; all kiters & friends getting taken over on a special chartered ferry; a charter bus on rotto; and kingston barracks were perfect for setup, and professional race officials.

A very excited bunch of kitesurfers assembled at the ferry



Rottnest Island Ferry just for kiters!







Looking over the gear and people, clearly a heap of serious contenders. Amazed at how many raceboards were there, but also heaps of waveboards & some twintips.

Getting gear ready at Kingston Barracks


More race gear & deep discussion of boards...






Getting off the beach was exciting .. there was a slight wind shadow (in light wind!), and kites were falling out of the sky everywhere. Small rigging up area, so lines and kites everywhere - kites on lines under kites over lines - haha! And yet it all worked out fine.

These photos were before it filled up - every bit of beach ended up covered in kites & lines.

Looking south, rigging up on the beach..


Looking north, rigging up on the beach..



Winner to be Dale "Ned Kelly" Stanton checking the weather - look at those white caps (not!)
(Dale is used a 14M Cabrinha & Cabrinha race board to win)





Instructions on starting were clear as crystal, however the excitement of starting time, the mind hazes, things go astray.

The crossing itself was an brilliant experience .. 100 kites really well spread out, and you're going as hard and fast as your kite & board would allow. Open ocean racing, belting past the huge cargo ships.

You're going as fast as you can, trying to read the chop, keep concentration and of course your legs are screaming for a rest! You catch a gust and make some ground on the guys in front - yeehaa! .. then hit a lull .. come off the plane .. noooooo!

As you get closer to the beach, you see the huge crowd on the beach, with music & excitement, and make your way in and park your kite.

Check in, grab a Red Bull, and share war stories with other competitors. Then meet up at the Cott for for some healing ales.

All in all, not something that you do everyday, and truly memorable experience - many thanks to all involved; organisers, volunteers, WAKSA, the competitors, and sponsors Red Bull & Kite Addiction.

Sailing races are always started with the drop of a flag (visual signal). Timing is based on this and sound signals are always optional in case of malfunction.

Kitepower Australia said...

wal269 said...

Briefing was perfectly clear. I thought the explanations were clear, precise and simple.

I suspect that 1 or 2 got it wrong and the rest followed.

Starts to sailing races are always a mixture of strategy, intelligence, skill, confusion and of course luck.

This is a big part of why it is such fun and so engaging for participants.

No changes needed for next year.

No doubt it was perfectly clear to you but it was not perfectly clear to some based on the confusion, and it was confusing for me to try to read one persons post above of how it worked, just sayin......

Yacht races don't have multiple starter gun/canon fire for the countdown, every sailor is expected to have a watch synchronised with the starters clock, they have one Airhorn Blast or gun/canon fire and raise a starting flag.

They have been doing it for a hell of a lot longer than us, best we emulate them is all I'm suggesting.
Works well for the race series I run too.

I am fairly sure the race rules used and applied (including starting and finishing) at L2L were based exactly on ISAF race sailing rules, so in fact the organisers were using the tried-and-tested starting rules, not making a kiters version of them.

I know for sure this was the case last year, and I doubt it has changed.

It was clear then and clear now, and its just that some people dont listen or dont think in the heat of the moment, and if you do that in any official race, its no ones fault but your own and you just need to suck it up

Some photos of the finish supplied by a friend on the beach...

Thank Tim, Juddy & WAKSA crew and suport boat crews and sponsors for another great L2L from start to last drinks at the Cott Hotel last night, got a killer hang over today.
Race start was perfectly documented and set out by race officals 1 hour before race. - I think the 10 dudes breaking start 1min early confused alot of the new racers still waiting for the GREEN flag behind the line and every one got a little confused & edgy- with 10 kiters blasting off into the distance and everyone else wanting to start ASAP. On the Green flag drop THE START at 2.30pm every kiter above the line was just crawling for speed and every one tried to jossle past start boat in 14 -15 knots. I got another kiters kite down looped through my lines and both of kites tangled and fell into the start line and made matters way worse for about 30 other kiters up wind. Amazingly over the next 9 minutes the dude who took us into the drink crawled up his lines, then unhooked and jumped through my lines as my kite looped uncontrolably and got us un tangled, BUT then, because he was unhooked and he had no control his kite looped and crashed back into my kite for a 2nd time, two support boats pulled up and asked if we we OK, - NOT really we said, but give us a minute and we may get out of this nightmare. Thanks guys for looking out for us - I then crawled up my lines and jumped through his lines hoping to untangle us again - I jumped through his lines got dragged under water and popped up with my kite sitting above me at 12 oclock & ready to race. Thank you GOD. Crazy stuff as we driffed 500m offshore near edge of Rotto. In a moment of (fark the guy who took me out, he had lost his board 200m up wind and was stuffed) I set an edge on my race board and started my run across to Leighton beach - the other racers were way, way, way out front and the time was now 2.39pm. 10 minutes behind the line breakers and 9minutes behind the racers. I said Fark Fark Farka few more times.
The dude who tangled me was drifting off Rotto by himself and with no board- then a pleasure craft pull up to him and ask him if was OK, he said Have you seen a board floating about up there 200m - and amazinly for a 3rd time in 9minutes a small miracle happened, they said " is this your board we pulled out of water 200m upwind - Yep it was & and he was off the Leighton racing as well. I thought my start was an all time low but, Phil Rowlands on the beach blew the leading edge on his 12m & 16m kites and didn't get to startand I think another 4 -8 kiters had tangled / kites fall out of sky etc on the beach and a few didn't start.
I had a great run to Leighton and passed 40 -50 kiters beautifully powered on my 15m Ozone Edge jumping seaweed the whole way. As I got to the end I saw the Red Bull tents, a huge crowd and the pumping DJ music out of a cool old restored 1940 army 4WD, and I was STRANGLY A VERY HAPPY MAN with a big smile over my dial. What a rad race. This is why I love racing. Congrats to the winners. Congrats to all the other kiters who crossed the L2L. And congrats to ( sorry forgot your name - I got a hangover) the dude kiter who took me out / but then got us back into the race by jumping unhooked through my lines. Cool. A GPS track of my 9 minutes of hell & race from Rotto to Leighton-

Results got emailed to us last year so I am assuming the same will happen this year - check your emails!

Just wanted to add my own "THANKS" to everyone who helped. It was a brilliant day and fulfillment of a boyhood dream to sail across this stretch of water.

I had a 13m Peter Lynn Venom but was dog determined to use the new 8m Airrush Lithium I bought for the race. I was convinced it was going to be blowing 30 knots on the day but I'm not even sure if it reached 15 knots until the end? Somehow by working the kite every inch of the way I was able to generate my own wind and made it to the finish line. Stoked to have been part of this epic crossing.

I was looking at the photo's and comments above. I have to say that kiting with you guys as a group is where the real magic is. What a bunch of incredible fun people to have an adventure with. Simply brilliant!

Hats off to everyone involved: especially Tim Turner, Justin O'Malley and the WAKSA volunteers.

Graeme
PS. What a wind range for the 8m Lithium. It flys in 30 knots and even 15 knots ;-)

A huge big thanks to all the crew involvedWAKSA volunteers, sponsors and Tim etc , was such a blast to be part of something so big, must admit when I saw those two kites go down in front of me at the start, I had a terrible feeling of dread for the guys. Big disappointment for that to occur, but great skills to get going and finish, well done.

well done to all who got across the line , I think the local crew are certainly up there for being competitive with any of the international crew.

looks good for next year for the locals
any best guess for when the race results come out today maybe