KA SAIL CALOUNDRA WIND & SURF SPEED COMPBURRUM HEADS EDITION!!!Hi guys,
the review is underway for the event. it will take a week as i have 2 dvd's full of photos to go through as well as loads of short vids. i'll get as many photos up as i can over the next few days. (cheers dylan for uploading stuff, appreciated).
It was a great event this year and Burrum heads is an amazing place to sail. next year we will be back again and we have some more great ideas to add to the list. yes the event will be annual!
the event outcome ended up being decided on the Sunday. The conditions on the sunday on the course measured at 20-30 min intervals were 18-22 knots. not as strong as hoped but great conditions none the less with consistent wind and flat runs for kilometers.
Monday saw the winds ease and made competing very tough with huge holes on the runs and 6-7 knot outgoing tides. the support crew basically sat at the camp with binoculars ready to retrieve anyone taken out to sea while attempting to waterstart.
for those that haven't been there, the burrum heads area has a 6 km bank (tough on the thighs) which is cresent shaped. if that is not enough, there is also a bank on the northern side of the river and another further out to sea past woodgate head meaning burrum can work in nearly any wind direction. Plus to top it all off it seems to blow pretty much 20 knots every day for nearly 4 months at burrum.
And the winners for this years event were.
GPS Class (5x10sec)-Glynn Merrit - 35.735 kn prizes (KA Boom, $20 seabreeze sms, Lorch shirt)
-Vando - 34.041 kn
-MK7 - 34.036 kn
Radar Racers- Chis Carter 33 Mph. prizes (KA wave fin, $20 seabreeze sms, mast ext, KA shirt)
- Greg Banks 32 Mph
Womens Div- Ann Lewis prizes (KA Wave fin, $20 seabreeze sms, Lorch shirt, bottle of champ's)
top speed Was MK7 (also highest last year) with 37.9 knots.
Major lucky draw prize of the
2008 6.6m KA Koncept went to Ray Wilson (congrats)
and congrats also to all of the minor lucky draw prize recipients that picked up seabreeze sms vouchers, KA shirts and hats, Lorch shirts, KA key rings and the helmet!
from the feedback received everyone had a blast. most of us stayed at the burrum sands hotel so we had lots of social time as well and a party every night. Wives, girlfriends and kids that went also enjoyed it.
not meaning to spread rumours but i busted the MBM team watching wave sailing vids in their room!!!! not a good look for "hardcore" speedsters.[}:)]
Cheers especially to everyone for coming along and joining in. A lot of people travelled a long way (some hundred's of Kilometers) from as far north as Mackay and as far south as Redland Bay. All up we saw 29 Competitors hit the strip! a huge fleet. Everyone was there to have fun and enjoy the fantastic conditions.
there are a lot of people to thank this year.
firstly all of the competitors, a great bunch of people who all made the event so much fun. (see you all next year
)
and thanks also go to
the sponsors
AMAC and Nick at KA SAIL,
Pete from Caloundra wind and surf,
Martin from the Lorch boards,
Dieter at Sunshine Coast Sailboards,
Laurie at Seabreeze,
and thanks also to everyone for helping.
especially local Geoff Ringe for the endless advice leading up to the event about local conditions and also for the extra rescue boat that enabled us to quickly take full advantage of the whole of the area and maintain a safe event.
also to
gary from the goldie for the inflatable rescue boat
knottboard and Dylan for helping on the boat,
Dylan and Mrs Ripingale for the photos
fitz and haggar for weather updates,
haggar and vando for extra pfd's
Ripingale for spotting
dot and mrs plev for helping us on the bank
Pierre and BC for sorting all of the tracks
Glynn for manning the BBQ
KA72 for moral support (hope your foot heals soon)
plev and geoff for cleaning the boat every day
vando for helping with the comp rules
dave for driving me and inflatable back to speed central
plus all of the crew for making everyone laugh.
especially, donkey, bambo, turtle and dugong!!!!!
(hope i haven't forgotten anyone)
We have already started talking through next years event.
Geoff has come up with the excellent idea of having a barge available for the event where we can ship all competitors and gear out to any of the runs on the day. the barge is fitted with kiosk and bbq so we will be persueing this idea for sure.
i have also been approached by more sponsors interested in getting involved so we will also see what comes of that.
it will be interesting to see what times eventuate from burrum, our first event their resulted in the guys doing peaks of 38 knots in only 18-22 knots of wind. lets hope next event we get more wind and crack the 40's!
)
incredibly good looking photo's
