Is WAKSA or any other WA Mob organizing the 2012 Nationals?
Freestyle- Safety Bay
Waves - Margs
Racing- Scarborough or Woodies
do it
thoughts, news..
No dates yet Tom just dreams ATM.
I reckon it would be good if something could be arranged in NSW or QLD, it would give me an excuse to get over there again.
Yes WA sounds great.. i still havent kited there yet.. so it will give me a good excuse to get over there... If a group/mob are keen on taking it on.. i will give them all my documentation and even our website to help get things going..
www.kitesurfingnationls.com
It got to be worth a few beers... haha
Great suggestion and of course WA would offer a world class venue. I am happy to chip my time but unfortunately there is no way for me to coordinate the event as I am to busy running my business.
Anyone prepared to step up?
I think it's time we get a WA Nationals happening again, it would be good to see.
I guess the problem is just getting individuals motivated enough to organise it. Lets face it, it's a big task and it usually only takes a person one crack at it to be totally over it from then on (especially if there is nothing in it for them, as is usually the case.). I'm not sure what we can do to rectify the issue, but perhaps compensating said individual properly for organising such an event could be a start???
Also it's my personal opinion that people never speak up about things that were wrong with previous comps in an attempt to not make previous organisers feel bad... Which is pretty stupid I think. Lets face it, everyone wants to make it better every year so we need to focus on the things that weren't so good in previous years.
I wasn't involved with the last Wave Nats at all and by all the reports I heard it was a super fun comp to go to, (possibly one of the best)... But... I think nearly everyone told me the judging was bogus (even the people who it perhaps benefited). So there is something to work on there for next time i think. Examine how it was employed and improve upon it.
I think the National titles are something we really need to make work and improve. It's something that even folks who aren't necessarily there to win or compete in should be excited to show up and have fun and join in on the festivities etc.
Thats my 5 cents anyway. If anyone needs a hand, give me a shout.
Kite racing - I'll try and speak to a few very organized dudes who run our racing over here and they be interested to help organize the kite racing nationals, I'm sure WAKSA will help if there is enough interest. Racing is super easy to organize & run and we have at least 6-10 great locations to chose from. I'll post back in a few days. What do the other WA kite guys think. Personally I'll kite any where as long as the races are Well organized.
Hey if waves organized in WA I'll be there to smash a few.
Marvin, your great energy to organise people in kite racing has lead to a meeting with very organised people next week in WA. Keep you in the loop.
Should just hold the nats here... Ry wont mind I'm sure. Hey we could even hold a PKRA stop there at the same time.
hey Marvin, I was actually given you the big thumbs up. Alva was amazing as an event - What a great part of Australia, enjoyed it totally - the freestyle was the best organised I 've seen in the last 10 years and my fellow WA riders were all stocked. The racing was a bit lite on but we were all pretty new to the sport. I reckon all of the racers had a few racers that got the blood pumping and enjoyed the hunt to the finish. Like your spirit Marvin, see ya racing in the near future. .... Maybe in WA
I was just saying your post got the WA race organizers thinking about maybe organizing something in WA. Kite stock is HUGE and it takes allot out of the local kite organizers and they are pretty burnt before and after. ...
Agree about getting paid would help the cause and reward the efforts, but the money has to come from somewhere!
As much as we all appreciate the efforts of people who put in at said events, the fact is some will work and some wont due to many factors yet still the same amount of hard work was required.
It is also a problem that each year the knowledge learned is generally not passed on to the next organising committee unless someone is on the ball and asking for assistance or is passing on their knowledge from the past to the new group.
Look at any annual event that is run by the same people, they usually are successful and long running (providing it's worthwhile for sponsors) and each year they have a great opportunity to improve because they were the same people who organised the last event and have the experience to draw on.
But the stoke you find at the local beach won't translate into a successful competition arena as most don't give a rats about competition and wont even be a spectator at one unless it's at their local and just wanna kite with their mates!
So until their is a larger base to draw from in our country it will be a bumpy road to wherever it is going
my 6 cents!
Hmmmm......
If you want the best judges of wave riding - get respected local windsurfers to do it. They know the wind, the waves and they will be somewhat impartial.
I think riders who really want to compete should continue this thread and come up with the selection of the place, then the National body can approach the State body and finally, WAKSA approach....I mean the state body selected can approach an event organiser to put together a team of people to make it happen.
So, who is keen to commit to riding and where do you want it?
Oh, and on the racing thing.....
If we had a tour of races, Say start in Esperence and head north up the coast to finish in Shark Bay, that would be a great gathering. Maybe a strategic plan to work towards in a few years?. Does AKSA/WAKSA have a strategic plan of sorts?.
Think about it from a foreigners perspective, Wouldn't it be awesome to fly from some far away place to WA and do a few months events and free kiting in a bunch of places heading up the WA coast?. I know we would get a bunch of Euro's and maybe some of you can get to know them as being mostly fun loving easy going crew. It happened over 10 years ago before the technology of communication got to where it is currently. Second, I think were ready with kiting having a pretty strong following now.
I remember a season over 10 years ago when we started in Esperance then headed up the coast and hit a few windsurfing and kiting events a month apart and we made some great friends along the way from all over the world. A couple guys flew in from Melbourne and one ended up kissing a girl at new years eve party after the kiting event in Esperence. He moved over here permanently a few months later. Now married and living down near safety bay. And no, it wasn't Darren Marshall.
I'm pretty sure that was the season before Darren Marshall moved over - correct me on that if I'm wrong Darrren.
That season inspired me to go on and organise events in Gero one day. I have some lifelong friends out of it all. Getting all nostalgic now.
Anyway, I digress...
A West coast tour would be a fab thing, a regular state freestyle titles is a first step - I think Lano as a regular event. A State titles of racing at Lancelin in partnership with the windsurfers at the Ledge to Lancelin Classic is the next step.
There's many other suggestions but I've probably offended enough people already by mentioning windsurfing twice. So I'll stop.
I contacted aksa about organizing it 3 times, the only reply I got was from waksa bagging me for going to aksa about it! I'm not an event organizer just a photographer was the return email I got! So Not interested now too short a time to get sponsors onboard, You need to approach perspective sponsors before the end of the Financial year so that the sponsorship is locked in.
yes, I think AKSA should make up its mind quickly for organizers to find enough time & money to organize a nice event in 2012...
by the way, the website: www.KiteboardingNationals.com is soon due to expire (early August)
AKSA doesn't want it...
So, if anyone wants to take over, contact me: eneour@yahoo.fr
I will transfer the whole website to anyone interested for free! the only thing you will need to pay is the hosting and naming fees for at least one year (~$150)
cheers
En
^^^ Yep too hard!
@Hirsch why stop at Shark Bay. We have a yacht club in Exmouth willing to host regatta's.
Could be a cool early season venue. We have pretty regular wind for October school holidays and even earlier. God knows there's enough crew up here that time of year too.
As far as someone in W.A organising the nationals just remember WA stands for Wait Awhile, but seriously it's a big job and whoever stands up good luck to them.