Great article in the GC BULLETIN...........
Gold Coast 13-year-old Max Westerhof to tackle the National Kiteboarding League
Terry Wilson, Gold Coast Bulletin
The National Kiteboarding League returns to the Gold Coast in a fortnight and a young local wants to be a leading light in it.
The inaugural NKL was held at Main Beach last year with a qualifying round in November and the final in February.
Emmanuel College 13-year-old Max Westerhof took on much older competitors in the Coast round but did not make the final. This time around he intends to go one better in the round, which has a change of venue after being moved south from Main Beach to Narrow- neck from November 18 to 20.“Last year I went in it for the experience and to meet new people,” young Max said.“I felt I did pretty good but I didn’t make the final.”
Last year there were five preliminary rounds which were restricted to competitors from the host states.
This time all rounds are open to anybody, so Max has an option to compete in Sydney should he not do well at Narrowneck.
After that there are further rounds in Perth, Christchurch, Sydney and Melbourne before returning to the Gold Coast for the final.
Event organiser David De Witt announced a few changes to the NKL format with the wave riding section being removed in favour of full-on big air competition – a favourite with spectators.
“The idea of the competition is to get as many people into the sport as we can,” De Witt said.
“We believe surfing is a discipline for older competitors and since juniors start with freestyle and they learn on little boards like snowboarding we decided on freestyle.
“And we went with the big air because the public loved it last year.
“Some riders were going 30 metres and further in the air – and the record set overseas is 42 metres.
”Defending freestyle champions Ewan Jaspan and Katie Potter, both from Victoria,
are expected to be back in a bid to claim successive titles.
www.nklseries.com to enter now - all info listed on website.
30m and further, lol. Or did I read that wrong?
hahahahaga feet might be a bit more believable.
“We believe surfing is a discipline for older competitors and since juniors start with freestyle and they learn on little boards like snowboarding we decided on freestyle. "
Ahahaa, so this is the reason why no waves... I feel that article needs more capital letters for full effect as well.
“We believe surfing is a discipline for older competitors and since juniors start with freestyle and they learn on little boards like snowboarding we decided on freestyle. "
Ahahaa, so this is the reason why no waves... I feel that article needs more capital letters for full effect as well.
Nothing better than watching big air when it's howling a solid 15 knots
“We believe surfing is a discipline for older competitors and since juniors start with freestyle and they learn on little boards like snowboarding we decided on freestyle. "
Ahahaa, so this is the reason why no waves... I feel that article needs more capital letters for full effect as well.
Nothing better than watching big air when it's howling a solid 15 knots
Well I hear it draws a big crowd - could be quite hard to get a spot on the beach to watch all the action this year.