News: Spring 2011 Newsletter
Hi KKC members and firstly I’d thank you for renewing your membership and in turn, helping us to keep access for kitesurfing on all of Cornwall’s beaches! If you are yet to pay your £5 KKC membership fee, please do so when you renew your BKSA membership. Well what a great start to the year we have had down here in Cornwall. Pumping swell and good winds from January all the way through to March making it possibly the best winter ever for waveriding? Following that was the recent spell of sunshine, accompanied with wind from an easterly direction, which brought many kiters out of hibernation. Do remember to check over your gear for any signs of wear and tear, and also that the water is still a bit chilly even though it’s like summer on land some days!
Comp News
We have a few events on in Cornwall this year, starting with racing for The Pasty Cup on the 18th-19th June. Based at Long Rock beach it includes a Long Distance race which is free to enter for KKC members and has loads of prizes such as- Kitesurf & Kiteworld magazine subscriptions, vouchers for Westcountry Watersports & Freeriders surf shop, Harness and loads more. We will also be having a bring your own food BBQ on the Saturday evening at Long Rock, straight after the racing around 5.30pm. Loads of free beer will be on hand thanks to Skinners so come and join in even if you don’t want to race. For more info see the website http://www.pastyadventures.co.uk/events.html
I am looking for some volunteers to be, beach marshalls, help on committee boat etc. for the weekend or just one day. You will receive a goody bag, pasty for lunch and bbq food. Email lee@pastyadventures.co.uk for more info.
The competition season is now fully under way and KKC members have already been having great success with Denzil Williams, winning the first two stops of the BKSA Course race tour at Watergate and Redcar, setting himself up in a great position to regain the UK Champion title for 2011. I have been away competing on the PKRA World Wave Tour and after the first two events in Dakhla, Morocco and Lanzarote, I am currently sitting in 9th position. After placing 5th in the singles in Dakhla, I struggled with poor conditions in the next rounds but learnt lots and am training hard for the next stop in Tenerife.
Everest Summit
KKC member Stew Edge who currently lives in London, reached the Top of World summiting Mt. Everest at 0815 on 12th May 2011. My great friend Stew has been training really hard and has fulfilled his life ambition while raising an amazing amount of money for the Starlight Children’s Foundation. He is still a little way off his target so if you can spare anything for this worthy cause, please donate through his website www.intrepid-edge.com
Thanks and here’s to a great windy, sunny summer.
See you on the beach!
Lee ‘Pasty’ Harvey
Chairman
Area rep reports
Denzil Williams- South Cornwall area rep.
Quite a few of the locals have been utilizing the good winds recently and getting out quite often at Par, a local photographer from the "St Austell Voice" was around and hence a nice article bigging up kitesurfing ended up in the paper.
With a few easterlies blowing Pentewan came into action and saw a nice contingent flying around and showing off while a National scuba diving festival was being held there. Shame it was too rough for the dive boats to get out but at least they could watch the kiters!
Carlyon Bay is pushing again for permission to build on the beach, at present it looks like a bomb has hit it but at least there is access to the beach with free parking actually down on the beach this moment in time. This beach can have a very nasty shore dump when the sea is rough but can work in winds from SE to SW.
Regards
Denzil
Lawrence Smith- West Cornwall area rep.
Marazion
The stunning weather over Easter gave us a lot of Easterlies which is not ideal for Marazion but we eventually got some classic Marazion conditions over the May Bank Holiday with over 30 kites out at Marazion and some of the local guys down here really ripping it up. A lot more surfboards appearing down here which is good to see. During the spate of Easterlies everyone gravitated to Long Rock, which is really the only place in the far West to kite on an Easterly. There were a couple of incidents of lost boards due to the cross shore winds not bringing the boards back to the beach and the kiters not able to drag back to their boards very well due to the gusty conditions. Just a quick reminder to write your phone number on your board just in case this happens to you. Long Rock has numerous small reefs so watch out for them especially if you dump your kite and cannot get it launched as you drag down onto them pretty quickly. The council is pretty sensitive about kitesurfing at Long Rock at high states of tide due to the proximity of the railway line so if you see visitors rigging up at high tide then a friendly word of advice wouldn’t go amiss.
The car parking fees have gone up at Follyfields and the Charity car park. If you can’t find free parking along the seawall and so if you want to save some cash then come and park for free at Lodey’s for a short walk to the beach and a coffee afterwards.
Gwithian
There were some amazing conditions on Gwithian at the end of April. I was teaching at Sandy Acres on the 23rd of April and could count 45 kites up along the length of Gwithian down to the Bluff. Not quite Tarifa but pretty busy by our standards. It was great to see.
The seasonal zoning that has been in place at Gwithian/Godrevey over the past 2 years will still be in place but only as a guidance measure and there will be no signs put up or leaflets displayed anywhere but the zoning map will be on the Council website. Basically they would like kitesurfers and land kiters to use common sense and not kite in highly populated areas of Gwithian and Godrevey during the peak summer period. There is no need to kitesurf through swim zones or close to swimmers or surfers and make sure you keep well upwind of swim zones in case something goes wrong and you end up getting dragged through a load of swimmers.
The Council and RNLI will not actively police this zoning so it is up to us to try and self police and be sensible. There will be a lot of visiting kiters this summer and again if we can give friendly advice to keep everyone safe and the beach open then that will be a great help.
There were a couple of kitesurfing incidents recently with one of them involving an RNLI rescue of a kitesurfer by jetski. He was an experienced kitesurfer who was kiting in offshore winds (on a twin tip though!) and dumped his kite in the water and couldn’t re-launch for some reason. Thanks to the RNLI he was rescued and although exhausted and with a small cut to his face he was alive……and they went back out to get his kit for him. Big thumbs up the RNLI guys and gals. The moral of the story I guess is to either avoid offshore winds or don’t go out further than you are prepared to swim back in and know how to do a packdown.
The other incident involved a guy who was visiting from up country. He had all the kit, had learned a few years ago and was trying it again after a long break but reckoned he knew what he was doing. He was trying to self-launch and his lines were not connected correctly. Luckily an instructor up at Gwithian saw this and went to have a word and give some advice. We all need to keep our eyes open for the inexperienced and offer advice if needed to help avert any potential accidents.
There will soon be a licence scheme in place for activity providers using Gwithian Beach to conduct lessons. Only insured, qualified and approved operators will be issued licences. Ocean High and Pasty Adventures will be issued with this license for their operations.
Gwithian parking fees have gone through the roof and there is a petition going around to try and get these changed. Have a look on http://www.gopetition.com/petition/44415.html and sign up your support.
John Dolan- North Cornwall rep
Over the last couple of months I've taken a couple of emails and half dozen calls regarding locations to kitesurf whilst on holiday. People mainly looking to stay around Newquay / Padstow area. Looks like hawkers and watergate are going to be busy for sure !!
All these enquiries came through our website......which is fantastic, people seem to look for the regional representative and contact.
Over the recent bank holidays we had numerous land kiters on Constantine, bit of a nightmare on a packed beach especially when the tide was in. I'd like to thank the people who took my advise and wait for the tide to turn... Kinda makes it safer for all.
Lifeguards now on patrol across my region in full. At the moment they seem fairly relaxed with all kitersurfers. On Constantine today we had 6 that sailed between the bay and Boobys for most of the afternoon....no problems reported by the lifeguards, however it may be different over the next few months.
Hawker looked busy for this time of the year and the parking was free at the moment..... But not for long ! Parking £6 average for all day.
The seagulls are about to land so no doubt we'll be a bit busier for us all.
JD
Steve Townsend- Bluff rep
The Bluff :Purply-Pink is Sooooo 2011
Thats right, if you are still riding around at The Bluff with a faded yellow tag then you are part of history. The 2010 yellow tags expired at the end of March, so please get down to Down The Line(Hayle), Lodeys(Long Rock) or West Country Watersports(Truro) to get an up to date tag and support what has so far proved a successful way forward.
The 6 month trial period for the revised Code of Conduct began in March, so we are half way through, and the lifting of kiting time restrictions is proving trouble free. The Harbour Master and boats using channel are reporting that kiters are all observing the principal rule of staying at least 100m from craft in the channel which is brilliant - thanks and keep it up. The Harbour Master says he will be popping out on busy summer days to gently remind folk who have not got a pass yet where they are available from. The one negative factor to report is that on peak Bluff days there are far more kiters out than there are 2011 passes sold - so please do get round to getting one and support cordial kiting at The Bluff. After all, it only costs a fiver if you`re a KKC member, and a tenner if you are in the BKSA. Thats only a couple of sessions car parking charge, never mind the fuel to get to the beach!
And talking of car parking charges here is major development that may convert any late adopters of the permit system. We have agreed in principle with the Harbour Master that permit holders will be entitled to FREE PARKING at the car park above the harbour entrance. We still need to sort the logistics out, but this is great news, and I imagine we will co-ordinate it to kick-off in September once we have succesfully completed the trial period for the Code of Conduct.
Rory Jenkins - Perranporth Beach Rep
The life guards are out, but more importantly so is some scaffolding!
Just south of the kitesurf zone in front of flat rocks the RNLI have multiple metal structures in the water. These can just be seen at low tide. So if you kitesurf south, out of the kite zone, you could fall off and have a nasty surprise. These will all be gone by the end of June. They are part of a long term RNLI study on rip currents that are apparently "responsible for 70% of all surf related incidents they respond to." See www.ripcurrents.co.uk for more information on this study.
tx
Rory
Member offers
Pasty Adventures
To celebrate becoming a BKSA recognised school, we are currently offering 15% discount off any kitecourse for KKC members, family and friends, so now is the perfect time to have some coaching or buy a lesson for your loved one. We are also able to run clinics so if you want to perfect your technique and have a group of up to 6 who want the same thing, get in touch to work out a plan. All info on the website www.pastyadventures.co.uk
Cheers
Lee
Westcountry Watersports
With the importance of a well maintained harness being paramount for your both members comfort and safety - Westcountry watersports will give KKC members 15% off any 2011 harness for a limited period until the end of June 2011. It includes stock of Da Kine, Mystic and Ion and will be available only in person from the shop in Truro.
Check out: http://www.westcountrywatersports.co.uk/kitesurf-10-c.asp
For details on some of our extensive range we hold in stock.
If you have not got your Hayle Pass yet you can pick one up from the Truro Shop where we also have KKC stickers, Hoodies and Tees!
Cheers
Peter & Rob
Lodey
Following on with the safety theme from Pete and Rob and after a few kitesurf incidents recently, we at Lodey Kite Loft at Lodey sails in Marazion would like to off a 15% discount to KKC members on all Ozone kitesurfing line sets and will also split packs up so that you don’t need to buy a full set but either a pair of front lines or a pair of back lines. I’m sure many of us think our lines will last forever and put off getting new lines as long as possible. Don’t get caught out. We have 5m,20m,25m and 27m line sets.
We should all carry line cutting knives as well and will offer 50% off all Mystic line knives when making another purchase in shop.
If you want to get your mates into kitesurfing and want to give them a head start before coming to take lessons then we are offering a 15% discount on the single strut 2.5m Ozone Uno inflatable trainer kite. It flies on any 4 line kitesurf bar and is a fantastic little kite for a lot of fun on the beach.
Lodey Sails the kite repair centre in Marazion is extending a new offer to provide a 6 months free repair scheme on any new kite purchased from Lodey Kite Loft from date of purchase. Available to all KKC members.
Ocean High Kiteboarding will offer 15% off Ozone or HQ trainer kites when a friend or family of a KKC member sign up for a 2 or 3 day IKO kitesurfing course plus they get a 10% discount off the lessons.