VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

HI MARK! THATS REALLY GOOD TO KNOW

PS I can use bigger font

If anyone has any pics of windfest, please send them to me at as I'm going to do a write up of the event(from what I can remember) and send it to the windsurfing mags and hopefully we can get a writeup.

Please include pics not directly related to the kiting/windsurfing like pics of the scenery, bon fires, breakfast, camping, really anything as I was told they like telling about the other stuff that's happening too.

ps. I had lotsa fun.....thanks to everyone that made it Fan-flippin-tastic!

My pics and video are up on my blog at www.kitebytes.com

wow what a great weekend!! Had a blast....Here are some of my pics
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31085042@N00/
ENJOY

Great time! I haven't seen a pic yet of the kite LD? race start - 30 or more kites all at close quarters and going the same way was a magnificent sight!

I posted ones at

http://www.bigwavedave.ca/gallery/displ ... =16&pos=61

and

http://www.bigwavedave.ca/gallery/displ ... =16&pos=56
(I believe this one was taken right at the beginning of the race)

and

http://www.bigwavedave.ca/gallery/displ ... =16&pos=57

I couldn't get all 30 in a single frame but there are 20 or so in the last one.

mortontoemike wrote:I posted ones...

I couldn't get all 30 in a single frame but there are 20 or so in the last one.

Those are the shots! Missed them when you posted. I was way downwind at the time and it looked like a solid wall of kites. I remember wondering if it would cause a lull downwind....

hey here's a quick report on what happened with the kiteboarding side of things last weekend at Nitinaht Windfest, Aug. 12 and 13th

Judy and Dale set up a great homebase/registration motorhome and a dj booth to go with the killer 10 000 watt sound system that came with a sound guy, Lee. He sorted it all out and made all the technology work smoothly to keep DJ Alex going non stop. Mark Sprungman organized a huge amount of prizes and swag to give away. Dwayne used his superior nautical skills to help set the boardercross course.Everybody helped out to put everything together and before we knew it we had an event.
About 35 kites started the long winder kite course on Saturday afternoon, and we got a finishing order something like this:
1)Chris Glazier
2)Don Armstrong
3)Mark Bavis
4)Colin Green
5)Mark Vincent
6)Chris Hunter
7)Billy Kipling
8)John Read
9)Adam Steele
10)DanCaley
11)Andrew Scott
12)Dale Moffat
13)Ed Peden
14)Ben Chambers
15)Brad Paul
16)Kevin Bonogofski
17)Naish mysto guy
18)Dwayne Strong
19)Kieth Borg
20)Laurie Astle
21)Mark Leng
22)Lindsey Browes

(apologies if we missed you, or spelled your name wrong)

Boardercross was up next. It went off. The action was intense with 2 advancing from each heat of 4. Unfortunately,a little too intense, we had a bad accident in which Phillipe from Airtime (one of our fine sponsors) sustained a finger injury, we all hope he has a speedy recovery! Competitors voted to carry on, with a bit more caution, so the action continued right up to the final. I was absolutely amazed at the calibre of riding, with tight starts and turns, thrills and chills. Final positions:
mens
1)Chris Hunter
2)Dan Caley
3)Andrew Scott
4)Billy Kipling

womens
1)Kendra Harris
2)Marie Leclair

Saturday evening: Great party with Dj Alex, great food from the BarbQ and a classic tuna-on-a-kiteboard by Dwayne and Billy. Marie won the beer draw. Gary got the trip to the DR.

Sunday morning we were treated to a super cool Native dance - the real deal, and we all learned a bit of history about the beach we come to play on. Both kites and windsurfers got their freestyle events finished early in the afternoon. On the kites, we had unreal riding from Ben Chambers with his handlepass kiteloop attempts, Stephano Rista landing a back mobe in his first heat, 2-dog and his unhooked speed loops, Andrew Scott and his seriously powered f-16's and Chris Hunter's smooth consistent style. And let's not forget Marie's handlepass right off the start in her heat. And 13 year old Zach Astle's ripping- loops, spins, grabs, raleys...

mens freestyle
1)Mark Bavis
2)Andrew Scott
3)Chris Hunter
4)Dan Caley

Womens Freesyle
1)Marie Leclair
2)Kendra Harris

mens Big Air 1) Don Armstrong , with a nice downloop for hangtime
womens Big Air 1) Kendra Harris

All in all, the whole thing went way better than any of us had hoped. The boardercross shows serious potential to grow into a series or circuit or something, I wish you guys could see how good it looked. All the best to Phillipe in his recovery.
Thanks to: all the competitors for bringing their stoke
all the sponsors
all the volunteer help
Lee the sound man
dj Alex
Mark Sprungman for getting the ball rolling
Dale and Judy, without them it would not have happened
the people of Nitinaht Village, for letting us play in your backyard


Grant MacPherson

Thanks for the write-up Grant. From what I heard, there was this professional MC dude that gave top-notch action and colour commentary for all the kiting events...

Wish I could have been there. I hope you guys can do it next year!

Here's a vid covering the kiteboarding events at the Nitinaht Windfest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrT9fLEvb8U

If there is anyone that doesn't won't to be in this video who is, please let me know and i'll take it down untill I can edit you out. If there's interest I'd be down with burning a bunch on dvd (far superior quality to Utube) so if anyone wants a copy - i'll try to have a few on hand next time I roll by dallas.

Peace, Rob Parker

wow very impressed awesome vid

Nice video.