Canterbury Windsports Association

The CWA held the fifth? annual Canterbury Kiteboard Championships at the Christchurch Estuary over the weekend. Light winds on Saturday meant competition was postponed to Sunday, when a brisk North Easterly developed with gusts up to 15 knots. The event started with a 2 hour rider judged 'expression session', followed by two four rider semi finals and a four rider final to decide the Open champion. There were 29 competitors, of which the youngest was eleven year old Anthony Hopkins.

And the winners are:

Open: Blair 'Cookie' Cook.
Women: Su Kay.
Junior: Martin Harris.

Best Trick: Hugh Pinfold.
Biggest Air: Tim Stockman.
Worst Wipeout: Matt Hadfield.

The first two rounds of the South Island Cup were held in Christchurch and Dunedin over the last two weekends of November, with Terry Beentjes becoming the new South Island Champ since he can’t be beaten in the final round, which is to be held at Lake Aviemore on January 2nd and 3rd 2006.

Round I was held at Lyttleton on Saturday 19 November in a light easterly wind which rose to 20 knots for the last couple of races. Terry Beentjes showed his class on his newly acquired Formula race board and 9.8 sail and comfortably outscored the rest of the field. Once again the wind was too light for slalom boards and so course racing was the order of the day.

Five races were held with Gavin Jackson from Dunedin winning race one from Terry Beentjes and Mike Sinclair. Terry Alkemade picked the wind bias correctly for the next race and starting on port, went on to win race two ahead of Dunedin’s Paul Vlietstra and Terry Beentjes. Terry Beentjes won his first of the day in race three from Gavin Jackson and Terry Alkemade, and then as the wind picked up a little, he got into his stride and won the next 2 races from Mike Sinclair who was also waking up.

A highlight of the event was Chris Dimock and Glen Taylor who were racing their new Olympic class boards with the regulation 9.5 metre rig. Chris was finding good downwind speed and placed 5th in a couple of races and with so many adjustments to play with, these boys should have plenty of fun getting the gear dialed in before their trip to Melbourne in January for the annual Sail Melbourne Olympic regatta.

Sunday was a nor west wind day and so a slalom course was laid at Lake Ellesmere, but the wind wouldn’t co-operate and so at 3 o’clock the barbeque was cranked up and the beers broken out with no more races held.

Round II was held at Dunedin on the 26/27th November and the local easterly funneled down the harbour over the two days, building to 30+ knots by midday Sunday and requiring even the top slalom sailors to rig down to 5 metre sails.

A total of 17 races were held, and once again Terry Beentjes was in charge and easily beat the opposition. Racing began in light winds and 2 course races were run back to back. The Christchurch contingent were still in the supermarket when race one was called, so they arrived late and then struggled to get upwind to the start line in sub 10 knot breezes and missed the start by half a lap. The locals had it easy in this race and Gav Jackson won from Graham Evans and John Westgate.

Race two and the ChCh crew were on the start line and Terry Beentjes won from Mike Sinclair with Gav Jackson in 3rd. Terry Alkemade was having trouble finding the energy to hold down a 9.8 metre sail after a week of “Delhi Belly” and was feeling off the pace, so he was relieved when the format switched to slalom as the wind strength rose above 20 knots.

Six course slalom races were held and these required an upwind race onto the slalom course and 2 laps for each race. Terry Beentjes won the first two races on the oldest board and sail in the event, proving that 8 year old gear can still be good enough. Steve Cardno then showed up with a new 70cm Carbon Art slalom board and 7.0 metre sail and proceeded to win the next 4 races from Terry B with Mike Sinclair and Gav Jackson in 3rd.

Sunday was even windier and downwind slalom with a boat start was the call. Six races back to back had Dunedin’s Paul Vlietstra flying and winning all but one, with Terry Beentjes getting one win with Gavin Jackson usually in 3rd.

A short lunch break and then 3 more races in 30+ knots saw Terry Beentjes switch to a 4.8 wave sail and smoke everybody in the first two. Paul Vietstra who was also on a 4.9 wave sail took the final race just getting ahead of Terry B with Terry Alkemade doing well to hold onto a 5.5 race sail in 3rd.

By now, the arms were feeling stretched and everyone was well knackered so the event was called with Terry Beentjes becoming the new South Island Champ since he can’t be beaten with one round remaining at Lake Aviemore on January 2nd and 3rd 2006.

An unexpected South Easterly wind change to 20 knots+ provided kiters and windsurfers a real blast on Guy Fawkes Day, Saturday 5 Nov 2005. For kiters, small kites and big air was the order of the day, with plenty of wave slashing action out the back. The accompanying graph tells the story (data c/o Windnet). Fireworks? Ho-hum.

Despite a threatening southerly, the Open Day went ahead at the Estuary Windsurf Area. The wind swung around to a mild easterly, and the rain held off long enough for a steady stream of people to come and see what all the fuss was about.

The CWA sent a team to the OutDoor Show at Lake Roto Kahu, Christchurch, to promote windsports. Our stand was at the quieter end of the show, but still attracted interest and was a useful precursor to the CWA Open Day at the Estuary Windsurf Area on Oct 29.

Sep 27 to Oct 2 2005, Wanakite:

Despite the poor snow season, a hard core team of kiters ventured south to Queenstown and Wanaka in search of wind & snow, and managed to get some kite action everyday, including: Lake Wakatipu Botanical Gardens; an epic session on the Hector Range near Kingston; a powder day at Treble Cone; and a four wheel drive reconnaisance mission onto the Old Woman & Garvie Ranges south of Cromwell.

Tim at Treble Cone on Saturday 1st Oct 2005 - a 20cm powder day!

CWA News from 2005