Northsea Competition Report by Laurel
Door:
Carver
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7 May 2003
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09:49
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- 2002 North Sea Open, 1 –4 May Knokke-Heist Belgium
The first ever North Sea Open, organized by the Royal Belgian Sailing Club located in the heart of Knokke-Heist (the San Tropez of Belgium) took place last weekend with an impressive gathering of international and local athletes vying for the title of North Sea Champion.
Two days of very strong breeze, like 7 Bf, and two days of light wind made for a perfect balance of show on the water and party in the club. I arrived on the morning of the 3rd day. Landing in Brussels airport, driving the 1 hour to the beach watching the trees practically bend in half was pretty exciting.
It was my third trip to Knokke, but my first time sailing in front of the Royal Belgian Sailing Club, and I was greeted by a wind way too strong for my 7.8 Amp. Waiting in the freezing cold for the wind to drop enough to sail, I was well entertained by the double elimination in progress.
The single had gone down on the first day, with similar wind conditions, too strong in fact for the four girls to sail in, so only the men had finished. The 14 year old wonder boy from England, Aaron Hadlow was comfortably seated on the top of the ladder after the single.
Day two was windless, and with all that pent up energy from not sailing, the riders went pretty wild. I missed that party, trying unsuccessfully to sleep on the plane from Chicago to Europe, but I heard stories of funny drinking games and naked hot tubs. The great thing about partying in Belgium, as told by Sky Solbach, is drinking white beer which incredibly doesn’t leave such a hangover the next day.
And that really was a good thing, cause on Saturday morning the wind was just howling! Coming from the west, side on from the left, strong and gusting to even stronger. The double for the men (as the entire contest) was run smoothly by the professional and experienced crew at the Royal Belgian Sailing Club. One of the biggest upsets in the double was 2003 World Champion Mark Shinn losing early on, due to an unfortunate accident where he slammed the bridge of his nose against the board cutting right to the bone. Luckily Doctor Yves was on hand competiting himself, and quickly stitched him up in no time.
The hardest worker of the day was Sky Solbach, the 20 year old from Bonaire/Gorge. His incredibly smooth and tweaked out transitions, powerful board off maneuvers, and perfect landings granted him win after win, until he finally met with Aaron after 9 consecutive heats in quite chilly water temperatures.
One of the things that impressed me the most in this competition was Julien Sudrat’s mastery of kite loops. I think the problem is that he makes it look too easy, landing really perfectly every time! His fast skateboard style and competition experience ensured him a spot on the podium once again. Also mentionable is Julien’s younger brother Kevin, who has shown an incredible progression in his short time riding and impressing everyone with his 5th place finish.
As predicted, the wind began to drop rapidly, and just following the men’s final between Sky and Aaron (won by a fresh and powerful Aaron), the 4 women took the field. Here I am sad to report that originally there were 5 female competitors, but one of the girls suffered a quite severe accident earlier in the day.
During the middle of the men’s double, when the wind was still incredibly strong, they decided to run the women’s heat. My smallest kite being a 10, and some of the guys being lit on an 8, I told the race director that I would not sail. He said, well, the other girls are ready, they have smaller kites, and so we are going with it anyway. I was like, darn it, I have to try, so I began walking my lines out and in the corner of my eye I watched Ariane Saverys from Belgium, launching her kite.
The tide in Knokke is quite extreme, although we were on an incoming tide, the beach was still very wide and the sand, being under the water half the day, is very hard. The event site was located between two rock jetties, on a low tide they are exposed, and as the tide comes in they become submerged. The judges and most of the spectators were set up on the upwind side of the beach, near to the water. Ariane decided to launch her kite also on the upwind side, closer to the road then the water (behind where the judges were keeping warm and toasty in 3 trucks.)
As she launched, I thought to myself, “who is that little boy launching such a big kite, and in such a bad spot.†(Ariane is quite petit with short hair). I went back to sorting my lines and the next thing I see was some guys grabbing her kite, which had crashed on the sand, towards the road. Immediately I ran to where she landed and found her in quite an amount of pain. 10 minutes later the ambulance took her to the hospital. She has broken 2 vertebrae in her back, resulting in a 6 weeks flat on her back recovery period.
Yet another lofting accident! It is a tragedy for sure, but the reason I am telling this story is that we may learn from others mistakes and prevent these sorts of things from happening in the future.
First point to learn: when the wind is strong, things get serious. If it is gusting over 30 knots, the beach is not a playground, and only expert kiteboarders should even consider launching a kite.
Point two: When you do launch in high wind conditions, make sure the kite is not too big and your de-power strap is de-powered and that everything is right with your bar (her de-power was set to full power and she launched an 8 when the guys her size where out on 8’s).
The final and most important point to learn is to keep your kite low when launching. Set up the launch so the kite is over the water, just keep in low and go out on the water, once you are out, then its safe to bring it up over your head, not before. 12:00 on the land is not the neutral position and I really hope that every kiteboarding instructor out there realizes not to teach students to have their kites high on land.
Sorry to go on and on about this, but I really think its time we learned to be safer. But anyways, back to the action. The one and only woman’s heat was held in quickly dropping wind conditions. On a 10 I could hardly jump, in fact I think a 14 would have been better. Gabby Steindl from Austria (training in Margarita) was riding strong with nice one footed rotations. 17 year old Coralie Imbert from France was also looking good and her enthusiasm and excitement was quite contagious to all of us. Local kitegirl Corinne Vlietinck also had some beautiful jumps with great style.
As for me, well, coming from Cabarete where I kite in my bikini every day to 10-degree water was a bit of a shock. My strategy was “don’t crash†which worked for the most part except for my inside transitions with no power where I couldn’t help but sinking into the cold north sea. I was happy just to be on the podium, but being crowned the first North Sea Champion was even better!
Overall the event was a huge success. Going from a small open event, to hosting some of the finest international competitors on the world cup circuit, the guys at the Royal Belgian Sailing Club did a fantastic job. And next year is sure to be even better!
Aloha
Laurel
8)
Nieuwslink:
www.kiteboarding.be
Volgende/Vorige Items
RobbyNitroz
07 May /
2003 /
10:01
yep sudrats kiteloops zijn idd stunning om te zien! :):)
RobbyNitroz had een 5 sterren sessie in Zandvoort met maar liefst 15 - 20 knots op zijn SlingShot Wave SST (2017)
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