It’s Extreme Kiteweek

Official Event Report

The weather gods smiled on Cairns this week to provide us with great conditions for the third It’s Extreme Kiteweek. Most of the riders arrived on Monday and hit the water to explore the variety of conditions that Yorkeys had to offer.

This year the river mouth area had changed dramatically with large sand banks creating flat water havens for almost half of the beach as well as a large sand bank just in front of the rigging area setting a mini point break section for the small clean ramps to develop.

Tuesday saw overcast conditions but strong winds over 20kts giving plenty of powered up riding opportunity. A reef trip on Wednesday had to be postponed due to squally conditions so with that most riders hit the cable park for their free session and had a fat time getting punished by the power of cable.

Wednesday night was the official event opening at the now famous Gilligan’s resort where the 3 Minutes of fame dvd film festival was shown on the massive screen. The judges were hard pushed to find a winner as the quality of the riding, filming and editing was first class. Lee Kavanagh took the honors and you can get see all the films in the next Kiteboarder magazine subscriber DVD.

After a massive night we awoke to better weather and a red hot 3 day forecast. Transport to the beach was an open top double decker bus which ferried the riders in style direct to the beach. After a quick briefing we again hit the cable park for a session. Tony Priest dominated with his super smooth style impressing the local crew as did Cam Barker and Bill Craing. After Dimi and Luke had some footage we got a call from the beach that the wind had kicked in so we headed there for a steady session.

Friday rolled into the most perfect winter day and with 20kts forecast riders were eager to get into the another free ride session. By 12pm the promised 20 kts had kicked in and 50 kites filled the beach. With such a perfect day on hand five of the big names were loaded into a 40 foot scarab and headed for a sand island 50 kms offshore. An amazing session riding in perfect clear water over the reef was captured by the photo crew from a helicopter with Dimi saying it was one of the best locations he has shot.

After another big night on the town a sluggish crew hit the beach for finals day in the KBM Pro rider shootout. A field of 22 open men were cut to 10 in a solid session in perfect conditons. After 2 semis of 5 riders the mens were cut to a super final of 4. So after some high powered riding the judges gave the day to Michael Norts Noton but couldn’t split the difference between Hudson Godfrey Smith and Tony Priest. Cam Barker rode well but failed to land a lot of his moves.

Wind increased to 20 kts for Open womens which was won hands down by a Angie Van Hoof who sealed the deal with 2 unhooked kiteloop backrolls. Silvia Edmons from Cairns rode well to get second and Fiona Grub finished third.

Juniors was very competitive with only four riders but the standard was incredible. Sean Happy Craike taking the crown over Cam Barker and Mitch Brown. Scott McCall form Cairns rode with a badly damaged ankle and landed some big kiteloops which pleased the crowd.

Masters was won by ex windsurf pro Eric Groenewoud from the Gold Coast with Adam Yared and Andrew Regan putting on solid performances.

So with riding out of the way the crew head back to Gilligans for the after party which is still going as I write this on Sunday morning.

A big thanks to Qld events for their support and these sponsors

Queensland Events, Wipika, Slingshot, Liquid Force, Cabrinah, Naish/North, Catapult Kites, Spy and Jet Pilot

Cairns Cable ski

Gilligans

Soho Nightclub

So if you missed out this year ….put August 2006 in your diary now.

Hanglosmember eric@catapult 1ste bij de masters

gefeliciteerd _/-\o__/-\o__/-\o_