To begin with - congratualations to Alex and our New Local hero 'TT Said' !!!

After hearing criticisms from several people I think there are some things that could be improved upon to make event better.

1. A finish line between two Markers " Parallel " to the beach. No confusion or people racing to touch the beach first... its not a triathlon!

2. A Taped off from the waters edge landing area.

This was potentially the most dangerous thing at the event and it was mayhem for tired kiters with burnt out legs, coming in with hundreds of people crowding the shoreline with goodwill intentions.
Imagine the injury and lawsuits tallys if someone accidently dropped their kite in that crowd !!!

3. There should be two categories - genuine racers & 'as long as I make it, I'll be stoked mate'. A delayed start for second group to let the racers get a clean start as in any sport..

4. Entries & Waksa..... This was a big joke thats not going unoticed - you had to be a member before entering - and then get told you didnt make it in the draw ?????
Well do we get a refund now that it is absolutely useless to us ???

In the Poley ledge to lancelin - you offiically entered the race and provided a membership (or) bought a membership on the day, at registration for a higher price than normal - a fair and win win situation for both parties concerned.

If you dont make the draw - youre not out of pocket and I would Honestly rather give away $60 to a Charity for the less fortunate kids at Christmas !!!

According to the lotteries commission when you pay money to go into a draw, its legally scrutinisd - for a good reason ?

Ok thats the winge and someone had to say it on behalf of others and lets hope they get it right for next year

I liked the finish - but it cost me a placing because I blew it.
My point of view the thought the end set up was perfect. Made the finish a technical finish with chances of high risk passing. I was racing for a 2nd , third or 4th and crashed out with 80m to go over cooked and limped in 4th trying to pass Marty and Philip. Philip was racing for a 2nd and crashed and finished third. Marty was racing hard for 2nd third or 4th and snuck in 2nd. This finish really puts pressure on if you are racing.

Also its way easier for judges and audience to clearly view as people cross line.

From www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Kitesurfing/General/Lighthouse-to-leighton/?page=3

To Rotto & back

or each alternate year switch the direction

swinginginthewind said...


I would hope that those who qualify to participate but missed out this year are given a priority for entry next year over those who took part on Saturday.

Spread the joy around....

I would hope the volunteers both on Rotto and at Leighton get first dibs.

Should just run it out to sea, see who can tack the furtherest out. No support boats though.

Unfortunately I missed out on a place, was I bummed? Definitely! Am I going to get bitter about it? No.

I just have one legitimate question for WAKSA. Will there be more places on offer next year? If so, any idea of how many?

Cheers,

D

I really do hope that it is possible to have more kiters next year because it is obvious there is many more people that would love to do it.
I was lucky enough to get a start this year but still think I can understand how upset people are that missed out because I know I would have been pissed off myself.
Please don't take out your frustrations with WAKSA though, they are all volunteers who work tirelessly for the promotion of our sport and this is just one of the events that they organise through out the year.
I am certain that they will be working hard to try to get permission to increase the numbers next year and also think I have a pretty good idea of just how much red tape must be cut through to achieve this.

I believe this event has the potential to become absolutely huge but if too much was bitten off in the first year and there was problems it would have jeopardised the chance of even holding the event next year, as it is I think that with how incredibly well things went this year there is a good chance that more people will get to compete next year, but that is not going to happen without a lot of hard work by someone.
I am still blown away with how incredibly well things appeared to have ran this year and cannot begin to comprehend how much work was done behind the scenes, so I really don't want to critise anything however I believe the people concerned will realise that there is still room for improvement in a couple of areas and they have already acknowledged this.

From what I could see one of the main things was the landing of kites when some kiters arrived there legs were like jelly and although there was plenty of volunteers waiting ready to land kites there was also lots of members of the public that did not realise the dangers, that were standing too close downwind, with the potential for accidents.
The amount of kites coming in meant that they had to keep retreating to allow room for more kites to land.
Maybe if they could be encouraged to stand upwind of a certain point this risk could be reduced.

From a purely personal point of view if we could know if we had a start way earlier it would be great. Although I was lucky enough to get a start I was only notified about a week before the event. Whilst I can see how difficult it may have been to finalise numbers it meant that we did not get much chance to train or try different boards etc for the event.
I was thinking of customising one of my old gun pintail surfboards and sticking some pads and straps on it but by the time I found out I was in it was too late to experiment so I just went with my normal short fat wave riding board which was really no competition against the likes of Alex's custom board.
If I knew for sure I was in next year I think I would start planning way earlier and have the potential to be way more competive.

If you have paid up your WAKSA membership but missed out on the L2L make sure you get in early and register for kitestock it is an absolutely awesome few days that is more than worth becoming a member for by itself.
Anyone that went to the Wedge Wave Comp would also know how good the vibe was there.
Sorry about the long post, I think I used way more than my 2 cents worth but before I go I would again like to thank WAKSA, Red Bull, all the vollies, Tim, Juddy, Russ and all others that made this years event possible......you guys rock!!!!!!

probably said enough but like a saved whale I feel the need to vent....

SaveTheWhales said...

4. Entries & Waksa..... This was a big joke thats not going unoticed - you had to be a member before entering - and then get told you didnt make it in the draw ?????
Well do we get a refund now that it is absolutely useless to us ???

Why bother giving advice to next years WAKSA volunteers for next years event STWs. If everyone had your attitude there wouldnt be a WAKSA and there would never be another event to be improved on.

And then - how dare you kite at Melville without waksa membership.
And how absolutely ****ed are you to claim that membership is "absolutely useless" when you wouldnt even have a local to kite at unless WAKSA had worked on securing that one for you over the past 6 years.

If your membership of WAKSA wasnt so important for us all Id offer to personally donate $65 to the unfortunate child of your choice if you 'unjoined'.
If the choice of child was left up to me Id be asking if you had any at home - reckon they'd be pretty unfortunate

SaveTheWhales said...

What you guys dont realise is that Im all for Waksa and beleive they do a great job !

I just dont believe I should support them unless they put on the exact event I want and also guarantee me a place in it - even if places are limited.
I gladly kite at a beach all year I owe to their work but Im not prepared to help protect it myself. Not even by spending a miserable $65 to support the organisation AS WELL as getting insurance to cover myself, those I may leave injured and to give a better chance of beaches staying open for other kiters everywhere.

Whats NOT cricket 'mate' is bludgers who are only prepared to put their money where their short sighted self interest is.
You are quite happy to pay the extra $65 as long as you get to kite where and when you want for just one day (even when someone else misses out) but not happy to pay $65 for the privilege of kiting all year at a beach you wouldnt have without WAKSA just because its not compulsory. Now thats whats not cricket. Thats plain old bludging.
And ur full of advice but never do anything but look after yourself while kiting for the 'fun (read selfish) factor'.
And whats so funny about the poor kid you 'might' just hit on the head then only have one house and half your life income to provide him with for the whole of his life.

Sure you are 'all for WAKSA and believe they do a great job' - as long as it doesnt go as far as your coin jar or require any of your own effort.

And STWs I AM addressing the whole Australian kiting community. If there are others out there with the same attitude you claim to be representing then its time they realised that they too are mean, tight fisted, self centred bludgers.
FACT not sticks and stones by any means.

Well SAVE THE WHALES, looks like they are saying, you should be paying WAKSA membership another 3 years at least. before they will consider your entry to a L2L race,

Sounds fair to me.

SaveTheWhales said...

I hope you are not on the Wasksa committee - as they have allready provided a very dignified informative response.

My comments have absolutely nothing to do with the WAKSA c'tee.
And, as I have come to expect, yes it was a very restrained reply.

Puppet, I believe some of the frustration, whether it be considered selfish or otherwise, stems from not being informed about the selection criteria from the start. Perhaps it's case of clever marketing, but in any case I bet there were a few more than just STW that joined the organisation just for the race in the hope that they are lucky enough to be selected.

Yeah I do realise that Dan. It must have been terribly disappointing for those who missed out. It just really gets my hackles up when people are prepared to take everything WAKSA does for them then still think that that a mere $65 annual membership (which includes the cheapest PL cover possible) is "absolutely useless". And even more so when the one who claims it is 'absolutely useless' kites everyday at a beach which he wouldnt have access to if it wasnt for WAKSA and the local kite group working on this project for the past 6 yrs.
A lot of kiters still dont realise that; whilst membership & insurance is still optional; every uninsured kiter out there is a liability to us all.
The reaction of the guys at Mullaloo has been awesome. I doubt that there is one kiter within coooeee of Mullaloo who isnt a commited WAKSA member after last years high profile campaign there.
Melville is way more marginal in every respect than Mullaloo yet I would guess that there are lots who kite there who are not supporting the effort at all. They are risking it for all of us. It is simply ludicrous - from every interest group involved - for any kiter to kite uninsured at a place where there are roads, footpaths and houses etc intertwined with a kiting zone.

Your chance to participate in some fun events is just the sprinkles on the icing on the AKSA/WAKSA cake. Kiters everywhere owe it to their sport to actively support it - esp through these developmental years.

This is for those bitter angry and upset they didn't get picked.
Best of luck next time

Until then dry your eyes princess's

sci said...

After all the words and dribble spilled on the forum next years event needs to have qualifying races.

All riders that wish to participate in the RBL race can take part in a qualifying rounds to make this a legitimate race with real contestants?

The event will carry more international prestige and respect if the participants qualified and race ready. If the race is seen as legitimate it will attract more international riders, sponsorship *money* and garner more news interest.

By running qualification for the elite class with a long lead time to the event will allow athletes to train properly and acquire the correct gear. I do not believe names out of hat pays this event the respect it deserves and I doubt you could throw your hat in the ring for the Americas Cup.

I appreciate the first event was a trial and props to every person involved. Your hard work has proved this event can be run and managed in a professional manner.

I really hope next year people need to prove there way into the classes and there should be allocation for those who wish to embark the crossing for fun.

Wise words Sci has some good points here

gruezi said...

As we are brainstorming for next year, my 2 cents.

1. 150 kiters, 3 waves of 50, 5 min. intervals.

2. Go to Leighton and finish there if you want, you get a time for the "mini."

3. For those wanting a time in the "maxi," there is a zig zag course up the coast with finish at Scabs.

4. I am forbidden to do it and will volunteer.

Like it Gruezi, it would certainly mean a larger number would be able to participate and the staggered starts should eliminate problems created by a big number of kiters attempting to start together. "Maxi" sounds good too