Entries are now officially open for the Red Bull Lighthouse to Leighton 2015.

The sixth edition of Western Australia’s Red Bull Lighthouse to Leighton hits the water on Saturday 5th December 2015. Starting at Phillip Point Rottnest, off the coast of Perth, the longest race of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere has competitors racing across the Indian Ocean and Gage Roads finishing at Leighton Beach, North Fremantle.

Red Bull Lighthouse to Leighton is a unique opportunity for amateur and professional kite boarders alike to compete against one another for the race title, trophy and $1,500 first prize, not to mention bragging rights that 'I won Red Bull Lighthouse to Leighton' ...

The course record for the 19 kilometre channel crossing is a super fast 22 minutes, 07 seconds and was established by three times European Champion Olly Bridge in the 2014 edition of the race.

Olly is confirmed and booked for 2015, ready to defend his title - so too is Steph Bridge in the Female Racers!

The race is scheduled to take place on Saturday 5th December 2015 and with a first reserve day of Sunday 6th December starting at 14:30 hours and with an expected crossing time of between 20 and 30 minutes for the winner depending on conditions. Additional Reserve Days are scheduled for Saturday 12th December and Sunday 13th December in the event of insufficient wind on either the 5th or 6th December.

This year 115 competitors will be given the chance to take up the challenge of the 2015 Red Bull Lighthouse to Leighton, bragging rights and a stake in the prize pool. Prizes and trophies will be awarded to the winner, runner up and third place and with cash prizes extending to the Top 10 and for the top placed twin tip racers.

Once again Tourism WA have supported the race with fantastic cash prizes:

Equal prize money to male & female racers: 1st $1,500; 2nd $750; 3rd $500 each gender & prizes continuing to 10th.

Twin Tip Division: 1st $750; 2nd $500; 3rd $250.

The value of the cash prizes totals $9,625.

The value of the trophies exceeds $4,050.

A total of $8,950 in cash prizes + $4,050 in awesome trophies. That’s $13,000 of incentive to race!

Enter at: www.lighthouse2leighton.com.au noting that the window to enter closes at midnight on Friday 16th October 2015.

Full details are explained on the website and as well the Competitors Manual from 2014 is viewable to provide information/ insight on the event. Closer to race day, the 2015 Competitors Manual will be available with updated information for the 2015 race.

The event is made possible with assistance from Tourism WA and Fremantle Ports. Thank you.

Awesome! Can't wait. Great effort to put this event on.

2014 start .....

Awesome!!!! The MacDaddy of Aus racing events is back again, and good to see both local, interstate and interntionals are already training hard!!

Epic event, and the reason many of us got into racing. Sets the benchmark of a well run event every year! Will it be the year of foil????

Slalom board still more V-Max than foil.
All depends on wind direction and weed situation.

Olly is bringing his custom slalom board with some small and fast fins.

If 30knots and big sea a twintip can win

30knots and a big sea would make it an interesting crossing no matter what you are riding. Legs of steel material!

65 entries received on Day One. Awesome work!

Entries close on Friday 16th October @ midnight.

This has to be one of the coolest events in the kiting calendar...

Now, for those of us potentially doing it for the first time... how do we know if we are ready? any pointers on what to look for ?

I'm quite confident in the water, and can definitely kite for 2-3 hours at a time, but never done a really long stretch in open/deep ocean.

Any tips on how to prepare? specially for those of us not living in Perth ?

Cheers!

Devastated, I can't believe that I am going to have to miss this event again despite having a board I bought especially for it.

Oh well good luck and good winds to all those lucky enough to get a start.

Such a well run and fun event, hopefully I can make it next year.

Train your left leg mate ;)Try to go fast on reaching. You could also practice starts.

It always amazes me how there aren't so many tangles... or are there?

Don't do it on a twin tip and C kite.

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Underoath said..
Don't do it on a twin tip and C kite.

Or if you do don't bet someone a carton of beer on the result.

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zarb said..
It always amazes me how there aren't so many tangles... or are there?

I'm also amazed how in most kite races there aren't that many tangles (never been to a race, just watching the videos). Also amazed that people dont get run over, which I would imagine would be pretty bad if it was by a race board with big fins or a foil..

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Underoath said..
Don't do it on a twin tip and C kite.

I am actually planning to do the TT and boots and C kite thing
How did you go? Can you actually start the race with boots on or do you need to ride into the sea and slip in later?

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RussKraut said..

Underoath said..
Don't do it on a twin tip and C kite.

I am actually planning to do the TT and boots and C kite thing
How did you go? Can you actually start the race with boots on or do you need to ride into the sea and slip in later?

I used straps, not boots.

I got off to a flyer last year, up the front for a good 20 seconds.

The rest, well have a look for yourself.....

Haha that looks like fun. Smooth ride ;-)

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tightlines said..

Devastated, I can't believe that I am going to have to miss this event again despite having a board I bought especially for it.

Oh well good luck and good winds to all those lucky enough to get a start.

Such a well run and fun event, hopefully I can make it next year.

Practise going down wind alot

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daddycool said..

tightlines said..

Devastated, I can't believe that I am going to have to miss this event again despite having a board I bought especially for it.

Oh well good luck and good winds to all those lucky enough to get a start.

Such a well run and fun event, hopefully I can make it next year.

Practise going down wind alot

Sorry - advice meant for evila :)

Thanks for the advice...

Sounds like I'm better doing a few "dry" runs (pardon the pun) to gauge how likely I'm to go.

And for the record, yes, I'd be going on a twin tip, but with a bow kite... probably a Rebel.

I have never done it on a tt but as the guys have said practice going slightly off the wind (slightly downwind) not much but just enough to flatten the board out.
We get so used to trying to edge upwind all of the time and it is amazing how much more you bounce around when you have to flatten out the board a bit.
Your back leg will burn being on the same tack the whole way but most of the crew will do it in under 45mins so you just have to push through, my slowest time was the first year, 33 mins on a regular strapless surfboard.

I'm looking forward to doing it on my shinnster. But given the tt prize I might just use my tt if I get the right conditions

I was in the race a couple of years ago and was supplied with eperb and flare on race day. Will these be provided or do we need to get hold of these ourself?

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billykiter said..
I was in the race a couple of years ago and was supplied with eperb and flare on race day. Will these be provided or do we need to get hold of these ourself?

it would have been a gps tracker not an epirb . No doubt you will be given two flares again .

I was thinking of using my Shinnster last year but decided against it as I was packing as I was thinking it would be a pig in open ocean chop. Took a directional and some straps and glad I did. Despite it only blowing about 14-15knots, it was pretty choppy.

My shinnster is waxed though, so you may feel a lot more comfortable than me in the chop.

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dusta said...

billykiter said..
I was in the race a couple of years ago and was supplied with eperb and flare on race day. Will these be provided or do we need to get hold of these ourself?

it would have been a gps tracker not an epirb . No doubt you will be given two flares again .

Probably was Dusta. With the offshore kiting rules isn't an epirb now a requirement?

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billykiter said..

dusta said...

billykiter said..
I was in the race a couple of years ago and was supplied with eperb and flare on race day. Will these be provided or do we need to get hold of these ourself?

it would have been a gps tracker not an epirb . No doubt you will be given two flares again .

Probably was Dusta. With the offshore kiting rules isn't an epirb now a requirement?

it is but races like these get exemptions for the race

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dusta said..

billykiter said..
I was in the race a couple of years ago and was supplied with eperb and flare on race day. Will these be provided or do we need to get hold of these ourself?

it would have been a gps tracker not an epirb . No doubt you will be given two flares again .

Correct. You will receive two flares that may be used in the event of an emergency / rescue required.

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dusta said..

billykiter said..

dusta said...

billykiter said..
I was in the race a couple of years ago and was supplied with eperb and flare on race day. Will these be provided or do we need to get hold of these ourself?

it would have been a gps tracker not an epirb . No doubt you will be given two flares again .

Probably was Dusta. With the offshore kiting rules isn't an epirb now a requirement?

it is but races like these get exemptions for the race

Correct again. The Department of Transport generously provide an exemption for race day, solely because of:

The extensive safety measures and risk management plans we have in place;

The extensive rescue plans we have prepared and approved.

All kiters in WA (who are training for the race prior to race day) need to comply with the DoT regulations, reproduced below for ease of reference.

Talk about bad timing, I cant make the 5th as its my best mates wedding day.

Is there any way to pick up a spot if its postponed and people can't make the second or third rescheduled race dates?

Will these spots go into a second ballot, and if so how do we enter that?

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INTHELOOP said..

If 30knots and big sea a twintip can win

I'd be up for that. We must be about due for a strong wind race, it's been closer to 20 for the last 5.