I've noticed each year the discussion for where to hold the next Australian Wavesailing Titles drags on then it becomes too late to arrange so over the last month I have secured all the revelant permits and permissions to hold the 2016 titles at Gnaraloo.
There's 2 main reasons for doing it there in 2016.
First is that we will be doing some aerial photography near Gnaraloo at the time so having a helicopter there will be no issue and secondly that area is undergoing ownership changes so in the future it may be either too expensive or too difficult to arrange an event there.
Dates will be either the week before the 25th October or the week after.

Feel free to comment or offer your suggestions and we'll decide if it's worthwhile continuing with the project.

Well done Col.
Footage will be awesome with you behind the shutter too!

Cool. Any chance of running it after the PWA Maui event?

So, you can have a windsurfing event there but when the ASP (now WSL) were thinking of holding an event there, petitions were raised and the surfing community was outraged.

What is the difference??

^^ wind strength?

Darth,
difference is the amount of people and infrastructure needed for a WSL event compared to a small windsurf event with maybe 20-40 competitors. Also, as mentioned Gnaraloo has undergone ownership changes this year which for the next year make things easier but in the future may make it too hard to organise.

Jaeger,
definately dont want it to clash with any other events so this will be considered.

you wouldn't want to clash with the end Sept early October school holidays. I imagine its fully booked.

Yes, not allowed to do anything during the school holidays there.

I just got back from a week there and if it wasnt for the Guy Cribb crew there would have only been between 3-8 out each day so nowhere nearly as crowded as years ago.

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DARTH said..
So, you can have a windsurfing event there but when the ASP (now WSL) were thinking of holding an event there, petitions were raised and the surfing community was outraged.

What is the difference??

Hmmm, remind me again why the ASP morphed into the WSL

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HF said..
Darth,
difference is the amount of people and infrastructure needed for a WSL event compared to a small windsurf event with maybe 20-40 competitors. Also, as mentioned Gnaraloo has undergone ownership changes this year which for the next year make things easier but in the future may make it too hard to organise.

Jaeger,
definately dont want it to clash with any other events so this will be considered.

Fair enough but with WSL you will only have the top 35 so as many as your comp, maybe a bit more infrastructure.

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whippingboy said..

DARTH said..
So, you can have a windsurfing event there but when the ASP (now WSL) were thinking of holding an event there, petitions were raised and the surfing community was outraged.

What is the difference??

Hmmm, remind me again why the ASP morphed into the WSL

New ownership I think.

good stuff

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curac said..
good stuff

not my view

but its a free country
and lots of good reasons why you would want to

same reasons I go there

but would prefer it remained out of bounds for any water sport competitions
last few of remote unregulated environments, don't want infrastructure more so restricted access if a comp is on
be interesting to see how non competitors of all types react if there is a comp running
surfing in the on shore is still good, euros, kiters, regular wind surf visitors might find it difficult medicine to take

^^ I agree it's a long way to go for most to find the 1 break is closed for some polesmoking comp

yeah but who cares what you guys think.

yeh lets publicise the place and tell as many people how awsome it is then whinge about how many Euro kooks are there.
How cool will it be to get phootage from the helicopter and plaster it on all the euro mags too.

The first time I went there was 1991 and there was already more Euros then Aussies, I'm pretty sure the secret is out.

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TurtleHunter said..
yeh lets publicise the place and tell as many people how awsome it is then whinge about how many Euro kooks are there.
How cool will it be to get phootage from the helicopter and plaster it on all the euro mags too.

You do realise we took a helicopter to Gnaraloo several years ago and there has been no increase in crowds, in fact there's been a decrease. Also, once we were there it was the kiters who were begging me to get there photo taken and one even published multiple stories in euro mags, still no increase in crowds.

www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.502126873150879.116529.299496563413912&type=3

Just so you know the comp will be run over one day in a 5 day window so one day is hardly going to hurt anyone especially with lots of warning. I was up there 2 weeks ago, there were only 3 kiters!

I don't care if it's kiters or windsurfers trying to publicise it it's still wrong. As for only 3 kiters out thats how it should stay. Why does everyone from a busy area think if it's not as busy as home then it needs to be publicised.

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TurtleHunter said..
yeh lets publicise the place and tell as many people how awsome it is then whinge about how many Euro kooks are there.
How cool will it be to get phootage from the helicopter and plaster it on all the euro mags too.

The Touro's will be there (and everywhere else) this year anyway as the AU$ is so cheap


It's pretty niave to think that Gnarloo is a secret to the world

1st it should be left for free riders and no comps (or should we also have a kite,surf, sup,boogie,kayak etc comps).
2nd just because someone knows about it why tell everyone. Surely less is better.

half the competitors will be there in october anyway, sounds like the best spot to have it
wind plus swell

Most people don't give a flying rats about comps other than the competitors and the people making money off it.

Shame those vested interests seem to have the ability to close breaks down for the "greater good" of high performance.

And to say there were only eight guys out? Well that's not what I saw a couple of weeks ago when I was up there too. Mmmm....wouldn't be trying to manipulate things for your benefit would you? No...of course not...no one ever does that....

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TurtleHunter said..
1st it should be left for free riders and no comps (or should we also have a kite,surf, sup,boogie,kayak etc comps).
2nd just because someone knows about it why tell everyone. Surely less is better.

You are delusional about the number of Euros who would suddenly book a flight to WA and drive 1500kms up the coast, anyone who sails/ kites at this level knows about it already.

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albentley said..

TurtleHunter said..
1st it should be left for free riders and no comps (or should we also have a kite,surf, sup,boogie,kayak etc comps).
2nd just because someone knows about it why tell everyone. Surely less is better.

You are delusional about the number of Euros who would suddenly book a flight to WA and drive 1500kms up the coast, anyone who sails/ kites at this level knows about it already.

It hasn't happened suddenly don't worry the crowds will keep getting bigger. I just don't know why everyone wants to speed it up
^^ where did that last post come from anyway I have become fond of baby sunburn cream as it doesn't sting my eyes

I trying to see it from both sides. I too was there 2 weeks ago. haha. Personally I happy for others to hold a comp. I like the best to be able to show case what they got. Its good to see them pull out all the stops for their heats. I personally have no problem with the already suggested format, but if others disagree...

One suggestion is why not run the comp over 2,3 days, but do less each day. Seen as when its on, it normally hangs around long enough. So instead of booking the whole day out, just close the break down for a few hours, then let everyone back onto it at 4 PM or something ? So everyone else still gets their fix for the day. Or, if its man on man heats, that's a ton of waves wasted. Let people free sail during heats and just ask everyone nicely to let the riders in heats, who are marked with big streamers to have anything they want. Gnaraloo is a good spot for that as viewing is perfect so its easy for judges and everyone to work out where the comp riders are.

Just to clarify numbers on the water when you were here col
I counted 25 participants at the peak of it
Maybe the 3 - 8 were the ones waiting on shore for others to come in for a rest

Looks like crowds have come down in numbers. Which i am hearing from many sources.

The last time i was there in early October there were 45 windsurfers on the water and 20 kite

And about 20 people yelling and screaming at each other!

That was 4 years ago...

The place does fire in November and December too - albeit less frequently. I had a 3 week february trip up there in 2000 that was all time - 15-25 knots nearly every day and swell never less than head high. Only 2 or 3 out most days. It was 46 degrees driving in though.

For the sake of a day or 2 of sailing it would be awesome to see a nationals held where performance wave riding AND jumping are in the mix. The G can certainly deliver those 2.

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melanomame said..
Wind surfing is a great way to enjoy the beautiful Aussie coast line, whilst out in the elements how do you go about protecting your skin from the sun?

I just hide under my 2005 Blade with the metal monofilm that blocks out 100% of the sun.

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TurtleHunter said...

albentley said..

TurtleHunter said..
1st it should be left for free riders and no comps (or should we also have a kite,surf, sup,boogie,kayak etc comps).
2nd just because someone knows about it why tell everyone. Surely less is better.

You are delusional about the number of Euros who would suddenly book a flight to WA and drive 1500kms up the coast, anyone who sails/ kites at this level knows about it already.

It hasn't happened suddenly don't worry the crowds will keep getting bigger. I just don't know why everyone wants to speed it up
^^ where did that last post come from anyway I have become fond of baby sunburn cream as it doesn't sting my eyes

Wipe your chin turtle

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NR said..
I trying to see it from both sides. I too was there 2 weeks ago. haha. Personally I happy for others to hold a comp. I like the best to be able to show case what they got. Its good to see them pull out all the stops for their heats. I personally have no problem with the already suggested format, but if others disagree...

One suggestion is why not run the comp over 2,3 days, but do less each day. Seen as when its on, it normally hangs around long enough. So instead of booking the whole day out, just close the break down for a few hours, then let everyone back onto it at 4 PM or something ? So everyone else still gets their fix for the day. Or, if its man on man heats, that's a ton of waves wasted. Let people free sail during heats and just ask everyone nicely to let the riders in heats, who are marked with big streamers to have anything they want. Gnaraloo is a good spot for that as viewing is perfect so its easy for judges and everyone to work out where the comp riders are.

Yes, that's what most likely will happen, several hours over 2-3 days or if crowds are low mostly over the one day and mainly as the breeze first comes in then the late session. And you're correct that you could have 4 competitors out with still a few freeride crew out - no need for man on man heats.
Don't forget that the nats aren't what they used to be, last years event had only 20 competitors so you can run an event in one day easy.