Free Kitesurf Clinic: Back 2 Beach Refresher

Kitesurfkings would like to invite all independent kitesurfers, who feel they would benefit from a refresher lesson, to join us from 10am on Sunday 2nd June 2013.

Is your kite always set up perfectly? Always adjusting your trim?? Got all of the rules of the beach/water down??? Already hammering upwind????

It’s unlikely you’ll have retained every single aspect of your kitesurfing course through our often-windless winter and even if you are able to recite the IKO or BKSA handbooks from start to finish there are likely to be practical aspects to you kitesurfing that you could do with some help on. Well, you lucky people! We are here to help!!

Us nice dude recognise the need for refreshers and in the spirit of good will, sportsmanship and keeping Shoreham Beach a safe environment for all, we’re offering our time and efforts… and don’t forget the love… all for free. 

We ask that all students are Shoreham Kitesurf Club members; this simply means that you’ve paid your annual £5 membership and that you also have insurance. If you don’t already have third party insurance (r u mad!?) then you can hit two birds by purchasing your third party insurance through the BKSA and allocating £5 to Shoreham Kitesurf Club at the same time. 

We’re meeting at The Beach Café in, Ferry Road, Shoreham at 09.30 if you wanna join us for breakfast or at 10.00 if not. You’ll be given professional coaching throughout the day by a professionally qualified kitesurfing instructor; it doesn’t matter how long you wanna hang out for on the day but we’d appreciate it if everyone can please turn up on time 😉

There is a huge amount to learn about kitesurfing and students from the day have the opportunity to bring their kitesurfing on massively. We will be running the day regardless of the wind forecast and can guarantee they’ll be plenty to learn regardless of there being the ideal wind on the day… obviously we’ll be wishing for wind and maximizing all that we have. 

This is not a beginner course but a refresher course for those who have already completed a beginner course, have their own kit and know they’ve room to improve… you know who you are! If you have covered the basics, consider yourself to be an independent kitesurfer but don’t have any kit then (you must be mad, how do you kite without kit?!) give us a shout to see if we can help you out with as there are some great second hand bargains and kit deals to be had.

If you are new to kitesurfing, that’s cool, you might even be able to get a lesson in on the day if you book it in with us, then, hopefully you can join us at another Shoreham Kitesurfing Club session in the future. If you’re wishing to learn to Kitesurf give a call and get involved… life’s too short and kitesurfing is too good to miss out on!

Places are limited and so please get your names down early doors! Drop us a line on Facebook or drop Luke a line luke@kitesurfking.com

Shoreham Kitesurf Club Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shoreham-Kitesurf-Club/190411524335079

Shoreham Kitesurf Club website: http://shorehamkitesurfclub.co.uk

BKSA insurance: http://www.britishkitesurfingassociation.co.uk/bksa-membership/join-the-bksa.html

And the most important one 😉

Kitesurfkings Lessons: http://www.kitesurfkings.com/lessons.htm

 

 

 

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Big Air Open – Kitesurf Competition

The Big Air Open has been confirmed to take place on Saturday 14th July 2012 in Worthing, West Sussex. Part of the Olympic Torch Relay Weekend, Worthing is proud to welcome a new sporting event into the town which is set to become a classic Kitesurfing event well beyond the Olympic year and Luke from Kitesurfkings is stoked to have been invited to judge the competition.

The event is based on a ‘how high can you jump format’ with points being awarded for the maximum height reached. If wind conditions on the day do not allow for a big air format to be run alternative arrangements will be made.

Entry to the event is limited to a total of 36 places, 12 of which are local wildcards. Local wildcards will be selected by The Big Air Open Committee and announced at a later date. The event is open to male and female competitors, and the format is based on a total of 28 heats, each of them lasting 8 minutes. There will be 3 riders on the water in each heat, with the 1st and 2nd place finishers advancing to the next round. The overall Champion and winner of The Big Air Open 2012 will be determined by a final heat of 3 riders.

The entry fee for competitors is £30, with only 36 places available to compete. Registration will be open from 14 March 2012 and the minimum age for competitors is 18.

Lewis Crathern, Worthing resident known internationally for his big air skills & Pier Jumping, is actively involved in the event and commented: “I am extremely excited about The Big Air Open, especially as it takes place in my home town of Worthing. This will be an amazing format for Kitesurfers of all levels to take on the wind and waves, show off their skills and compete for The Big Air Open Title. We have all worked hard on making this one of the best Kitesurfing competitions of the year!”

Read on to see how you can get ready for July’s competition…

The Wind looks great towards the end of this week and Lewis Crathern is offering ‘big air’ coaching to keep in theme with “The Big Air Open” event by running 2 clinics on Big Air. In each clinic Lew will focus on various techniques to gain bigger jumps.

If you have just started working out how to get airborne and are looking to improve he’d like to see you there, if you’re getting air and looking to add some style to it (maybe a back roll or front roll?) he’ll look at that too.

Friday 14th June 2:30 pm – Big Air
Saturday 15th June 3:30 pm – Big Air

Edging Technique, Kite Control, Hand Position, Kite Choice, Posture, Kite Setup…. you name it Lew covers it….

Clinics will run for 2.5 hours, tea and coffee will be available before the clinic during briefing and debriefing in Lew’s van. The price is just £55 per person and 10% goes to the RNLI. Good on you Lew!

Contact: lewis@windmachine.biz to reserve your place. *Max 4 per person per session so don’t hang around!

Whilst we’re sharing Lew’s news you need to know about the next Lewis Crathern Kite Clinics happening in October 2012. Luke Denny (of Kitesurfkings) taught alongside Lew last year for his Ras Sudr Kite Clinic, they enjoyed it, the students loved it! This year there are fewer spaces on offer for the Lewis Crathern Kite Clinic so that Lew can coach his group of upwinders and jumpers and Kitesurfkings are freed up to coach beginner and intermediate kiters… hopefully ion preparation for future Lewis Crathern Kite Clinics. There are two Lewis Crathern Kite Clinic options: 6th-13th and 14th – 21st October 2012…

Lewis Crathern Kitesurfing Clinics – Egypt

‘’This October I’ve teamed up With African Space to put on two clinics in Egypt. I’ve been to Ras Sudr 5 times and I really believe its the best place to go for people to progress. In all my trips to Ras I’ve never had less then 5 out of 7 days of wind and I considered those weeks as bad weeks! Paradise Beach Resort provides the perfect place to take a week out and focus on kitesurfing. Its very uncrowded, waist deep for ages, warm (I don’t wear a suit much), sunny and I suppose I could go on and on but to view the full info on the trip download the PDF here http://www.windmachine.biz/lewisegyptclinics.pdf’’

What’s New @ Kitesurfkings? Kitesurfing & cable sessions, down winders, trips, Kirsty Jones & Lewis Crathern

Dude!

Don’t like getting the ‘Dude’? Just double Dude then Dude… it’s the way forwards! Personally I love the ‘Dude’, Dude…

Been ages since the last Kitesurfkings blog entry, won’t apologize as I’m sure no one’s that bothered but going to make an effort to catch up today and share the love, and more importantly the news. There’s a free kite clinic with spaces left up for grabs, Kirsty Jones has invited 6 kiters to join her over in Lanzarote, Lewis Crathern has the launch of his documentary next week, Paddle Around the Pier is just around the corner, the cable’s provided fun times and more sessions are booked (I’ll post some fun pics from Tuesday’s Kitesurfkings private session :)), kitesurfing lessons have been a blast, we’ve discounted the pants off the last 2010 kit, there have been some epic kitesurfing sessions had locally and we’ve epic international sessions coming up. I’ll post in sections in case you wanna cut straight to the chase…

Firstly, if you can get away from the 25th June for a week then don’t miss this opportunity…

Kirsty Jones

Kirsty Jones, 3x World Champion and more importantly super lovely kite and yoga coach:

Named as The Kirsty Jones Experience, this one week kitesurf, yoga, surf and SUP trip is being run by Kirsty Jones herself from her second home of Lanzarote. Kirsty will be looking after a group of no more than 6 people for 7 days of kitesurfing lessons, yoga and surfing fun. The beach house that has been booked for the week is awesome, right next to Famara beach where you’d be kitesurfing and where you’ll be finishing some of your down winders, the beach house has it’s own pool, terrace, BBQ area ect ect… I’ve seen it, it’s seriously smart. As well as 5 days of kitesurfing coaching there’s loads more, including a boat trip to near by Graciosa Island, best plan is to have a read yourself and get yourself out there. The trip has been put together by African Space Kite Surfing, so go to the African Space website if this LINK TO THE TRIP is not working.  

Another big name in the kitesurfing world is Lewis Crathern, and hasn’t he been busy…

Lewis Crathern

Lewis Crathern, The Man That Touched The Sky:

What a dude! An inspiration to all kitesurfers, Lewis’ story of how he came to jump Brighton Pier is now part of a documentary about Lewis that will be released eminently. You can watch a trailer for Lewis’ documentary ‘The Man That Touched The Sky’ by following this link: Lewis Crathern, The Man That Touched The Sky or going to the Kitesurfkings Facebook page. We’re invited to the premier of Lewis’ documentary next Tuesday and so will be able to fill you in then.

Lewis was seen this week on BBC One’s Blue Peter, a link’s up on the Kitesurfkings Facebook page and we recommend checking it out, regardless of your age, for some top tips that’ll help with your wakeboarding. The BBC guys all met up with Lewis at the wakeboarding cable at Hove Lagoon and he put them through their paces.

Lewis runs his own UK clinics and you can get info on those directly through his own windmachine website, there’s also loads of interesting info and Lewis’ own take on wind, kitesurfing and wakeboarding. If you want to get away on one of Lewis Crathern’s International Kite Clinics then you need to get in touch with African Space Kitesurfing, CHECK OUT THE INFO HERE, or get in touch with us a line at Kitesurfkings (WWW.KITESURFKINGS.COM) as I, Luke,  will also be joining Lewis on his next international kite clinic which is happening on the 13th October in Egypt… can’t wait!

There have been some epic sessions of late and I’ve enjoyed hearing about other people’s so thought I’d share a couple of my own from the last few weeks as they seemed to get a laugh out of the guys in Shoreham and might encourage you lovely readers to tell us what you’ve been up to…

UK Kitesurf Sessions

Late for an appointment:

Thursday the 1st June 2011 was an epic day by all accounts; the sun was thinking about showing it’s face, the wind was up, waves were in and lessons were cancelled due to the serious, window rattling, conditions that we were greeted with early doors. seldom do kitesurf instructors get to kite the really sweet days as lessons need to run lessons around low tide, when the wind is really pumping lessons can’t run and by 11am on the 1st the wind was already solidly over 40 mph. I made every effort to complete some of the back log of admin (yawn) so I could get out for a cheeky kite session before a doctors appointment at 14.00 in Kemp Town. At 12.00 I phoned John E B in Shoreham to see if he’d be up for a kite, he’d been itching to get out too and so there wasn’t much convincing needed; we agreed to meet up by the beach huts in Shoreham at 12.30. I arrived late and so John was already on the water, powered on his 6m and riding a surfboard. There was no one else around so I quickly pumped up my 7m (should have gone 5 but you know how it is) and self launched, thank you Cabrinha for making such a long centre line!!

We were having an awesome session, the wind was solid and the waves were some of the best I’d enjoyed in Shoreham this year, as you’d imagen there wasn’t much skill needed to do massive boosts so spent half the time in the air and the rest lost in the waves. At the back of my mind I knew I could only stay out for a short time if I were to be back in Kemp Town before 14.00. Before long it was time to come off the water but we’d travelled half way down Shoreham Beach and edging upwind on the 7m was seriously tiring. I started to battle myself about what to do, scrap the appointment, self land and run to the van, keep edging upwind or go for gold and just kite there? John knew I had the appointment and so I gave him a wave and off I went with my kite.

In total it took about 35mins to get from Shoreham to Kemp Town; when you’re driving the route it feels slow when you do it in 25, try it on a kite when it’s 45 mph and you’re heading straight down wind! I went past a couple of groups on the way but didn’t have time to be sociable. There were a couple of people kitesurfing Hot Pipes and just up from King Alfred but there weren’t many kiters out. Gotta say that if you weren’t out that day you really missed out, the waves were sweet all the way along and seemed to get much larger the further out the back of Brighton and Hove I went.

As I came in I was greeted by one of the Brighton Sea Front guys on his quad, he’d been watching me kite as I came in and I recognized the dude. He didn’t have any beef at all but said that there’d been a report of someone hammering down the coast on a kite so he had to come and check it out. Wearing a wet wetsuit and having bare feet in the appointment I obviously felt like a plum and my mrs wasn’t best but I did clear up the puddle before I left, anything goes in Brighton and if I’d have missed the kite session I’d have been kicking myself. 

I’m planning the same route with some mates and we’ll take our time and enjoy it all this time! Kiting alone is never a good move but in my defence I did have an impact vest on for buoyancy, the Cabrinha kites relaunch effortlessly, I only ride new kit so it’s in optimum condition, the safety system always works, I didn’t kite much further than I could swim or go too close to the piers, John knew where I was going and a 35min down winder doesn’t seem like a long trip after having done down winders in South Africa and Zanzibar… safety hat on, box ticked.  

Night kite:

On Wednesday the 8th June 2011 I met up with a best friend, Chris (aka Simo) with the view to having a kite, it was already 20.30 and we knew we had to get on it if we were to get a kitesurf session in before it got dark. We didn’t get on it and it started to get late, we roped in the assistance of a helpful kite bitch (none derogatory name for kite helper) and got a lift to Hot Pipes, set up and got out for 21.40. The light was amazing, yes there was still light, the wind just enough for a sweet 7m session and the waves had way more volume than we usually get in Brighton. I have to say the start of the session was the best I have had this year.

We didn’t get too close to the groynes or various bits of metal work that protrude from the sea behind the industrial estate but did go Mc Donalds stylie LARGE! Simo smashed up the waves, clearing each groyne space with a single wave and I tried doing the same airborne, until it got darker when we both just enjoyed the power of the waves and being perfectly lit on our 7m Switchblaes and ‘at one’ (yo) with the elements as we tuned in to the light from the half moon and white of the waves.

It really was a dream session until we got to about Moroccos where I came unhooked on accident, easily fixed as not over powered. After getting hooked back in and back into the session my foot strap came out, doh! Not ideal but just ment riding down wind like a man with one leg until that got boring and flipped to using the board to body drag. We came in just before Regency Square and the old West Pier at 22.25 where our favourite kite bitch waited with a flash light to greet us.

Generally night sessions are massive no go for kitesurfing but like base jumping and the likes there are things one can do to make such sessions as risk free as possible. We do not recommend kiting at night, who knows what’s in the sea and how would anyone find you if you had a problem? We kite together all the time, didn’t get any further than 200m from one another, didn’t go out further than we could swim, still had enough light to see the important stuff and had beach support following us along the road and waiting on the beach for our return. Tick.

Beer tastes so much better when you’ve really earnt it.

if you’ve any epic sessions or just one that’ll get a laugh or teach a lesson, then ping it over to us here to the Kitesurfkings blog, post it on the Kitesurfkings Facebook page or email it over to info@kitesurfkings.com and we’ll pop it up for you.

Cable Sessions at Hove Lagoon

Our Kitesurfkings private cable sessions are always fun… unable to upload the quality pics but will try and get a couple from Tuesday’s cable session online later as they’re well worth a look. Next session is next Thursday; we don’t run them to make money, there is no financial gain to us just a saving to you and guaranteed laughs. Find us on Facebook if you want to get involved.

Free Stuff

KB4 Girls next event is happening in Lancing next weekend but sadly blokes don’t qualify just by wearing a skirt, I have checked. I’m not sure what the ruling is on ladyboys… I encourage any of you kitesurfing ladyboys out there to test the water. There are still places up for grabs and if you’re keen then give us a shout at Kitesurfkings and chat to Andrina as she’s organising the event. Did I mention it’s free?

Paddle Around the Pier is just around the corner and although there might not have been the usual amount of advertising for the event this year it’s set to be bigger and better than ever. Kitesurfkings will be down there with a stand and hanging out with our friends at Orb360, Hove Lagoon and the likes. Do come and say hi, there’ll be prizes and offers exclusively for the event and it’ll generally be a fun weekend with stuff to do, to watch and to try. So, that’s Paddle Around the Pier on Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd July.

Gotta finish this blog! Kitesurfkings have some new and still boxed Cabrinha 2010 IDS kites that we can practically give away… well, not quite but almost! There’s a good chance it’s been too windy recently for your current kit or you’re lacking in confidence because you don’t have the latest, safest safety system?? Well, here’s your chance to put that right and grab a 7 or 9m Cabrinha IDS kite for a song! Well, about 600 quid including the bar, lines, leash, pump ect (which cost £360 on their own!). If you want one then gimmie a call on 07878 399 419 (Luke).

Egypt

Dudes! What can we say? Well, I know what we won’t do and that’s to assume anyone reading this needs any additional insight into the situation in Egypt right now; currently every paper and news show have been keeping us up to date and we keep watching, waiting and willing for the situation to be resolved…

For the last couple of weeks we’ve all been watching and waiting to see what will happen as peaceful protests continued across Egypt; sadly Hosni Mubarak attempts to hang on in there have resulted in inhumane attacks on the people of Egypt. Kitesurfkings are taking the view that although times are hard the courage and perseverance of the Egyptian people will pay off and Mubarak will find himself spit roasted in a dirty cell before long. With Mubarak out the way Egypt will be a better place for the people of Egypt and subsequently for us tourists.

Times are hard in Egypt right now and we want to send a message of support to all of our close friends we have in Egypt and those we’re yet to meet. The world is one random place and it’s countries like Egypt that take such a hard-line against opposition to the government that it takes huge courage and determination to stand up and fight for your rights. If I were in Egypt I’d end up with a kick in and a jail sentence for wishing Mubarak a spit roasting, fortunately I’m not and I’m hiding behind a computer! Please let there be a peaceful resolve to what started and was always intended to remain as a peaceful protest.

Our planned group kitesurfing trips to Egypt have been put on hold just whilst things calm back down and we’re happy that both our final destinations and ports of entry are free from unrest. Shame as our May ‘JUMP’ kitesurfing Kite Clinic would have been super sweet, still, better not whinge, it’s not as if anyone’s throwing stones at us or firing bullets through our walls!

We still rate Egypt as one of our best short hall kitesurfing destinations and look forward to getting back out there in the near future. Planning to get back out there as soon as we can and if we have to we’ll wait until Sep/Oct pro Kite Clinics and beginner kitesurfing trips to get things tuned in before the UK winter’s back causing us all grief.

 

Celebrating another great day of Kitesurfkings kitesurfing with Kitesurfkings Beer!