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Missing the fun you had at Aussie Kiss? Relive it with the write-up and find the link to the professional pictures on line... |
With 500 people descending on Bude holiday park and Roadford lake it was a crazy mix of windsurfing, partying and facepaint spread over one weekend in October, this was one of the finest Aussie Kisses ever!
After a manic Friday where the SWA committee were running round in circles, everything was sorted by 6pm when the first of the students started to trickle into Bude holiday park. By 9 the bar was full of students from all across the country eager for some partying and catching up with old friends. For the freshers it was a chance to get to know their new windsurfing club and get their first taste of general SWA shenanigans.
Saturday morning we all woke up with hangovers to hardly a gentle breeze. Never the less we all made to Roadford reservoir (after a bacon bap). By lunchtime the wind had picked up and 382 students were windsurfing. 144 beginners got their first taste of windsurfing, with the help of an army of enthusaiatic windsurf instructors. Then for the intermediates and advanced there was an astounding array of clinics ranging from foot straps to front loops run by a whole host of instructors including Club Vass instructors such as Andy Bubble Chambers and Colin Whippy Dixon. Windsurfing guru Jem Hall was also there giving out pearls of windsurfing wisdom. Students were spoilt for choice this year when it came to demo kit, and AK was well attended by people from the windsurfing industry. Boardwise came along with their van packed full of rigs and boards, then Naish, Tushingham/Starboard and the boys from Goya/Quatro were there too.
By 5pm everyone had packed up and gone in search of fish and chips (or something similar for dinner), then it was time to get out the costumes. The theme this year was 7 deadly sins so there was an abundance of devils, and a massive pride of lions. As always everyone (and everything) was covered in a thin layer of facepaint by the end of the night. There was live music from The Measure who returned for the second year and played two fantastic sets, and at the same time there was a slide show of pictures taken from throughout the day and night provided by the lovely people from ExPix. With all the XSWA types that were there, students and other hangers on there was over 500 people at the party.
Sunday morning came and a number of sleepy bleary eyed windsurfers dragged themselves out of bed for another day of windsurfing. It was a slightly later start today, and the beginners (and everyone else) was let loose for some free sailing. Sunday was the first day of the Boardwise/SWA freestyle competition held at all the core events throughout the year, with a brand new board up for grabs for the lucky overall winner. The freestyle competition was a light wind affair due to the lack of wind but that always makes for some interesting interpretations like handstands and sailing inside the booms. Congratulations to freestyle winners, namely James Goody (a first for Cardiff), Ed Sinclair (second for Southampton) and Adam Sims (third for Portsmouth). The girls deserve a handsome well done too, especially Lettice Rowbotham who got a first for Leeds, Beth Sangwine who's second sent Cardiff out in a blaze of glory, and Maeli Cherel who got a great third for Southampton.
Finally SWA president Sam Stevens wrapped everything up by announcing all the results and by holding a raffle in aid of Surf Aid (the SWA charity of the year) which raised tonnes of good charity cash, as well as raising £300 to Climate care which off-set the SWA's carbon emissions for the weekend.
A special thank you to Tushingham who provided us with a boom and Naish who provided us with a harness for the male and female freestyle winners, as well as other bits and bobs. Thank you to Club Vass for the loan of all their fantastic instructors and their phenomenal support as well as fantastic holidays, to RRD/Ezzy and to Jem Hall, whos prescence always inspires people to get the most out of their windsurfing, Boohai clothing who provided all the merchandise, Turf dog who loaned us a Turf dog for the event, Starboard/Tushingham who have been so supportive right from the beginning, Boardwise and Mark Hammond who never misses an event, Naish and Rich who has been incredibly dedicated to the SWA and then last but not least to the boys from Goya/Quatro who got involved for the first time this year and whose demo kit was awesome and presence was unmissable!
