Wellington Windsurfing Association News

Craigs Investment Partners Eastbourne Slalom Plus goes off again

Fri, 11 Dec 2015 22:51:08 GMT

Eastbourne once again turned it on for the windsurfers, with winds from 25 to 30 knots for most of the day allowing 13 races to be completed.

Conditions were fast and demanding with plenty of spills and some close finishes for the 22 sailors who turned up to sample the windiest city in the world.

The Gold fleet started offshore racing 5 legs to give spectators a great view of both the first mark and the finish.

Just returned from the Professional Windsurfing Association (PWA) competition in Noumea, New Caledonia, Auckland windsurfers Laurence Carey and Tim Wood showed their class placing first and second in the Gold fleet, with Tim closely followed by Luke Holliday and Harry Reid. Laurence Carey is the current New Zealand Slalom Champion and placed 25th in Noumea which bodes well for his 2016 season when he will be seriously racing on the PWA circuit. Windsurfing is arguably New Zealand’s most successful sailing sport internationally and Laurence hopes to add his name to the list.

The Silver fleet opted for beach starts, not without it’s own challenges, and raced 4 legs.

In the Silver fleet local Eastbourne sailor Peter Haan was the clear leader, with John Davies (Tauranga), Esteban Funes and William Novak (both Wellington) closely grouped in the next positions. It was good to see sailors from Auckland, Tauranga and Rotorua competing alongside an increased number of local sailors, and bodes well for future events.

It was great to see wave sailors turn up, most on wave boards, and I'm sure they will agree that a wave board class would be worth running if there are enough entries.

Social evening at the local Bre'd tavern, with tons of cheap pizza made for a great evening.

On the Sunday the competitors met around 10am but the southerly wind was not building sufficiently nor forecast to hang around, so an early call to not sail, followed by the results and prizes allowed everyone to make the most of the rest of their day.

Industry support came from Team 10, T-10 fins, NZ Sailing, Epic Sports, Wild Winds and Gaastra/Tabou. Lucky sailors went away with spot prizes totalling around $2000 including a wetsuit, rigging jacket, fin bags, accessories and clothing.

Local support has always been strong for this event, led this year by principal sponsors Craigs Investment Partners, with regulars Petone Pak’n’Save, Brew’d Tavern, Eastbourne Fruit Supplies, Eastbourne Lions and Eastbourne Sports and Services Club.

Volunteers are essential for events like these, so a big thanks to Alex Dean who managed the starts from the boat all day supported by boat driver Sam Price. On the beach we had Jim Rogers, local Robert Ashe, and others doing the finishes with Mike Burke who also ran the BBQ and does all the awesome posters etc. for this website. The windsurfers that helped would probably have entered so their contribution is doubly appreciated.

Jim Rogers (Team 10) also provided t-shirts for all online entries, as well as a $400 plus race carbon fin as a spot prize.

All this for $25! Thanks to Craigs Investment Partners whose backing made the event possible, and all the other sponsors and volunteers who made it successful yet again ... roll on 2016.

Photo credits: Dave McPhee/WildWinds, Lean van Heerden, Andrew Cathie

REPORT - NZ Wave Nationals 2014, Taranaki

Fri, 16 May 2014 09:29:15 GMT

Day One

An initially promising forecast for the Easter weekend had shifted to become somewhat more unpredictable, but nonetheless it was a super-keen crew who rocked up to Carbon Art HQ at 10 am on Good Friday ready to launch into a test of their wavesailing skills. Competitors came from various parts of New Zealand and a range of international locations, including Italy, New Caledonia and Auckland. Big-ups especially to the juniors, Luke Holliday and William Novak, for making the trip and keeping the older guys on their toes, and to Yoan and Tony Despujols (back from New Caledonia again – you are practically locals!) and Nicola Terenzi (Italia) for
giving the competition a truly international flavour. After having delivered a couple of months of decent port tack south-easterlies Taranaki was naturally kind enough to provide starboard tack conditions for the beginning of competition, so with the styley 2014 design T-shirts on (thanks OP and Spore!) the convoy headed for Kina Rd.

A crazy storm in the week leading up to Easter meant that there was still plenty of wind. And there appeared to be waves too… however the northerly swell with a three-second wave period, combined with strong super-gusty cross-offshores made for an interesting time on the water. While it looked like it should have been great fun, it proved to be quite a challenge; to find a decent size wave that would actually make its way into the break without disappearing underfoot and reappearing behind, in-front, out-back, down the line, or seemingly anywhere else but where you might be. It was, as one competitor described it “a lottery”. Therefore, competition was put on hold in the hope conditions would improve to be slightly less random. Unfortunately the randomness kept on coming, so we were left to retire to Carbon Art HQ; where the sausages and beers abounded and we learned that Ferran is tri-
lingual – also speaking Italian!

Day Two

Kina Road was once again the destination for Day Two; with lighter winds and a more westerly swell. While enthusiasm and the tide were high, unfortunately the wind was not. Luke Holliday and Nicola grabbed surfboards and had the most fun out of everyone during the late morning. An increase of a couple of knots in the afternoon sparked some excitement and a fun thirty minutes on the water, however it was simply fools-gold in front of some showers, culminating in the wind dying completely and some sailors having to swim their gear back to shore. Strike two for any hopes of competition action!

Day Three

An underwhelming forecast came through on just the right day for a couple of competitors who were the worse-for-wear after some hard partying on the previous Saturday night. We all headed out to Waitara in the hope of some ‘mystery side-off’ craziness. Once again, there was enough wind (side-on) to get most everyone out there, but not enough to run a decent competition. Strike three. Was Taranaki about to be out for the count these nationals?

Day Four… Redemption… for Taranaki and Auckland

All hail! Not a moment to soon and Taranaki delivered. Solid logo high sets and enough wind to throw jumping into the mix at Ahu Ahu Road, and we had a competition on our hands. The judges set up camp at the top of the new ‘Ahu Cliffs Sands’ viewing area/resort and the first 15 minute heat was ready to hit the water at 11:15 am. Jumps were easy enough to come by on 5.0 metre sails and Paul Barron, Yoan and Mike La Franchie put on a solid display to open proceedings with some great late hits and big backward and forward loops.

To keep things interesting as the following heats went out the wind boosted up and down, making launching at the Ahu Ahu end of the break a tricky affair. Competitors occasionally found themselves stuck on the inside and faced with a crunchy headhigh plus shore dump as the tide filled in, and eking out an extra turn or aerial off the last section proved to be the end of a few competitors heats as they got stuck inside and on the fast-track down to Dirk’s corner. Carnage was occurring as well, with mast extensions snapping, fins getting taken out on rocks, boom clamps giving out, and Nicola creasing his board in a high forward attempt! To add to the fun the incoming tide created a ‘mini-tsunami’ that raced up the river below the judges and covered a few sails and boards with sand and water.

In the midst of the Open Mens’ rounds the juniors were sent out. Luke Holliday and Willam Novak put on a show of waveriding and jumping that would have had plenty of the Open Men’s competitors secretly pleased that they weren’t sailing against them. Nice effort guys, it was awesome to see such great skills out there in some challenging conditions!

As the spray settled after four preliminary and two secondary Open Men’s rounds we had a top four of Chris La Franchie, Nicola Terenzi, Thomas Davies and Ferran Crespo. It was an intense last round showdown to sort out the top two, with booming swell and tricky wind on the inside. Ferran pulled out some of his usual stylish waveriding, combined with a few backloops to blast his way into the first-
elimination final, closely followed by Thomas Davies who was flying the flag high for Auckland. After initially looking like he had been caught inside with no way out Thomas made his way back with a vengeance to rack up some solid wave scores and jumps to progress ahead of Chris and Nicola.

Thomas and Ferran went toe-to-to for the final 15 minutes, matching each others’ wave scores and proving a real headache for the judges to pick a winner. Just when one looked to have pulled ahead with nice ride on a large set wave, the other would find a wave equally as good to claw themselves back into contention. In the end Thomas emerged as the victor of a tight heat after sailing the competition of his life. Congratulations Thomas, nice work!

Final Rankings:

Open Mens

1st Thomas Davies (Carbon Art, Hot sails Maui)
2nd Ferran Crespo (Simmer)
3rd Chris La Franchie (Carbon Art, Maui Sails)
4th Nicola Terenzi (Fanatic, North Sails)

Juniors

1st Luke Holliday
2nd William Novak

Event Sponsors:
Carbon Art, Taranaki Windsurf Club

(Photos thanks to SurfPhotoNZ – see more on their Facebook)

Slalom Plus Taken out by Laurence Carey in Northerly Blast

Sun, 01 Dec 2013 07:30:00 GMT

On Saturday morning the sailors awoke to a Northerly blast and were all on the beach wondering if the event was going to get underway as the start/rescue boat was unable to come near the shore to pick up any of the marks. After a small committee meeting it was decided that we should hold and see if the wind dropped. After a few hours of hanging around the wind dropped enough to get some racing underway, but there were still gusts of 55 knots coming through just to let the sailors know who was in charge.

The first race got underway with several of the sailors not even finishing as the wind decided to shift, but they made up for it in the next few races, but some of the sailors decided it was still safer to stay on the beach and not compete in the racing that day.
Laurence Carey had a great day showing the older sailors who was boss by winning all 5 races on the Saturday, sometimes by quite a margin, but on the Sunday Laurence Carey and Harry Reed were outdone by their lack of experience when Tim Wood told them it was unwise to remove their wristbands when they broke for lunch, but their youthful exuberance overcame their better judgment and they removed them and forgot to put them back on and were disqualified from Race 11 even though Harry Reed tried to do his Harry Potter impression (without his invisibility cloak) and tried to sneak up to the board and take them back hoping that nobody had noticed. (Wrong….. The lady has eyes in the back of her head…..)

There were a few collisions with Laurence Carey trying to sneak his way through at the mark and taking out both Darren Nicholas and Chris Bolt. Luke Watson also tried this tactic and took Alexander Stroh out at the mark. There was also a little controversy during Race 8 on Sunday with Paul Vliestra and Luke Watson having a Port/Starboard collision which damaged the board that Paul Vliestra was using. Paul felt that it was no longer safe to sail if Luke was still competing with his bash and barge mentality and withdrew from the event. It was a shame, as this was meant to be a showcase event to promote Slalom Racing, but overall it was still a good event.

Local sailor Dave Steele was showing his skills by not even using a start watch and getting some great results (that proves he can count to 60) with young William not very far behind both of whom beat old timer James Court as he was feeling too tired to compete on the Sunday. It was a close fought battle between Darren Nicholas and Chris Bolt with Darren coming out ahead, and Bernard Carey showing that persistence pays by beating Alexander Stroh.
The event was won by Laurence Carey who took 13 race wins from 15 (would have been 14 if he didn’t get himself disqualified) followed closely by Harry Reed. A comment was made that these guys should be giving the older sailors a yard head start for every years age difference.

We’d like say a big thanks to:

Bruce Spedding for organizing the event (hopefully it will become an annual event…..), Alex Dean and Marilyn Auton Wood for doing a lot of the hard work, and all the local sailors who came along to support the event
Brew’d Eastbourne, principle sponsor - for the great pizza’s and drinks vouchers, and the start/rescue boat
A’ND Distribution
Wild Winds
Watercooled Sports
NZSailing.net
Epic Surf
Ocean Sports
Pak’n’Save Petone
Eastbourne Fruit Supply
Eastbourne Sports and Service Club

Thanks to Marilyn Auton Wood for the event report.

Full Event Results on Facebook

Wellington Turns It On For NZ Freestyle Nationals 2012

Sun, 09 Dec 2012 09:20:13 GMT

The 2012 NZ Freestyle nationals were hotly contested in epic conditions. UK windsurfer Al Bentley took the competition title in a 40 knot final epic over Tom Taylor. Taylor taking top New Zealand windsurfer pushed Bentley to his best, duelling twice in competition.

Wellington definitely did not disappoint, with sunny and windy conditions. Over the afternoon of freestyle action the wind climbed from 20 to 40 knots.

Competitors battled their way through a single into double elimination round at the locally named spot the MCC. At the Ngatitoa Domain, the narrow channel kept the action close for spectators and judges alike.

Reigning champ Tim Haxell, starting top seed, met stiff competition in fellow local windsurfer Rob Harrison. Harrison’s hard work on the latest moves saw him stomp funnels and konos to Haxell’s reportage of spock and funnel variations. Haxell’s hard and fast sailing wasn’t enough with Harrison beating Haxell, to stop his run on the title.

Local icon sailor James Court brought an impressive array of spocks, forwards and crazy 40 knot willi skippers. A top wave sailor, Court showed his class, transitioning well to kept the likes of Taylor and Harrison honest.

A great turn out from the young windsurfers at Worser Bay meant the youth title was there to win. William Novak and Nick Thyne brought their best to try topple favoured Jo Tildesley. The youth final was between Novak and Tildesley. A series of floaty chop hops, duck gybes and good vulcan attempts saw Tildesley take the youth title. No doubt we will see plenty more of these guys in the future.

7 minutes, 40knots and two egger sailors, Taylor end Bentley, the final was on! Taylor, previously beaten by Bentley in the end of the first single elimination, had to beat Bentley twice to take the win. Bentley came out storming with a super floaty shaka. This was not to put Taylor off, hitting a sweet shovit and flaka to respond. They dwelled in hard and fast conditions with spocks, spock 540s, flakas and switch vulcans. In the end it was Bentley’s shaka that made the difference and the title was decided.

Bentley taking the competition title had been push hard by Taylor. Taylor return to the scene sees him take top NZ sailor and the all mighty trophy.

A barbeque and drinks ensued to celebrate. Everyone was stoking about the competition. Great to have the young guys there and Al Bentley from the UK. Those that came down and supported, thank you.

Two years of great conditions has seen the freestyle standard in NZ grow. Let’s keep it going and see you there next year!

1. Al Bentley (Competition Winner)
2. Tom Taylor (Top NZ Sailor)
3. Rob Harrision
4. Tim Haxell
5. James Court
6. Eric Torvelainen
7. Jo Tildesley (Youth Champ)
8. William Novak
9. Nick Thyne

NZ Windsurfing Freestyle Nationals

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 21:00:19 GMT

New Zealand Windsurfing Freestyle Nationals comes to Wellington this weekend (1 and 2 December).

Last year Auckland turned it on with a stellar day of freestyle action. Wellingtonian Tim Haxell had to produce his best, to fend off the Aucklanders, to take the title down to the Capital.

Haxell, 24, will have his work cut out again this year. The return of Wellington bread freestyle master Tom Taylor will present stiff competition. Taylor, once winner of the international JP Young Gun Freestyle Camp, will have to work hard having been off the water this year.

The onslaught on the top doesn’t stop there for Haxell. UK windsurfer Al Bentley is in town. Bentley brings freestyle moves that will amaze his competitors and spectators alike. Check him out online.

With the wind as promised, get yourself to the Ngatitoa Domain in Mana a.k.a. the MCC to see the action. Back up location is Evans Bay.

Competition times are from 11am to 6pm Saturday and if required 11am to 4pm Sunday. See you midday Saturday for an afternoon of windsurfing freestyle action!

On the day, see deepfried.tv forum for latest updates on times and locations.

WWA Harbour Blast 2012 - Cancelled due to light winds

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 08:03:49 GMT

Due to light winds again the Harbour Blast reschduled for the 1 of April has been cancelled till next season.

__________________________

We were forced to cancel a few weeks back because of the poor forecast, but are pleased to announce a rescheduled date for the 2012 Harbour Blast on Sunday 1st April. Although the Slalom event that we planned won't be on the same weekend, we are still hoping to hold that event soon, so stay tuned. Please register (again) on the event page, for the Harbour Blast even if you did previously, we need to know entrant numbers. thanks

Pay membership fees with your credit card

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 08:20:53 GMT

WWA can now take your annual membership payment by credit card (visa & mastercard) or by PayPal. Simply click join, and follow the instructions there to either Renew (for past WWA members) or Join for new members. WWA also has a new bank account so check this number if you want to continue to pay by Bank Deposit. Cheers

Wellington Freewave 2011/2012 Round 1 Results

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 08:23:23 GMT

Three weeks have now past since Round 1 of the Wellington Freewave 2011 and we are looking down the barrel of Round 2 this Saturday 26 November 2011. Round 1 saw a group of dedicated sailors take to the water in Evans Bay for the freestyle round and for our first attempt to include freeracing. Conditions were light but just enough to run a race and a 30minute expression session.

Eight competitors started the freerace from the shallows beside the rocks, racing out to a bouy on the far side of the bay and back to a finishing bouy downwind of the start. Marginal wind saw competitors slugging to the far mark with most requiring a couple of tacks to make the rounding. Leading from the front James Court tacked his way to round first while Tim Haxell pinched his way upwind to follow him in second. A straight blast to the finish saw no change in position with Nick Hunn finishing in third ahead of Rob Harrison. This was a fun new aspect to the freewave and is to continue at the next round conditions permitting.

The freestyle expression session was battled out between Court, Haxell, Hunn and Harrison. Marginal planning conditions saw the competitors hunting for the gusts. Harrison decided to change down sails which saw his heat limited to non-planning moves coming in fourth place. Hunn edge ahead of Harrison with an array of old school freestyle moves. Court and Haxell slogged it out for first. Court struggled to nail his spocks, leaving his vulcans to do the talking while Haxell easily trumped him with a couple of solid flakas, gruby and vulcan to take the freestyle section of Round 1.

Hopefully wind and waves will ensue for Round 2 of the freewave. Watch deepfried.tv and here at wwa.org.nz for details of start time and location.

Freeracing

1. James Court
2. Tim Haxell
3. Nick Hunn
4. Rob Harrison
5. Andy UK
6. Colin Doig
7. David
8. Andy Galinkski

Freestyle

1. Tim Haxell
2. James Court
3. Nick Hunn
4. Rob Harrison

Overall Standings

1= James Court/Tim Haxell
3 Nick Hunn
4 Rob Harrison
5 Andy K
6 Colin Doig
7 David
8 Andy Galinski

Apologies if your full name is not up or it is spelt wrong. I will correct once I catch you at the water or flick me an email at admin@wwa.org.nz

Freeracing added to Freewave series

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 00:29:13 GMT

The freewave is to encourage all windsurfers to push their skills on the water and have fun in a competitive environment.

NEW: Freeracing

The freewave is to include wave sailing, freestyle and freeracing. The freeracing aspect is to bring something new to the freewave this year (please bear with us as we see how this goes). The goal is to have at least one wave and one freestyle focused round in the series conditions permitting. We will attempt to run a freerace at the start of each round. The freeraces will likely start from the beach or by bouy rounding aligned with a flag on the shore. Racing will be to an outer mark and back to either a beach finish or bouy rounding also aligned with a flag on the shore. Only wave or freestyle gear is allowed. Placing in the freeraces over all the three rounds will be combined to give an overall freerace ranking over the series. This will be considered in the final placing alongside the placings from the wave and freestyle sections.

Please see the Freewave events page to find out about how the events will be judged.

Freewave Date change - Round 2

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 21:21:22 GMT

The second round of the Freewave Series has been moved to 26th November 2011 so that it doesn't conflict with other on the water stuff happening that weekend.

Harbour Blast cancelled

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 20:34:43 GMT

Well we aint having much luck lately folks. The Harbour Blast 2011 was cancelled, due to lack of decent breeze. We had 39 registered ready to roll, but unfortunately the southerly that was forecast was looking pretty weak for around 11.00am when we were due to start , and it didnt look any better later in the day, so we called it off. Turns out it was a day for coffee in the sun, SUPs and mountain bikes. Thanks to everyone that took the time to register, and to our volunteers in boats and on land who were ready to help out. Next year!

2010 Freewave Round Two Results

Mon, 11 Oct 2010 06:03:40 GMT

The Freewave returned to Plimmerton for round two of the 2010 series. Conditions were superb and the action was hot. A strong north westerly from the Tasman kindly whipped up good punchy waves for the sailors to launch off and shred to pieces. The sun bore down on those on the shore and an epic round was in the making.

Same format as last round was run. Two expression sessions saw the top eight sailors advance to two semi-finals. Surprise advancer was Merel Rip advancing through to semi with a few sweet waves rides putting her above the guys. Sailing well in the semi she managed to make a very credible 5th equal placing representing the girls with style.

Outstanding performers in the semi one were James Court and Tom Taylor. Taylor fresh from the freestyle nationals was eager to impress in the strong winds that he is so used too. With a myriad of forwards and solid wave rides he secured a place in the final. Court equipped with some slick looking new Neil Pryde Combat sails came out firing throwing big push and forward loops. Really stepping up his wave riding in the onshore conditions he took top spot in the semi and his place in the final.

Semi two saw round one winner and Wellington Wave Champ Clayton Dougan come out pumped. However it was no easy sailing for the on form Dougan pushed hard by Klaas Stijnen. Stijnen kept Dougan honest with an intense aerial display of forward loops. The words “he ain’t no slug” were heard on the beach as Stijnen nailed one of the biggest end over forwards of the day recording plus-plus status on the judges’ card! Dougan impressed yet again with variety in the air sending him through to the final with Stijnen.

Conditions for the final were the best seen for years with primo waves and wind making it all the way to the inside to the delight of both spectators and the judges alike. The fifteen minute final saw the best action of the season so far.

All sailors kicked off proceedings with forward loops with Court taking the early advantage going huge first up. Dougan hit back with a big back loop to bring things back in to perspective for Court. Taylor and Stijnen were going tit for tat with forwards off the back of the wave right in front of the spectators. All sailors were making most of the ample waves connecting backside action with crossed up down the line rides. Stijnen again impressed with outstand onshore wave riding skills managing to get backside air launching right out in front of the wave. Court had himself flicked the onshore wave riding switch connecting the longest wave rides of the day getting into the bowl of some of the more punchy sections. With Dougan charging across the waves into his jumps like a man possessed, Court stepped up his game. First came a nice clean “JC special” push loop. Dougan responded with a “floaty” vulcan off the wave to mix things up and finished with another big back loop. Court still had more to give. Boosting high in a gust he stalled a very stylish tweaked forward. He then followed this up with the cleanest cheese roll ever seen at Plimmerton in recent time.

A hard decision was calculated carefully on the beach and Court was given top honours on the day with Dougan a very close second. Stijnen managed to pip Taylor with superior wave riding to take third. Congratulations James Court!

	ROUND ONE	ROUND TWO	ROUND THREE	SERIES
1st	Clayton Dougan	James Court
2nd	Tom Taylor	Clayton Dougan
3rd	Tim Bamford	Klaas Stijnen
4th	James Court	Tom Taylor

Overall that leaves Dougan on top of the overall standings on 3 points with Court in second with 5 points. Taylor third on 6 points sits above Stijnen in fourth on 10. With the final round set for 6 November 2010 the freewave champ is in the making. The third and final round is to be of the freestyle format. Watch the www.wwa.org.nz and www.deepfried.tv for updates on location and time. Remember it is never too late to enter so get out on the water and we will see you at round 3 of the Wellington Freewave 2010!

Also check out photos from round 2 kindly taken by Anton at: Picassa

2010 Freewave Round One results

Sun, 19 Sep 2010 01:52:34 GMT

The Freewave 2010 kicked off on Saturday in the midst of a storm reported to be the size of Australia. The round was held at Plimmerton. Everyone was on 4.0 with the sun topping off some mint conditions. Two expression sessions were run with the top five going through to the semi finals. Notable advances to the semis were made by Nick Hunn and Dave Houston aka Crash, with some sweet wave rides and forwards/cheese rolls to boot.

The semi finals saw everyone level up! Back loops, push loops and forwards were pumped in both heats. However, the judges were super amped when they saw the sweetest wave ride of the day from one Klaas Stijnen. Making the most of the onshore conditions, Klaas stomped two backside aerials one after the other. The second looked like something from Maui, boosting with some serious air in front of the wave to finish of his ride. But nevertheless, this wasn’t enough for the jetlagged Dutchie.

Tom Taylor's impeccable control in the air saw him nail a lightening quick forward 10m from the beach that blew everyone away! Tim Haxell couldn’t quite make the cut with a couple of sweet back loops - out done by the ever performing Clayton Dougan going bigger and better. Pushing Tom and Clayton was Tim Bamford and James Court. Bamford pulled out a large one handed forward to impress with Court throwing his tailor made push loops with style. Bamford, Court , Dougan and Taylor advance to the final.

The final proved challenging with the wind backing off for the 15min session. Action was lacking in comparison to the semis. Bamford sailed well but couldn’t match Taylor and Dougan for tricks in the light conditions. Sailing like he had his own secret stash of wind, Clayton took round one with a big forward, back loop and good backside aerial wave riding. With the session doubling as the Wellington Wave Championship Clayton also walked away with this title for 2010. Congratulations Clayton!

Tom Taylor was a clear second over Tim Bamford with James Court struggling to find any moves in the final's light conditions.

Thanks to all those that competed and supported the event. Particular thanks to those that came and took the time to capture some stunning pictures. Round 2 is scheduled for the 9/10 October, so get on the water and let's hope Wellington provides us with some more good conditions!

	ROUND 1	ROUND 2	ROUND 3	SERIES
1st	Clayton Dougan
2nd	Tom Taylor
3rd	Tim Bamford
4th	James Court

5th=   Nick Hunn, Tim Haxell
7th=   Rob Harrison, Klass Stijnen
9th=   Dave Houston, Troy Purcell
11th= Alastair Packor, Dave O'Donovan, Jase Hall, Colin Doig, Anton Ognev, Magnus Ahlman

Check out more awesome pics of the event at sportshotz and Markg and Picassa thrusterproject and Marvel Media

Second WWA Slalom Day Cancelled

Sun, 02 May 2010 01:54:36 GMT

Based on the conditions today - we have decided to postpone tomorrows Slalom Event. We will post an update soon. This follows on from our last attempt to run it which was also cancelled. Despite a promising forecast, the wind decided not to come through for both days. Watch for more details.

WWA Weekend at Lake Ferry 17-18 April 2010

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 02:38:21 GMT

Lake Ferry and the Palliser coast line was untypically bathed in Sunshine and some light breezes for the WWA Wairapapa weekend on 17-18 April. However the event still attracted one of the largest turn-outs in the last few years although it could have been mistaken for a surfing (and SUPing) club road trip! Although the lake didn't see much action, and the windsurfing shortboards stayed in the car, the big boards saw plenty and the Whatarangi wave down the road was working nicely on both Saturday and Sunday.

We had a great social on Saturday night at the Lake Ferry Hotel and it was so good to see a lot of new members. If you haven’t already you can check out the sessions from Chris, Digby, Myself and Anton’s first SUP at Whatarangi, with more great photos and videos from the weekend posted on sessionlogs.com

Harbour Blast 2010 Results

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 09:02:15 GMT

In the last three years the Harbour Blast always provides excitement for the rescue craft whatever the wind. This year we had a huge amount of sailors entering, only to be doubled by every kitesurfer and their dog. The one thing we didn’t have was wind. However we did manage to run the race and had 19 finishers. The defending champion James was pipped at the post by Clayton this year.

Despite the lack of wind, the event atmosphere was just great. There was a huge turnout to both the race and the after event social and prize giving.

Thank you to all the people helping on the day, the rescue craft and the extra assistance provided by the Police and Coast Guard picking many bobbing sailors out of the harbour. The results were:

2010 Harbour Blast Results:

2010 WWA Harbour Blast Approaching

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:29:37 GMT

This year’s Harbour Blast is less than two weeks away on Sunday 21 March.

This year we would like people to pre-register on-line using the following on-line form. This will save you time on the day and allow you to get text updates. After the event at around 2.30pm, we are having an after event social and prize giving at the Jetty Café on Petone Esplanade. Some nibbles and drinks will be provided.

Course details and more info will be posted on the website later this week

Movie Night success

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:58:56 GMT

Another successful WWA movie night was held on Friday 5th March at the Super Cafe in Island Bay. We screened the new "Four Dimensions" movie, as well as some classic action from "Windsurfing Downunder" Thanks to Lawrence & also to Tim Haxell for putting together some great local footage. Check it out at this Vimeo Group. Thanks also to everyone that attended.

2009/2010 Freewave Series Results

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 23:36:07 GMT

The Freewave final was held on the 13 February. It was a great days sailing with a relieved WWA crew after a couple of false starts last year.

A close final was made difficult by a few flat patches just when the guys were looking and hoping for a decent wave. Tommy definitely stepped up his performance from the semis and timed his run well to peak in the final.

The overall quality of sailing across the event was probably the highest we've seen in these events. There were plenty of excellent moves from a wide range of competitors in what, at times, were very challenging conditions.

	ROUND 1	ROUND 2	SERIES
1st	Clayton Dougan	Tommy Fahey	Clayton Dougan
2nd	James Court	James Court	James Court
3rd	Troy Purcell	Clayton Dougan	Troy Purcell
4th	Rob Harrison	Klass Stijnen	Rob Harrison

The plate final was made up of four sailors randomly selected from those that didn't progress to the semi finals. This was the first time we've tried this and we think it added more interest to the event. Hans took this out with pushloops, table tops, big air and some snappy wave rides. Colin Hodson was second and Dave O’Donovan third.