Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Kiteboard Racing in Tauranga Courtesy of the TYPBC + commentary


*Latest............TPBC Winter Series
Tauranga Kiteboarding Raceday Sunday July 8th.
The forecast is for Southerly 4 to 5 knots. Raceday is cancelled.
Next raceday is Sunday July 22nd.

Kiteboarding racing 10 June Tauranga Yacht and Power Boat Club.
The first kiteboard race was run by Stu Pedersen and Darryl McConnell at TYPBC on Sunday 10th June as part of the fortnightly Centreboard Winter Series. It was run as a trial with 5 kiters turning up for some action.
See video here.
The conditions were not ideal with conditions variable from about 3 knots to 10 knots on the course with tide going with wind after mid day. One race was started in about 10 knots but the wind dropped to about 3 knots half way through the race. The kiters went from being comfortably planing and pushing up wind to having the kites dropped in the water waiting for breeze.
The briefing was at TYPBC with launching at Matua in the SW wind. Craig came across from Raglan to race and came within 100m of getting back to Matua before being swept back to TYPBC in the channel as the wind dropped. This provided good practice for rescue techniques for the support boats.
Glen Bright promoted the race through his Assault website and forums. If the conditions had been more favourable there would have been a larger crew from Raglan and interest from Aucklanders to join in.
It is intended to run racing again at the next race day on 24 June, briefing at 10.30am at TYPBC Sulphur Point with a launch from Matua.
Kiteboarding racing 24 June Tauranga Yacht and Power Boat Club.

Kiteboard Racing 24 June
The relatively new sport of kiteboard course racing is now firmly established in Tauranga, since windsurfing is officially dog tucker just weeks after getting the nod as an event for the 2016 Olympics.
The Tauranga Yacht and Power Boat Club is the first in the country to run a regular racing programme for kites as opposed to no racing offered to the local recreational windsurfing community. Last Sunday saw the second round of kiteboard racing as part of the club’s winter series, with ten kiters competing in a series of three races over a windward/leeward course. This turnout doubles the five who raced in the first round a fortnight earlier.
The competitors came from Tauranga, Auckland, Raglan and New Caledonia, and despite the absence of local kiting guru Glenn Bright who is in the Cook Islands, competition was fierce.
Launching from Kulim Park, the kite course was set in the Otumoetai Channel, a few hundred metres upwind from the course area used by the sailing dinghies and sailboards. A good westerly breeze made for some excellent racing until it dropped part way through the third race and left some kiters unable to finish. All but one however returned to shore unaided.
Kiteboard racing controversially replaced boardsailing – New Zealand’s top medal winning event of the last six Olympics - in a world sailing federation vote in May on the classes for Rio 2016. So controversially in fact that moves are afoot for a re-vote in November which could lead to a reversal of the decision, which will no doubt please many committed boardsailors who have been shocked and bewildered at the sudden dumping. Regardless, kiteboard racing is an exciting and up-and-coming form of sailing in Europe and the US, and New Zealand has a lot of ground to make up.
The sport is in development and success on Sunday was in part down to skill and in part to having the right equipment. Unlike other kitesurfing which uses ‘twin tip’ boards with tiny fins, which can go in both directions, course racing involves larger, uni-directional boards for lighter winds and deep fins for going upwind. The kites vary a good deal too in size and shape, and this can be quite telling over a race series in mixed conditions.
Top honours went to Matt Taggart of Raglan, with two firsts and a second. He was followed by Dave Robertson of Auckland, with a first, second and third, and Craig Roberts from Raglan, with a second, third and fourth. First local was Royce Whitaker in fourth overall.
Spicing up the action in race three was the arrival of two hydrofoiling Moth sailboats, sailed by locals Peter and Richard Burling. Peter, home briefly ahead of the London Olympics where he will be sailing a 49er skiff, showed the kites how it’s done with a perfect start and a fast two laps of the course – lapping many of the kites on the way. Whether this reflects different levels of racing skills, or speed differences between these very different but very fast sailing craft, only time will tell. But certainly the kiters, now that they have the chance, will be working hard to up their racing ability over the coming months and years as the Olympics beckon.
Next race day is Sunday 8 July and briefing is at Sulphur Point at 10.30am. According to club volunteer Darryl McConnell, if the forecast is for more than twenty knots, a slalom course will also be set and those with twin tip boards or slalom windsurfers will be welcome to race as well.

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