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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