For the first time in kiteboarding history, a kiteboard tour got invited to a big sailing event. We got invited to do a kiteboard exhibition during the regatta, which included the invite of 20 international riders.
First of all, we got blown away by the hotel rooms the reserved for us…. Centara Grand Phuket is a brand new hotel wt big pool area and located directly on Karon beach. I had the most comfy room since a long time, specially the big bed wt sea view.
The event started wt a nice sail pass in front of 3 big navy boats, sadly there was not enough wind for us to participate in there, but I think next time will hop on a long tail boat.
Since this was our first sailing event we didn’t fully know what will come and how it will look like. The spot on Karon beach is definitely not the ideal spot for a kite event, but at the end we did what we could and pulled off a great event.
First and second day was covered wt no wind activities such as sitting on a boat and waiting for wind and go karting for the competitors and a failed trial to start a race wt not enough wind, which ended up in a 14kite rescue action, but everyone came back to the beach.
On the 3rd day the wind started early and after setting up a windward leeward course we were able to get two races in the bag, the conditions were pretty taff but kite able and most of the riders made it out.
Since every race day was finished wt a dinner beach party and price giving of the days best, we didn’t get bored at night and had way too much delicious food and free flow wine, beer and… ahh water.
We made it a few times to Patong, the party mile of Phuket, and thx to our local guides Oh and Yo we always found our safe way home again afterwards. Just the way out of be in the morning was sometimes a bit hard, and I think I haven’t seen more than half the fleet at any skippers meeting.
The breakfast buffet in the hotel was just awesome, every day salmon, toast, thai dishes, omelets, pancake, fresh fruits, yoghurt and much more.
We got a lot of media coverage out of the first day of racing, and the interest from the sailors at the awarding dinners was good. Lot of these sailors really still had no idea what this kite boarding is all about. With this event the kite boarding and KTA made it into a lot of sailing magazines and TV broadcast. I actually just seen an add in the Air Asia inflight magazine.
For the no wind days we made up some program around the hotel, some wentto see the big buddha or go to markets and we did some amazing race in the hotel lazy river wtthe tubes.
The forecast looked very promising for the last day, so we set up early, placed the buoys and tried to Anker the start boat again… after the boat guys lost the Anker on the first day we were hoping for a better start line than motoring the whole day again. But hey, an Anker only works wt a chain on it… but we tried hard. After drifting away wt the start boat for a few times we decided to do the motoring again. Since there was only about half the fleet on the starting line, we had no problems wt the start, no tangles or protests.
So at the end of the day we had 3 more races in and called it a day to do the results and get ready for the royal awarding ceremony.
We had to go for a informal rehearsal first, before the actual ceremony started. They told all the sailors and kiteboarders how to behave when u go up to the kings representative to receive ur price and very important, no jeans, no tshirts no flip flops aloud… well well.. too late all kiters had jeans on ;-) But no one got shot or arrested for that. So all smooth sailing.
So what we’ve learned from this event is, that even on this level of sailing event, they still cook wt water, it’s not as stiff and strict wt the rules as some people think it is.
Welcome to Asia and have a nice day! ;-)
Results are online
here
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