|
Written by Administrator
|
|
Tuesday, 10 November 2009 13:01 |
|
Finally the Victorian Wavesailing Series has kicked off at Sandy Point on the Melbourne Cup Weekend. The wavesailing competition was held by Sailboard Headquarters as part of their long weekend Melbourne Cup Regatta which has become a very popular, well attended and fun event.
Wavesailors were left sitting on the beach and finding other things to do that didn’t involve wind for the first 3 days of the 4 day competition window because Huey also decided he would go on holidays as well. Huey made up for it thou on Melbourne Cup day with a honking 35-40 knot westerly (gusting to around 50 knots) with 2 to 3 foot of swell that resembled something like Pozzo on starboard tack. The event was held at the Gap on Waratah Bay.
The super extreme conditions saw the big guys on 4.2m2 sails with the lighter guys maxed out on 3.2-3.5m2. It was definitely a day for experienced wavesailors which even saw the “good” guys struggling to complete a bottom turn without ending up at the Sandy Point General Store a few kilometres downwind! The format for the day started with a 45 minute expression session. From the expression session, the top 8 waveriders were selected who then sailed off in an 8 man judged heat. The top 2 place getters from the 8 man heat then battled it out in the final. For the girls, they also sailed in the expression session and then sailed off in a 4 women judged final.
The standout of the expression session was Andrew Hocking who showed unbelievable control in the air and on the waves in very challenging conditions. Unfortunately for him, Hock injured his foot in a rain making backloop and could not partake in the 8 man heat. Other worthy mentions were Pete Stevensen’s scarey scarey massive end over forwards on kook tack that had everybody on the beach screaming for more and the lone kiter going for one run then coming straight back in because “it was too windy!”
The women sailed off for the title in a judged 4 women heat. The girls did a fantastic job getting out there in conditions were most guys wimped out because it was too windy. Lisa came through with the goods and continued her great form which saw her winning at the Australian Nationals in Tassie earlier this year
The 8 man heat was fiercely contended and the clear standouts were Joel Ryan and Evan Hawkey who sailed off in the final. The final was a great spectacle and had everyone on the in the grandstands on the side of their seats! Evan sailed a very smart heat getting the score on the board early with some nice forwards on the way out and picking the swell when coming while Joel was out whale watching waiting for the arctic pulses! Joel came home with a wet sail with some huge forwards landing in only a foot or two of water on the way in and some excellent waverides. The winner by unanimous decision was Evan Hawkey.
It was a fantastic effort by all wavesailors to get out in very windy challenging conditions and a big congratulations and thank you must go to Sailboard Headquarters and their crew who ran and organised a fantastic event.
For a full listing of the current results and standing, check out the RESULTS link. Check out the video too.
|
|
Last Updated on Wednesday, 11 November 2009 14:00 |
Events 
