The British Kitesurfing Association came to Brighton for the Final event of the season and Round 7 of the National Tour as part of the Beachblast event.
The forecast for the whole week coming up to the week looked excellent – would it hold? Well the answer was yes. The competition unusually started with the Pro’s on the Thursday so that the whole competition could draw to a close on the Saturday with a night’s sit down prize giving.
All eyes were on the top 3 in the Pro Men’s as depending on the end results of this competition would effect the final standings of the year. Ali Barrett crashed out in the quarterfinals when he had a nightmare heat in the challenging conditions. Heat 9 was pretty close however Sam Light won through to go in the final. Heat 10 saw a great battle between Martyn Hogg against Ned Taylor – however Martyn’s competition experience won through to get a place in the final.
The Final was held in nearly 8-10 ft shorebreak and almost a dead on shore wind gusting upto 30 knots. In the box were 5 judges (usually we have 3). Lewis Crathern from Worthing – more used to the bumpy conditions rode exceptionally well to take the win with a unanimous vote from the judges. Sam Light lost a kite in the final however recovered after a quick change to take 2nd with Martyn in 3rd.
In the Ladies again the overall championship was up for grabs! Hannah Whiteley started badly when she chose to small a kite and could not get off the beach for most of the first heat, giving Helen Thompson from Tiree the win and Nicky Rudd in 2nd. Hannah did recover with each heat – however Helen took another win in the best of 3 to seal the deal. Helen from Tiree was ecstatic with her win.