Winter Bow Out Dec 6th & 7th

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One miserable afternoon I was on skype to Mr Appo of Appozone , and the conversation turned towards the lack of kiting events and the bad weather we had this summer, well if you could call those three days in June a summer that is.

After a few moments of thought it struck me that the answer was a simple one, OK a little bit late in the year but none the less. I thought we can’t be the only ones that would love to get a weekend of kiting in, and mix it up with people from far and wide. I quickly skyped Appo back with the news that we would hold our own event and we would be calling it the ‘Winter Blow Out’

Appo took it on himself to whip up support from others in the industry and organise some banners to promote the event  while I started getting the permissions sorted with the local council, maritime authorities and sorting the entertainment and accommodation ect. It was not long before Appo had some sponsors least of all Ozone who were generous enough to give one of the brand new 5mtr Flows as a prize. Thank you team Ozone. Unlike a lot of kiting events I thought it would be great idea if we could get this one together and not have to charge anyone a fee. So this is just what we did. We needed a good cause for the event to support, so a couple of phone calls later and hey presto! The perfect charity and most apt for us kiters were Wales Air Ambulance. Everything was set and all we needed was some decent weather and wind.

As Friday arrived I was frantically checking the weather and wind map when the first arrivals started phoning in for updates. The wind for Saturday was going to be light and from the North max 12 knts. Friday night we had some Dj’s and Vj’s arranged in our host venue The Snowdon Inn. The music blasted and the beer flowed into the early hours while more and more people arrived. A hot contingent from Ireland made the most of the dance floor and some of the local girls surely fell for their Celtic charms

Saturday dawned with beautiful sunshine and the air was pretty still, if the wind charts were to be believed it would not be long before 12knts of wind blew through so we all headed out to Llanddona on the North side of Anglesey where the huge expanse of Red Wharf Bay beckoned and was bathed in the mild warmth from the winter sun. However, you guessed it..! The wind was not going to play the game today… for some that was not too much of a disappointment as there were plenty of very hung over faces mooching around. So big kites were the order of the day and Adrian from the UK team and windjammer got out their 14mtr Yaks and toured the beach in about 3mph of wind.
Others indulged in some sword fighting and I was quite relieved when the catapult broke leaving Wee Man Jack with stinging fingers. At least there would be no serious casualties to deal with. As the day wore on with no sign of more wind some went off in search of local attractions and walks in the mountains while others chilled or made their way back to base ready for the evening’s party.

Saturday night was the business…! Loads of new faces and plenty of familiar ones too, all connecting and having a great time to the brilliant but unusual music from ‘Banabacana’. Due to the lack of wind and kiting we decided that we would hold a raffle for the kites that Surface Tension and Ozone had donated with all the proceeds going to the Air Ambulance. More drinking partying and music followed and the overall atmosphere was amazingly warm and fun filled.

Sundays forecast was looking promising with wind coming from the South and more winter sun. We set up early hoping to make the most out of our last day at my favourite local beach ‘Black Rock Sands’ Cloud base was about 2500’ and the clouds moving up from the South made me quietly confident but at ground level there was barely any wind and what breeze occasionally came through tended to be offshore.
Spooky kept us all amused by hooking up his old Electron paraglider to 25mtr lines and control bar doing his best to fly it as the biggest kite on the beach. I thought it could have done with a bit more time trimming well it flew…. but didn’t turn quite as good as our modern kites. Nail biting stuff! But about 11am the magic happened..! It was just like somebody up there somewhere found the switch and turned the wind on.
Everyone raced for their kites and soon the beach was host to approx 50 kiters all giving it their all and revelling in the 14knt clean on shore winds that stayed pretty constant from then on till darkness slowly enveloped us all and it was time to make tracks for home.

We dished out some freebies kindly donated by event sponsors on an ad hoc basis and quite at random really.  Everyone was making as much of the conditions as they could. What a sight to see so many kites out and everyone pushing it to their own limits…pure magic from my view and relief that nearly everyone who made the effort to come got rewarded with a great session.

Many thanks to all the Ozone UK and ST team riders for their support and help with the event. Big thanks to Ozone for the 5mtr Flow and the banners.
Big up for all the other sponsors, Earth2air Trampa  Dark Sky’s YFricsan Bandabacana Appozone Surface Tension
Last but by no means least a very big THANK YOU to everyone who came and supported the event you made it a pleasure… can’t wait till the next time.

Thanks also to everyone who donated money for the Air Ambulance.

Chris