BKSA Barrow (07/2009)

BKSA Barrow was such a good event last year that it would have been a shame to miss it this year so I made the 350 mile trip up north to take part. The only difference this year was I had finally made the decision to compete in my first kitesurf competition.

On arrival there was little wind but I went out for a practise session using the 14.5 Ion 4. After 20 minutes, I was starting to get back to grips with the tricks I had learnt over the past months and was prepared for my first heat against Craig Smith and Andy Alston In my first heat, I wasn’t sure what to expect, the wind had picked up and I went out on my 12.5m which was perfectly powered.  Everyone rode really well and luckily so did I! I managed to start well with some simple tricks to get my confidence up before moving onto a Slim Chance, 313, Blind Judge, Kiteloop 3 and a Backmobe.

I had just about done enough to advance through to the Semi Finals were I was met by Ben Todd. Fortunatly the heat was some time away and it gave me the chance to run off and compete in the Landboard Jam. The jam was judged by the Freestyle Buggiers and the Buggy competition was judged by the landboarders so it was all abit of fun as the winner was the rider who did the best 3 tricks. I landed some good tricks (even though I was still riding in my wetsuit) such as a Slim Chance, Back to blind, Manual 360 invert to blind and a new trick based on a skate trick, a Kickflip Indy. The results were later announced in the afternoon and I found out I had done enough to take the win which was an amazing results.

Back to the Semi Finals of the kitesurf competition.  I had to drop a kite size down and used a 10.5 for my first time… What a perfect set up- I had the perfect heat landing a slim chance, backmobe, kiteloop 3, back to blind and a railey to blind putting me straight into the final against Tom Butler, Sam Moore and Tommy Gaunt.

The final didn’t start as planned, as I crashed my first two tricks and then couldn’t find the space to get some decent tricks in. Eventually I gained confidence again and turned the heat around by landing all my passes that I landed in my previous heats making it a very close final. The final results came as a shock, realising that I had actually won my first competition on the water aswell as winning the landboard jam was such a good feeling.

Results-

Kitesurf Amatuers

1.       Lewis Wilby

2.       Tommy Gaunt

3.       Sam Moore

Landboard Jam

1.       Lewis Wilby

2.       Carl Kirton

3.       Greg Chilton