Kitesurfing - Round 3 of the 2008 Irish Championships

kjt wrote: »

WooHoo I'll deffo be there.

What would you advise to the beginner sea shooter? wetsuit, sum nice snug booties, helmet, (I doubt a ba?) maybe a cag?, I see you mention a brush in one of your posts, this would probably just be kept in the car though?

Any and all info, I'd love to hear!

Okay. I meant to answer this before now but I've been rather busy of late.

The brush is to brush sand off your camera. I leave it in the camera bag as a general rule. Learn to change your lenses in under 10 seconds as this will reduce your chance of getting sand inside your camera.

1) The water is warm. You'll only need the wetsuit if you're planning to go well into the water which I really don't recommend if you haven't spent much time around kitesurfers. I mean I know how to fly the kites and they still have nearly landed on top of me a couple of times. You could probably get away with shorts if the weather is like it is today. Dollymount occasionally has glass around it, but I run around either in flipflops or bare feet. I will be wearing nail polish on my toe nails, however.

2) Helmet: not necessary unless you are going into teh water and expect people to jump over you. They probably won't if they don't know who you are as they will not want to take any risks around you. They might go around you but you have to balance that against the fact that the judges may well want the water around the competitors kept clear of people getting in the way. Additionally, there is a great chance of destroying your camera if you are shooting from the water and have never done it before.

3) zoom lens. I think Paul brought a 200 +1.4 TC with him last year; depending on where the tide is, this shoudl be plenty. I'd recommend 300mm however.

Parking on Dollymount: there is space on the beach but I want to make it clear that I am not saying that it's a good idea to drive onto the beach. There are occasions (last week as a good example) where the sand behaves in such a way as it is impossible to get in or get out without getting stuck in the sand. Do NOT say I didn't warn you. Access to the kitezone is at the southern end of Bull Island, ie, the wooden bridge. It's about a ten minute walk from the causeway access at the other end.

Vantage points: depends on the competition zone. If you've lots of zoom and it's a really nice day, there are some interesting angles from the Bull Wall, otherwise, you more or less have the run of the beach.

I'll be there reasonably early and most of the kitesurfers know who I am at this stage. If you can't find me, ask anyone around the PureMagic vans; chances are they will know where I am. I'll probably have photographs on exhibition there on the Saturday at least, and possibly the Sunday.

I will post a wind forecast later during the week.

Okay, registration is 10-10.30 am Sat and expected first heat is 11 or so. This is unlikely to be the reality however.

Wind forecast is here and it's pretty dismal for Sat morning, although improving from about 1. Lousy part is that the cloud cover forecast isn't good at all for the entire weekend.

I don't know what time Sunday will get under way...it depends on how Saturday goes.