With the days getting shorter and the temperature slowly dropping, the wave riding season is around the corner! We at KSA are getting super keen to swap the twinnies for surfboards, and chase the long awaited winter Northerlies and winter swells :) .

KSA is excited to announce the 2016 State Wave Titles, which will be held between mid-June and mid-August on either the mid coast or south coast. As always, we have this large window to be able to pick the best conditions possible, and the location will be chosen a few days before the event, so stay tuned for more info.

As always, you don’t have to be going for the title to enter. KSA’s emphasis is on participation and having all riders out on the water enjoying themselves throughout the weekend. You never know, you might just walk away with a sick trophy or prize for just being there, getting involved, and giving it your all. It’s all about sharing the stoke!

Once the sign up link is live, we have the following categories you can sign up for:

-Juniors, <18 years

-Amateurs, anyone keen to give it a crack, no unhooked tricks, no shop riders, no previous place getters

-Open Women, 18 +

-Open Men, 18+

-Masters, 35-50

-Legends, 50+

Please note that you need to be a KSA member to sign up for this event. If you are not a member but would like to become one, please visit https://kiteboardingaus.com.au/join-renew/ . Alternatively, you can purchase a KSA day membership on the same page to be able to compete in this event.

KSA is looking forward to another great weekend of wave riding, so dig that winter wettie up, dust of the surfboards and get keen for this year’s wave event!

Yeeeeeooow!

the KSA committee

 

Would you like free entry to the 2016 KSA Wave Titles this year? Want to win a sweet prize? Are you keen to make your mark on the kiteboarding scene in SA? Well, now is your chance!

This year, we would like to get YOU involved in the design of our next logo we print on our merchandise for the 2016 KSA Wave Titles!.

The Rules:

-The logo must represent the sport and be in the best interest of the sport

The logo must show off the ‘Wave’ discipline

The logo must include the text ‘2016 KSA Wave Titles’

Extra points will be awarded if the logo also has a South Australian ‘feel’

Of course you can have colours in your design for print and on social media, though remember that printing is often is a white print on a dark colour, or black print on a light colour, as printing in different colours increases the costs for sign ups and KSA always aims to keep the cost as low as possible for everyone.

The winner will be chosen based on the design, professionalism and popularity. Likes on Facebook, bribes, and comments will be taken into account. If you print your design and bring it to the Pizza night on 6/5/16, comments and votes for your design will also be taken into account. Please post your design on the Facebook event page https://www.facebook.com/events/633202980168874/ or bring it along the our pizza night, entries close COB Friday the 13th of May.

The committee will then choose the rightful winner by the 27th of May.

Looking forward to seeing what everyone will come up with!

Cheers

The KSA committee

Ps. Did I mention bribes accepted ;-)… haha.. Happy designing everyone!

A message from the president                

 

G’day crew,

Well the season kicked off with a bit of a bang this year. We’re heading into one of the strongest El Nino periods on record which means a hot, dry summer with a pretty good chance of some solid sea breezes, the likes of which we probably haven’t seen in the last few years. So for those who’ve been in the game for 5 years or more, you might be thinking “oooh, we might be back to the good ol’ days of summer”. For newer kiters, you’ll likely get a good chance to dust off the smaller kites this year!

The downside to a hot, dry Summer, is that the beaches are likely to be packed with swimmers and general beach-goers. So obey the restrictions, always land and launch safely with help wherever possible and try and stay away from other beach users. The last thing we need to see is insurance premiums go up again because someone injures a swimmer! Boating rules actually apply, but rather than put yourself in a position where you need to do 4 knots within 50 metres (yes, that’s the rule!) of a swimmer, just steer well clear of them and downwind wherever practical. Common sense really does apply here.

The committee are pretty excited for summer and one of the biggest changes you’ll see this year is that SAKSA will be changing over to Kiteboarding South Australia. So I’m gonna get it out the way early and refer to it from here on in as KSA! The same people are involved, but this change begins to pave the way for KSA and KA (Kiteboarding Australia) to bring you better services, better value for you membership and of course, more events – yep, we heard you loud and clear in the membership survey… events YOU wanted!

With the start of the season, comes a whole host of great events organised by all of us here at KSA. We just had our Season Opener BBQ at Ozone Reserve, Henley Beach. That was a great success and we coupled it up with a “swap meet” to try and help you guys clear out a few older kites and help some newbies get their hands on some pre-loved goods. Hopefully that worked and we’ll try to give you guys more opportunities to do this in the future too.

From here, you’ll see a Season Opener BBQ up in Whyalla on the 21st November, followed by a safety demonstration and BBQ up at Largs Bay (just North of the Sailing Club) on the 22nd November. We’re trying something different and having a shorter format, hands-on demo for the safety afternoon this year. So you’ll get to see first hand how to do a water-packdown and self-rescue. Then we’ll smash snags and softies and talk smack ’til the sun goes down! As always, it’s an open format, so we encourage new-comers to ask questions and experienced kiters to share their knowledge.

Of course, the NKL is on it’s way, so if you haven’t signed up, get amongst it and throw your hat in the ring. It’s worth remembering, this isn’t so much about competing against others, but in fact, about competing against yourself. You’ll get a National Ranking this year that you’ll be able to strive to beat next year. It’s a great opportunity to ride some premier flat water or waves, down South, and hang with your mates as well as with former PKRA World Freestyle Champion, Andy Yates. Having spent a lot of time with Andy over the past year, I can honestly say, you’ll come away from the experience wanting to kite more. When someone as humble and down to Earth as Andy shows how much he still loves what he does, 10 years on, it really gives you a new lease on your favourite sport.

Finally, our Winter was marred by the tragic loss of a great man, Lindsay Lock. We don’t ever want to see this happen again but we want to pay tribute to the legend by recognising how dedicated to his kiting, stand up paddle and all out-door pursuits he was. You’ll see a lot of his gear still on the water as Matty, his nephew makes sure it gets put to good use, like Lindsay would have wanted. Of course our thoughts are with Lindsay’s family, friends and the two local lads who went to his rescue, Sam Langford and Tony Mitrovic – we’re always here for all of you.

So with that in mind, stay safe this Summer. Look out for each other, help each other out whenever you can and don’t wait to be asked. Sometimes people don’t have the confidence to ask for a land or a launch, so be beach-aware and ask the question. You might just save an injury, or worse. It’s this helpful nature that continually earns SA praise from interstate and overseas kiteboarders when they can’t believe how helpful and friendly everyone is on the beach. Let’s keep that up!

The KSA committee is here for all of you kite crew. So if you see us around, say g’day and enjoy a session with us!

Have a great silly season and see you all on the water!

Jordan Roberts
KSA President

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KSA EVENTS

KSA Season Opener BBQ/Swap Meet, Whyalla Foreshore: Saturday 21^st November at 2pm

KSA BBQ and Safety Demonstration, Largs Bay (Carpark North of Largs Bay Sailing Club): Sunday 22^nd BBQ from 3pm, Safety Demonstration from 4pm.

National Kiteboarding League (NKL), Goolwa: 3^rd to 6^th December 2015

Unofficial KSA Xmas Drinks, Grange Sailing Club:  Sunday Session 20^th December 15

Wave Downwinder and BBQ, Goolwa: Weekend of 16^th or 17^th January 16

KSA Freestyle State Titles, Venue TBA:  Weekend of 30^th and 31^st January 16

Charity Downwinder, Brighton:  Weekend of the 27^th or 28^th February 16

Robe Easter Classic:  25^th to 28^th March 16

Keep an eye out for more details of these and other impromptu events over the coming months on the SAKSA website (www.saksa.com.au) and the SAKSA Facebook page.

 

As some of you would remember from the AGM, Saksa will over the next 12 months change its name to Kiteboarding South Australia. As part of the change, SAKSA has officially launched our brand new intagram account: Kiteboarding_SouthAustralia, to bring you some stoke from sunny South Oz
So if you are on Insta, give us a follow @kiteboarding_southaustralia, or use ‪#‎kitesouthaustralia‬ if you are keen for a feature. Click the link on the right hand side to take you to insta, or on the Icon in the top bar on our website