  The 2017 Edge Cup & British Kitesurfing Foil Championships took place over the weekend of 20 – 21st May in Exmouth hosted by 5 x World Champion Steph Bridge and the Edge Watersports team. Over 30 entrants from all round the country including 1 German, 3 Frenchmen and 1 Irish lady gathered on the beach to battle out across 2 fleets, Pros and Ams. With grey skies and light winds I hit the water using the Aero Ultralight 17m and Ketos Foil Race2, ready for 3 races back 2 back. Unfortunately as the 5 minute signal sounded it started raining and everyone ended up getting rescued as the wind completely vanished. It wasn’t long before the sun came out and the wind was back at 12- 15 knts perfect for the Aero UL 14m on 18m lines. I hit the first start perfectly and was instantly please with my pointing and speed rounding the windward mark in 5th not too far behind the front 4 who are all ranked inside the top 15 in the World. All was going good until the last leg of the 3 lap windward leeward course when a small mistake allowed the 3 French guys past before the finish. Race 2 and I made it around the first mark in front of Olly Bridge riding the new Flysurfer Sonic Race 15m. One of the best moments for me was managing to hold Olly off downwind until just before the mark where he overtook and went onto win while I comfortably kept hold of 5th with no mistakes. This gave me great confidence going in for lunch knowing my kites and foil is as fast as the best in the World. The sun continued to shine for the afternoon and the sw breeze picked up although also became very gusty going from 18 – 22 knts. I went for the Aero UL 11m for the 3 races back 2 back. My speed was still very good at the front of the chasing pack for most of the races but fatigue was starting to set in on my legs and too often I made a mistake on the last leg to lose my 5th spot.
Sunday and the weather was much nicer with glorious sunshine and a southerly 12-15knt breeze perfect for the Aero 14. Three races in the morning followed by 3 races in the afternoon, we had some great racing and I enjoyed some great battles with the 3 Frenchmen. Holding 5th place after 2 laps in nearly all races I again made too many mistakes on the last downwind legs or into the finish to end up 8th Overall in the Edge Cup. Happy with achieving my goal of 4th in the British Championship and with the speed of the kites and foil, it’s now time to train more to improve my leg stamina so I don’t make any mistakes at the next event. Thanks to Steph and the Edge Watersports crew for running a great event and my sponsors for the great kit – Ketos Foils, Peter Lynn, ION & Pasty Adventures Results: Edge cup 1st Olly Bridge, 2nd Guy Bridge, 3rd Benni Boeli. Ams – 1st Lance Olner British Champs 1st Olly Bridge, 2nd Guy Bridge, 3rd Connor Bainbridge, 4th Lee Harvey For kitesurf foiling lessons, coaching and sales – www.pastyadventures.co.uk 
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 The sun is shining and the wind is blowing which means its time to brush up your kite skills and make 2017 the year that you up your game whatever your kitesurfing level.
Join in on one of our spring kitesurf clinics in Cornwall, run by British Champion and BKSA Senior Coach, Lee Harvey. There is for everyone - Refresher clinic at Marazion or Hayle on the 29th April which is the perfect way to get back into kiting after the winter and meet some new friends at the same level. Intro to Wave at Marazion or Gwithian clinic on 6th May which is for anyone getting into riding a surfboard. Intermediate TT clinic on 13th May which for people happy going upwind and looking to get into jumping and looping. Kitefoil Clinic on 3rd June which is for everyone who is up riding on the foil and wants to start making foiling tacks, gybes and generally improving their upwind and downwind speed. We will also be running our Wave Improver clinic again during the Autumn, date tbc. To come on all clinics you need to be a member of the BKSA. Space is strictly limited so book up quick to avoid disappointment. For KKC members there are a limited amount of funded spots where the club pays £20 towards the cost of the clinic. You must mention on booking and be a member of the KKC showing your card to prove so on the clinic. For more info or to book on email [email protected] If you are looking to buy new kite gear check out the great deals in our Kitesurfing Shop Here is my latest video from Kitesurf Foiling at Gwithian and Marazion in West Cornwall during summer 2016. Riding on North Kites and Ketos Foils with the Ketos Pocket board and Fastafoil custom race board. Only 90 seconds long but I hope you like it and it gives you a buzz to give kitesurfing and kitefoiling a go this year. For beginner kitesurf lessons and kitefoiling coaching in Cornwall give us a shout www.pastyadventures.co.uk Big thanks to my sponsors North Kiteboarding, ION, Ketos Foils, Blake Evans and Jan Bowden for filming. See you on the water. Cheers Pasty  Pasty Adventures Autumn Clinics 2016
If you are looking to improve your kitesurfing, Pasty Adventures Kitesurf School have some great clinics coming up in Cornwall. Run by BKSA Coach and British Champion, Lee Harvey each clinic is aimed at improving your level using real time demos via a speaker system and 2 way headsets. 28th August - KITEFOIL Clinic at Marazion This clinic is for people that can ride on the foil and want to nail turns and transitions, as well as start ripping upwind and downwind at speed. Ketos Foils and North Kites will be available to test. 17th September – Intro to Wave, Gwithian or Marazion If you are just starting to ride a surfboard, this is the clinic for you. North kites and boards available to test. 1st October – Wave Clinic, Gwithian This clinic is for people who are comfortable riding the surfboard in the waves and want to improve their turns and overall wave ability. For more info including back up dates, please see the website- http://www.pastyadventures.co.uk/kitesurf-clinics.html   Lee racing in light winds on Saturday The weekend of 11th and 12th June, Lee competed in the 2016 British Kitefoil Championships take place at the Edge Cup in Exmouth. Run by 5 times World Champion, Steph Bridge the event attracted top international riders as well as the best racers in Britain, making a fleet of 42 kitesurfers, competing for the £5000 prize pot and various titles. With light winds of 6-8 mph on Saturday the racing was tense at the front of the pro fleet with World No. 2 Olly Bridge taking out 4 wins out of 4. With a few rescues in the Am fleet as the wind dropped off towards evening, racing was called off for the day with promise of more wind and sunshine on Sunday. Sunday came with sunshine and variable breeze of 10 - 12 mph that allowed 2 races before the wind switched offshore and due to the tide made it impossible to race anymore. Lee finished in 7th place overall and 4th in the British Nationals. Overall results 1st Olly Bridge 2nd Guy Bridge 3rd Florian Gruber (GER)  Lee coming round the leeward mark on Sunday I was very happy with my result amongst the top international riders and was getting faster with every race, even beating Gunner Binash who was using the new Ozone R1 V2 in the last race. I would like to thank my sponors- Ketos Foil, North, Fastafoil and Ion for the support and look forward to working on new race wings and getting faster before my next event. Thanks to Steph and all the Edge Watersports crew for running another amazing event. Thanks Lee 'Pasty' Harvey For Kitefoiling lessons and coaching click here  Although it has been a very cold spring we have still had some amazing conditions for Learning to Kitesurf at Marazion. Our private lessons have been very successful with the use of the new BBTalkin 2 way headsets. This has greatly improved the speed of learning and all the students that have used them have been extremely happy with some great feedback. We are using them on all private beginner lessons and coaching sessions. Check out our full range of courses here.  This year we are also using the new North Mono 1 strut kite which has really impressed us with its ease of use and water relaunch. The light weight also means it has lots of power for its size and well as being super friendly in the small sizes. For 2016 we have the full range of North Neos, Evos and Mono kites ensuring we have the right tools for the job.  We are also pleased to now be using ION products in the school and Lee has signed on to the UK Team. Check out the full range at www.ion-products.com  With summer approaching now is the time to start getting to grips with Foiling and maximise your water time while experiencing one of the greatest thrills you can get on the water. We are please to be one of the only fully qualified and insured kite schools in the UK to teach Kite Foiling and with Marazion and Mounts Bay we have one of the greatest locations for Hydrofoiling in the World. Check out our Foil lesson packages here  Have a great summer and we hope to see you on the water in sunny Cornwall at some point. Remember to keep an eye on our Facebook page for all the latests news and happenings from our World. If you are in need of some new Kitesurf equipment check out our Kitesurfing shop, where you will find unbeatable packages from North Kiteboarding, KiteFoiling setups, Kite Surf boards and New & Used Bargains! Have Fun and Stay Safe Lee 'Pasty' Harvey  The 2015 British Kitesurfing Racing Championships took place at the Edge Cup on 6th and 7th June in Exmouth hosted by Edge Watersports. Split into three classes of Formula race board, Foil board and Open fleet there was a great turn out of over 50 riders from 8 countries including the Top 10 in the World for the Formula class. On Saturday the wind was blowing Westerly 15-20 mph which meant for some great action packed racing with the Formula and Foil classes completing 8 races each and the Open class 4 races. This year I competed in the Foil for the first time after working with Fastafoil over the last year, I was super keen to see how fast I was going and line up against 2014 British Champ Guy Bridge along with 4 visiting French guys. For the first race I used the 10m North Dyno and was super happy to take 3rd place with half the fleet using faster Foil kites. As I wanted more power I quickly headed in to change up to the 13m Dyno and took 2nd place in Race 2 behind Guy Bridge riding on a Spotz 2 hydrofoil and Ozone Chrono 9m Foil kite who was blisteringly fast and overtaking all of the Formula guys after 2 laps despite them starting 1 minute ahead. For the remainder of the races I placed 3rd behind both Guy and Theo de Ramecourt (France) which I was super pleased with after having some great battles with Mateo from France in 4th who overtook me on most of the upwind legs with his ultra fast Elf kite but I managed to overtake him again on all the downwinds with good speed and fast foiling gybes which made the difference. In the Formula class 2013 World Champion Florian Grubber from Germany held a narrow lead from Florian Trittel (Spain) and Olly Bridge (Exmouth). While we took a break for lunch the Open fleet hit the water for 4 races. With a mix of riders using different boards it was Matt Taylor from Praa Sands that was leading the fleet riding a Sector board and North Dyno 13m. A great result from Matt after lots of hard work and awesome to see my coaching paying off with a win in his first event. After a great days racing it was off to Pebblebed vineyard for some top nosh and fine wine, courtesy of Jeff. Thanks again for the amazing food. Sunday dawned and as the forecast predicted it was light although at 9am there was just about enough wind blowing down the estuary at about 6 knts. The course was set and we headed out with me as the only tube kite able to get off the beach on my 18m Dyno. As quite often happens in Exmouth as the sun came up the sea breeze started to work and cancelled out the Northerly wind meaning everyone got rescued before we could start. We then waited to see if the sea breeze would fill in enough and around 12pm the course was reset in 6knts of southerly wind. Yet again I was the only inflatable able to make it to the start line but felt powered and was making my tacks and gybes. At the start I was bang on the money, but was simply blown away by the speed and pointing ability of these big foil kites in such light wind. Half way up the beat the wind dropped a bit and my kite simply fell backwards into the water after a tack. I was then sat there watching all the formula guys get slower and slower as the made there way to the windward mark and by the time they started coming downwind, the wind had dropped so that even the foil kites would not stay in the air and everyone was rescued again. That marked the end of racing apart from a paddleboard race which is always a good workout against the 8knts of tide in the channel. Thanks to Steph and all the Edge Watersports team for another great event, the rescue cover and beach marshalls were the best I've ever seen! Big thanks to all the sponsors for making it happen and everyone for turning up. It was great to see so many foils and have such a buzz around this new discipline. I can't wait for next year, lets make it over 30 Foil boards! Thanks to my sponsors- North Kiteboarding, FastaFoil, O'Neill, Ketos, Supersaturated Cheers Lee 'Pasty' Harvey Results- Formula- 1st Florian Grubber (Germany), 2nd Florian Trittel (Spain), 3rd Olly Bridge (Exmouth) Foil- 1st Guy Bridge (Exmouth), 2nd Theo de Ramecourt (France), 3rd Lee Harvey (Hayle) Open- 1st Directional Matt Taylor (Praa Sands), 1st Twin Tip Lance Oliver, 1st Women Bel Stanley Rou Chater - Iksurfmag To learn to Kitefoil or for kitesurf foil coaching click here             |
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