18 years after wining a youth dinghy sailing event in Weymouth, Lee 'pasty' Harvey finally gets an Olympic Classes podium with 3rd in Kiteracing. A great result especially after just coming back f
Read a full report with Lee's Blog http://www.leepasty.co.uk/1/post/2012/09/3rd-olympic-classes-ranker-weymouth.html 
For kitesurf race coaching pleases go to our coaching page http://www.pastyadventures.co.uk/kitesurf-coaching.html

Despite the crazy weather with torrential rain and hosepipe bans up country, its been almost perfect for learning to kitesurf down here in Cornwall.
With small waves and North to West winds, Gwithian has been amazing with all the beaches around St Ives bay offering up amazing kite conditions.
In the southerly winds we have been having, Marazion has been perfect, although some waves last week have stirred up a bit of weed making for some line tangles and the students learning about the importance of staying away from weed and cleaning your lines after your kitesurf session. The beach have now been cleaned by Cornwall Council who use the weed to fertilize the farms around Penzance.
With great winds forecast again all this week and the beaches pretty empty, there has been no better time to learn to kitesurf in Cornwall, so make the most of this summer and get in touch today to book in your extreme adventure with Pasty Adventures, West Cornwalls only British Kite Surfing Association recognised school.
We also pride ourselves on offering the best value kitesurf instruction in the UK concentrating on giving intimate instruction to the students. To do this we recommend 1:1 instruction so that you can learn at your own pace. We also offer the 'Learn with a friend' option for all of our kitesurf courses as kitesurfing is a really socialable sport and great to learn with your mates. 2:1 is the biggest class size we run, unlike most other schools who operate on a 4:1 basis. We believe this is unfair as you spend a lot of time hanging around and we want you to learn quickly, while having an amazing time and feeling like you are getting amazing value. Kitesurfing is an expensive sport to learn but we feel it is worth every penny and want you to feel this right from your first lesson!

We can also sort you out with some great deals on new equipment thanks to local shop Westcountry Watersports in Truro and our sponsors North Kiteboarding so there has been no better time to get into the Worlds fastest growing extreme sport.

Last weekend saw the Edge cup hosted by 4 times World Champ- Steph Bridge. After mostly finishing 3rd, I ended up 4th being beaten by Callum by 0.3 points after he bagged an equal 2nd and got took out in the last race which gave him average points meaning he beat be even though i beat him in 7 out of 11 races. Jammy git!
the report from Edge is below-

On the friday, Steph and me ran a Race Coaching clinic which was attended by the RYA and 9 of their development squad along with 3 other kitesurfers who are keen to get into kite racing. With around 25knts of breeze we covered the basics of getting into kite racing, including gust management, rules, footwork, upwind/downwind sailing and mark rounding. All learnt lots and I think the RYA were suitably impressed. 
Lots more to come so stayed tuned for Race Coaching dates at www.pastyadventures.co.uk and www.edgewatersports.com
Cheers
Lee

Edge Race Cup - Report

 June 23rd and 24th saw the 3rd running of the Edge Race Cup, now established as the premier kitesurf racing event in the UK.  The record entry of over 40 kiteracers came expecting great kitesurfing conditions and were not disappointed!  Amongst the entries were organiser Steph Bridge 4 times Kiterace World Champion and previous UK National Champions Denzil Williams from Cornwall and Callum Edge from Weymouth.  The weekend also saw many 1st time racers get down to Exmouth seafront and join the action.



The action began on the Friday with a race clinic run by Lee Harvey and Steph  Bridge- 12 kiters joined and learnt up and down wind techniques, directional board footwork, stance, kite position and race strategy.  The day also saw the Royal Yachting Association in attendance to learn more about kitesurfing prior to its inclusion at the Olympics in Rio for 2016.

Saturday dawned with a good force 5 south westerly wind blowing and an out going tide resulting in challenging sea conditions ensuring the race board fleet were sent out on the water first.  3 races were run in quick succession with fantastic fast racing with the Exmouth Duo of Steph Bridge and her eldest son Oliver Bridge setting the tone for the weekend and dominating the fleet.  Oliver Showed amazing speed and control in the rough conditions and came away with 3 first places in the morning session.

 

Then it was time for the amateurs and ladies fleets to get into the action.  Stand out performances were seen from Murray Smith from Dartmouth and Mathew Causen from Bristol as well as local teenager Alice shoulder in the ladies fleet.  After a brief lunch break the course was moved further out to sea and both pros and amateurs were sent out at the same time.  The sea conditions were now a little kinder and it was time to set both fleets off at the same time.  It was impressive to see forty racers all starting at the same time and some great racing continued.  In the ladies local rider Bel Bailey really came to the party winning a number of races and beating all the amateur men in 2 races but with Alice shoulder right on her tail the overall result was looking very tight.  In the men's amateur fleet local doctor Tom Debenham was on fire getting some great results followed closely by another local James Bainbridge.  In the pros there was no stopping Olly Bridge with 2 more race wins abruptly ended with a disqualification in the last race for starting too soon.  Other pros with good results that afternoon were Callum Edge, Lee Pasty,  Denzil Williams and Steve Stubbs,  All they had to do was work out how to beat Olly!

The Saturday night party was hosted by the River Exe Cafe and despite the rain everyone had a great time with excellent food and wine provided by our  sponsor pebblebed wines.

The Sunday dawned with light winds and the pro's were sent out to do battle, in these very difficult conditions only 1 race was run won by Steph Bridge proving that experience counts when the going gets tricky.  The afternoon gave much better wind and slacker tides so everyone was back on it for the final deciding races.  In the ladies fleet it was a battle down to the wire between Alice Shoulder and Bel Bailey, both were super powered and gunning for the win just coming out on top by 2 points was Alice in her first ever race event!  In the amateur fleet it was down to a 3 horse race with Murray Smith just edging out Debenham with Bainbridge third.

The Race board class continued to be dominated by fourteen year old Olly Bridge winning nine races out of eleven, an amazing performance, second was Steph and third  Callum Edge.

It was a great weekend of racing and enjoyed by all participants, roll on 2013.

Lee is now back in Cornwall running kitesurfing lessons at Gwithian and Marazion after his 3 week adventure in Portugal for round 1 of the 2012 KSP World Tour.
Unfortunately the wind did'nt play ball after Lee dominated his Round 1 heat advancing straight to a round 3 match up with 2008 World Champ, Mitu Monteiro from Cape Verde. After hanging around all week, with the wind teasing and numerous heats starting and stopping, the event finally ended without a result as there were still 2 heats left to run in round 2.
Some great waves were had both surfing and kiting at some of Portugals numerous World class spots, with Lee making the most of being away from Cornwall in the sun and having the van to get around, taking with him some of the best kitesurfers and surfers in the World, such as Ozzie wiz kid, Keahi de Aboitiz and former ASP Top 44 surfer Pedro Henrique from Brasil.

Check out the small vid from the trip below. 
Next up for the tour is Mauritius in September and you can be there amongst it while enjoying a week of top class coaching from Lee and 2011 womens One Eye Pro winner, Ninja the week before the event. More details in the Holiday pages

Lee is currently in Portugal competing on the Kite Surf Pro World Tour and dominated his 1st round heat on sunday moving into round 3 and matching up with former World Champ, Mitu Monteiro. Check out all of the action from round 1 and be sure to tune in live for the rest of the comp at www.kspworldtour.com
So far its been a great adventure with some cracking waves at numerous spots and a great night out in Lisbon at the Volvo Ocean Race. chack out some of the pics and the highlight video. More to come soon. Make sure you like my fan page on facebook Lee Harvey to stay up to date with everything thats going on in my world.


Meanwhile Blake is running kitesurfing lessons at Marazion and Gwithian, Cornwall and with the weather now warmed up and the wind blowing its the perfect time to learn to kitesurf in cornwall. Contact [email protected] to book in.