Unanimously adjudged to have been the best ever, this years Aussie Kiss Festival was not only the most oversubscribed, the biggest and the smoothest running ever, it was also damn good fun and there is many a sore head out there this morning to attest for that!
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Friday night and the great surprise was just how EASY it all was! Gone are the days of endless queues, forms everywhere and not a drink til 1am. Instead everyone got straight to the bar, each club dressed in their magic identifying uniforms in order to identify each species of university (and know from a distance which one to avoid....). The bar closed at 2, but needless to say this was by no means the end of it. I think the latest report of someone going to bed was the SWA director Beaker who stumbled into bed with one bemused Exeter president girlfriend Liss at 6.45am...needless to say he wasn't the first down to the lake the next morning!
Saturday dawned bright and early, and thanks to a wake up text (the joys of technology eh?) from SWA president Sam, breakfast was impressively attended between 8 and 9am. The morning transition from Bude to Roadford is always a little slow, but thankfully we didn't lose too many along the way and the full day's activities commenced at 10.30, eagerly partaken in by students both young and old.
And what a spread was put on for them! Aside from the joys of a BBQ marquee with meat aplenty, there was instruction for 150 beginners who had quite literally NEVER stepped foot on a board before, top clinics provided by intermediate and professional instructors including a looping clinic by Nick Moffat, freestyle clinics by Colin Dixon, John Palmer and Simon Bailery, a carve gybing and tacking clinic by Hugh Sims Williams and so many more including: beachstarting, waterstarting, harness work. All in all Roadford on Saturday saw 375 students just getting out there on the water, learning and having a great time - marvellous.
The wind wasn't wild and the weather not sunny, but did either dampen our spirits?! Hell no! Just in case anyone got bored with the windsurfing focus, there was always the human table football inflatable entertainment and so much SWA merchandise on sale that it would be quite conceivable to see the back of your student loan simply by standing in the main marquee for too long!
As the light began to fail the students packed up shop and returned to Bude for something hot, all feeling empowered for an impressive costume display in honour of a Wild Wild West Country themed party! Now, if you weren't aware, we're in the habit of inviting those pesky kitesurfers along to our little jaunts and what with OVER 600 WINDSURFERS, the party was also attend by OVER 300 STUDENT KITESURFERS making a grand total of 900 WIND WORSHIPPING PARTY GOERS!
After an introduction like that do I need to go in to details about the party?!! Let's just put it this way, happy hour featuring £1 a drink and Monkey Militia, The Measure and New Groove Formation providing the soundtrack, made the whole thing go with a bit more of a swing and the temperature rose demonstrably throughout one happy crowd.
Sunday wasn't easy.....but a pat on the back to all, we made it to the lake, there were still incredibly keen students who sailed all day and the ever popular women's clinic, freestyle competition and mincing won the day. Congratulations to Joe O'Callahan from St Marys, who came top in the freestyle and at his very first SWA event and Liss Earle who won 1st Girl.
Sam closed off the whole affair with prize giving: announcing the Freestyle results and thanking everyone for helping and co-operating. A special thanks goes to our sponsors as ever, who we really do love as only a drunken student body can love: Club Vass, Boardseeker.com, Boardwise, Naish, RRD/Ezzy, Starboard/Tushingham. Bic Sport and Boohai clothing. Especial thanks also goes to Mark from Boardwise for coming down with demo kit despite his stinking cold and Rich from Naish for demonstrating his dedication to the student cause once more by attending and loaning us even more demo kit.
Please excuse my lingering feeling of emotion and appreciation of everyone for attendance and support, but one final thank you must go to Sam's awesome Aussie Kiss organising committee, for after all: in the SWA we love and in windsurfing we trust...
So until Nottingham's Pond Life then?!
