The Student Windsurfing Associations season kicked off with a bang last weekend with Aussie Kiss 8!

This phenomenal event brought together over 600 students and ex-students of all ability of windsurfers in one of the largest windsurfing events in the country. Put all of these students in a caravan park, add some partying and windsurfing and you have the recipe for an epic weekend.

As is tradition with SWA events the Friday night was spectacular reunion of friends and an opportunity to form new bonds! It was also an opportunity to collect the awesome AK8 T-shirt which has always been a fantastic way of remembering SWA events long after the magic has ended.

Wind at Aussie Kiss hasn’t always been a given, however this year was to be an exception to the rule. While the strong offshore winds excited the intermediate and advanced windsurfers, it provided a huge challenge for the beginners, instructors and safety boat drivers. However they all coped swimmingly, as everyone had time on the simulators and free instruction before heading out onto the water.

Over the weekend the intermediate and advanced windsurfers were treated to clinics by Club Vass’s legendary instructors Andy "Bubble" Chambers and Jay "Global Shots" Haysey, RRD and Ezzy front man Jem Hall, Ant 'Backloop' Baker of the Baker Academy and Goya supremo Murray Saunders. These clinics ranged from freestyle tips, techniques for carve gybes, how to loop, a guide to speed and slalom sailing and an introduction to wave sailing, these sessions were hugely beneficial to a wide variety of windsurfers. If everyone wasn’t satisfied enough with top class clinics they also had the opportunity to demo some awesome kit provided by Starboard, Tushingham, RRD, Ezzy, North, Fanatic, AHD, Goya and Spartan wetsuits. Unfortunately Boardwise were unable to provide demo kit due to illness (Get well soon!), but the SWA are highly grateful for their continuing support. With the combination of demo, university and personal kit AK8 saw a record breaking number of students out on the water.

Once all the neoprene had been shed, it was time to don the spandex and capes for the traditional and ever so fetching Saturday night fancy dress, this year theme of Superheroes provided some rather “special” fancy dress efforts! Photos will be coming soon to name and shame people! After an awesome night with a live band which provoked some friendly inter uni dance competitions, not to mention the cross uni socialising, everyone eventually made it back to a caravan, not necessarily their own…

The many muggy heads from the night before were defiantly showing during the morning wake up call, as people were less than impressed to have megaphone being used to rouse them out of their beds! Once bacon sandwiches had been eaten and the caravans cleaned (apart from the odd few!!) everyone rocked on over to the lake. Despite the journey having been travelled the day before some people still took the scenic route… SWA committee included! With another windy day demo kit was grabbed and people cleared their heads by getting onto the water.

After the manic winds of Saturday an impressive number of beginners came back for more on the Sunday morning. They took what they had learnt from their instructors the day before and headed back out on the water in the beginners only area and with slightly calmer winds all came on leaps and bounds. Everyone seemed happy and with a relaxed atmosphere there were very few problems, with only one exception: Despite prior warnings George from Nottingham decided to turn up to windsurf with his boardies over his wetsuit, this is highly unacceptable and behavior like this will not be tolerated in the future.

For those who wanted the chance to show off their freestyle repertoire the SWA launched their new Boardwise Pro freestyle series with a cracking first competition! The standard of freestyle within the SWA has rocketed with forward loops, e-sliders and flakas being common place, and the top guys busting out switch stance versions to boot. After several highly fought heats the final was between reigning champion Joe O’Callaghan, Dave Williams and Matt Yeates. Dave Williams powered home to win by landing a forward loop and massively impressing the judges.

The SWA are passionate about advancing windsurfing at all levels, in order to reflect this the SWA in association with Spartan wetsuits have introduced a new series in order to facilitate more people to compete in freestyle. The Spartan Freestyle Classix can't be entered by anyone who competes in the Boardwise Pro Freestyle. The first round in the Spartan Freestyle Classix was a resounding success with many people competing for the first time in a freestyle event. Rici Marshall represented the girls fantastically, pulling all the moves that the judges could throw at her. However it was Rich Maskey who won the final by confidently demonstrating a high level of freestyle despite this being his competition.

Once all the excitement of the competitions had ended, vans were loaded, bags were packed and everyone gathered for the prize giving, this provided an awesome end to a fantastic weekend!

Massive thanks to: Boardwise and Club Vass, everyone who provided demo kit: Starboard, Tushingham, RRD, Ezzy, North, Fanatic and AHD, Roadford lake, Bude Caravan Park, Spartan Wetsuits, Andy "Bubble" Chambers, Jay "Global Shots" Haysey, Jem Hall, Ant Baker and Murray Saunders for running advanced and intermediate clinics, Everyone who came and support the event, SWA and XSWA, Kris as the official photographer, all the organisers and helpers on the weekend, AK8 would not have worked without you all.