August 2010
Hello and welcome to a brand new chapter in student kitesurfing. The Student Kitesurfing Association is being reborn this September, with a calendar that's set to get you on the water during even the darkest days of the British winter.
First things first – a quick request to all those surfers, wakeboarders, windsurfers and other hopefully interested and influential sports people reading this e-mail. If your University doesn't yet cater for kitesurfers but you think you might know a few people who are searching for another way onto the water then please please read this and pass it on to all of them, and keep sending them our way if and when you bump into them, as I'm sure you will. One of our main goals is to help these individuals kick things off at their university's where feasible, and help them into the sport regardless of location, but they need to know we exist!
For the rest of you, a quick bit of history. Some of you will have heard of the SKA as it was until a few years ago; famous for two massive events a year, Aussie Kiss Kite and the Tarifa tour. These events put the SKA in the history books, and provided many of the new committee with some of the most memorable times in their kitesurfing lives, earning the organisation a deserved reputation which should mean that many of you know exactly what I'm talking about, a good two years down the line.
However, many things influenced the way we wanted to run the coming year, especially the sustainability of such events, their effectiveness at introducing people to the sport, and their impact on the local community. As such we made the very difficult decision to take a radically different approach this time around. In short we decided that the best way to get as many of you (and your members) on the water as often as possible, to encourage development and competition, and to do it all for less than a semesters worth of student loan, was to run smaller events much more often and at various locations up and down and across the country. With support from Flexifoil, Mystic, and local shops and schools, we've put together a killer calendar to help you and your clubs kick off the year in style.
Beginner - 15-17 October
Llangenith
Beginner 22-24 October
Redcar
Girls Clinic 30-31 October
Rhosneigr
National Tour Round I - Wakestyle 5-7 November
Par Sands
Intermediate Clinic November TBC
Portland Harbour
National Tour Round II - Wave and Strapless 4-6 February
Rhosneigr
National Tour Round III - Freestyle 5-6 March
Calshot
Intermediate Clinic 11-13 March TBC
TBC
BKSA Courses
RYA Powerboat Level 2 12-13 February
Calshot
Instructors Course 18-22 April
Poole Harbour
Full details on each event and on the National Tour will be available on our website when it launches in the next few weeks.
For now, keep up to date and earn yourself a free Flexifoil t-shirt by joining our mailing list at www.studentkitesurfing.co.uk
The free tee is for students only, so you'll need to provide a valid university address. Other email addresses will still be entered into the system, so feel free to sign up to keep an eye on us!
We hope to involve every University club in the country, so if you're interested in being a part of the SKA, then please get in touch, at hello@studentkitesurfing.co.uk.
To help us look after you as well as possible, please give us a little bit of information about your club, including:
Current number of members
Projected membership for 2010/11
We will also be distributing our flagship magazine to help you promote the sport during Fresher's week and to keep your members up to date throughout the year. If you would like to receive this magazine free of charge, please tell us how many you need, and provide us with a postal address.
We know that each club has different priorities, different levels of support, and a very different bunch of members, but we all have one thing in common - we want to get on the water as much as possible. As such we're here to fill the gaps and host the events where your members can get the tuition and try out the kind of kit that most university clubs just can't provide. On top of that, we know it's hard for clubs to get hold of decent kit at a decent price. In order to support clubs across the country, the SKA are able to bulk order kit directly from Flexifoil and Mystic, on your behalf. For full details and prices, club Presidents should email media@studentkitesurfing.co.uk
Any questions or suggestions, please don't hesitate to get in touch. Looking forward to meeting you on a miserable British beach sometime soon!
Yours sincerely,
Ben Gillespie
Vice President in charge of Communications
Student Kitesurfing Association
www.studentkitesurfing.co.uk