WindSwell’s Kite Surfing vs. Sailing Low Isles Cup

The race is on… Saturday June 11th @11am WindSwell held the first ever official kite surfing race from the south end of Four Mile Beach out around Low Isles and Woody Island and back again to the North end of Four Mile Beach.

The conditions were just right for the three riders competing Brett Wright, Jimi Ireland and Ruben De Kemp. With the motto in their head of head for the small island on the way out and the big one on the way back and the perfect lighter breezes of 10-20knots, making for ideal ocean conditions with only a little swell and no chop, and Peter Wright and his all girl support crew on NoSwell as a support vessel they took off in a flash @ 11:30 am, competing against 5 of the sail boats from the Port Douglas yacht club who had left an hour earlier.

Although there were perfect conditions, there were a few crashes when the wind dropped, causing the kites to fall from the sky. Not to worry, all riders had the skill to work the kite back up in the air and continue on their way. Riders put it all on the line risking sharks, seabirds and
fish strikes on their journey across the open ocean, which made it all the more exciting adding to the buzz of being that far off the coast.
It was a close competition with Brett in the lead followed closely by Rubin and then Jimi, however once they reached the island and the winds changed so did the leader board. As they came around the backside of Low Isles Brett was determined to win, pulling ahead back to the lead, and stayed there for the rest of the race. About half way back heading towards Port Douglas all three kiters passed all sailing yachts, all parties enjoying the interaction.
Brett landed on Four Mile Beach at 12:53pm taking first place and making his time of 1 hour 23 minutes and only a couple of minutes behind him was Jimi landing at 12:56pm for second at a time of 1 hour 26 minutes and Ruben at 1:03pm for third with a time of 1 hour 33 minutes.
The race has been put on to give the riders the chance to challenge themselves and test their skills, equipment, and endurance and of course the bragging rights to say they are the fastest kiter in Port Douglas.

The race is now to be held Three times a year in conjunction with the Port Douglas yacht Club, who will be displaying the leader board to officially record each riders time. WindSwell is now looking for sponsors to create a prize pool to lure more local and international kiters to
promote the far north region and Port Douglas as a kitesurfing destination.