Down wind race
 

I was wondering if poeple would be intrested in a down wind race starting in fort pierce or a coarse race by the fort pierce inlet. I have been approached by blue water grill and southern eagle distributors asking me to put on event here. I was just wonding if I took steps to put it together would people show up. the event would take place in mid november. Most likly just have a cheap entry fee and top three racers would take home the money raised by entry fees. any feed back on this would be greatly appreciated
Brent

you would probably do better with sup event at that time of the year. kite events in FL after may and before october are pretty suspect. i'd guess that participation would be pretty limited.

Those are both good ideas Brent, nice sponsors too. As you probably know there are a number of good local long term riders who would enjoy something like that. I would get in touch with Greg Kuklinski and talk over some concepts. He has been kiting there since the 1990's and is plugged in with local riders. If he is too busy there are other guys up there who could help as well. Depending on the nature of the event and wind prospects, time of year you might get a number of guys from other parts of the state as well. Kent is right though, the prospects for a July event for wind and ridership are quite poor. Talk to Greg about better wind months, perhaps November through mid April or so, you could even do a wave event and wouldn't that be fun? Wind conditions keep varying by the year somewhat so it can be difficult but not impossible to improve the odds for a wind event. One thing we thought about doing years back was a one day event with short notice, potential timing announced three days out. You would have a 72 hr. warning, 48 hr. confirmation and 24 hr. go. This approach has been used at other events around the state since then. This would mean a smaller event but the odds of good conditions improve a lot. Do one or two of these and then tackle something larger? Keep us plugged in on how things are going.

Did i say july I ment november sorry about the confusion. Thanks or the advice and i have talked to gk already he said it would be great idea. And the bars on the beach all told me to just pick a day in november. They also said they would hold an after party at there bar and half on meals and most drinks. Im gonna have a lot of free time to work on this since I broke my foot yesterday

Sorry to hear about your foot, hope it heals fast. Glad you've spoken to Greg, it helps to have folks involved that have put this sort of thing on before. Sounds like you have good local sponsor support which is important for a good event. Folks will come if conditions are good and the concept fun. AJ had a nice turnout out for his downwinders.** They are pretty straight forward to put on and a blast in good conditions. Each year has been different but usually November might be the first time you would want to try to put something on like this pending arrival of the winds. Of course here it is early October and we're supposed to have a week of nice winds starting today!

** http://fksa.org/forumdisplay.php?f=132

yep, November is great. i'd also check with Enrique from Naples and AJ as both are also planning events for November. I'd recommend parterning with AJ as his event is in the same area. u may be able to kill 2 birds with one storn. my group has a very large industry event from nov 2-7 in the bahamas. if the event is after this, count our group in for 7-10 riders. thanks.

kent

FYI

Gulfcoast Kiteboard challenge that got delayed from last spring 2010 will still attempt to happen before the close of this year. Already have over 75 registered riders.

Please post or PM your planned event dates so that I can put them on the schedule. Put a call into Latino about his event, had no idea AJ was putting one on, good news about the Gulf Coast event. Know about the great ASI event for early November.

non profit
 

what about instead of making the race for a reward making it a charitable contest for cancer?

From a rider's perspective it would be nice to see a Florida race / contest that is actually giving back a little money to the riders. We've got several industry events already raising great funds for cancer and similar causes. I think its a great thing and cause but give a little incentive for riders to spend their money to travel over and participate in your race and i think you'll have a much better and much more competitive turnout. My 2 Cents....