Ventnor Blog

We’re really chuffed to have local lad, Sam Snudden, sharing his perspective of White Air with the readers of VentnorBlog. He is taking part in several displays over the week, one of which we caught yesterday.

He performs with a large group of enthusiastic and obviously very talented gymnasts (some pictured here). It’s an inspiring display and well worth catching. They perform at 11.30 or 3pm today and tomorrow. Here’s what he had to say ….

I am a performer with the extreme gymnastics team, and this is our first year doing demonstrations at White Air.

The venue and line up for the week is quite clearly larger and more diverse than ever before, and possibly the best addition is the platform one band stand; for me live music never fails to impress, and it is brilliant to see local up and coming bands showcase their talent.
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To give you some idea of the diversity, we head around a few of the new organisations involved with this years Wight Air.

Mick Smith, director of Quay Arts, has, as a follow up of the FreeQuay experimental arts event earlier in the summer, put on an interesting tent with digital video editing with John Cattle and a have-a-go session, making dance music, with the multi-talented Andy Jones.

John and his team will be out and about during the festival filming the punters and competitors and then editing back in the tent.

You can also then create the music with Andy and have the whole thing sent through to your mobile to treasure.

Wight Air Extreme Sports Festival started today.

We headed over to Yaverland to see how things were going.

Pleased to say that it’s all looking very good.

A big mixture of people there, from the young to families enjoying the day out.

There’s loads laid on with the sports side and lots besides, including 50 bands playing - one every hour.

We caught up with Nigel Howell, the man behind the event, to hear what was planned for the week.

Click on the play button below to listen to the interview.

If you’re planning to head over to White Air next week read this before driving over to Yaverland.

There is no parking on site and it gets pretty busy during the day with competitors and stall holders vehicles but the organisers have put on a Park and Ride scheme.

The location of the Park and Ride is Sandown High School. There will be buses running every 30 minutes each day. You will be dropped off outside the festival site.

As White Air Youth week comes to a close, it’s clear that it has continued to build on the success of the previous six years.

Held in association with UKSA, this year White Air Youth week gave twenty up-and-coming young windsurfers the opportunity to work together in further training and competing.

As you’ll know, there have been pretty strong northerly winds all week, but that didn’t stop the kids, who have travelled from all over the country, proving their skills and securing places as the future champions of White Air.

We hear that now the high pressure is kicking in, weather conditions are looking pretty good for next weeks World Championships.

Hats off to Nigel Howell for bringing the biggest windsurfing racing event ever held in the UK to the Isle of Wight!

White Air have, since we’ve been going over the past few years, always made sure that there are great parties and plenty of live music for the punters and competitors to enjoy.

This year is no exception, as they team up with Platform One and bring seven days of excellent live music.

So who’s playing you ask?

Apart from The Bees on Wednesday night, they also have Multipurpose Chemical headlining on the Friday night.

Here’s what Platform One have pulled together for the rest of the week.

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There is a real buzz in the air as the The White Air Extreme Sports Festival draws ever closer.

Less than a week to go and we’ve got news for you every day this week, in the run up to one of the most exciting sporting events of the year.

If you’ve been to the festival before, you might’ve noticed that there are lots of ‘HAVE A GO!’ activities. This year, the festival brings you even more and as part of a BBC programme, celebrity sports stars Colin Jackson (pictuered) and Phil Tufnell will go head to head at ‘HAVE A GO’ activities early next week. They will be trying out some of the more radical extreme sports White Air has on offer.
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More news from White Air HQ today as the The Pierats Jetski freestyle team are confirmed to take part in the Isle of Wight for the White Air 2007 Extreme Sports festival.

Those lucky enough to have caught them last year, will remember the World Champions perform some awesome loops and rolls.

This year the team’s top riders Paul Martin, Gary Gregg and Tanvir Hussain all ranked in the top 10 will be there demonstrating moves such as, Nose Stabs, Barrel Rolls and Marriots.
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World Freestyle Mountain Board Champion, Arno Van de Veyver will be travelling all the way from Belgium next week, to take part in the RAF White Air European Cup UK Freestyle 2007.

If you’ve no idea what mountain boarding is, check out this video. Arno is in there somewhere along with many other champs.

I would say it’s that time of year again, but this time round, it’s not, because as we reported back in May, the best extreme sports festival in the UK has moved from it’s usual October slot to end of August.

This year will be the 11th festival and it plays host to the World Windsurfing Racing Championships attracting world class competitors to our fair isle.

There will be tons of events to watch from surfing, windsurfing, kite surfing, skate boarding, parkour (look out for the local lads), mountainboarding, bmx-ing, jetski-ing, thundercat racing, surf kayaking and the list goes on.

We’ll be bringing you updates throughout the week before and during the festival, but you can also check their website for more info.

A plane crashed at midday on Sunday at Sandown airport, killing all four on-board.

Reports say that the plane came down a half mile after take-off, after the plane had climbed to around 100ft, nose diving into a corn field near Canteen Road in Apse Heath.

It’s reported that 30 firefighters from the Island Fire and Rescue service attended with five pumps and three specialist vehicles. A spokesman told the Daily Mail that there was nothing that could have been done to save the four people on board, “The plane was well alight when we arrived and there was no way of getting the people out.”
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As you know from last weeks report, Ventnor band, The Bees will be playing at White Air this year. Hurrah!

Providing suitably excellent support will be The Motion Pictures and they’ll be a load of their mates DJing too.

We’ve had quote a requests from you dear readers as to how you buy tickets for this ‘not to be missed’ event and those lovely chaps have kindly informed us that it can all be done online.

Just pop yourselves over to the White Air website and you can order there.

Be quick about it though, as the tickets are sure to sell fast.

I hear from IW Radio that The Bees will be performing live at the White Air Extreme Sports Festival this year. Tickets are priced at £10 and expected to go fast.

Their gig forms part of the Platform One Live Music Stage (a contentious issue for some perhaps given the comments on the Bestival Bands Competition).

Whatever people think of Platform One, they’ll be providing seven days of live music on the beach from Monday 27th Aug to Sunday 2nd Sept, showcasing 50 of the Islands best bands and musicians.
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On Saturday the Guardian had a blitz of article on the UK as a destination for beach holidays - and the Isle of Wight came out in most of the pieces!

By our quick straw poll, it appears that The Island was mentioned more than any other part of the country. Well done to Sue Emmerson and Kellie White in the press office at the Isle of Wight Tourism Press & PR Department for getting so many items in there.

Biggest tip ‘o’ the hat goes to The Spyglass, Ventnor who got the main photo in the article covering the Seaside Pubs.
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If you’re looking for something to do with the kids on Saturday 23 June, then why not head down to Dinosaur Isle in Sandown

Been there before you say? Well, you might want to go again when you hear that it will be hosting the launch of the second edition of the “Brilliant Wight Colouring Book”.

Organisers are inviting kids to go down and colour in poster sized drawings from the book which features illustrations of the Island’s favourite landmarks including Ryde Pier, Dinosaur Isle, the lifeboat station at Bembridge and Newport’s Quay Arts Centre.
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News out today reveals that beaches at Ryde East, Sandown and Shanklin all achieved their Blue Flag status from the environmental organisation, ENCAMS once again this year.

The criteria to be awarded a Blue Flag, are pretty strict and includes things like the quality of the water to its colour, suitable recycling facilities situated on the beach and each area must have lifeguards.

As you all know, Ventnor beach wasn’t entered last year. Although it had been agreed that the council would fund lifeguards, as they weren’t in place before the deadline, it meant that Ventnor couldn’t be entered. The council has confirmed that Ventnor will be entered in the Blue Flag scheme for next year.

We look forward to seeing the blue flag flying high over Ventnor next summer and congratulate the other beaches on their blue flag status.

As you probably already know, this year the White Air Extreme Sports Festival is moving from it’s regular slot of windy October to the warmer climes of August (27 Aug - 2 Sept).

Despite some local opposition to the date change, it has been approved and given the go-ahead. Which must be quite a relief for organiser Nigel Howell, who can now carry on pulling together the 11th festival that will host the biggest Windsurfing World Event ever held in the UK!

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This just in from the Council via Mark (thanks) … great news about the investment into the lifeguards and their facilities.

SAFETY at Island beaches will be bolstered this summer with the arrival of a new lifeguard team and a rescue quad bike. The IW Council has invested in providing a new beach lifeguard team to patrol Ventnor Beach while the quad bike will become a rapid response vehicle for use at Ryde.

Both the lifeguard team and the new £5,000 quad bike will be on duty between May and September. The new beach lifeguard team will join similar teams already operating in Sandown, Shanklin and Ryde.

They will operate from a new £25,000-plus HQ between the Spyglass and Lion’s Rock Bandstand. Providing lifeguards will help the IW Council’s aim of earning Ventnor a coveted Blue Flag award next year.

“Safety of our beach users is of paramount importance to the IW Council and these measures will help to ensure that residents and visitors can enjoy a safe trip to our fabulous coastline,” said Cllr Tim Hunter-Henderson, IW Council cabinet member for environment and transport.

The three new lifeguards — as with all those employed by the council on its beaches — have been trained to the required standards by the Royal Life Saving Society. They will wear distinctive red on yellow beachwear and equipment will include loud hailers and torpedo buoys.

The quad bike has been provided at cost price from Newbridge company Wight ATV while Hovertravel has agreed to meet the annual cost of maintaining the vehicle. The quad bike will be used on Ryde Sands to counter the potential problem of people out on the sands at low water being cut off by the incoming tide. It will have a speed limited to 15mph to enable it to respond rapidly to emergencies while still operating at safe speeds on a crowded beach.

John Entwistle and Kyle Abraham are playing The Tap in Sandown on Friday night (the Old Gentlemans Club)!

The fun kicks off at 9pm and you’ll just have time to jump into your carriages before they turn into pumpkins at midnight (the carriages, not the musicians).

It’ll be an evening of live music ranging from Sting to Bill Danoff!

Before all you old rockers ask, John Entwhistle hasn’t risen from the dead … it’s John Entwhistle from the Island who’ll be playing.

[Image courtesy of LimeyInBermuda]