Ventnor Blog

With less than two weeks to go until the 12th White Air Extreme Sports Festival is upon us again, this year’s event promises even more action for your pound.

Latest news out from WA HQ is that Head First, the Island based watersports centre which specialises in kitesurfing and wakeboarding will be attracting some of the most radical freestylers for a limited entry freestyle jam.

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Tickets are now on sale for The White Air Festival as it celebrates its 12th year in style with more sports, more public interaction and more music art and parties than ever before!

A whole host of sports events will make up this extreme festival from Thundercat European Championships, Windsurfing UK Freestyle Championships, Kitesurfing, Surf, SUP, Skate Ramps and street with Suso, BMX on the ramps, Parkour, European Mountain Board Freestyle on the radical RAF White Air ramps, FMX shows its face for the first time, Sailing, Kayak, Mountain Bike freestyle and trials, Flatland BMX, Turfdogs land Windsurfing, Jet Ski, Frisbee, Inline, Land Yacht, Jet Ski, Digital dj mixing, Hard Grafft, and loads more.
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We read yesterday in BYM Sailing & Sports News about a forthcoming attempt by Chris Bull to circumnavigate the Isle of Wight by kite surfing anticlockwise around it. Chris is hoping to raise cash for the RNLI in the process.

Chris, a member of the FatFace team previously attempted the world record in 2004, but annoyingly got 90% of the way around the Island and had to abandon his attempt due to a lack of wind.
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There’s going to be a few people who’ll get very excited about this video - possibly more so after the excellent surfing film, Riding Giants, on Channel 4 last night.

This Standing Wave is something I’ve never heard of, an enclosed wave as if it was constantly running.

It’s to be found in Adrenalina at Orlando’s Florida Mall, and I understand it was the first to be installed in the US

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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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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.

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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I was going to write something about the Internet Cafe for the blog yesterday but didn’t get around to it … as Mark has just posted this to the forum, thought I’d go with that. Thanks Mark.

Just to remind everyone, the Internet Cafe is open in Ventnor Community Projects every Saturday and Sunday, from 11 am to 4 pm. That is the building at the bottom of Albert Street, on the corner.

It is becoming more popular each weekend with regular users.

It costs £2 an hour, and less for a quick check of e-mails etc.

Several people just use it to have a check of their e-mails while out and about, others use it for research. Others use it to read the Ventnor Blog. Some have commented that it helps the Library out when their computers are heavily used on Saturday. The youngest user is about 8 and the oldest is well into retirement.

Ken, the project leader, always has a warm welcome, and is very helpful.

Everyone is welcome

With record attendance and world class results in the races, this years 10th anniversary WhiteAir Extreme Sports Festival was the best yet, Nigel Howell told us at the end of the event.

With nine film crews (and VentnorBlog) there, it was certainly well covered in the media.

This year the RAF were the main sponsors and with their target logo splashed around everywhere, it could’ve been mistaken for a Mod convention – except sharp suits were most definitely replaced with baggy jeans and cool Ts.

The weather was pretty varied over the four days, with lots of swell early on, making things interesting for the Thundercat racing on Saturday, but Sunday’s blue skies and calm water had the racers wishing for more wind and larger waves.

Wandering around the site watching the amazing talents of the skaters and mountainboarders really inspired me to try it out, but at risk of injuring myself, I put it off yet another year.

However, more than 500 people signed up over the four days for the ‘Have A Go’ sessions, trying out surfing, kitesurfing, mountainboarding, skateboarding, parkour, thundercats and jetskis. It was the most successful so far and has hopefully given islanders a taste for the sports they sampled.

Our little one had a go at the skateboarding and now wants a board for Christmas, and Simon and Dave took mountainboards out up the hill (and down again) for an hour or so. They weren’t doing somersaults, but made it look pretty easy to pick up, attempting a couple of the ramps and manoeuvring themselves around oncoming pedestrians.

WightTrash and Moreys sponsored the half pipe and I spotted John Cattle filming on the Sunday, so expect to see some footage from the event sometime in the future.

Listen to a quick interview with David Webber (Thundercat Extraordinaire), by clicking on the right hand icon below.

There’s also a great video roundup of the event filmed by Raya/ITV.

There has been mucho action down in Yaverland over the last two days and it continues today and tomorrow.

It’s the 10th anniversary of the White Air Extreme Sports Festival and this year is bigger and better than ever.

Live music in the marquee starts at noon today (running through til 5pm) and at the same time there’ll be a Parkour free running demo in the freestyle park.

Between 1-2.30pm you can watch the Mountainboard European Championships on the White Air Ramps. Caught some of this on Thursday and it was amazing to watch.

The grafitti art jam continues at 3pm and depending on the weather the rest of the day will be filled with Windsurfing UK Finals, Windsurfing Slalom Finals, Kitesurfing, Kayak and Thundercats racing.

Tonight sees the White Air Party at Sandown Bay Holiday Centre with VentnorBlog friends, Cooly Haste, Max Brennan and Randy Bones and DJ Mewtant will be delivering the goods. Also playing are Deep and Vero (not sure who they are).

Don’t forget you can ‘have a go’ at mountain boarding, thundercat powerboat racing, paragliding, winddisc, kitesurfing, street art graffiti, windsurfing or surfing. The ‘Have a Go’ options run until 5pm today and will be back tomorrow 10am-5pm.

Download the programme for full details of what’s on when.

This week sees the return of the White Air Extreme Sports Festival (26th-29th Oct) and as it’s their 10th anniversary, expect a bigger festival than ever before.

Sadly, the madness that was the ‘chicane blast’ won’t be happening this time, and we’ll be getting the lowdown on why, later in the week when we catch up with Nigel.

However, there is a mountain of other events to keep you happy with loads of ‘have a go’ options, from mountain boarding, thundercat powerboats, paragliding, winddisc, or kitesurfing to windsurfing and surfing. Or you could join in the skate clinics, parkour and the art of free running, or try out the graffitti workshop!

We’ll be bringing you more over the coming week, but you shouldn’t take our word for it, go along and experience it for yourselves. A four day pass is £12 for over 16s, £7 for kids under 16 or free if under 7.

As well as all the sports events, we haven’t forgotten the music - more on that later.

Download the programme for full details of what’s on when.

Next year the event changes to earlier in the year, taking place between 27th August - 2nd Sep) and will be hosting the biggest Windsurfing Event ever held in the UK - The World Windsurfing Formula Championships 2007. Apparently it should attract about 100 competitors from over 40 countries.

Let’s hope some of them stay in Ventnor.

Back in March, I stuck up a video of a skateboarding dog, (video has since been deleted) asking for anyone to come forward if they knew of similarly talented canines in Ventnor.

Sadly, no-one came forward but as you’ll see on the front cover of this weeks County Press, Shanklin are able to boast their own surfing dog.

A two year old labrador called Sherrie has been surfing since she was six months old and practises every day down on Dunroamin Beach.

So are we going to let Shanklin top us? If you have a pet who can perform an unsual feat, get in touch and we’ll cover it on the blog.

Image credit: Chris Thwaites (IW County Press)

BALI…………so we have arrived in the bali……………..full of expections of sun and surf…….and cheapness……..well the sun has been out every now and then and the rain at least for the last few days has been 24 hours non stop !! ………….and well the surf is average but the deadlies are wounded and await healing before they can enter the waters

……….on arrival on this fine little island you must suddenly begin the bartering or haggling process…………now this means that your first mission is getting a taxi……obviously after you have nervously walked through customs convinced someone stitched you up with loads of drugs !!……..luckily not………now though we search for taxi into KUTA…….

……..we watched various surfer types (tight fisted bastards) from england and aussie running around for about an hour, deep in tight fisted negiotiation with groups of taxi drivers………the measly amount these fiends were bargaining over was around about 20000 rupee which is about £1.50…………so the deadlies thought better of this cheapness……our time is worth far more than these tight bastards, obviously they must have plenty of time to waste…..not us !!………..so we settled on the deal of 60000 around 4 quid english…………..which considering the price of going more than ten metres at home, we had a damn fair deal……….we got dropped straight outside the door of our luxury hotel complex…….

……..yes we headed straight for luxury…….this kind of thing cost you as little as seven pounds a night…..for everything you expect to pay over a hundred pound for at home………pool…tv….fridge…..nice big beds……working toilet….hot water…..air con….and breakfast !!……………now seeing as it was raining we decided to waste some of the precious time we had saved by not bartering on watching some TV………this continued whilst it rained……….as did much consumption of BINTANG BEER…….one with breakfast one for lunch and a few for dinner….but again the cost of this is so little its a crime against bali…….

…………KUTA is quiet, most of the aussie tourists have been scared off, as have a lot of other nationalities………not the japanese though, there are tonnes of them and they seem unconcerned with any dangers………….amongst these dangers is cheap food…….very inexpensive meals…….which for me now is pizza, that’s how adventurous i am !!…..but mr organic is far more daring and far more the connoisseur of strange delights………he is now adventuring are new accommodations toilet (we moved from luxury into leaking toilet half out door cave like quarters as funds have dictated)…………..although as we speak even my safety first approach has left my stomach feeling a little unsure of its self also, and i may soon treading through mr organics leakage………

……….nightclubs, we took the risk of bombs and hit the scene with full effect…….now i say took the risk, but i feel the risk of explosions are far less than the actual risk of getting knocked over and severely mutilated by one of the hundreds of scooters that hurtle down the narrow streets of kuta…..anyways the nightclubs sell the lethal ARAK spirit which can make you blind in about three drinks and the only danger then is your increasingly erratic behaviour and bad dance moves………we miss the mc muttas dance style he would have ripped up here……………….we also found some fellow wight creatures here holding up the flag with true verve and finesse, whilst also sporting several injuries from scooters and reefs !!……………anyways we must dash of to see the waves and get wet…..the sun is finally shining and mr organics new log style board is ready to fly………………see you all soon…….lots of love……VDC.

The Ventnor Deadly Creatures are on the next leg of their journey and have sent us this retrospective Stream of Consciousness … get ready for long sentences, and don’t forget to take regular breaths.

Surf Shops
This is the establishment and shrine of the aussie egotist…there maybe a few exceptions to this rule… but the general arrangement is that the foreign man knows nothing about surfing and hasn’t the faintest idea of what surf craft may be appropriate for his usage… now maybe these poor bastards have been so worn down and abused by every non surfing European who thinks that if kelly(kellyslater7timeworldchamp) has one, then he should have the kind of mentality that he has become so aloof as to appear egotistical…example…mr organics standing by the board bags fingering through them slowly deliberating on with size is going to fit his peachy stick…surf shop man approaches and says “mate their just the long board board bags your looking at, the actual boards are over thereâ€? mr organic “ its a bag I’m afterâ€?…

In fact I’m over this f*cking retrospective already… its already too long and drawn out… instead I will ramble of a list… aussie drivers probably the shitest drivers ever… aussie girls probably amongst the most beautiful in the world…Sydney’s city beaches…a city on the beach with waves nearly every day amazing… backpackers probably the greatest plague of western freeloaders the aussie have ever seen…and probably a massive boost to their economy…lebos and abos and wogs…how the aussies get away with using these obviously racist definitions in there mainstream media is beyond me, and I cant work out whether that’s a good or a bad thing…the fairy bower, a great wave in the heart of Manly but still a totally awful place to hit the bottom at low tide on a shit day and slash your leg to pieces…bleeding into the same bay sharks were spotted a week before…

SHARKS an over rated danger haven’t seen one of those ugly bastards…blue bottles hilarious when there wrapped round mc muttas neck and stuck in his necklace, not so funny when they’re stinging you up your shorts…being run over by over eager aussie surfer or mc mutta, your own mate !!…surf all day every day… get drunk at night and eat turkish pizza whilst putting on your best aussie accents and trying to blend in hopelessly with the locals… a tale of drunken vikings…The danish return for drinks… equipment needed for night with the vikings…VODKA one bottle plus a case of the greatest aussie beer TOOHEYS plus anything else you may lay your hands on or be donated by the tramps you have been befriending on the bench… a sense of humor essential….non religious sensibilities… a hard hat…nerves of steal…drink in all the areas set out for non drinking…wait for the police to move you on…move with swiftness to avoid fines and alcohol confiscation…

Watch the biggest baddest dane make moves on every girl that walks past…know that he is special and that your mum or any other respectable women you know would probably like to kill him…but still understand he has his place, he’s a damn viking after all, its his faith and we should respected his cultural heritage… note with all groups including vikings that there is a group dynamic and that at least one of them has to make sure the others have backup a sensible one…also there has to be the dancing one and this comes in the form of the big V probably one of the most amazing drunken dancers I have ever witnessed only to be equaled by our very own mc mutta…I watched the big V man approach me with arms open and mouth ready for french kiss I avoid the kiss he’s deflected off towards an aussie he lands him a smacking great kiss aussie looks confused then pleased… its dance off…then there’s nearly a fight aussie women have been offended…4am we have lost everyone I’m lost the danes must be lost mr organic is lost and mc muttas lost in the music…please ignore my ramblings…today we are nearly leaving, my leg is an infected scabby wounded mess…I’m going to miss my last surf in OZ… we stopped sleeping weeks ago… and we love all you wightys…enjoy the last of winter as spring is getting nearer and we hope to see it in with you…obviously if we don’t get kidnapped or blown up along the way…or drilled into the reefs of bali…knowing mine and organics luck at least if not all of those things may happen…so its been lovely…goodbye.

Latest report from the Ventnor Deadly Creatures.

The creatures are now in the lands of the faux hippy and the stoned backpacker…….and the expert surfer…..and the not so expert surfers….byron….interesting scenes of drunken confusion are abound every single night……

In this town the popular cheap drink for getting drunk is the goon……basically its the most piss poor box of wine known to civilised drunks………think along the lines of white lightning…..the goon i have been lead to believe is the bladder bit inside the box wich gets retrieved from the box and has the life squeezed out of it whilst your body writhes around in pure horror at the god awful liquid your about to subject it to………a few boxes of this evil shit gives you the shits and gets you into the shit with a whole array of people and things…bouncers, women, other hopless drunks, doors the floor your own shoes……..el organic has been in various extreme situations on this goon…….

Think haymaker to the face of a friendly canadian…who just wanted a play fight…….imagine the organic one making the huge leap head first down night club stairs……….as well as myself i’m afraid………why not sleep on the beach or bring the beach home, why not crawl through neighbours fence and abuse the noisey swedish pikeys…..why not stay up late pretending to understand everyword the danish stoners are saying………sleep in the streets and in the bushes, dress like a girl…….harass the hippys yippys pippys puppys…….as well as this the surf is good……..the pass(surf break)……bang your ass as hard off the sand as you can, feel your spine being fed through your neck, pray you’re not paralysed……….

To quote a friend “dogs with flippers” every where round these parts commonly known as turtles……….im sure the turtles are EVIL………they have beady eyes……and i don’t trust there shells…………..tonight we go out again dressed up like idiots……after some surf……………after some f**king noodles……..and a box of evil goon……keeping clear of dogs with flippers………….please look after yourselves……..VENTNOR DISHEVELLED CREATURES.

Goon image courtesty of Broken Frontier.

Cheers to Mischa for sending through a handful of great shots of some Ventnor friends having fun in the sun.

Check out the VentnorBlog Flickr Group for the full set and feel free to join in and add any good pics you might have.