Yesterday saw the final day of White Air 2007 and what a week it’s been! In case you didn’t make it down to catch the last day’s racing, here are the final results.
The winner of the World Cup Windsurfing long distance event was Dan Simpson in the pro men’s category, Xavier Ferlet came first in the masters category, and Liam Round won the junior category of the two mile race. Well done to you all.
In the UK Freestyle Windsurfing Championships, the competitors were judged on their ‘fluidity and performance’, including whether they finish the trick properly. They all put on a great show, displaying a number of tricks including the strangely named spocks, flackers, and willy skippers (don’t ask). (more…)
Quick change to the timings for the Red Arrows. I said yesterday it was at 10am, but it is actually the Red Falcons who display at 10am. The Red Arrows will be performing their display at 2pm today.
The Red Falcons are one of the World’s top parachute display teams and put on an equally impressive show. If the C130 Hercules aircraft is available, that’s what they’ll be jumping from today.
There is loads of stuff going on over the weekend at White Air, but you must make sure that you don’t miss the Red Arrows fantastic display on Saturday morning at 10am afternoon at 2pm.
We watched a programme about the Red Arrows a couple of weeks ago and the stunts they perform are out of this world.
All pretty scary stuff, but they really know what they’re doing and I am sure will continue to impress all tomorrow morning.
The 2007 White Air Festival has been brilliant so far, there is so much going on and the vibe on site is fantastic.
White Air have been putting out full reports of the day, so if you haven’t been able to head down there yet this week, you can still catch up with what’s been happening.
Of course, we’ve been down there too and have a handful of podcasts for you to listen to. (more…)
A much better day yesterday I felt; the sun was out, far more people were around, and there was an all round, better atmosphere to the venue.
Probably a disappointing day for the windsurfers though, as there seemed to be very little wind, but for those of us on dry land, we couldn’t have asked for better.
Thankfully our group seems to be getting back into the swing of doing performances, yesterday afternoons display being the best yet in my opinion, and by the sound of it, the crowd seemed to think so to!
In fact, as the morning demonstration went well, we all loosened up and had a good laugh adding in little bits of comedy here and there, such as the ever popular Oliver Twist heel click.
The morning demo wasn’t without its thrills either though, with one of my tumble runs finishing millimetres away from of a member of the public, who walked straight through our performance area seemingly unaware!
When you’re at Wight Air, don’t forget that there’s stuff going on outside the main arena too.
On the way up the hill, towards where all of the mountain board ‘have a go’ sessions are running, you’ll find a Children’s art tent on the left hand side.
Inside we found Tina from Tina Craft, who gave us the low down on what kids can get up to.
There are two sessions running each day.
It’s ‘beadwork for beginners’ from 11am-1pm today and ‘jewellery from recycled junk’ between 3-5pm.
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. (more…)
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.
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.
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. (more…)
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. (more…)
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 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.
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. (more…)
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!
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.
A short review follows later in the week, but in the meantime after a quick chat with Nigel Howell at the end of the festival, there’s some potentially good news for the return to Ventnor of the Chicane Blast next year.
We know that there’s been lots of enthusiasm for the event over the years and many of you were looking forward to participating this year. Unfortunately, there wasn’t time for Nigel to sort out sponsorship, as he was working flat out to organise the main event.
Apparently, the guys who have previously run the Chicane Blast are well up for doing it again next year and all that is needed is the cash.
According to Nigel, it’s only about £2,000 that is needed. With a year to raise it, we thought it seemed more than achievable. Perhaps a donation from the town council, or some involvement from the Together team (great way to get the kids involved and feel part of what’s going on in town).
It’s also a great opportunity for local or island businesses to have a hand in this fantastic event with their advertising reaching a potentially huge market (especially as the event is also filmed).
Next year, White Air will be hosting the world windsurfing championships, so there should be lots more participants and spectators on the island. Given that the dates are also moving to over the August bank holiday weekend - holding the chicane blast in Ventnor is likely to draw huge crowds of holidaymakers.
As I say, we’ve got a year to sort out it, so if you’ve got any ideas on how the cash can be raised for this event, let us know.
Listen to the quick interview with Nigel Howell by clicking on the right hand icon below
If you’re still crying over the absence of the Chicane Blast this year, watching this video by Saft & Boneless might provide some relief (are those the dulcet tones of Billy Childish I hear in the background?)
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.
It’s great to see that our friends at Monorex have been invited down to WhiteAir this year to paint a 30ft wall.
It’s part of the ‘Hard Grafft’ Graffiti Jam, where you and I will be able to ‘have a go’. It’s all happening in association with Big Bad Buffalo, Wakes Megastore and imdesign.
If you fancy having a go, then you can sign up for the Graffiti Art Clinic, where you’ll be under the tutelage of some of the country’s top graf artists.
Sorry that I haven’t managed to cover any of the White Air events yet. Basically, it was because even though I went to the Yaverland every day, I only managed to get as far as the BMX boys on the indoor skate park and stood mesmerised by their fantasticness. Tres cool. (Also, I’ve been pretty busy this week, hopefully some reviews will come … eventually)
Anyway, I came across this fantastic photo today that Kirstin Prisk took of Reubin Pearce (from Headworx - check out the Website) who secured his third BPSA win of the season at the event. Three cheers for Reubin.
Yesterday saw the final day of White Air 2007 and what a week it’s been! In case you didn’t make it down to catch the last day’s racing, here are the final results.
Quick change to the timings for the Red Arrows. I said yesterday it was at 10am, but it is actually the Red Falcons who display at 10am. The Red Arrows will be performing their display at 2pm today. 
There is loads of stuff going on over the weekend at 
White Air have been putting out 
There quite a few different types of food at Wight Air this year. 
Probably a disappointing day for the windsurfers though, as there seemed to be very little wind, but for those of us on dry land, we couldn’t have asked for better.
When you’re at Wight Air, don’t forget that there’s stuff going on outside the main arena too. 
We’re really chuffed to have local lad, 
To give you some idea of the diversity, we head around a few of the new organisations involved with this years Wight Air. 
Wight Air Extreme Sports Festival started today. 
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.
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.
This year is no exception, as they team up with Platform One and bring seven days of excellent live music.
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.
Those lucky enough to have caught them last year, will remember the World Champions perform some awesome loops and rolls.
Their gig forms part of the Platform One Live Music Stage (a contentious issue for some perhaps given the 
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.
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.
We know that there’s been lots of enthusiasm for the event over the years and many of you were looking forward to participating this year. Unfortunately, there wasn’t time for Nigel to sort out sponsorship, as he was working flat out to organise the main event.
Tonight sees the White Air Party at Sandown Bay Holiday Centre with VentnorBlog friends, 
It’s part of the ‘Hard Grafft’ Graffiti Jam, where you and I will be able to ‘have a go’. It’s all happening in association with 