Events 2007

Report on the SPKA St. Andrews Kite Festival 2007

2nd of December 2007

2007's Festival turned out to windless and rather chilly, although it didn't put off any of the flyers and there were some hardy members of the public out to watch what was going on. Luckily there was enough wind to get some kites in the air, but not really enough for a full on demonstration.

Once again the organisation was spot on, planning is already going into next years event to make it bigger and better! So check back for info on next years St. Andrews Kite Festival nearer the time!

Thank you to all of the SPKA committee and the members that turned up to help out on the day as well as to the British Red Cross for their attendance. Not to mention all the shops and organisations that attended to help us promote kiting in Scotland.

Special thanks must also be extended to the Kite Club Of Scotland for attending, hopefully next year brings more wind for both of us!

Thanks also to Fife council for the permission and support to run the event.

Photos are available on the SPKA Gallery album entitled: SPKA St. Andrews Kite Festival 2007.

Report on the SPKA Summer Fly

7th of July 2007 - West Sands, St. Andrews

Well once again the SPKA Summer Fly was a complete success, with a good number of attendees all promoting the sport to the public and promoting the spka to other flyers.

Saturday saw the prize giving an BBQ, everyone enjoyed the chat around the BBQ at lunch and tea and the flying in between heavy showers. And although the wind was variable it allowed everyone to get out and have some fun.

Sunday was also excellent, the wind was a reasonably constant 18mph-20mph offshore all day and most of the racers had a play around the course which was set out and then did a couple of races alongside 2 new licenced pilots Bill and Jamie. Challenging conditions made for some close racing but all great fun.

The results from the 2 races are as follows:

Race 1:  Race 2:  
PositionLapsNamePositionLapsName
1st 10 Jamie 1st 12 Kev A
2nd 10 John C 2nd 11 Bob M
3rd 10 Bill 3rd 11 Owain W
4th 10 Owain W 4th 8 John C
5th 10 Stephen P 5th 7 Stephen P
6th 9 Keith H 6th 6 Anne D
7th 9 Bob M 7th 6 Bill H
8th 8 Anne D      
9th 1 Gordon C      

Well done to everyone who took part and thanks to everyone who helped out throughout the weekend.

More events will be announced when dates have been decided upon.

Report on the SPKA Race 5

10th of June 2007 - Ardeer Beach, Stevenston

The last SPKA Race Day of the year took place on Sunday at Stevenston, although the weather itself was favourable, the wind was not and so after some hours of chatting and some lightwind practice it was decided to call it a day, which heralds the end of the 2006/2007 buggy race series!

This means that the final results remain as it stands at present:

The SPKA 2006/2007 Buggy Racing Series Results

This means that the top 10 who qualify to contest the European Championships at Pembrey later in the year are as follows:

SCO1 - Kev Arlott
SCO200 - Stuart McGougan
SCO71 - Dave Strachan
SCO 4 - Tom Arlott
SCO 5 - Robert Mitchell
SCO 159 - Alan Payne
SCO 135 - Ross Henderson
SCO 3 - Jim Wallis
SCO 136 - Owain Williams
SCO 117 - James Armour

The above named people will, from now on be allowed to run their respective position in the series as their race number, Eg: Dave could now run SCO 3, Owain SCO 9, and so on...

Report on the SPKA Race and Freestyle Day 4

20th of May 2007 - West Sands, St. Andrews

Once again the SPKA had a fabulous event, with the usual high number of entrants in all disciplines, 20 Racers (2 of which were visiting), 5 Board Freestylers and 4 Buggy Freestylers.

The Day started off with offshore winds at about 20 gusting 27mph, Buggy Freestyle was first on the list, and the heats went ahead in quick succession, with Mark doing some great ground based rotations, James and Stephen doing some big stylish jumps, and Owain pulling off a selection of moves in small doses, the final results were a fair view of the riders sessions on the day:

1st: Stephen Pirie
2nd: James McGoldrick
3rd: Mark Davies
4th: Owain Williams

The Board Freestyle went ahead between the races around lunchtime, with 2 new competitors: Maggie and Duncan taking part and showing off their tricks, joining the more regular competitors, the results were:

1st: Ally Beaven (Beaver with an 'n')
2nd: Kev Arlott
3rd: Duncan
4th: Andy Peppiette
5th: Maggie Cleeve

Throughout the day 3 Buggy Races were held and it produced some good and interesting results to contribute towards the series. 2 visitors from England Dan and John came up to have some fun and both enjoyed themselves.

The results for the day and series overall are available by clicking the following link:

The SPKA 2006/2007 Buggy Racing Series Results

Report on the SPKA Race and Freestyle Days 3 and 4

24th/25th March 2007 - West Sands, St. Andrews

Well, the SPKAs first weekend event was successful... at least for one day of it!

Saturday was unfortunately almost windless, taunting us by nearly reaching the required 8mph to start some proper races, but always averaging below. Everyone attending had a small fly while the wind picked up, and a mock race was held for fun which kept the buggiers occupied, whilst the boarders hung around and cruised about.

Sunday was much more favourable, and I don't think anyone would disagree that the day had the best weather ever seen at an SPKA event so far, spot on ~14mph onshore all day, rising and dropping off occasionally.

There were 5 buggy races held, as well as a buggy freestyle and board freestyle competition, all in the one day.

The Board freestyle was held at about lunchtime, but was a bit lacking in numbers, with just one round to give the rankings as follows:

1st: Kev Arlott
2nd: Andy Peppiette
3rd: Jim McNairn

The Buggy freestyle proved more popular with 5 entrants of very similar ability. 2 heats leading into a final 5 minute trick off, after much delibaration the results were:

1st: Kev Arlott
2nd: James McGoldrick
3rd: Owain Williams
4th equal: Andy Peppiette + Mark Swinney

Either side of the freestyle competitions the Buggy Racing took place. Seeing a total of 17 entrants the pilots set off around a course set by Race officer Roger Blake, taking part in 5 x 20 minute races.

The results for the weekend, and also for the series to the present time are available by clicking the following link:

The SPKA 2006/2007 Buggy Racing Series Results

Report on the SPKA Race and Freestyle Day 3

25th of February 2007 - West Sands, St. Andrews

Well unfortunately the whole day was a bit of a flop, not a drop of wind, but a lot of dropping big kites, especially onto the rather damp sand. once or twice it did look like the wind would pick up, and when it did it was onshore (only a few mph though). The only consolation is that everyone had a good day to set up/dry out/tweak their kites.

Theres always the next event...

Report on the Celtic Challenge

10th and 11th of February 2007 - Ardeer Beach, Stevenston

Celtic Challenge Pilots Meeting
Picture courtesy and copyright Kevin Patterson

The SPKA alongside the IPKA (Irish Power Kite Association) ran the Celtic Challenge on the 10th/11th of February at Stevenston and even though conditions were no-where near ideal the evening more than made up for it. The SPKA fielded 11 pilots against the IPKAs 9 on the Saturday with more expected to join in on Sunday, however conditions on the Sunday prevented any racing taking place.

Saturday saw the arrival of the Irish in a small convoy of vehicles and trailers loaded with kit joining the Scottish fleet in Stevenston. The forcast came partially true and for the first time in 3.5years there was an offshore wind, typical! Even so not many were downheartened and most attempted to start the race, however due to the conditions only 5 managed a whole lap, everyone else being marked as fleet plus 1.

The top 5 were:

1st: SCO 1 Kev Arlott
2nd: IR 71 Brian Tweedie
3rd: IR 43 Gavin Rabbett
4th: IR 1 Rob Finlay
5th: SCO 5 Bob Mitchell

As the scoring system for the championship and round basis is taken on the top 6 pilots of each country the points for each country stand at present as:

Scotland: 89 points
Ireland: 72 points

Which means that for the return leg (TBC) Scotland will have to catch up to win the Celtic Challenge Quaich.

Photos are available from:
The SPKA Gallery
James TK Album
The TK Celtic Challenge Album

Thanks must go out to:
All at the IPKA for assistance and coming over.
Roger for being Race Officer, Joyce for sorting out registration, Keith for sorting out the marshals with vests etc, Anne and Richard for scoring, Jim, James and Bill for Marshalling. The Red Bull girls for turning up and handing out some free Red Bull to competitors. The Gailes Hotel for their hospitality over the weekend.

Report on the SPKA Race Day 2

28th Of January 2007 - Ardeer Beach, Stevenston

Well once again as with the last SPKA event it seems Scotland is being dominated by some strong winds of late, a 29mph north north westerly wind showed up some more experianced pilots and showed the true skill of some less experianced racers. Although it was coming from Arran and Saltcoats direction the wind was surprisingly clean, with very miniscule gusts for such strong winds, very usual in the area. There was a bit of rain at times but it was only light showers and nothing major so everyone stayed relatively dry... from the rain at least.

Tom and Keith set the course after registration was delayed for 1hour while the beach widened, and it was a short course overall keeping pilots in close proximity and tested pilots on their upwind and downwind ability while mingling with others.

With 21 pilots registered it was a good strong turn out once again with a few different pilots from the last event at St. Andrews. The first race was called short because of an incident on the fastest racing line and so the results were written off, the 2nd race went well in the end.

Good preparation for the Celtic Challenge next weekend so hope to see you all there.

Thanks to all those involved with running the event on the day Adam, Conner, Jim, Joyce, Keith and Tom.

Race Results so far for the SPKA 2006/2007 Buggy Racing Series are available HERE

Report on the SPKA Race and Freestyle Day 1

10th Of December 2006 - West Sands, St. Andrews

SPKA Fleet
Picture courtesy of Judith King

Forcasts from all sources in the runup to the SPKAs first Race and Freestyle day were depressing to say the least, but on the day the weather was surprisingly good. Only a small bit of drizzle during the day at times, nothing to stop kites flying around the course in the 22-32mph winds though!

Tom who was acting as Race officer for the day set a fast course which started out with a crosswind leg, which turned into a short broad reach, and then into a longer fast reach across the wind over some ripply sand, then through a small water splash, before setting off for a close reach to the next mark close in to the dunes with a bit stronger winds because of the land formations upwind. Then a final slightly upwind leg to the start/finish gate. Because of the stronger winds it meant that the majority of pilots got around 8 laps in during both races at 20mins long.

In total for the racing this Sunday we had a fleet of 20 pilots.

Unfortunatly due to the strong and gusty winds being unpredictable for jumping it was decided by those interested in competing not to attempt any heats or competitions. It will be considered by the committee to run the Freestyle elements alongside the next race day which is at Stevenston on the 28th of January 2007. (details to follow)

Race Results so far for the SPKA 2006/2007 Buggy Racing Series are available HERE