The East Coast Beach and Water Sport Festival
Round one of the British Kite Sport Championships kicked off this weekend on Skegness Beach.
The sunshine beamed down on the East Coast over the two days attracting visitors from all over to witness the events of the weekend. As one of our first main events at Visit Lincs Coast we were absolutely delighted with the feedback we received from both local businesses and visitors to the area. As a main sponsor we think that the East Coast Beach and Water Sports Festival has bought something fresh and exciting to the Lincolnshire Coast which can hopefully be repeated year on year.
From 12pm the competitors started filling up the rear end of the Pier Car Park with their camper vans and made their way straight down to the sand. From 2pm we had groups of school children starting to fill the beach where they could take part in taster sessions with the kite surfers. This was a huge success and a great introduction to the sport. Meanwhile Team Extreme were busy constructing their spine ramp ready for their shows throughout Saturday and Sunday.
After a busy day setting up The Grosvenor House Hotel put on a welcome reception giving all of the competitors, sponsors and organisers a chance to get together before the official start of the Championships. With little wind on the Saturday the Kite Surfers could not quite compete however this was the perfect opportunity for the public to get involved. Sunday saw a change in the wind so the Kite Surfers could really get stuck in and show off their skills.
BKSA managing director, Andy Gratwick, said, “For tasters it was perfect all weekend and we introduced 200 people to kite-sports over the weekend, which is great. I’ve also got to say that the beach is one of the best that we ever run events at: there’s 100 metres between low and high tide, the competitors were able to camp right next to the site, there’s a lovely big rigging area and loads of open space in the sea. In the end the wind gave us a really positive ending to a great weekend and huge thanks for the warm welcome we had from the organisers at the Grosvenor House Hotel and the Visit the Lincs Coast team. We will be back!”