5th HOTAIR!

The competition has become the flagship event for the inaugural Bali Sports Charity Beach Games andwith the beer chilled and music booming, at a little past 11am on July 2nd, the 14 kite surfing rivalsset out from Sanur beach for the first event. The marathon.The tough course tested the surfers’ strength and stamina, as well as their technical and tactical ability.  The sight of 14 magnificent kites speeding across the ocean filled the horizon and set the tone for an exciting contest that left the growing mass of spectators enthralled. Eventually 1st, 2nd and 3rd positions were claimed by KadekPande, Suanda and Wayan respectively, but the story could have been so different, as KomangPande, brother of Kadek, looked destined to take the marathon title, stretching out a lead of well over 200m. Alas it was not to be, and any sibling rivalry was decided when Komang passed the wrong side of a race marker. As he came towards the beach, confident of his overwhelming victory, joy turned to dismay as the crowd and judges shouted out to him that he had to go back round the forgotten marker, some 500m away. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory Komang made his feelings clear, crying out in anguish and generally cursing all and sundry. I doubt this incident will be soon forgotten in the Pande household. However, Komang may well be able to console himself over the fact that at least he didn’t get his kite stuck on the nearby lighthouse, like one Putu‘Nelly’ Ekayasa. Not one to be embarrassed by the mishap, nor shy away from the spotlight, this was not the onlyPutu related drama of the weekend.
Still, one event down and two to go, the competition quickly moved to the next discipline. The freestyle. Here our competitors were given carte blanche to show off their skill and flair, their daring and panache, wowing the crowds with increasingly outrageous stunts and tricks, often defying gravity in the process. Again crowd favourite Putu was the centre of attention, managing to break his harness on one landing. With the clock still running he sprinted out of the sea as fast as his little legs would carry him, still attached to his kite for a quick switch around. The delay cost him dear and the ‘pocket rocket’ had to settle for 2nd place. 3rd was taken by Made ‘Lollo’ Buda. However, producing a mind boggling display of trickery, and partially slaying his demon from his marathon disaster, 1st was taken by KomangPande. Unlucky no longer it seems.
Making the most of the continuing strong winds we moved swiftly onto the final event of the weekend. The ‘hangtime’. Launching themselves into the air, our competitors had 8 minutes to jump for as long as possible, with prizes being awarded to the longest accumulative time in the air, and the longest individual jump. Brothers Pande again were given the opportunity to put one over the other and they took 3rd and 2nd place in the accumulative hangtime, with Komang beating his brother Kadek to 2nd place by less than a second. However, our man Putu metaphorically smashed their times of 52.5 and 53.49 seconds. With an astonishing accumulative time of 64.68 seconds Putu claimed not only the accumulative but also the individual hangtime with a leap of a staggering 5.78 seconds.
And so a dramatic conclusion to a fantastic day of kite surfing. HotAirveterans will note that the infamous ‘jump for cash’ round was missing from this year’s festivities. Fear not. Competitors will have a chance to grab ‘the chilli’ at the Sanur Sports festival in August, hopefully with the aid of the elusive wind that rendered the round impossible this weekend. Until then it just leaves me to thank the competitors, organisers, spectators and everyone associated with HotAir. We hope to see you all in 2011, if not before!

More Photos by Mark Thorpe at   http://www.balihotair.com