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News & Events
25 Oct 07 - New Google Maps added to the Beaches page
Now there is no excuse for not finding the beach or Essex Kitesurf School. We have added a Google map to the beaches page and even managed to place some markers on to the map to show you where the spots in Southend are. If anyone has any suggestions for more spots why not drop me a line cwhellams[at.]yahoo.co.uk
31 May 07 - New Link to Thorpe Bay Yacht Club Real Time Weather station
Ok people, here's what we've been waiting for..... a weather station on the beach at Southend. The kind people at Thorpe Bay Yacht Club have a live weather station on their web site that most people will probably want to book mark ASAP. Keep an eye on the site as I will be making some enquiries to see if we can take a feed of this directly into the EKC site. In the meantime check the updated Weather page or take a look here http://www.tbyc.org/weather/
13 Jan 07 - New Web gallery and updates to the EKC Website
We have updated our website photogallery with new & improved technology. The gallery is now integrated into the site and features a slideshow facility. Enjoy !
We are also looking at some major improvements to the site during 2007, so keep an eye on the site to see if we manage to do anything this year :)
Happy New Year
EKC Webteam
John May - 9th December 2006
It is with great sadness that we announce the death of club member and IKO/BKSA Instructor John May. John was there at the start and was a larger than life character. John will be greatly missed by all of us and our thoughts go out to John's wife and family.
RNLI Day Sunday 24th September 2006
Sunday is RNLI day at East Beach.
The club will be raising money for the RNLI - who do a great job of keeping us safe and have rescued a number of people this year. Please show your support and come along on Sunday 24th September. This is a family day so bring your whole crew down.
- Free BBQ for club members and their guests
- Competitions including the infamous body drag race + lots more (subject to weather)
- Beach volleyball and surf kayaking
- Kit demos including the new EH bows, Switchblade2 + lots more
See you at East Beach !
Southend Air Show Kitesurfing restrictions 26-29 May
This bank holiday weekend 26-29 is the Southend Air Show.
For safety reasons there is a temporary ban on Kite surfing on any of the Southend beaches until 6pm. The council have however said that we are still allowed to Kite surf at East beach.
Please make sure that anyone you know who is intending to kite surf this weekend knows this.
It is essential that everyone abides to these restrictions as future access to Southend beaches depends on kite surfers co-operation. If you see anyone setting up in the restricted areas please let them know or you can ring myself or Simon on the following numbers 07813 80 92 78 or 0778 1480092
See you on the beach or on the Water
Regards,
Jamie Webb
Club BBQ at East Beach Sunday 14th May 2006
Weather permitting the club will be having its first BBQ on Sunday 08th of May from 12pm Down East beach. Please try to make it and bring anyone who has questions about the Sport and the club. Wet n Dry will be there with lots of Demo Kit. The following Kites and Boards will be available for you to try out Provided you have proof of 3rd Party insurance and IKO level 2
- Cabrinha 2006 CO2 10m
- Cabrinha 2006 CO2 14m
- Cabrinha 2006 Contra 16.5m
- Cabrinha 2006 9m Switch Blade
- Slingshot 2006 10m Turbo Diesel
- Naish 2006 Touch 2 12m
- Naish 2006 Shockwave 9m
- Cyclone Odyssey Plus many more boards and accessories to look at.
There will also be lots of senior members and Instructors from the club to answer any questions about technique and kit setup. We are hoping to set up the Volleyball net for some grudge matches. If anyone wants to sort out teams e.g. instructor’s v Beginners or LEI's v Foil riders then feel free. Hope to see you all there and please ride safe on the day.
As you may or may not know the club have now introduced a 30m exclusion zone from the beach where riders can enter and exit the water safely all riding and jumping should be outside this zone.
See you by the BBQ or on the water
Kitesurfer rescued by RNLI at East Beach
The RNLI did a great job of rescuing one of our members (who we won't name in public) last week. We don't have all the details but we have received some pictures.
The RNLI do a great job so don't forget to give them (and us) your full support at RNLI day later this year. We raised over £700 last year so lets try and make it £800 this year - we do need to pay for H's rescue after all ;-)
Stay safe.
24 April 2006
Website Update
The website is now up and running again. The forum is fixed and we have fully recovered the database. More new features coming soon. Vote on the forum if you are interested in your own club email account. If there is enough support / interest we will look into providing club members with a club email address and webmail / POP access. Any questions you can now email me here
22 April 2006
Website Issues
The site upgrade has gone through, but not without some painful issues. We have unfortunately lost the database that sits on the back end of the Forum. This means that the forum is currently unavailable. We are working with our service provider now to try and get the database restored but this may take some time OR might not even be possible. Unfortunately we (the webmasters) have screwed up here as we haven't taken a backup of the DB for a while. We're doing all we can to resume normal service so please bear with us.
Essex Enquirer
We got a nice piece in the Essex Enquirer on Thursay 20th April by Nicola Toulson and a great picture of Steve Davison. Check out the Lifestyle section on Page 28.
18 April 2006
We are still waiting for our hosting provider to action the upgrade, which I'm assured will be soon. Lots of stuff happening over the coming months so check the site regularly to see what's happening. Check the local Essex press for articles on the club as we have recently given info and interviews to the Echo and the Enquirer.
If anyone is interested in getting involved with the site please let me know. Eddie & I are feeling lonely here in cyberspace. We are particularly keen to get photos and find someone with good DTP / graphics skills.
Keep an eye out for the club newsletter which should be hitting your inbox in early May. Yours truly will be putting pen to paper and will attempt to remove Simons crabs (full Hazchem suit to be provided) for good.
Finally.....summer is coming, so don't forget to renew your BKSA membership and make sure you're properly insured before heading out on the water. BKSA insurance is required by all kitesurfers at Southend, club members or not.
Web Site news
We are upgrading the site right now to give ourselves more space, club email addys, site stats, mailing lists + lots more. We also hope to launch a new online anonymous incident reporting system in the coming months. We are currently waiting for the upgrade to be actioned by our service provider and then we hope to get email lists in place.We are also hoping to port the site over to the Drupal content management system. We hope to start development work on this soon. This will be a major upgrade to the site and should guarantee that the EKC site remains one of the best BKSA club sites in the UK.
And finally.......our trip report is coming soon....honest.
AGM Info
The AGM had a disappointingly low attendance. Full minutes will be posted on the web site once they become available. The committee stays pretty much the same as last year. The initiatives this year were covered by club Chairmain Simon Mudd and include:- Organisation of more club competitions e.g speed events
- Possibility of closer relationship with Chalkwell windsurf club
- Better signs on the beach
EKC AGM Wednesday 29th March 2006 Thorpe Bay Yacht Club 7pm
The Club AGM will be held at Thorpe Bay yacht club. A bar is available. Agenda:- Review minutes of 2005 AGM
- Committee Election
- Safety
- Access issues
- Insurance
- Events
- Any other business
Efforts will be made to ensure that Jamie Webb does not start drinking until late, if that fails sit back and enjoy the show.
It's your club - please come along and have your say.
Big Blue Gathering 1st & 2nd April
We have been contacted by Big Blue Kitesurfing who are organising a Kite Weekend in Newgale, Pembrokeshire. This is for all forms of kiting. They will have a rescue boat running over the weekend for those on the water.
Big Blue Gathering Press Release
1st and 2 nd April
Newgale, Pembrokeshire, West Wales
Informal Kite-landboarding, buggying and kitesurfing event.
On the weekend of the 1 st April Big Blue Kitesurfing in Newgale, Pembrokeshire inconjunction with the South West Wales Kitesurf Club is hosting an informal gathering of all types of kiters to kick off the season. Buggiers, landboarders and kitesurfers will be gathering on this stunning beach in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park to take advantage of the Atlantic swell, lighter days and warmer? winds. Big Blue will be providing boat safety cover all weekend and the plan is to complete a mass 10-mile down-winder over the course of the weekend. On the Saturday night there will be a band/DJ playing in the Mariners in Nolton Haven. If you have never been to Pembrokeshire this is as good a time as any. For further information ring Oli on 07816 169359 or for directions and accommodation look at www.bigbluekitesurfing.com We look forward to seeing you in the wild west!
Feb 2006 Update
The school will be starting lessons again in March.
If you have anything for us to put on the news page please email Chris. We would like to start a trip report section on the site. If you've been somewhere - be it good, bad or ugly - then drop us a line with the details, or put together a full trip report and we'll get it up on the site. We'll be doing a write up on Fiji and Tarifa sometime in the near future. Stay tuned ;-)
Jan 2006 Website update
New for 2006 - we now have WindGuru built-in. On the weather page you will now find the Windguru forecast for Southend built into the page. We have lots more planned this year, so keep checking back and see what's new.
Last modified March 06 2008 22:29:42