Kazza said..

The Slalom & Freesail Nationals are on in June at Green Island. Please please please ladies enter & come along so we can have a big line up in the women's section. Let's show how there's a huge field of female windsurfers out there just as dedicated & passionate about windsurfing and love to have fun out there on the water. What ever your ability lets just go have fun & encourage each other.

Love to but can't afford to go there + just had 3 weeks off so need to work! Good luck!

Looks like its just me and the blokes yet again Good to hear from some fellow female sailors, gets a bit lonely down south. How about we all enter Tattslotto for the next couple of weeks and if we win we can all help pay for you all to go to GI.

Sorry Kazza can't make it this

Kazza said..

needsalt said..

I'm still not allowed to sail cos of knee rehab but if not for that would be super keen! I'd love to meet the famous Kazza!!

Why am I famous, I'm just a normal windsurf addict like the rest of us.

Because you are such a good sailor. You get speeds that most of us can only dream of. You give us something to aspire to!

typo: freestyle not freesail

Thank you Buzzby, I meant Freerace but when I realised I put the wrong word it wouldn't edit anymore.

Windxtasy -

Ha Ha Ha, no it's called Tassies gale force winds and sailing with the boys, have to try and keep up with them. Oh and sailing Starboard/Severne gear

Kazza said..

So ladies how can we encourage females to compete in National events in Aust. Seems to always be low numbers (if any at all) that enter.
Sounds like lack of funds is a No 1, is that because we're a little more sensible with our $$ and have family to think about.
Is it lack of confidence thinking National events are very daunting and we're not good enough?
Is it because not many females are interested in competition?
I used to think there were not many females sailing, but after sailing holidays to WA & Maui I realised there's heaps of us sailing out there.
I'm interested to know other ladies thoughts on competition or just sailing in general, so let us know

I am not a lady but I believe it's a circular problem. They don't think its worth attending because they know the numbers will be so low. Not sure about the slalom but this would definitely be the case for other disicplines. Who wants to travel all the way there to be the only girl, or one out of three?

Although it makes for easy winnings!

Prior to the event I think it would help to pre-arrange a group who agree to go together, which solves most of the problems mentioned above.

One idea if $$$ is a problem is to offer an incentive, lower entry fee for example.

Sorry I'm out... not that I'd call myself a windsurfer at the moment. I've barely sailed the last two years.

With the low numbers it's a difficult one. Looking at GPS team challenge there are more than 10 males to every female listed. So assuming same proportion of each race you get 40 guys and 4 girls. When I was racing a bit the small fleets were off putting as it can take meaning out... especially if it meant a large effort/$ to get to the race.

In the PWA slalom they changed the prize money allocation - spreading it out to lower ranks to try and get more entries. Looks like it did work as the the fleet did grow a bit after that. Was fun racing in fleets close to 20 sailors

PS. Most humorous prize ever was for first female Ledge to Lano. Prize = microwave oven

Seems everyone is famous now...

With PWA first time round I was going to meet up with Jesper(another famous one) anyway and thought I'd give it a crack. First event was the first proper "slalom" (eg. boat starts) I'd done. So big learning curve- but lots of fun. Pretty much self funded but got good gear support from my sponsors at the time when I mentioned my plans. The next year I managed to bag sponsorship from my work to cover some travel costs to Turkey-- so that was a very nice bonus. But when it comes down to it it's something you have to be self motivated for and willing to spend some $ on. I saw it as my "holiday" for that year. Sadly there aren't many who can break even-- let alone make a living off doing the PWA.

As for not sailing as much - to be honest I lost some motivation for the flat water stuff so tend to only pick the good days that I know will be worth it. Been sailing as much as possible for many years before that so think I just needed a change. Enjoying other hobbies with my spare time and energy. Still keen on the waves - willing to drive 12hrs for a good wave sail if time and forecast allow. I'm sure I'll get the bug again one day.

I know there was a few years of Slalom Nationals at South Beach in WA mid to late 2000s.

Keep the energy up go girls...

I have seen Kazza keener than most in Tassie for well over twenty years, she is a legend on our Island and a life long friend.

GOOOO KAZZA!!!

Windxtasy said..

2. I don't have any desire to physically race someone else. I love the competition of the GPSTC but that is enough for me.

That's why Ian Fox has invented the Freerace event at Green Island. You don't have to do the Slalom racing.

Yer one big reason to go to GI is because I like sailing in different destinations. I've wanted to try GI and was disappointed when I got into GPS sailing and the GI speed weeks weren't held anymore. When this event came up I thought yeah I'm in, what a good excuse! The thought of sailing on the Great Barrier Reef in the warm tropical waters and that some of the Tassie bunch was heading up was a real motivator, it's fun sailing with your mates in a different part of the world.
And I've always wanted to give racing against other women a crack cause I only get to race against the fella's down here, which isn't a real test. Oh well sounds like I'll be the only women unless there's some secret Kiwi's or New Caledonian women coming over.

Kazza said..

Windxtasy said..

2. I don't have any desire to physically race someone else. I love the competition of the GPSTC but that is enough for me.

That's why Ian Fox has invented the Freerace event at Green Island. You don't have to do the Slalom racing.

Yer one big reason to go to GI is because I like sailing in different destinations. I've wanted to try GI and was disappointed when I got into GPS sailing and the GI speed weeks weren't held anymore. When this event came up I thought yeah I'm in, what a good excuse! The thought of sailing on the Great Barrier Reef in the warm tropical waters and that some of the Tassie bunch was heading up was a real motivator, it's fun sailing with your mates in a different part of the world.
And I've always wanted to give racing against other women a crack cause I only get to race against the fella's down here, which isn't a real test. Oh well sounds like I'll be the only women unless there's some secret Kiwi's or New Caledonian women coming over.

You'll win! ..I was the fastest women sailor in NSW for May when I posted my first speed..I was the only one posted! As I said I can only go down from here and it did..

Kazza said..

Windxtasy said..

2. I don't have any desire to physically race someone else. I love the competition of the GPSTC but that is enough for me.

That's why Ian Fox has invented the Freerace event at Green Island. You don't have to do the Slalom racing.

Yer one big reason to go to GI is because I like sailing in different destinations. I've wanted to try GI and was disappointed when I got into GPS sailing and the GI speed weeks weren't held anymore. When this event came up I thought yeah I'm in, what a good excuse! The thought of sailing on the Great Barrier Reef in the warm tropical waters and that some of the Tassie bunch was heading up was a real motivator, it's fun sailing with your mates in a different part of the world.
And I've always wanted to give racing against other women a crack cause I only get to race against the fella's down here, which isn't a real test. Oh well sounds like I'll be the only women unless there's some secret Kiwi's or New Caledonian women coming over.

I have to admit I never even read the ad because nationals = top sailors and that is not me
The free race idea is a good one and more likely to attract a wider range of sailors. The only "race" I have ever entered was that kind of format.

Kazza said..

So ladies how can we encourage females to compete in National events in Aust. Seems to always be low numbers (if any at all) that enter.
Sounds like lack of funds is a No 1, is that because we're a little more sensible with our $$ and have family to think about.
Is it lack of confidence thinking National events are very daunting and we're not good enough?
Is it because not many females are interested in competition?
I used to think there were not many females sailing, but after sailing holidays to WA & Maui I realised there's heaps of us sailing out there.
I'm interested to know other ladies thoughts on competition or just sailing in general, so let us know

No 1 for me. Before kids I used to make it to way more competitions but priorities change with a family and a mortgage and that's also why I also love the GPSTC as I can compete any time I go sailing and against way more that I have ever physically sailed with. If I was going to GI I think I would rather sail in the freerace anyway rather than the slalom. I think the most girls in one race I have been in was when I did the ledge to Lancelin I think there were about 10 of us which was fun. (Naf prize though for 1st I got a portable cd player, I guess at least it wasn't a microwave). Also fairly rusty at slalom racing, last one I went in was the Qld state slalom titles in 2006 and there were no other women so I had to go in the freeride class, won so was happy with that.

One other thing that would have been good would have been a bit more notice. I only found out about the event at the end of January. If I had know about it earlier than this it I may have been able to arrange to go. I also thought it was fairly unlikely that there would be enough entries to have a women's division so its a long way to go to just compete against the men. Both times I went up there for the GI Speed comp there were no other girls