2009 Eastbourne Extreme was to be an altogether different event, with the UKWA deciding the venue to be too extreme for the course racing fraternity, and the time of year a little unpredictable for the slalom racers.

The organising council behind the event were still really keen to have windsurfing centre stage on the water for the 2009 event and it fell to myself to make something happen.

It took a little head scratching and a few phone calls, but sure enough I had a plan, and a conversation with Nik Baker brought a little reality to a concept and ION Man plans were conceived.

The council gave the concept the green light and Nik was straight onto ION to get their full support organised. Timing wasn’t great as ION were right in the midst of their 2010 product launch, but they were 100% on-board.

So, with little time between launch and the event itself, numbers were limited, although there still needed to be an ‘open’ element to the competition. This ‘open’ element was easily remedied with the re-invention of the tried and tested North One Hour Classic, and this was deemed a perfect fit for the ION Man opener.

So, everything was organised, safety cover laid on by the team at Spray Watersports, event identity courtesy of ION & North, and maximum local media for the event as part of Eastbourne Extreme. Even the weather was sorted, with sunshine and 25mph south westerlies for both Saturday and also Sunday.

All that was needed now, was a steady stream of competitors to turn up and wage ION warfare for the title. Ironically, the excellent forecast looked like it may lose us a few entries to nearby wave locations which would be ‘working’ with the wind and also a decent swell rolling up the channel.

The time had been set for the ION Man opener, based upon tides to ensure everything was in our favour to run a long distance figure of eight course for the one-hour classic. It was all set to kick off at 1.30pm and sure enough we’d got everyone lined up, and explained the ‘rules’ and format for the race and set them on their way pretty much like clockwork.

It was certainly conditions to test people for regular short slalom heats, so adding the endurance element made for some spectacular racing, and one or two crashes along the way. Some people were using 4.5m rigs on their wave boards, others using up to 5.5m on their free-wave platforms, all very well powered up.

Racing was tight with numerous groups enjoying close personal battles throughout the fleet as the race evolved. The figure of eight course worked a treat, and with pretty long, and bumpy, legs between the corners you could see those who cornered smoothly gain positions on, and then lose them again, battling with the straight line speed merchants. The guys really did battle for the full hour and all were pretty relieved when the bell tolled for the end of the race. Massive grins accompanied huge sighs of relief !!

The guys thought the racing was hard, but the guys from Spray Watersports doing the scoring out on the water had a case to suggest their role was tougher still. Sat out there for an hour in the rib’s, counting guys rounding each mark and noting progress. No surprise that the score sheets got a touch damp and the translation to hard results took a little extra skill and judgement.

Anyway, we got there in the end, and coming out on top was Mike Howard, have played cat’n’mouse with Richard Godding for the duration. Guy Blackden finished off the podium with a hard earned 3rd place. Proving that slalom racing is fun and competitive on whatever kit you generally use, the top three finishers were all using their wave kit, and they all went home with some decent prizes from North for their efforts. None of them could be described as ‘racers’, however they were all extremely competitive characters.

Richard had entered the ION Man event and his 2nd place in the North One Hour Classic would set him up nicely as the forerunner in the ION Man, that was until Mike showed his competitive edge and enlisted in the ION Man event himself. This looked like the beginnings of an epic duel between these two, and so it transpired.

The ION Man event itself was limited entry due to both the late announcement and also due to the availability of alternative challenge equipment. The focus for the ION Man would always be windsurfing, but a plan was hatched to ensure competition occurred with or without wind. Wind wasn’t an issue, but this competition needed a twist to make it different to the normal events trotted out to windsurfers.

So, round one was the One Hour Classic, high wind figure of eight wave slalom action. Round two format was still to be decided, and would be called to make best use of the conditions. With a low to mid tide and strong winds, and some decent swell rolling about the channel, we went for a windsurfing ‘Jump Comp’. Format was simple, 3 runs out each and best jump each run would be scored out of ten by remaining ION Man competitors, with Nik & myself keeping a tally of the scores, with the highest total taking the round. Coming out on top was ex-Hythe Hotshot, Sam Conroy with some big loops, just ahead of Richard Godding and young Alex Mitchell, with some equally impressive, but perhaps less consistent, loops. It wasn’t just loops getting the attention, with Julian Williams, aka the ‘Sheriff of Eastbourne’ impressing with his trademark ‘double back-slapper hops’.

After a pretty full on opening to proceedings, round three was scheduled for 11am Sunday, just after the ‘Spaniels Ears’ gig on the event stage, so the guys could check out Charlie Holman and his band before battle recommenced. Charlie is one of the instructors at Spray and finished a respectable 8th place in the One Hour Classic.

With a fairly high tide early one, and more wind and swell, round three was called a gruelling SUP race. Spray Watersports loaned us 3 matching SUP boards, so we raced the guys in timed heats. To add a little spice to the event, it was not only against the clock, fastest time wins, but there was a further twist. The course set was pretty simple with just one mark to round, approx 150m off the beach. However, it was pretty windy, and there was a decent swell still running, so it wasn’t the flat ideal SUP conditions people perhaps expected having seen many a magazine article offering the sport as a no wind back up plan for windsurfers.

To give the round an edge, we called in Starboard & Blue Chip SUP Team Rider, Jason Manning, to set a target time round the course, with bonus points available to anyone beating his time. Jason was nursing a dodgy ankle, and looked at us as if we were nuts getting people to SUP in the conditions, but he pretty quickly got suited and grabbed a board to set us a time.

The guys weren’t all that keen on the SUP element, but they all got stuck in, not only trying a new sport to them, but also in pretty hardcore conditions. Four ION Men even beat Jason’s target time, but fortunately for Jason, none are looking to become SUP team riders anytime soon!

Taking the round three win was Richard Godding, ahead of Julian Williams and Mike Howard in second and third places respectively.

The guys needed a little recovery time after the SUP race, and with the tide dropping back and the conditions shaping up for more windsurfing action, the decision for round four was pretty easy. It would be windsurfing, but what format remained a choice needing making. With a difficult launch for the rib off the beach, or a delay waiting for their larger rib to come round from the harbour, to set a downwind slalom course combined with a reasonable dose of pressure from all the competitors, racing was dropped in favour of another jump contest.

So, round four, more jumping, going big or going home was the order of this round, as it would decide the overall ION Man title, and with things really tight at the top, the pressure was really on.

Stepping up to the plate with some huge jumps was young Alex Mitchell, but there was nothing to choose between Alex and Mike Howard when the scores were added up and they tied in 1st place for the round. The youngsters were really going for it again, and there was another tie with Sam Conroy and Charlie Wilson in joint third place. Both Sam and Charlie were racing in the South East Team 15 events not so long ago, so it’s really cool to see them as passionate as ever about windsurfing, and also reaching new heights, literally. They might not be racing anymore, but they sure were competing! Further down the order it looked like the pressure had got to Richard Godding as he crashed and burned a bit in this round. Perhaps his exertions in the SUP round took it’s toll, or perhaps he just pushed it too hard to go really big to take the overall title?

With different rounds bringing different strengths to the fore, the overall title would be hard earned and the victor would be well deserving of the 2009 ION Man title. And so it proved, with the top three separated by just four points over the four events. Third place went to young Sam Conroy, with the top two places to be decided between the top two placed North One Hour Classic racers. As it turned out, with just the one point between them, Mike Howard did the double on Richard Godding to take home the ION Man title as well as winning himself a brand new ION wetsuit and some other ION goodies. Richard & Sam didn’t go home empty handed either, and received ION goodies for their efforts.

Overall, the event format worked really well, combining competition with plenty of time for free-sailing and trying the new 2010 Fanatic boards which Nik brought along, and also getting some decent action photos of themselves into the bargain.

From an organiser’s perspective, the chilled out format meant that Nik & myself could also squeeze some time on the water between rounds, and with the media duties we could also get in the thick of things during some rounds too.

As an added element to the event, Ant Baker brought his Baker Academy roadshow to the event running a gybe clinic on the Saturday, and a loop clinic on the Sunday. The standard of local windsurfing just crept up a notch as a result. Ant’s clinics were busy all weekend, and I think a few of the racers from the North One Hour Classic wished they’d perhaps done the gybe clinic before the race!

Without the support of Eastbourne Borough Council, Eastbourne Extreme would not happen and we’d then not have the opportunity to showcase windsurfing to such a large number of spectators. The event regularly draws in over 20,000 people over the Extreme event, so is a perfect opportunity for windsurfing to gain good press coverage and enjoy direct marketing to the general public. I’m sure that the guys from Blue Chip enjoyed their weekend, and Jason was enjoying showing the SUP boards to anyone who would give him the time of day.

More directly supporting the ION Man event were the crew at Spray Watersports, all expertly co-ordinated by Rich Wilson, the Centre Manager, and another North One Hour Competitor. It really was a testing weekend for the boat crew, but everything ran like clockwork, and seemed to be just another day at the office for them.

Without the support of ION and North Sails, we wouldn’t have had the North One Hour Classic or the ION Man event at all at Eastbourne Extreme.

It all goes to show, that with a little bit of enthusiasm, and just the right amount of support from people, that windsurfing can take centre stage at such a large showcase extreme sports event, and still remain true to the chilled out, yet fiercely competitive, nature of the sport which we all love.

Congratulations to Mike Howard, our 2009 ION Man, and thanks to all the events team at Eastbourne Borough Council, to the staff at Spray Watersports, to Nik & Ant Baker, to Boards & More (ION, North, Fanatic), and to my long suffering family for not only putting up with my numerous escape acts on optimistic forecasts, but also for coping with the time given to organising events like this for no commercial gain. All proceeds from the ION Man event, including the North One Hour Classic, went to Spray Watersports to cover safety boat costs, and any profits were put into their Team 15 fund as they look to develop their kids windsurfing fleet, and treat them to new kit to enjoy the sport.

What a weekend? Fantastic. Will we do it again? Almost certainly … watch this space

Ian ‘Krafty’ Kraft

www.surfkraft.com