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Displaying items by tag: Irish Kitesurfing Association

#KITESURFING - The annual Wexford Kite Surfing Festival on Duncannon Beach will once again play host to the Irish National Kite Surfing Championships this weekend 25-26 August.

Presented by the Irish Kitesurfing Association (ISKA) and Wexford-based start-up school Hooked Kitesurfing, the two-day content will present the best in junior, men's and women's kitesurfing in course racing and freestyle events.

As organiser Niall Roche tells Visit Wexford, the global field of competitors will for the first time be reflected with an international judging panel.

"It’s a real boost for the festival and indeed for kitesurfing in Ireland," he says. "This event will be the biggest kitesurfing event on the national calendar this year, we are expecting over 50 kitesurfers to compete."

And aside from the action on the water, the festival weekend includes fun for all the family from water zorbing to archery, face painting, power kite lessons for kids and a beach party with barbecue. Details of events and competition times are available HERE.

Published in Kitesurfing

The Dragon was designed by Johan Anker in 1929 as an entry for a competition run by the Royal Yacht Club of Gothenburg, to find a small keel-boat that could be used for simple weekend cruising among the islands and fjords of the Scandinavian seaboard. The original design had two berths and was ideally suited for cruising in his home waters of Norway. The boat quickly attracted owners and within ten years it had spread all over Europe.

The Dragon's long keel and elegant metre-boat lines remain unchanged, but today Dragons are constructed using the latest technology to make the boat durable and easy to maintain. GRP is the most popular material, but both new and old wooden boats regularly win major competitions while looking as beautiful as any craft afloat. Exotic materials are banned throughout the boat, and strict rules are applied to all areas of construction to avoid sacrificing value for a fractional increase in speed.

The key to the Dragon's enduring appeal lies in the careful development of its rig. Its well-balanced sail plan makes boat handling easy for lightweights, while a controlled process of development has produced one of the most flexible and controllable rigs of any racing boat.