Bridge of the Gods 2012! July 28 / 29 & August 18th

tonyb · Last edited by tonyb on Thu Aug 02, 12 7:40 am; edited 1 time in total

Alright all you riders out there, BOTG is coming up in a few weeks!

I've been laying low till after KB4C finished and Ro-Sham got kicked off. I'll add details here throughout the week but to get things started here's what we've got:

13th Annual Bridge of The Gods Kiteboarding Festival in Stevenson, WA

* Pro Riders / Past Winners / Sponsored Riders - Freestyle event: July 28th. Technical stuff to impress the judges, some height to please the crowd. It's not old school, it's not dangling but it doesn't hurt to get up to the crowd's level on the bank while throwing that back mobe. We're hoping the top riders from Ro-Sham will stay over an extra week and come to Stevie to put on a show. Men's and Women's heats. $2,000 guaranteed purse. $50.00 entry fee.

* Pro-Am Race - Stevenson to Hood River: July 29th. The traditional Stevie to HR Blowout downwind race with a twist. We'll be joining up pro riders (Billy Parker, Jake Buzianis, Sam Medesky, Eric Reinstra, etc..) and local heroes (Corey, Jim Bison, Brad Gordon, Grom, etc...) with amatuers like the rest of us mortals to form teams. Lowest combined finishing order for all team members will win the race. Besides bragging rights prizes will consist of gift certificates to local shops and schwag. Entry fee is $30.00 unless you also rode the pro event the day before in which case the fee is only $15.00. Boat/jet ski support will be provided.

* Amateur Freestyle: August 18th. This is the showcase event with some of the best amateur riders you'll see anywhere. We've got food vendors, raffles, give aways, photo ops, music and a general good time on the waterfront. We have classes for the following:
- Mini Groms (12 and under)
- Groms (13 to 16)
- Men (17 and up)
- Women (17 and up)
- Masters (40 and up)
Entry fee is $50.00. Cash, gear and gift certificate prizes.

I need volunteers for the following:
- Pro Registration (two)
- Pro judges (three to five)
- Pro kite launchers (it's ok if you don't land)
- Blowout Race Registration (four)
- Blowout boat / jetski support (two boats/skis - helpers in the boats - will pay for gas)
- Blowout Finish Line counter (three or four)
- Amateur Registration (four)
- Amateur judges (three to five)
- Amateur kite launchers (four to eight - will rotate)
- Amateur boat support (one ski/boat)

pm me here or send an e-mail to: tony @ gorgekiting.com (no spaces of course)

Riders - time to hone your tricks!
Photographers - charge the batteries and empty your memory cards. This is the event to see!

I'll post the eligibility rules for Amateur versus pro tomorrow afternoon. Preregistration will be available on the website this weekend. Go here for more details: www.botgkitefest.com . Steve Fisher has a facebook page for it as well that I'll try to get a link to here in the next day or so.

Tony

tonyb · Thu Jul 19, 12 3:13 pm

BOTG Pro Event

Some info on the Pro Event:

- Registration opens at 10
- Riders meeting at 11
- First possible heat at noon
- 3 to 4 person, 10 minute freestyle heats, 2 advance
- there may be a consolation heat
- 1 or 2 strapless heats depending on interest
- Riders can wear their own jerseys in each heat

Prize Pool:

M1 $500.00
M2 $350.00
M3 $200.00
M4 $100.00
W1 $400.00
W2 $250.00
W3 $120.00
W4 $80.00

Aqua docks will go in the water next Tuesday or Wednesday. All heats will start at the aqua docks and end on the grass. All tricks will be thrown below the rock. All riders must exit the pool area below the buoy, no short tacking straight back out.

Tony

tonyb · Thu Jul 19, 12 3:37 pm

BOTG Pro-Am Blowout Race

- Register on Saturday 28th or Sunday 29th at 10 am.
- Riders meeting at 11
- Team formation at 11:30
- Teams will consist of one Pro Rider or local legend (Bison, Roesler, Gordon, Grom, Solbach, etc...) and two to five amateur riders (all depends on who shows up)
- Team strategy session at noon (do you all run it together, buddy system, everyone for themselves, etc...)
- Launching will begin at least 45 minutes prior to race start
- Launching will be done at both the aqua dock and from the grass
- First possible start 1 pm
- Start will be jack rabbit style start behind the chase boat.
- 5 minute count down for start
- Finish will be at the end of sand bar in Hood River
- Lowest combined team finishing order will determine 1st, 2nd, 3rd places
- Gift Certificates and some schwag will be given out as prizes

- Crash pickups between Stevie and Home Valley will be dropped at Home Valley
- Crash pickups between Home Valley and Viento will be dropped at Viento
- Crash pickups between Viento and Hood River will be dropped at the Sand Bar

As in years past this is not a race for beginner kiters. The corridor is unpredictable and gusty. You might start in Stevenson on a 12 and wish that you were on a 6 by the time you get to the Hatchery.

If you've never launched at Stevenson I suggest you get some practice in before the event. If you don't have your stuff together at the launch and have tangles you will be pulled off the hill and put to the back of the line. Basically you have about one minute to step in to the pool and get your kite in the air. This will be an assembly line style launch process.

Tony

tonyb · Thu Jul 19, 12 4:09 pm

BOTG Amateur Event - August 4th

- Registration opens at 9
- Food vendors open at 10
- Riders meeting at 10
- First possible heat at 11
- 3 to 4 person, 10 minute freestyle heats, 2 advance
- there may be a consolation heat or advancement in some of the groups
- Potential heat order (subject to change based on wind)
- Strapless demo heat
- Mini Groms
- Juniors
- Mini Groms Finals
- Masters
- Women
- Men
- Junior Quarter/Semi Finals (depends on how many sign up)
- Masters Quarter/Semi Finals
- Women Quarter Finals
- Men Quarter Finals
- Junior Semi Finals / Finals(depends on how many sign up)
- Masters Semi Finals / Finals
- Women Semi Finals
- Men Semi Finals
- Women Finals
- Men Finals
- Master Finals (if needed)
- Junior Finals (if needed)
- last heat probably around 6 pm, depending on wind and total registration

Aqua docks will go in the water next Tuesday or Wednesday. All heats will start at the aqua docks and end on the grass. All tricks will be thrown below the rock. All riders must exit the pool area below the buoy, no short tacking straight back out.

Backup wind day is August 5th.

Tony

ps: can someone please cross post all of this on pskite, kiteforum, and ikitesurf for me? Running a little short on time here. Thanks!

Tony

tonyb · Thu Jul 26, 12 10:47 am **Pro-Am Blowout Race Scoring**

With this year's Blowout being organized as a team event with one Pro level or local Gorge legend rider and three to four amateur riders we've come up with a scoring system that will provide an incentive for the teams to work together and add some strategy to the race.

Basically, the closer together your team finishes the more bonus points are awarded (deducted from the total score). Bonus system:

It goes something like this:

Each rider receives a score for the place they finish in. i.e., first place gets one point, second place gets two points, etc... So, say that team Bison has four riders, one of whom places 1st, another in 6th, one in 10th and one in 17th. The total score for the team would be 34. Then there is team Reinstra and they finish 7th, 8th, 12th & 13th. Their team score is 40. Looks like team Bison has won, but wait, the bonus points kick in:

Team Reinstra finished with Two Pair (7th & 8th, 12th & 13th), which gives them a total deduct of 28 points making their total score 12. The buddy system pays off!

Of course there are multiple ways this could work out or possibly fail completely but we'll never know until we try. I've run a few random simulations and it appears to work. I think we'll see a few single Pairs or maybe a team getting Two Pair but achieving any of the other combos will be pretty tough. But it could be done. It will be up to each team to decide how to approach the race, stick together, one rabbit, two pairs, etc...

We're aiming for as many 4 person teams as we can get. If we end up with one or two odd teams of 5 then we will probably allow the team to throw out their lowest score or use the four best finish combo's to create the best hand for the deduct.

The forecast for Sunday looks good so it should be a blast.

Tony

wylieflyote · Sun Jul 29, 12 7:18 am

I'll be looking for a team at 10AM when I arrive at Stevenson. Probably the moderately slow end of Two Pairs.
Kip
2FIVE3-3SIX5.3ATE6ohhh

C Johnson · Since 17 Apr 2009 854 Posts Seattle Opinionated

Hey Tony,

I see you posted the prizes for the Pro event but what about the rest of us?

Looking forward to this weekend!

Link

tonyb · Mon Jul 30, 12 10:10 am

I'll try to list out the amateur prize pool tonight, maybe tomorrow. We still have stuff trickling in and some of the major sponsors haven't figured out exactly what it is they will be donating.

We'll also get the official results posted on line in a while. Playing catch up with work most of the day today.

Tony

KitesofFury · Since 25 Jun 2007 23 Posts Seattle

Hoping this heat wave passes and we get good wind on Saturday!

tonyb · Tue Aug 14, 12 8:29 pm

Forecast is not looking very good so far but we may get lucky and the heat will break on Friday. We'll go another day or two and decide what we're going to do.

We really want to have the event in good conditions so that we can get the best out of each competitor. I'd rather delay again than hold the event in bad conditions.

Tony