So this December was a first for the The Hoxton Special as we teamed up Kernow Kitesurfing Club to raise money for Cornwall Hospice.
Cornwall Hospice run a yearly Santa Series in which you everyone dressed in Sant Suits race down the beach at various locations in Cornwall. After seeing the spectacle last year and a rather perfunctory conversation in a Chinese restaurant it was decided that we should give it a go with kites.
After a little persuading over the phone and a few messages back and forth suddenly we were on. The Santa Suits were delivered, Risk Assessments were written, permissions were granted and the Facebook event went live. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t with us this year but we decided to forge ahead anyway. A last minute night drive around south Cornwall found me picking up foil kites and land buggies from various disreputable sources and by ten at night I had a pile of gear to use in light winds unlike any I had ever seen.
Kernow Kitesurfing Club Santa Invasion
Around 10 KKC members showed up to Gwithian Beach that day, having all pitched in we enjoyed mince pies, tea and coffee, and free reign of a (barely) wind swept beach. Tom Sylvester and Andrew Wake saved the day by bringing out the “Big Guns” a huge 17 meter RRD and a F-One Foil. With buggies, boards and blades (yep, thanks Rob!) we stormed the beach.
All in all it was a great turnout, we raised over £140 for Cornwall Hospice and the only thing that could have made it better would have been a little more wind.
Jump forward a week and Storm Barbra hit the south coast and with it, a few kite surfers braved the winds. Big thanks to Andrew Larder of AirRage for supporting the cause and heading out in his santa suit. Lastly I just want to say big thanks to Jan Bowden from Jaanboy Photography, who took time out to come and take some photos of us.
Looking forward to next year, hoping that we can make it bigger and better than ever before.
Check out the rest of the photos here:
#gallery-0-4 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-4 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-4 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-4 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */
Kite Surfing Santas So this December was a first for the The Hoxton Special as we teamed up Kernow Kitesurfing Club…