Formula Kite European Championships in Portsmouth voted a huge success – on the water AND in the classroom!
Ellie Aldridge’s victory thrilled hundreds of home spectators on Eastney Beach last Sunday as she clinched her first European title just under a year out from kite foiling’s Olympic debut in Paris.
Some 112 athletes from 28 nations raced at this Olympic qualification event on the testing waters of the Solent.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdThe British Sailing Team also picked up fourth and fifth places in the women’s fleet through Lily Young and Maddy Anderson, with Connor Bainbridge finishing fifth in the men’s event.
But elite performance on the water was just one measure of success for the organisers at the six-day event, which aimed to showcase inspirational racing in a city location, and create a greater connection between Portsmouth’s young people and the opportunities of their marine environment.
The Championships represented a new approach for the RYA’s event delivery team.
Event Director Niall McLeod explained: “It’s a little over two years ago that we really started to think about and work towards the Formula Kite Europeans; it’s been a year where we’ve been full-on planning.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad"The team at the RYA working together with Portsmouth City Council, and with the support and guidance of UK Sport, have put a lot of work into delivering this event to the best of our abilities.”
“Delivering an event on a beach where we had absolutely no infrastructure has certainly given us some additional challenges and really stretched the team.
“But that also gave us the opportunity to try something different and bring an event into the heart of a city and into Portsmouth.
"That’s something we’ve never really been able to do before - showing [our sport] off to an audience, hopefully engaging people with watersports in general, whether that be kitesurfing, wingfoiling or sailing in any of its forms.”
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdAround 400 local schoolchildren, many of whom came from some of Portsmouth’s most deprived wards, experienced the event’s bespoke beach club, which sought to use the Championships as a launchpad to inspire and connect the city’s young people to the sea, linking in to watersports opportunities and marine conservation.
As well as providing teacher resources for classroom delivery prior to the event, the Beach Club during the event saw children engaging in STEM experiments looking at how a foil works and how a kite works, environmental experiments with The Green Blue and beach cleans with the Marine Conservation Society.
The participants also experienced SwimSafe sessions to help build their water confidence, as well as opportunities to try wingsurfing with the Andrew Simpson Centre Portsmouth and kite flying with 2XS.
“Seeing the Beach Club in action was been absolutely magical,” said Susie Moore, RYA Regional Development Officer and Project Lead for the Formula Kite Europeans’ social impact programme.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad“We’ve heard so many stories from the teachers and seen such change in the children. We had one teacher tell us that they had seen some of the children that they’d never seen smile smiling and laughing, engaging with the sessions.
"Another teacher was also telling us that 50 per cent of their children had never been down to the beach.
“So just to give them that opportunity to come and get them on the beach in their seafront city has been amazing.
“Watersports are a fantastic vehicle for developing life skills and character attributes.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad“What we see when they get involved in that new environment for them is that [the children] bond as a team; they learn teamwork, their communication develops so they start having conversations with people they’ve maybe never spoken to before in their class.
"Their confidence really builds through it as well.”
“We’ve done some measurements throughout the event and it’s really shown an increased appetite for the children wanting to get out on the water, and wanting to do some more marine conservation work as well, so we really hope to be able to work with the partnerships with developed and maybe bring some more on board to help fund some legacy opportunities past this point.”
Niall continued: “Our huge thanks also go to the International Kiteboarding Association for entrusting us with their event, to UK Sport and The National Lottery for their support and backing, Portsmouth City Council for their invaluable help and expertise in putting this event together, and all our event partners and suppliers.
“A final thank you goes to the people of Portsmouth who have provided such a warm welcome and genuine enthusiasm for the event. Seeing so many people out on the beach being able to watch the spectacle out on the water has been a real personal highlight.”
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdSara Sutcliffe, RYA CEO, added: “It has been fantastic to host the Formula Kite European Championships in Portsmouth.
“Even when the weather didn’t go our way earlier in the week, the social impact programme still took place and it was wonderful to see several athletes get involved and help inspire the children of Portsmouth."