DAY 5 WHITE AIR EXTREME SPORTS FESTIVAL 2007 REPORT

Friday 31st August

After four successful days of White Air 2007, today saw more battles both on the land and water.

Mountain bike pro’s have been running displays on the park today, with the Samson brothers, Ricky Crompton and Steve Knowlend pulling massive tracks including no foot cans, backflips and supermans. Raymond, Blake and Ricky ran for the best trick, with the crowd judging. Ricky was dropping in smooth backflips, Raymond was pulling superman seat grabs, and Blake was going for a 360 one footer. After a lot of crowd appreciation, Ricky’s massive backflip wowed the crowd and won him a prize. These guys ran two demo sessions throughout the day, and have also been warming up in the open park sessions.

Team White Air were warming up their parkour moves on the ramps again, with precision jumps and arm jumps impressing the crowds. Loads more have-a-go sessions have been running, with people young and old taking part. Also on the extreme playground, the pro mountain boarders have been playing more games. The riders warmed up, setting up the park for the qualifying round of the European Championships. Ten riders will be chosen to compete in the Championships, judged especially on their style and landing. Local riders Will and Sunny have been riding alongside Arno VDV, Rudy, Ollie Morrison, Twy, Marco and more. The guys were pulling lots of tricks out the bag, including backside 360’s, double grabs, and backflips.

Joining the festival today were the Eastbourne Skate team, putting on an impressive in-line skate show. Nick showed the crowd his freestyle slalom moves, showing off the scissor move and grape vine, dodging through cones on the table top in the main park. Then the aggressive in-line skate show started. Ashley Cottingham, Gary Crowhurst and Dan Hemsley from Eastbourne Skaters impressed the crowds with their flat spins, misty flips, bio flips and front flips. Their camera guy Dan Catt from Coast Bladers was filming their every move, along with more freelance photographers including Steve Hawkins.

Skate and BMX open park sessions also ran today, filling the gaps between the pro displays. Tim Wills was also performing his trials displays down by the front gate. Next door to him, the Eastbourne Skate team set up base, giving expert tuition to have-a-goers.

Out on the water, the Thundercats have been running displays and have-a-go sessions at Yaverland all day. Today was fully booked again, as the sport has proved one of the most popular have-a-go water sports.

The infamous ‘Pierat’ jetskiers put on two stunning displays at Yaverland today. Gary, Paul and Tan were bouncing, diving and gliding through the water on their jetski’s, showcasing barrel rolls and other tricks. Commentator Anton got the crowd excited as they watched the jetskiers jib on the water. White Air 2007 is the end of the road for the Pierats Freestyle Tour, but there will be more action from the champions this weekend.

Also battling it out on the water at Yaverland were the windsurfers. The pro & amateur fleet set sail at around six o’clock. The two races were very tight again, with Steve Allen swiping first place, followed by Jesper Vesterstrom and Gonzalo Costa Hoevel. Gonzalo said: “The conditions were windier than the racing earlier in the week, and the offshore wind meant the racing was tactical. It was a tight fight right up until the last stretch”. There were two races, the first saw Jesper in the lead, followed by Gonzalo and Steve, but the second race was really tight, with Jesper and Steve in first tide, and Steve racing to the finish in the last down wind.

The Graffiti team were painting the fence panel display in the top field. Epok, Poer, Fors, Toxic, Doze, Pars, Senza, Ren, Ronik, Zer, Meek, Gek, Pik, Zadok and D-Bug were all painting huge muriels today, with the plain boards being turned into an array of fantastic coloured designs. There will be more battles from the Monorex and Somnio team this weekend.

The first White Air party is being held tonight, with Brett Lawrence amongst the dj’s providing tonight’s entertainment at Sandown Holiday park. The weekend is set to be even busier, with the thundercats, kayakers, and kitesurfers hoping to battle it out on the water.