I am super happy to win the IKSurfMag Wave Classic held in West Cornwall from 20-25 October. With British Kitesports cancelling the Wavemasters at the last minute it was an amazing effort by the team at Iksurfmag with help from Kernow Kitesurf Club to run such an amazing event with a great turn out and some wicked prizes along with a goodie bag for all competitors.

With great conditions the weekend before the comp, most of the 22 competitors enjoyed pretty perfect Gwithian and the forecast for the week was looking pretty tasty.

As is sometimes the case with contests the wind never really played ball on the first day with it just teasing enough for an expression session where I used the 15m Juice and Whip 5'6 mostly doing some airs.

Tuesday and it was ex hurricane Gonzales providing 40+ mph of wind from the NW. Unsuitable for any of the contest locations we headed to my favourate spot of Porthleven. The busiest its ever been but was great to see some others out enjoying my wave. It was super windy, I was riding the Neo 5m with full depower at times and using the 2015 5'7 Pro Series which provided amazing grip, allowing me to tuck into a few tasty barrels. A great session made better at prize giving when I was awarded Wave of the Day for 'owning the pleace' :)

Wednesday and Thursday and it was back to comp action, starting at the Bluff. Light winds and slightly onshore conditions made for tricky conditions for the first round, however all the usual suspects made it through along with some surprises who showed they were a force to be reckoned with.
Thursday and the forecast looked like cross off down the line conditions for Sandy Acres with a pumping swell. Yet again the wind gods were unkind with low cloud blocking the wind in the morning but some great waves. As the tide dropped the sun started to come out and the wind picked up but unfortunately turned more onshore and the waves dropped considerably in size. Still was perfectly good to compete in and the comp got underway after a quick expression session.

With light winds again I rode the Neo 12m in my semi final against Ned Taylor who rode really well and then with the wind dropping even more for the final rode the Juice 15m which worked surprisingly well in the waves and allowed me enough power to smack the lip and stay upwind in 10knts.

Big well done to Rich Burton for 2nd and Mikey Mikes on 3rd who both rode really well all week and took out previous champ George Nobel in the semis.
Also well done to Marc Rowley for winning the seniors and Sukie Robertson the ladies.
Thanks to my sponsors-
North Kiteboarding, O'Neill wetsuits, Pasty Adventures
and support from-
Satorial supplies, Inlayz, JP surfboards, Freeriders, XM leashes, Astrodeck.

Big well done to everyone involved for an awesome comp, can't wait for the next one :)
Read the official write up here- http://www.iksurfmag.com/kitesurfing-news/2014/10/iksurfmag-wave-classic/ 

This weekend we had the Edge Cup in Exmouth which for 2014 is also the British Kiterace Nationals. 
Starting on Friday 13th  June we had amazing weather but unfortuanately a lack of wind, that was until about 5.30pm when a land breeze filled in from the North. After waiting all day with my 18m Dyno rigged on the beach, I hit the water with the GoPro to get a bit of footage for the BBC news before the first race. Not realising how quick the wind was  building I stuck with the 18 but ended up exploding around the top mark so retired and headed in for the 13m Dyno ready for race 2. With much better power I was flying and managed a nice 3rd closely behind Connor with Olly way out front.
For the next 3 races the wind was up and down and Jack was going really well just pipping me on the final downwinds using his lighter weight to great use.
Saturday and it was more of a waiting game, until there was just enough breeze around 4pm to tempt us all out but alas we all ended up getting rescued.
The evening due was yet again amazing and big thanks to Jeff from Pebblebed Vineyards for amazing food and wine.
Sunday and without much wind forecast we headed out early in very light wind with the hope of some seabreeze. With just about 6knts on the course at the start we got away with some power but by lap 2 I was struggling and ended up just behind Jack again, before the wind totally died and all but a few just made it back to the beach under our own steam.
Results-
1st and British Champion-Olly Bridge, 2nd Connor Bainbridge, 3rd Jack Galloway, 4th Lee Harvey, 5th and British Ladies Champion- Jade O,Connor 

Also well done and impressive kiting to Guy Bridge, British Kitefoil Race Champion.
Thanks to my sponsors, North & O'Neill for all the support, I will be training hard and back in the top 3 next year!

For the official write up see  
http://www.kitesurf-magazine.co.uk/edge-race-cup-2014/ 

I had an amazing month out in Dakhla, Morocco where I ran a 10 day Wave Coaching camp in conjunction with Kite Morocco (see write up here) followed by competing on the PKRA World Tour where they held the only scheduled KiteWave contest for 2014.
As such 49 men entered the waves which is a massive record and more than the Freestyle which had 47 men. This meant they had to run Qualifiers with only the Top 12 IKA ranked men pre-qualifying into the main event. This was a pretty tight system with the likes of Mitu, Airton, myself and many other top wave riders having to qualify.
The first day of waves was Wednesday when we all went to Oum laboiur and started competition around 1.30pm after it took a while to get everyone there and the stuff set up to go. The good thing was as the tide came up it started to pump with nice head high sets reeling down the perfect right hand point.

With only one race crew and just 3 judges, they ran 4 heats of 9 people on the water for 10 mins, with the best 3 from each heat advancing to the main draw. Pretty tight and impossible to get any good waves and even for the 3 judges sat in a bus to see those waves, but I was pleased to make it through.
In round 1, I had No. 1 seed Pedro and Airton, so pretty tough and again only 10 mins to catch 2 good waves which is tricky on a super settie point break.
I felt I rode really well and seeing both Airton and Pedro fall on some good waves thought I had the win? But no I placed 3rd with only 0.33 seperating all of us and on looking at the scores there was a massive split between judges with 1 giving me a 6.9 and the other a 5 with the 3rd a 6.0. That's the problem with having only 3 judges and the reason you need 5 so you can drop the high and low to get the average, which means if one judge misses something you do not lose out.
So that meant into round 2 where I faced a local Moroccan guy. This happened the next day in smaller waves but still nicely rippable. Again I felt I rode well and coming to the beach was told by loads of people I had the win easily including the guys girlfriend, Kirsty Jones. Yet again I lost and looking at my scores they had what I thought was my best wave by far as only my 3rd best. Seems they weren't scoring the inside section as they couldn't see without turning round in the bus!
So that was it for me. The next rounds went down with some great riding but also some more dubious judging. The PKRA really needs to sort their act out if they are serious about running the World Wave Champs and have a seperate crew with dedicated surf judges so that they can run at the same time as the freestyle rather than just an add on!!!!
Well done to Keahi and Moona who were both ripping and deserved the wins.

For the next three days all us wave riders were stuck at the lagoon where the freestyle was running, as Dakhla Attitude would not take us to the point. Didn't bother us that much as it was small apart from sat & sun when it was pumping again! Still the wind was howling, so we all did some strapless freestyle and then watched the freestyle finals. Aaron made 3rd in the singles but unfortunately crashed a few too many tricks in the doubles when it was blowing 30+ knts. Well done to Marc & Gisela who took the wins riding with the most power and landing the most tricks in the super chop!

So that's it for World Wave comps for 2014 unless the PKRA sort it out? Shame as with that many entries it shows their is the demand for a Wave Tour, I would really like to improve on my 17th place!

Thanks to all the friendly people that helped me out during my time in Dakhla :)

Having an amazing time out here in Cape Town so far. Only had 2 days without kiting in two weeks and scored some super fun surf. Really excited to be on board for the new Progression kitesurf wave coaching video series, due for release later this year. Check out this first test clip from a pumping session at Witsands the other day-

Currently I'm competing in the South African Kitesurf Tour event at Big Bay. Yesterday we had waves and I made it to the semis where I faced my friend and 3 time SA Champ, Luke McGillewie which I unfortunately lost as the waves disappeared and Luke is super good on his frontside in the close out waves of Big Bay. Ours was the last heat of the day due to no more waves and today is small so looks like freestyle which im not entering. Tomorrow is planned for Big Air and Slalom which im hoping to do well followed by the Wave final and double elim on monday which is forecast to be pumping, so I still have a chance of taking top spot :) 

Stay up to date with all the news and you can check out all the pics from the trip out here on my Facebook page www.facebook.com/PastyAdventures

After missing the last two years due to being away competing on the KSP World Tour, I am super pleased to have won the men’s open and become British Kitesurfing Wave Champion for 2013. Massive thanks to all of my family, friends and sponsors for their continued support. I could not have done it without you!
Read on for how it went down.

The Perfect Forecast
With a huge low pressure system approaching and storm force winds forecast to hit Western Scotland on Sunday 15th, I quickly changed my ferry ticket to Saturday morning and took the day off from fishing to drive to Oban on Friday. The plan was to get there in time for a beer and have a nice sleep, so I left at 9.20 am as soon as I could get some Philps pasties for the journey. Well the traffic gods had other ideas and I didn’t get to Oban until 2.30 am. The plus side was that as soon as I arrived in Scotland all the signs on the motorway were giving out ‘Warning High Winds Sun/Mon’. Sweet I was heading in the right direction!

To Tiree
The ferry from Oban to Tiree takes 4 hours and the first part is really scenic as you travel down the Sound of Mull. Upon arriving in Tiree I headed straight to the beach along with 2012 Champ George Noble, runner up Stubbie and a few others with Ian Edmondson from ExPix to check out what was on offer. We found a smallish wave at Balephuil and a gentle cross on breeze in glorious sunshine with a surprisingly nice warm temperature. Most jumped in for a SUP but I waited and sure enough the wind filled in for a fun evening session alone on the 12m Dice. A good start to the trip and with a forecast 18ft 14 sec  swell and 40-60 mph winds the next day, while the locals battened down the hatches we all headed to bed.

The van started rocking overnight and we awoke Sunday to a very different Tiree. Cold, grey wet and very windy, first we checked Balephuil but found a huge confused mess so headed to get some inside info from Seb the French local. Looking right out at Crossapol from his house most of us quickly jumped in for a windy 2ft cross off session on 5-6m kites. Some huge hail squalls blew most away but there were some small fun waves to be had. After a couple hours and many hail stones to the head, the wind started to turn slightly more offshore, so I came in and grabbed Ian to go find some size as by now it was meant to be pumping!

Sure enough back at Balephuil it was now cross shore and huge. I jumped in again on my Rebel 6m with the new 6’2 Pro surfboard from North. Among the chop left over from the morning I found some nice sections in the double overhead surf with the wind going from 40-60 mph in the hail squalls, it was pretty crazy out there but a lot of fun and what I had come all this way for. Unlucky for some who were coming on the ferry, as it got all the way to Tiree but couldn’t get into dock so had to turn around and go the 4 hours back!

Monday and after a very noisy night, we found it howling again but more NW so we headed straight back to Balephuil. This was the day, clean double overhead waves blowing cross off and windier than the day before, less gusty and even the odd bit of sun. With a couple windsurfers out along with a couple local guys on Twin Tips you could see exactly how big it was, over mast high but closing out.

I decided to wait for a couple of hours until the tide came in and the wave started breaking on the bank I rode the day before. Using the 5m Dice my wait paid off and I had an amazing 3 hour session mostly by myself until the ferry got in and I was joined by Jon Ellman Brown and Marc Rowley. That evening we all had to go to the Scarnish Hotel (only pub) for registration and meet with everyone who were talking about their day and what it would be like for the comp the coming week and a planned three whole rounds of competition for everyone. A little bit of concern was that two of the judges for the event were freestyle riders, Robin Snuggs and Craig Smith (primary role as beach marshal) who knew virtually nothing about waves. We left them busy watching videos trying to find out what we meant by a re-entry and off the lip.

The Contest
Tuesday morning and the call was made via Facebook for a 9 am meet at Balephuil. Arriving at the beach, it was the biggest case of ‘You should have been here yesterday’ you could possibly get, still howling but with waves of less than a foot. As per usual the call was made for Ladies first followed by seniors then Open Men. For once however the Ladies scored the best waves of the day, as with the dropping tide the waves got even smaller with it howling cross offshore! I was pleased to make it to the final as it really was a lottery in the tiny surf with Jon winning and Stubbie second and me third for Round 1 with us all using 6-7m kites in over 40knts of breeze.

Wednesday morning it was back to Balephuil for Round 2 with the same running order and the swell forecast to increase, we were all hoping that today the men would get the better conditions as it was super small to start with. As the tide pushed in during the afternoon, the waves started to increase as we started the first men’s heats. Unfortunately during heat 5 around 4pm, a huge black cloud came over and totally killed the wind. After waiting for 20 mins the race crew called it off for the day and everyone packed up. Half an hour after this the wind kicked right back in and with the swell picking up near the high tide I had an amazing session by myself on the 8m Rebel in clean head high waves until sunset. It was then back to check the forecast as contest director, Rich Gowers was calling a possible day off the next day.

Thursday and the forecast had changed considerably with windguru giving 30 mph and 4-6ft by lunchtime. It was back to Balephuil again but unfortunately the wind never came in as we seemed to be right in the eye of the storm and at 4.30pm we all packed up and went for a surf.

Friday and the wind had switched to the south so it was a different location and we headed to Balevullin for some left hand waves. Arriving to small waves again with the dropping tide we continued with the men’s from before with everyone using 12-9m kites. Stubbie and myself made it to the final again, this time with 2012 Champ George Noble who was much happier on his frontside. George took the win with me in second and Stubbie third in very poor shaped 1-2 ft waves.

The race crew then cracked straight on and started another round of the seniors and women with all the locals saying it was going to get really good later as the tide came in. Hopefully the men would finally get some decent waves for round 3?

Sure enough as the tide started to come up, the waves started to increase and by the time we started the 3rd full round of men it was 3-4ft lefthanders with occasionally bigger sets. With the wind pretty gusty coming over the hill we were riding 7-9m kites and with finally some good shaped waves the level of riding noticeably increased with no easy heats. I made it to the final again along with Jon Ellman Brown and newcomer Jordan Scott who took out George in the heat before with some nice turns riding switch stance. A great final heat with the biggest waves of the contest, I almost got the win dropping in on the wave behind Jordan on the biggest set of the day. Unfortunately after my first turn the wave disappeared while Jordan’s reeled all the way to the beach. This gave Jordan the win for round 3 followed by myself second and Jon in third.

On my wave in after the heat had finished, I managed to pull a perfect 360 straight into another turn and was super happy coming up the beach. With the race crew announcing Jon had come 3rd, I realised the title was finally mine and erupted in joy.

Celebrations
With no wind forecast for Saturday most competitors headed to the pub for food and drinks to celebrate a great week. A super friendly bunch of locals made sure we all had a great time with the local police man even giving some a lift home, including Jon’s dog.

Saturday and it was surfing day for most, with a lot of driving checking spots we ended up again at Balevullin for some fun waves if not a bit closey before heading back to the hotel for prizegiving and the Islands top band. A great end to a great week with myself winning the Open men’s, Wales Marc Rowley the seniors and Tiree local Helen Thompson the ladies, proving that the Celtic nations really do rule the waves! Big thanks to all the judges who did a great job, British Kitesports, Kiteworld, Blast, Tiree Kitesurf Academy and the people of Tiree for a great event. 

Thanks to my sponsors-
North Kiteboarding for making the best kites and kiteboards by far.
JP Surfboards & Inlayz for the greatest surf and kite crossover boards I’ve ever had.
O’Neill wetsuits UK for sorting me some suits at last minute.
Freeriders Surfshop for their continued support with all the essential bits.
Pasty Adventures for paying for me to get to the comp.

Thanks to Ian from ExPix, Marc from Blast & Leigh from Evolution boardsports for use of the pics. 
To look at all the pics from the event go to www.expix.co.uk where you can purchase if you want.

Cheers
Lee ‘Pasty’ Harvey

Join me on a Kitesurfing Coaching Holiday this winter in Cape Verde, Cape Town or Dakhla, Morocco.
See the website for details http://www.pastyadventures.co.uk/holidays.html

Had some awesome conditions up here in Tiree, Scotland the last 2 days with a huge storm blasting over 50 knot winds and 20ft of swell. Sunday was absolutely crazy with the squalls going from 30-60 knots and horizontal hail. Crazy painfull on my ears as I was the lone rider out on my 6m Rebel at Balephiul most of the afternoon in some confused double overhead bombs.
Monday and with the wind blowing cross off all night the waves had cleaned up nicely and the wind actually picked up to a constant 40 knots with only 50 knot gusts. After Sundays painfull squalls I wore my hood and along with my O'Neill Pyrotech 5/3 wetsuit was lovely and warm, again mostly out by myself on the 5m Dice and 6'" Pro surfboard. British Kitewave champs starts today at 10.30, looking bit smaller but should still be overhead and its still blowing over 30.
For the latest pics check out ExPix and Blast on Facebook and of course Like my page for all my latest updates.
Big thanks to my sponsors and family for all the support.

Kitesurf racing 25-26 May 2013 at Marazion, Cornwall for the Pasty Cup. Round 1 of the British Kitesurfing race championships.
Organised by Pasty Adventures kitesurf school.
Sponsored by- National Marine Aquarium, Seiners Arms, Philps Pasties.
Supported by- Cornwall Tourism, Kiteworld, Hager-Vor, Lodeys, North, Freeriders

Music by Kernow Vibration- Ansum Day
Camera by Jacob Cockle

visit the website for more info www.pastyadventures.co.uk

Super pleased to finish 2nd at the Edge Cup, British Kitesurfing Racing Championships round 2, last weekend 15th - 16th June in Exmouth.
Run by 4 times world chmapion Steph Bridge the event was yet again a huge success with a great party at Pebblebed vineyard. 
Olly Bridge was flying scoring all 1st places out of the 9 races we managed to finish.
I was really happy with 5 2nds & 4 3rds beating Steph in race 2 before she took herself out with a huge crash in race 3.
The conditions were pretty full on on saturday with most racers on 7-9m kites, i choose to use the 10m North rebel and was perfect on the 2013 race 69.
Sunday was a different story with everyone on big kites although the wind piped right up just before the 1st race of the day race 7 meaning some changed down only for the wind to drop to nothing on the 2nd lap and all but Olly swiming in so meaning race abandoned.
After a quick sup team race the wind filled back in for 3 more races.
Check a bit more of a write up here http://www.kitesurf-magazine.co.uk/edge-cup-report/
Prizegiving was held on the beach as the sun came out with perfect kitesurfing conditions in the background.
Thanks to Steph & Edge watersports team for another great event.
Results:
1st Olly Bridge
2nd Lee Harvey
3rd Denzil Williams

For me that now makes 1st (waves), 3rd & 2nd (racing) at the comps so far this year ;)
Gotta be happy with that.Looking forward to the next event in Wales.
Thanks to my sponsors-
North kiteboarding, ION, Freeriders & Pasty Adventures

The country’s fastest kitesurfers came to Marazion over the Whitsun Bank Holiday weekend 25th – 26th May 2013 to compete for The Pasty Cup, round 1 of the British Kitesurf Racing Championships. Organised by local kitesurf school Pasty Adventures & sponsored by the National Marine Aquarium, The Seiners Arms & Philps Pasties.

The forecast for glorious sunshine with no wind, kept all but the top riders away, however the weather gods were with us and the warmest day of the year so far provided a perfect sea breeze to allow 4 races on the Saturday with 4 races on Sunday making a total of 8 races meaning the competitors had 2 discards to give their final score. Alongside all the action on the water, spectators were able to have a go at kite flying on the beach and all the competitors were well fed with Philps pasties in the day & a BBQ in the evening

Winning the Race Fleet and regaining the Pasty Cup for a 2nd year was 2012 Youth World Champion, Olly Bridge with mum Women’s World No. 1, Steph Bridge in 2nd (both Exmouth) and Lee Harvey in 3rd (Hayle). In the Open fleet Oliver Laurence from Shoreham took top honours winning the Cornwall Tourism Trophy.

Sadly two days after the event we lost our friend and official cameraman Jacob Cockle.
We will never forget you Bro xxx

Big thanks to all the sponsors, supporters & volunteers. For 2014 we are looking to add Stand Up Paddle racing alongside Kitesurf Racing giving much more for spectators to be involved with.

Full write up on the website http://www.pastyadventures.co.uk/event-reports.html
pics by Lindy Loo