Seagulls, Kiwis and surf, it's gotta be Blissfest 2007 time.

“The mission, bold as it is, is to promote white-water kayaking in the lower south of the south island of Aotearoa (New Zealand)

Basically, myself and another guy down here, Craig Adams decided two years ago that we should try and put a kayak surfing event together for the local boaters to all meet up after winter and get off the couch. The first event we ran was purely in the surf and attracted way more competitors than we imagined from all over the south island. I have included a link of the event on YouTube for you to look at.

Last year we tried to run the same event but include a down river event. This unfortunately fell over at the last hurdle with irrigators taking the water out of our river, so we had two days of surfing and partying.

This year we are again running the surf competition and are also planning to build and run a Big Air event. This will be held in the upper harbour basin of the Otago harbour and should be great for spectators.

The second YouTube link shows what we are working towards. Obviously as more and more young kids get involved, the sport is moving from just paddling down the river, to these types of events.

This will be the first event of its type held in Otago and hopefully the start of something great.

This year we have had interest from several of NZ's top kayakers including current NZ K1 Slalom Champion Mike Dawson, his brother and NZ C1 champion James Dawson together with top ranked freestyle boater Sam Sutton and last year’s champion Dylan Thompson, so the field should be top notch.

Bliss Stick kayaks, locally made in Taihape, are our primary sponsor and over the last two years have been great in helping us get this event going.

The timetable for the event is Big Air on Saturday the 6th of October from about 10 am and the Surf competition on Sunday 7th from 9 am.

Chris ….. “.

More info? The blog here    

Some vids from 2006? Here, here and here ….

And below is Antz Longman's report of how things went down.

“For three years running the BlissFest Festival has attracted kayakers from all over the South Island of New Zealand to pull their paddling kit out of the garage and make the trip to Dunedin for a great weekend’s festivities. Nothing changed for 2007 with record turnouts of paddlers making the trip.

After last years issues with running an extreme race on the Taieri River, event organiser’s Chris Sinclair & Craig Adams decided that the best alternative would be to have a Big Air Event. These lads don't do anything by half, they then proceeded to build the biggest ramp this side of Waipiata.

The Ramp looms ....

After Fridays test runs, the decision was made that aeration was required to make the ramp safer. Enter a large air compressor and thirty metres of hose. Abracadabra, we have aerated water!

Cold southerlies kept the crowd huddled close for the action, which saw at least 66 competitors launch themselves off the ramp into

Otago Harbour to the delight of the crowd. The most common move for the day was the Air Screw but followed closely by the face plant. A few swimmers, a couple of minor injuries and a couple of Backflip attempts saw the ramp finally wind down.

Attention then turned to the Taieri A & P grounds where Saturday nights party was to be hosted. A strong retro turnout from the Christchurch boys & girls got the party cranking.

Humans flung like ants by ....... The Ramp.
More human ants.

Sunday started off horribly, with many competitors choosing to watch the All Blacks Quarter Final before heading to the beach, so with World Cup aspirations dashed, the competitors made their respective ways to St Clair Beach.

A truly miserable Dunedin day saw most paddlers sheltering from the bitterly cold winds and the small surf meant that many competitors found it hard to show their skills. In the women's category the first heat went by with no-one catching a wave! Conditions then improved marginally and there was an all-in women's final with Megan Foster taking out first place.

CUMEC issue 3, buy a copy!

In the men's event there was great display by several competitors with Invercargill and Dunedin local Ewen Rodway stepping up and showing that practice can make a difference, as he performed the first ever Pistol Flip at Blissfest, along with some big Donkey Flips and Blunts.

Due to the cold the semi-finals were skipped in favour of another all-in final with the top 10 men battling it out for the title. Sam Sutton showed why he's ranked 21st in the world and took the final out with ease, displaying an almost complete set of kayaking moves from Kick Flips to Helixes and Pan Ams.

But winning the surf comp was only half the title, with points added together for the two events the overall winners for the event ended up being Izzy Jull in the  womens and Glenn Murdoch in the men's.

A great event and many thanks to all the sponsors that got involved with this year’s event”.

  • Bliss-Stick Designs
  • Hydraulics
  • R and R Sport
  • Wild Earth Adventures
  • Cumec Magazine
  • Feed the Rat
  • Smith Optics
  • Teva
  • Icebreaker
  • Emerson's Brewery
  • Otago Polytechnic
  • NZRCA
  • Electric Water
  • Alpine Kayak Guides

Report by Antz Longman and more pics at the primary sponsor’s site here and and some vid imagery here