Poole Animal Windfest

12 years…10 competitions…8 features…3 parties…1 huge weekend!
South Coast’s Biggest Action Sports Festival hosts new features for 2010

The established Animal Windfest event held annually at Sandbanks, Poole will host a series of new features in its 12th year, to be staged between 10th – 12th September 2010.

The only free daytime beach sports festival in the UK, with three nights of ticketed evening parties, Windfest attracts the biggest names in the extreme sports industry and at least 10,000 visitors each year.

Going skyward for the first time ever, Windfest will play host to the Red Bull Matadors at 2.30pm on Sunday 12th September for an exhilarating air display with Red Bull VIP area on the beach below.

Two new sports will also add to the visual feast this year; Ultimate Beach Frisbee and Surf Ski – a long, narrow, lightweight kayak with an open (sit-on-top) cockpit, usually with a foot pedal controlled rudder. Surf ski racing will be held off the beach on both Saturday and Sunday.

Visitors to the event will be able to watch a 16-strong team Ultimate Beach Frisbee tournament at advanced level, yet members of the public will be welcome to enter and join in the competition.

Fans of Stand Up Paddle boarding (SUP) will be able to enter a new distance paddle around Brownsea Island on Saturday afternoon. Open to anyone, the paddle will run separately to the professional’s SUP race earlier in the day, organised by the sport’s governing body, BSUPA.

Organiser, Gary Willingham, is pleased to illustrate that despite Windfest’s maturity, the event continues to expand. He says: “The ever popular favourite aspects of the event continue to be in place whilst exciting new additions to the schedule have been agreed this year, such as the Red Bull Matadors which will bring yet another dimension to the event. Showcasing further beach and water sports which have not been seen competitively here before, the 2010 Animal Windfest will hopefully give further entertainment and attract visitors. We’re very excited about this year’s event.”

Other features throughout the two days include professional kitesurfing and windsurfing competitions, as well as free have-a-go trial opportunities for amateurs, fun slalom racing, Animal Bike Show, King Ramps’ skate ramp sponsored by Red Bull, wakeboarding slider pools, equipment demos and full Kids Zone with live acoustic music.