Geraldton kitesurfer takes out national juniors

Patrick Smyth is officially the best junior wave kiteboarder in the country. With the wind at in Torquay, Victoria turning on last weekend just in time for the Kiteboarding Australia competition’s four-day window, juniors took to the water in testing conditions with onshore winds chopping up the waves and lots of whitewater washing around. That was a contrast to the side-shore winds blowing from the south and abundant reef breaks Patrick, 16, typically rides in WA, but he was able to add top national billing to his WA State title earned just a week earlier. Patrick took out the State titles at Wedge Island a week earlier, marking his progress in a sport which is set to debut as an Olympic sport in Paris in 2024. Wind and wave sports are a focus for sports and development groups in the Mid West and Gascoyne because of world-class conditions, which usually attract top competitors from different parts of the world to the region each summer. Patrick has previously won an open freestyle kite title at the Carnarvon Windfest, taking out the men’s division last year. The Windfest is designed to be a major tourism attraction and festive drawcard for Carnarvon. Local groups are also in talks with the Professional Windsurfing Association to hold a local world tour event. Kiteboarding was originally created in the 1970s and developed further by big-wave surfers in Hawaii in the 1990s, becoming a recognised extreme sport around the turn of the millennium. Kite- and sailboarders have also added other technology like hydrofoils, while new types of propulsion are emerging like the handheld foil wing. Competitors can ride and carve waves, and perform massive jumps using the powerful kites and various types of boards and harnesses.