So its that time of year again when the events start to run into each other:

Skate, BMX, kitesurfing, windsurfing, wakeboarding, landboarding, and mountain bike demo's along with a plethora of other minority sports coming together to produce stunning displays of alternative activities coupled with a lifestyle attitude, trade villages and music. This is the time of the big multi sport sport festivals.

With Poole Animal Windfest celebrating its 10th Aniversary promising a bigger and better event than before but could they still deliver the wind,  sun and action to keep the crowds happy once again.

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Poole Animal Windfest on Friday started of well with good weather and a breeze that began to build as the day went on. However by mid afternoon just as the kitesurfing was getting underway the weather changed.

At the end of the first race the wind died, then suddenly started to howl through Poole as it brought with it a torrential downpour with hailstones to boot. The whole event site was flooded, the car park in places was under 18inches of water, the festival marque that was ready for the butterfly ball couldn't withstand the deluge as the marque roof and joints let gallons of water into the tent....... with approx 2inches of water everywhere....... ouch !

 

An army of people with brushes and anything they could find managed to sweep out the marque just in time for the ball to go ahead !  In true British fashion, with a 'stiff upper lip' and determination, the show must go on attitude prevailed and we believe the ball was a resounding success; we couldn't get there because of the rain and visibilty on the motorway slightly further North!

Fair play to the guys at Windfest for keeping things running and not allowing the Great British Weather to ruin the day.

 

Saturday started with a misty glow around the site.  The sun burning through the clouds was heating up the soaked ground and the humidity was high. It didn't take long for the clouds to burn off With an azure blue background, fluffy white clouds dominated the Animal Windfest skyline as people surfaced after the party.  

 

The forecast had changed and things looked promising but there was still an air of uncertainty about the site as the events started to kick in.

It wasn't long before the crowds arrived and were immediately treated to the first demonstrations of the day.

 

Now whilst Animal Windfest does have a few competitions running, mainly on the water side, on the land the activities are mainly demonstrations to keep the crowds occupied. With mountain bike demo's from Martyn Asthon a world champion mountain bike trials rider, and a new kid on the block 18 yr old Sam Pilgrim again one of the worlds best dirt jump riders. With an exhibition of precision skill and power these guys know how to handle bikes.

The crowds always play a big part in any Animal Windfest event and this one was no exception. With give a ways galore the crowd were invited, encouraged, forced even into shouting louder and louder for their favourite ride. The poolgap was no exception.

 One of the more dangerous demonstrations The Poolgap is probably one of the biggest attractions for us to be at Animal Windfest. Having started our photography of Extreme Sports at another now internationally known wakeboard event some years ago we always try and follow two or three events with wakeboarding.

So Poolgap is when  wakeboarders are pulled along by a winch at up to 20 or so knots. Doesn't sound that bad you say well they jump from a starting platform into a small pool approx 10m long before having to ollie up onto a ramp (there were three of varying difficulty) before dropping into another pool to get ready for yet another jump onto a choice of three more sliders. One a curved up and down ride another with a gap and the other a higher table top.

The idea is for the riders to negotiate the course by using the sliders as a link between the pools......easy ...........yeah right!

With 1 female rider in the show along with several males. The riders included Steph Caller, Dan Jordan (DJ), Lee DeBuse (the beast) Louis, Harry ..(the I'll wet the photographers camera yeah), James Young,  and Matt Crowhurst probably one of the biggest characters on the UK and World Wakeboarding scene.

OOOOOOO we seem to have forgotten Matt

Matt seems to have been around forever  and is forever pushing himself and the sport to the limit. The poolgap at Animal Windfest has been a project of his for a few years now and seems to be bringing Wakeboarding to the general public in a different way.

So with the poolgap riders giving it their all both on boards and wakeskate (basically a skateboard for water with no bindings) the riders produced an awesome display with huge airs, inverts and some big crashes too. It can.....and does go wrong but the riders usually get up dust themselves off and go again.

No pain no gain they tell us. 

 However our favourite rider of the weekend and probably the most popular with the crowd was the eight year old brother of Louis who was giving out the goodies at the poolgap yet still managed to show he can can wakeskate to.

Also on site is the Animal Windfest mini ramp sponsored by King Ramps and Relentless.

The riders here to were giving demonstrations and again wow'ed the crowds with technical tricks on the ramps. Power and skill is the order of the day  just check out these pics below. 

So with all the action throughout the daytime it was then to the party in the evening and as usual the Animal Windfest Annual Party lived up to its animal title.

I'm not gonna say to much about this but here's a few pics from the party and if you want to see the rest you gonna have to sign up  to view them all.

 so here we go

for a small selection of images click here

or to view all the images from Animal Windfest 2008 register here and wait for your link and password