My trip to Blissfest 2006 started with the long 1200 klm drive from the North Island to Wellington to catch the night ferry to the South Island, to find al the ferry crossings had been cancelled due to high winds and big 8m swells in the Cook Strait. By friday evening I was on the my way south at last, and drove an all nighter to make it to Blissfest on time.

Day one was cut short to a more relaxing day at Brighton beach as the power to be decided to take the flow out of the Taieri river a day before th event, everyone seemed in good spirits as a fun expression session was taking place at Brighton.

It was off to the camp venue at Mosqiel for the night as the party atmosphere began to unfold, beginning with the showing of some very talented home made videos from very talented local paddlers, this set the mood for the night that was followed by a awesome local band, an experience the locals in Mosgiel had never seen.

Day two was the premier event the Surf comp and we we all arrived at St Clair that morning we were greeted with endless sets of waves.

 

The local surfers were no where to be seen as we arrived in numbers and marked out our patch for the day , the Sun came out and that bought along the locals for a look at what kayak surfing was all about.

Dunedin paddlers are passionate about 3 things Otago Rugby, Speights beer and Bliss-stick kayaks.

Some of the morning sets coming through in the early part of the competition

Not so flash spraydecks! helped with some early eliminations from the heats

Dylan surviving huge sets like this one minute......

and throwing down great air the next,

Ian Waterhouse, last years winner wasn't going home with out showing some of his own talents.

But it was Dylans perfect Tube ride that sealed the fate of the event, and a well deserved win to take the mens final.

The event was followed by a prize giving from a draw of bib numbers, with great prizes donated from Hydraulics, R n R Sports in Dunedin,  Wild Earth Adventures, Feed the Rat and the final grand prize draw winner was Howie Wilson who took home with him a brand new Bliss-stick Mystic. Howie was absolutely stoked with his new boat and just sold his old boat at the party the night before. Good on ya Howie.

The next day the weather turned for the worst and thredrive up the West coast was interesting to say the least, All the good surf spots were washed out completely from stormy conditions.

For more competition information go to http://www.cabbagetrees.blogspot.com/

Photos taken by Gareth Hutton and Norm.