The Global Paddling Community

3rd Annual Nile Freestyle Festival 2004

Third Annual Nile Freestyle Festival.

October 6-13 2004.

Every year Nile Breweries have come on board as major sponsors, please support them and drink loads of Nile Special... encourage your mates to do the same.

The entry fee of $200 pp covers all transfers, camping, meals, event t-shirts, entry packs, plus a few beers every day. The weeks itinerary is listed below, please be aware of the procedures and timing of each days events, this will help everyone get to the specific venues in time.

Wednesday 6^th October

- Arrive and settle in, check out the Nile, check out the Nile Special.

Thursday 7^th October
- 11am to 2pm head to head races 300 meters through Bujagali Falls. Please have your boats and gear ready at Bujagali Falls by 9.30am, it’s a short walk down the hill. Official opening at 10am by the minister of sport the Honourable Oryem Okello.
- 5pm to 7.30pm Nile Brewery tour.
- Back to Campsite for pig on spit and welcoming.

Friday 8^th October
- Busses, trucks and boat trailers transport all gear to Itanda Falls. They leave at 10.30am, please be ready with all your gear including tents, etc. Event at THE BAD PLACE, get ready for a surprise competition. (to help our planning please get into teams of 4 by nationality, you will be representing your country in this one.) Its mandatory that the prize money for this event be put down on the bar tonight. Leisurely paddle to the campsite next to Nile Special, your base for the next 4 nights.

Saturday 9^th and Sunday the 10^th October
- Today’s competition to be held on Nile Special wave because of week-end lower water levels, here competitors can go for big moves, prize of $2000 up for grabs.

Please be ready to paddle on the wave by 10.30am.

Another surprise event to be held on Nile Special, this one will be a world first event!

Monday 11^th October
- Today’s Freestyle Rules competition to be held at Malalu, this is the wave below Nile Special.

It is about a 20 minute paddle from the campsite to Malalu, please get to the wave by 9.30am.

Tuesday 12^th October
• Back to Jinja, bus leaves around midday. Announcement of Ugandan National Team and prize giving.

Wednesday 13^th October
• Fly out or stay on and party. BA flight to leaves at 9.10am so those leaving to be ready to go at 5.30am.

Nile Freestyle Festival Rules

Sprint rules

• Competitors to be at Bujagali Falls by 9.30am.
• All competitors to wear a helmet and PFD.
• Competitors judged to be over intoxicated will not be allowed to compete.
• One boat must be used for all of the events over the festival

The start of the sprints will be from the 2 buoys next to the island above ribcage. Competitors will race around the island clock-wise before entering Ribcage. The finish will be between 2 buoys placed river right, below Bujagali Falls.

Freestyle Rules

• Please be on time for your heats.
• PFD and helmet to be worn by all competitors when on water.
• To save set up time, competitors to get on the water as soon as the heat ahead of yours starts.
• The first round everyone gets three 45 second rides, the two best count.
• Top 10 will make semi finals; they will compete in heats of two rides each, one ride counts, top 5 to finals.
• Top 5 compete in a knock out system, each round counts.

Scoring will be the same as the International Freestyle Committee Rules for 2003. This freestyle event will be used to select the Ugandan National Kayak Team.

Big Air Rules

• Everyone to get at least one ride to warm up.
• Please be on time for your heats.
• PFD and helmet to be worn by all competitors when on water.
• To save set up time, competitors to get on the water as soon as the heat ahead of yours starts.
• Only if the boat is aerial does the move count.
• The first round everyone gets three 45 second rides, the best two count.
• Top 10 will make semi finals; they will compete in heats of two rides each, one ride counts, top 5 to finals.
• Top 5 compete in a knock out system, each round counts.
• You are scored on rotation, landing and style
• Bonus 5 points per move each for sticking, clean, style and or an intended reverse landing. A big air gets you 5 extra points and a huge air and extra 10 points.
• Check score sheet for each moves score.

Contact

Nile River Explorers – [mail address protected from spambots with javascript]
Tel: +256 43 120236 or +256 77 422373

Coverage

We'll try to present live coverage of the event on Playak, but as the communication will consits of slow e-mail lines mostly, we keep our fingers crossed :-)