www.waxheads.com 5 10 10 comp round-up

In 2010 BL's Blast Off achieved the following -

270 kids participated and the entire 4 days were held at North Avalon.
We held simultaneous heats on double banks for both the opening days - Monday and Tuesday. The waves were perfect for the kids in the 2-3ft range with great shaped lefts and rights on both banks and offshore winds.
The final day was bigger with 4ft sets and again perfect conditions for the groms, although it was very challenging for the smaller kids in the 6s and 8s divisions.

Blast Off 2010 saw the introduction of the 6 and under divisions for both boys and girls and they proved their merit with incredible performances in big waves that were sometimes 3 times over head.

BL's Blast Off continued to pay its respect to the Indigenous people of Australia by teaching the kids Koori dance by Terry Olsen and the event raised money for the Aboriginal Medical Service AMS Redfern where the funds will go to continuing the surfing program we started last year for the kids.

Blast Off donated -

$530.00 to the Aboriginal Medical Service AMS Redfern

$1,000.00 to the Disabled Surfers Association

$2,000.00 to the Palm Beach SLSC

Every division winner received a brand new Chilli Surfboard and kids won gold, silver and bronze medals for the first 3 places in every division.

We again held the Hurley/ Electric Beach Without Sand Monday evening BBQ and team signing. The BWS shop at North Avalon was packed to the rafters, we gave away a heap of prizes, the kids got autographed posters signed by team riders and everybody enjoyed a free BBQ.

Our Tuesday evening celebration "Blast Off Idol" including the presentation of the "Keenest Groms Awards" was again a great success. It was held at Palm Beach RSL with a full house on hand to watch the kids show off their other talents. 1st place went to Cedar Liegh Jones for her rendition of "I am, you are, we are Australian" closely followed by Banjo Hunt on his guitar.

We again held the Fantasea Palm Beach to Blast Off Boat Cruise where people could enjoy the scenic ride on a fantasea ferry out through the heads and to the Blast Off event site at Avalon and see our beautiful area from the sea for free.

There were 3 major announcements made during the event

1) The introduction of the BL Springhort Scholarships for 1 boy and 1 girl who BL believed to show the potential to be a future pro and this years recipients were 10 year old Alyssa Lock from the Gold Coast and 10 year old Sandon Whittaker from Avoca, both kids received $500 worth of coaching with BL.

2) The 2011 Blast Off Poster Competition was announced and the kids have been set the challenge of designing next years event poster, entries will be accepted between now and june 2011 and the winning entry will be selected and voted for by an esteemed panel including Vinnie Gracinan, BL and Iconic Australian artist Bruce Gould.

3) The Blast Off Thredbo Snow Tour was announced and warmly received by the kids and families of the Blast Off. Taking the Blast Off coaching/ event program to the snow for skiers and snowboarders of any levels in September 2011.

4) The Blast Off print partner SW Magazine provided us a double page advertisement. The event had increased print media coverage via articles in The Manly Daily, Pittwater Life, Peninsula living, Byron Bay News, Lakes Times and editorial coverage in SW.

5) FUEL TV will air 2 x 4 minute stories on the event and it will be on high rotation for the month of November 2010.

7) The Blast Off Fuel TV story will be included on the Australian Surf Movie Festival DVD that is a cover mount on SW magazine.

8) Coastalwatch.com was again BL's Blast Off online partner and provided $5,000.00 worth of banner ads and promotion for the event. We also got extensive web coverage from sites such as Bluesnapper.com, mesurf.com.au, waxheads.com, manlydaily.com.au, surfingnsw.com.au and coastalwatch.com

9)The Blast Off website continued to develop its community throughout the year via online competitions and giveaways.

10) youtube.com has the 2007 RA TV Blast Off story, 2008 Blast Off FUEL story and the 2009 Fuel TV story uploaded.
. The 2010 story will be uploaded soon.