Forces-of-Nature Awards Ceremony 2004
justal - 31-1-2005 at 15:24
Ladies and Gentlemen...The highlight of your social calendar, its the Forces-of-Nature Awards Ceremony, the time of the year when the
forces-of-nature members get to strut their stuff, hold their hands in the air and say 'yep that was me!'
Also, this years, thanks to Boardwise, Kite Surf Wales
and Storm-Riders I have a few prizes to give away...
So without further ado, onto the awards.
Top Poster 2004
This is once again awarded to the person who has wasted more time than anyone else posting random comments within the forces-of-nature
forums. Of course, it may be that they have lots to say and are caring sharing types helping those in need with their words of
wisdom.
As Administrator I'm exempt from this award, so here are (in time-honoured reverse order) the top 10 posters of 2004:
In 10th place ... dunk (136 posts)
In 9th plave ... leonardo (147 posts)
In 8th place ... shawn (155 posts)
In 7th place ... Befs (162 posts)
In 6th place ... bucski (171 posts)
In 5th place ... Shem (176 posts)
In 4th place ... rob (199 posts)
In 3rd place ... Thodd (207 posts)
In 2nd place ... Airborne (234 posts)
In first place and this years winner... mNeil (251 posts).
Congratulations Neil, prepare yourself for adulation on the beach! And don't foget your acceptance speech.
The next award is also a warning in disguise...
The I Love Gimps Award
This award could only go to one person, col123 for his unbridled obsession for people in rubber 'Gimp' suits. Wherever he is,
whatever he is doing he always has one eye open for them and ALWAYS has them on his mind. Rumour has it that he only got into
kitesurfing so that he had an excuse to be on the beach watching out for unsuspecting indivduals wearing as much neoprene as possile to
keep themselves warm.
So just remember, next time you are on the beach clad in rubber, there may be someone paying more than a healthy interest in you!
col123 you are the 2004 GIMP LOVER!!!! 
Next is a surprisingly hotly contested award..
The I Love Men-in-Unifoms Award
The nominations were:
Once again col123...something to do with firemen.
AndyW...something to do with coastguards.
But there could only have been one winner,
Wes for the extreme lengths he went to to get attention from men in unifroms. Here is an exerpt from his retelling of the
day:
quote:
Had a few visitors after that, First the police helicopter arrived, did a few circuits but left when he saw a load of guys in bright
jackets turn up. Presumably he thought that other emergency services appeared but they turned out to be guys from the Britvic factory
that I had just flown over at 100ft. Sorted them out and they left and I thought it was all over but then another policeman arrived,
shortly followed by half a dozen others. Eventually I had 2 squad cars, one 4X4 and a riot van to attend to me.
Congratulations Wes, pretty extreme lengths to go to, but defnately worth an award.
The walk of Shame Award
The award that everyone seems to want to walk away with. I thought I had this one sown up myself after a couple of kit failures and
walks from the point and then a walk through the dunes after sailing from the Golf Course Car Park into the estuary. Plenty of people
tried to get close and many miles were trod in the attempts, but once again AndyW (last years winner) came up trumps when it mattered.
He seems to have taken Walks of Shames to a new level, can anyone beat him? The distance was good, all the way from the estuary, around
the point and back to the Golf Course Car Park (no short-cuts across the dunes like I took), but he pulled out a trump card this time
by really adding to the shame element as his lengthy disappearance had prompted a call to the coastguard, so he was greeted by two
coastguards as he strolled back along the beach. Name and details were taken and Andy was suitable shamed.
Congratulations AndyW, the Walk of Shame award two years in a row.... I can see this is going to be a difficult one to get from
you.
Wipeout of The Year Award
Once again a category that we all seem to fight for at times, but this year there were few outstanding nominations, so the award goes
to the unfortunate Griptool for the following incident:
quote:
What a bad day yesterday
Went for a sail at Weston - first chance to sail in ages, anyway, as i rigged up a gust took my sail, I jumped out of the back of the
van to catch it and tore my achilles tendon OUCH!!.
The quack tells me that it will take months to get back on the board.
Lets hope this award is an omen of better things to come for 2005.
And now onto the bit that everyone waiting for, the overall Hall of fame from the diary entries for 2004.
Most Active Members 2004
In 10th place leonardo with 61 sessions
In 9th place badexcuseforasailor with 68 sessions
In 8th place kelvin with 77 sessions
In 7th place Iain) with 78 sessions
In 6th place pauls with 80 sessions
In 5th place Jonny with 83 sessions
In 4th place rob with 95 sessions
In 3rd place dunk with 97 sessions
In 2nd place shem with 105 sessions
In 1st place justal with 216 sessions
Most Stoked Members 2004
In 10th place badexcuseforasailor with 237 points
In 9th place leonardo with 253 points
In 8th place kelvin with 267 points
In 7th place pauls with 272 points
In 6th place Jonny with 285 points
In 5th place IainO with 321 points
In 4th place rob with 326 points
In 3rd place dunk with 366 points
In 2nd place shem with 367 points
In 1st place justal with 704 points
Congratulations to all of you...keep up the stoke for 2005!
And now onto the actual prizes. These have been drawn at random from all of the diary entires in 2004, and the winners are:
kelvin who chose the harness from Boardwise
Davidf who chose the half day kitesurf lesson with Shem at Kite Surf Wales
Preacherman who gets the wetsuit from Stormriders
and
Wes who gets a Boardwise ‘T’ Shirt. (If you are a winner u2u me and I’ll tell you how to claim your prizes).
So all thats left is to say a big thank-you to the people who provided the prizes and all the members of Forces-of-Nature for taking
part. There were over 2000 entries to the diaries in 2004, I’m sure we can beat that in 2005.
Al.
col123 - 31-1-2005 at 16:57
nice one Al do i get the prize of a picture of you in your gimp suit for my collection
badexcuseforasailor - 31-1-2005 at 17:55
Well done to the winners 
griptool - 31-1-2005 at 20:19
Winning a windsurf award has cheered me right up, still walking around kicking the dog with frustration tho. Can't say i'm planning to
defend my award this year.
My target date to resume windsurfing is late may early june, so until then (after it warms up a bit) I think I will spend some time
teaching my daughter.
AndyW - 1-2-2005 at 14:53
Wow, to win one is good but to retain this award is maybe not too impressive. However, after working so hard to win in 2003 by
venturing out in head high SW conditions to get my first taste of wave sailing (or swimming with kit ;-) ) I just had to go to extra
ordinary lengths to come up with a new way to achieve!
So this year (2004) was less of a traditional walk of shame, more of a comedy to entertain the gathered few on a near windless FON
meeting.
So with 10-14 knots dropping fast near high tide I went for a play with my 9.0m, BEFS in persuit. BEFS wisely called it a day almost
immediately, good choice.
Still after cruising around in the lumpy sea in misty conditions, I sailed back to where I had launched. The tide had dropped as had
the wind. The waves had jacked up a bit and I could see a trip to the sail repairers looming large so thinking as I was right by the
beach someone may have seen me I headed straight down the beach to the estuary to go in there with kit in tack. Well of cource with
next to no wind it took a while to reach across the estuary to a suitable point to land and I visited Aberdovey a few times to check
out the tourists over there. Then I sailed in past the point and left my kit at the end of the estuary car park (next to the gathered
hoards of jet skiers).
A walk over the dunes and along the beach and 'Oh whats this?' a welcoming committe. I remembered a conversation about life insurance
with Jules earlier in the day and well she might have been thinking of this but then was it really necessary to call the coast guard?
If I really wanted to sail over the horizon and escape I'd choose a day with a nice steady breeze to power for sure, not a misty damp
day...
So I'd just like to thank Jules for caring, BEFS and Al et al. for searching and the Coast Guard for not minding!
So yes a new way to get the award because not mater what the wind does there's always something to do at Borth ;-)
So if I win in 2005 (3 times in a row) do I get to keep the award for ever?
Cheers!
kelvin - 23-2-2005 at 12:09
Thanks for the prize Al to yourself and to Boardwise .
It arrived this morning a Maui Vision waist harrness .
Just what I wanted as my current harrness a maui dark-
whatever-- I found really uncomfortable in use pinching on my hips but as it cost close to £100 just put up with it .
It replaced a previous Maui which was great but fell apart .
hopefully some warm air on the way to use .
mNeil - 1-4-2005 at 12:45
oh no Al has taken away my award icon!
kelvin - 7-4-2005 at 17:17
finally got to use my prize gift today .lots better than the more expensive option I had .
thanks again Al .