Kitesurfing shack development on Walney starts after years of waiting

Chris Ainsbury has been dealing with planning applications since 2017 to first get permission for the site to conduct his kitesurfing business on Walney, and then to develop it.

The West Shore Park resident is hoping to make the cafe a full-time venue and possibly build it up to something more in the future as well if planning permission is granted.

"I have been running off a generator and I have asked Electricity North West to connect me up to their system so we can have a constant power supply," the 49-year-old said.

"We needed that permanent power supply so that we can be open seven days a week.

ACTION: Ground broken on development

"I want to make it into a form of restaurant in the near future if I get permission of course.

"Everything will be connected up soon, as we are hoping to be ready for the New Year's Day dip."

WATER: Chris Ainsbury

He explained that using a generator is tricky because if it is off then there is no power - so anything that would need to be kept cold (like food and drink products) would need to be moved.

Kitesurfing is an extreme sport where the kiter uses the wind power with a large power kite to be pulled on water. It combines aspects of paragliding, surfing, windsurfing, skateboarding and wakeboarding.

FLIGHT: Chris Ainsbury kitesurfing

Mr Ainsbury said it is very popular in Europe and has had customers from Germany, Italy and Portugal to name just a few, but is hoping to get more locals into the sport in the coming year.

The former military tank driver has been kitesurfing since 2008 and believes Walney would be the number one spot for the sport if it wasn't for the cold weather. This is due to the natural windy and wavy conditions combined with the shallow waters for access.

This new step towards permanent power is something that was almost not possible as Covid hit the business really hard and almost crippled him financially.

"Covid put a big spanner in the works as I put savings into building this up and it could have been lost as we could not do any sessions due to the pandemic, but because of the grant system we were alright," Mr Ainsbury said.

SPORT: Kitesurfing in action

"It has been unbelievable (the process). It was one of those dreams that almost got smashed because of Covid.

"It was a massive gamble to do this work, but we have just survived."

The former construction worker and landscaper said he took on jobs landscaping in order to help fund the building work going on and to keep the business afloat and is hopeful that people will be coming back to the sport now things are more open.