UKWA Christchurch - Raceboard report

The first event of the UKWA National Championship series kicked off on the waters of Christchurch bay last weekend. Here is a run-down of the happenings of the Raceboard fleet!

Saturday saw winds of about 11-20 knots, with plenty of bumpy swell and chop to go with it.

The first race was probably the lightest, with some of the fleet not planing all the way downwind. Mark Kay and Tom Naylor got off to a flying start, and overtook Louis, who timed his acceleration slightly wrong and didn’t have the speed to put it right. However, Louis tacked off and found some good breeze out to sea, pulling back and rounding the windward mark just a few board lengths behind Mark. Good downwind speed from Louis and a slightly ropey mark rounding from Mark saw Louis take the lead, but by the windward mark Mark had regained it, with the left of the course appearing to pay this time. Mark flew off down the reach, leaving Louis to settle for 2^nd with Tom in 3^rd and Rob Kent not far behind in 4^th.

Louis Morris. Photo by John Liddy

The wind was similar in the second race, but the wind was a little less inconsistent. Louis got the best start and lead for much of the first beat, but once again, Mark and Tom showed some serious upwind pace to just edge in front at the windward mark. Louis’ excellent downwind speed and angle saw him pass Tom, and gain on Mark. Mark then pulled away upwind, although it turned out that he crossed the start line early, disqualifying him from the race. Tom was looking annoyingly comfortable on his old 9.4 Tushingham Lightning, and sailed past Louis upwind, but a poor layline let Louis back past and he lead Tom down the reach. A quick look over his shoulder almost cost Louis the race as his board slammed into a wave and stopped dead, sending Louis over the front. Luckily for him, the wind was rather light down the final reach, and he just managed to pump his way past Tom, winning by just a couple of board lengths.

The wind built considerably by the last race, which seemed to spread the fleet out a little more. The little extra wind worked in Marks favour, and he simply flew off the start and lead all the way to the finish of the extra-long 3 lap race. Whilst Louis usually pulled back a few meters downwind, Mark just kept extending his lead upwind. Similarly, Louis lead Tom the whole way round, with better downwind speed, and although Tom reeled him in a bit every upwind, Louis took 2^nd place by sizeable margin.

Mark Kay. Photo by Matthew Burridge

It looked really windy on Sunday morning, but by the time we were racing, the wind dropped significantly. Conditions were less choppy, but very gusty with a sizable cross-swell. The tide wasn’t really running in the first race, and both sides of the course appeared to pay equally well. The race between Louis and Mark was very close, and there was than a board-length in it down the top reach. Louis was leading on the last downwind, but gybed a little too early and left the door open for Mark, handing him the victory. The wind picked up, and another race was started, but it was abandoned due to a threat of fog.

After a lunch break, visibility was good enough for another race, and this time it really was windy, with gusts over 20 knots sweeping down the course. Tom Naylor lead upwind, with Mark Kay and Andy Gibson not far behind. However, Tom dropped his tack, opening the door for Mark, Andy, and Louis. After an exciting downwind Louis had overtaken Andy, and was within striking distance of Mark. Mark opted to stay close to shore, but Louis tacked back out to sea and took advantage of the stronger tide to take the lead and win the final race.

Final results: Mark deservedly won the event, just one point ahead of Louis. Tom took 3^rd place with an excellent and consistent performance, clearly ahead of the rest of the fleet. Rob Kent never seemed to put a foot wrong, but didn't quite have the speed to make it into the top three.

Rob Kent. Photo by Andy Watkinson

Annette Kent is pretty renowned for flying around when it’s windy and showing most of the 9.5’s the way round, but she didn't have it all her way, and an on form Harriet Ellis was the first lady, in 6^th overall.

This event also saw newcomers Alice Butts and Thomas Cave enter the youth division along with Emily Kent. They gave an impressive performance on their 6.8 and 7.8 sails in conditions that were certainly not an easy introduction to the class, and in the end, it was Thomas who won the youth prize, in 9^th overall.

Full results here: http://results.ukwindsurfing.com/2015/nat-champs1-christchurch.html

Springtime!

It's been a busy couple of months for me. But mainly a studying kind of busy rather than a windsurfing kind of busy. With the end of my degree on the horizon, I've had to sacrifice some on the water time, but that doesn't mean I've not been windsurfing!

I almost forgot! I never wrote anything about the last SWA event I went to!
It was Pondlife in Nottingham = all the fun for everyone! We had decent medium wind on Saturday which was perfect for all the beginners and inters to brush up their skills, and for me to enjoy some fun blasting on the 7.8 Bolt. I can't even remember what the sail feels like, that's probably a good thing, it just let me forget about it and have fun!

Cruisin' on the Bolt 7.8 twin cam freeriding machine.

With the wind building (although still pretty gusty), there was some fun slalom racing to be had. And I won, yay! :)

Cameron Coghill gatecrashed the racing on his RSX! Photo by David Eberlin.

With just enough time and wind for a bit of freestyle on 5.2 and 86 Kode to end the day :).

Freeeeshtyle! Photo by David Eberlin

Sunday started mega windy and sunny. But in classic SWA style, it was early afternoon before the freestyle competition got underway, by which time, everyone was somewhat underpowered on their small sails rigged from earlier. It was hard, super gusty, and in a very confined space. Alex Mitchell deservedly took the win with a clean e-slider and kono, and amazingly, I took 2nd, with a forward, an almost-spock, and a vulcan.

Forwarding the 86 Kode and 4.2 Rock to 2nd place in the freestyle comp.

Then a few fun wave day trips: super fun logo high 4.7 Gwithian with all the (x)swa crew. Also a fun session in South wales, ending in a sore ankle after being a bit too optimistic on the size of wave required for a table-top. Full power Bigbury, the best I've had it, cross shore, up to head high.

I'm somewhere in the middle of that sunny Bigbury scene. Photo by Chris Mortimer.

Scored a rare easterly day at Pendower. Soooooo good, 3.7, decent waves, crashed backloops, a couple of long-ish wave rides, a crashed arial, and a good crowd of windsurfers out.

Loop at Pendower. There were bigger waves than that, honest!
It's just my mum couldn't hold the camera straight for long it was so windy ;)
Photo by Emma Dales

And then racing. Yes, racing. I trained a few times this winter, but to be honest, not as much as I should have done. I'm also feeling much less fit than last year, because I have been studying and only exercise has really been occasional wave sessions. The first event was the Round Hayling Island Race. I've always wanted to take part in the legendary event, but this was the first time I got round to it. With contradictory forecasts, fog, and of course all that tide, it was pretty interesting! I took off with a knackering non-planing downwinder to the bridge, leading ahead of Rob Kent. Then I got a bit of a wake up as Rob slowly reeled me in upwind. He and Alan Jackson overtook me by the ferry point, and whilst I got past Alan pretty quickly, Rob disappeared off into the distance as I struggled to keep my speed upwind along the seafront into a short chop in about 3-5 knots. Anyway, I got 2nd, which isn't bad, it's just I've either got slower, or Rob got faster upwind compared to last year!

Round Hayling Island.

So there we are.

This weekend is the SWA/BUCS Nationals. Which is the last SWA event of the year, wind looks ok, although a teeny bit more would be nice. I'll be competing in racing (slalom), and freestyle, and I have a chance to finish on the podium for both of those, and probably the overall prize as well. We'll see how that goes. Then weekend after that is UKWA National Championship series event 1: the first course racing event of the year. Really looking forward to getting back into it. It's also pretty important, because it is the only preparation event I have before the worlds in Poland, which happen the week after my exams in June. I'm not going to be nearly as prepared as I was two years ago, but I'll just have to stay focussed and remember how to set my kit up!

Keep an eye out for my report from SWA nationals.

Student wave champion!

I'm really happy to win the student wave series. It was a shame to not have conditions at the final event at Cardiff, but we had wind and waves at the first two events where I finished 1st and 4th, so can't really complain too much.

The SWA has been a really good introduction not only to wave competition, but wavesailing in general. When I started attending these events as a fresher 3 years ago, I couldn't bottom turn, but the friendly atmosphere of the events and high level of the top guys really motivated me to improve, and so my obsession with wavesailing happened!

"Training" at Marazion. Photo by Mel Splashography​

I didn't expect to win. In fact, I think it is the same in racing, sometimes my best results come from when I have no self expectation, then I'm more relaxed and can focus on just windsurfing!

The conditions at both events were pretty hard, for different reasons. At the first event at The Bluff, it was lighter than it looked on the inside, so I spent a lot of the competition underpowered, which wasn't ideal, because it was almost bolt onshore with some big lumps of whitewater to get through. I felt lucky to get as far as the semis, but then found me feet, and landed some big jumps, table tops, and forwards with some back and frontside waverides. I knew I'd sailed quite well, but I had no idea if I'd won, it's a bit different to what I'm used to for racing. In racing you can always see if you are winning or not, in a wave heat, usually I never see most of what my competitors do!

​In competition at Rhosneigr. Photo by Jim Brooks-Dowsett

At the second event at Rhosneigr, it was a little less onshore, but a similar wind strength, perfect for my 4.7 Rock. The thing I found hard at Rhossy was finding decent ramps and wave-rides from the relatively soft gentle waves there. I had a decent semi-final, but in the final I struggled to find a good second wave.

The level at the top of the fleet is really tight and pretty high, with all the top 4 at Rhossy getting consistent forward loops and fluid wave rides even in the tricky onshore conditions we had on the tour. Yet these events are also perfect for anyone new to wavesailing. As long as you can waterstart, you can give it a go, Tushingham and Starboard provided 4 sets of 2015 gear at the first event, so you might not even need your own wave kit.

What could have been at the Cardiff SWA event if there had been wind and waves! Photo by Ben Bulson.​

I definitely want to compete more in the BWA amature fleet, I did Rhosneigr and Gwithian last year and they both a really good experience with great conditions. I'd definitely recommend any of the SWA wavesailors who are at a level where they can get out, do a jump and catch a wave to come along. Unfortunately, the Rhosneigr event this year clashes with the SWA/BUCS National championships, but I'll definitely be at Gwithian, I'd love to get to Tiree as well, but I'll have to see how that fits in with my uni work. A few things are for sure though! You will see me at all the SWA wave events next year, and at a few UKWA events and the Raceboard world championships this summer (yes I can still race, I think...).

At both events I used my trusty old 74 liter waveboard with 4.7 Tushingham Rock (except in one heat at The Bluff, where I used a 4.2), which is a combo that rocks in all conditions!

Thanks to the SWA and especially Jim Brooks-Dowsett from Puravida for running a great wave series, and also to Tushingham Sails for supporting my windsurfing. I can't wait for my next session, it looks like the wind is returning soon, there must be time for windsurfing alongside writing my masters thesis surely!

University: year 4, term 1

It's been a while, maybe I'll summarize it with photos, rather than my usual rambling words!

I'm president of the University of Bristol windsurfing club this year, so spent a bit of time running that with the rest of the committee, we've got lots of keen members so that's good.

Went to Stokes Bay for the last event of the UKWA National Championship series and got crowned Raceboard National Champion. Thanks to Tushingham Sails and Starboard boards for supporting me, and making the best allround raceboard kit. The only sail I used this season was the Tushingham XR Race 9.5, in winds of 4-20 knots.

2014 UKWA National Raceboard Champion and Inland Champion! Photo by Ross Morris

Fun wednesday afternoon wave session at Lyme Regis, full power 4.7, practicing table tops.

Went to Aussie Kiss XIII (Student Windsurfing festival), and had lots of fun! Bristol got 3rd in the Team racing, I got 2nd in the Freestyle with a bit of flat water looping.

University of Bristol Windsurfing club at AK13. Photo by Adam Shoreland

Vulcan in the Freestyle final at Aussie Kiss. Photo by Claire Glasby

Photo by Antonis Kyparissis

Competed in the BWA Cornwall Classic wave competition at Gwithian.

Photos by Mel Splashography.

Did pretty badly in the competition but had my best ever session downwind of the competition area, logo high down the line, perfect on my 4.7 Rock :)

Done a bit of race coaching with the Cornish Techno team. They're getting faster, watch out world!

Bristol and UWE hosted an SWA event: took a bit of organising, but worth it, amazing weekend and everyone had fun, it wasn't that windy though. I got 3rd in Freestyle, 1st in Racing, and Bristol got 1st and 3rd in the team racing.

Light-wind freestyle with the Tushingham Bolt 4.5. Photo by Lizzie Walsh

Won the first event of the SWA wave series!! Really happy to win my first wave contest in really tricky onshore conditions. Landed a forward in the final, got a few nice backside and frontside waves, a few floaty jumps and almost killed myself with a one-footed tabletop.

Then there were two windy lecture free wednesdays in a row, had some amazing starboard tack down the line conditions in South Wales.

Photos by Ben Bulson

Then the week after, the forecasted wind didn't turn up to Bigbury, but still had some fun.

Played Saxophone at a "wake-up" early morning rave in Bristol.

Had a really fun 4.7 freestyle session at Weymouth, getting my vulcans pretty consistent on both sides, looping of flatter water, landed my first spock. Decided I like freestyle, the Starboard Kode FSW 86 is a great board for learning these kind of moves: fast and compact but funner for blasting and easier in chop and better at carving than a real freestyle board.

Then came home, windsurfed a lot. Freestyle at Torpoint, landed my first grubby and got close to some spocks, looped off even flatter water. Cross on starboard tack jumping and riding at Bigbury. Port tack wobble and ride sideshore logo high Gwithian. And finally got out on my raceboard, feeling so motivated for the 2015 racing season, I might even take it to uni with me and do some training!

Tomorrow looks like perfect Siblyback conditions for freestyle and high wind race training, can't wait!

There is more to life than racing longboards...

Thought I'd put a few photos up from my recent wave and freestyle fun times (that kind of makes sense right?).

Photos by Mel Splashography

Photos by Antonis Kyparissis

Stokes Bay – Raceboard report.

The UKWA National course racing championship is a series of 5 events, the final one was at Stokes Bay (Gosport, on the Solent) last weekend.

Photo by John Liddy

Photo by Louise Mills

The forecast looked pretty windy for Saturday, and sure enough, it was very windy whilst we were rigging, but after a lot of rain and a 90° wind shift, we had about 12-14 knots. To avoid the shipping channel, the course was set quite close into the beach, which was great for spectators, but also meant that the inner loop of the course had very fluky wind, with a big hole by the windward mark. Add some strong tide, and you have some interesting racing!

During the morning, the tide was going opposite directions (or at least, much stronger inshore), which meant that left paid best. The wind was strong enough to plane all the way round, and I had good speed and was tactically strong enough to win by a comfy margin whilst Mark Kay, Rob Kent, and Lewis Barnes were in close combat. One of the leeward gate marks drifted leading to some confusion and disqualification those who went through the gate the wrong way  (including Lewis).

Lewis Barnes by John Liddy

The wind dropped a bit for the second race, demanding a bit more downwind pumping. And this time the racing was very close with a few lead changes as people got the right gusts and shifts and played the tide correctly or not. I was leading, but after the last upwind, Rob was hot on my tail, and had a better downwind to win the race (I had a stinking cold and just ran out of energy, that’s my excuse anyway!).

Mark Kay, by Paul Wyeth

Race 3 was no less exciting and very very gusty as the wind started to swing a little more offshore. The tide was very strong now, and even stronger on the left, so it was a case of trying to get the shifts right without heading out into the channel. Mark had a flying start and a perfect first beat, but then tacked on a header at the leeward mark, sending him out into the strongest tide and allowing 4 people to overtake! Myself and Rob got a good shift by the shore that allowed us to leebow the tide and get a crazy layline to the windward mark, so again I won with Rob 2^nd and Lewis in 3^rd.

The race officer tried to change the course to a windward/leeward further out in cleaner wind, but the wind dropped by the time we started and it had to be abandoned.

There was no wind until about 1pm on Sunday, and even then it was about 2 knots, some people just went home, and lots of people started packing up, but then at 3, we had a great finishing race in 8-10 knots. The tide wash pushing upwind very quickly, but miraculously nobody was OCS on the start. I had a good start but gave myself some work to do by heading too much up the middle of the course; luckily I got the craziest long distance with tide layline ever and won the race ahead of Rob and Lewis again.

Photo by Louise Mills

So I won the event, with Rob Kent 2^nd, and Lewis Barnes finally converted his crazy speed into a super consistent set of 3^rd places. Mark Kay was as fast as ever, but just didn’t manage to put together a good enough set of races to displace Lewis from the podium. Annette Kent had a really good event and finished 5^th overall, first lady by a long way. Jenna Gibson was also very impressive, managing to finish ahead of Harriet Ellis, proving that a skilfully used old Mega cat is still as good as anything!

Full Event results

National Championship series results:

1^st Louis Morris (Tushingham/Starboard 377)

2^nd Robert Kent (Tushingham/Starboard 377)

3^rd Mark Kay (Demon/Starboard 377)

1^st Veteran (4^th overall) Tom Naylor (Tushingham/Starboard 380)

1^st Lady (6^th overall) Annette Kent (Tushingham/Starboard 377)

1^st Supervet (7^th overall) John Pete (Demon/Starboard 377)

1^st Youth (10^th overall) Rebecca Kent (Bic OD/Mistral Equipe)

2014 RYA/UKWA National windsurfing Championships (Inland Nationals, Junior Youth and Masters championship, Team 15 Champions Cup): Raceboard report.

For 2014, the RYA Youth and Masters were combined with the National Junior Championships, Team 15 champions cup, and UKWA Inland nationals to form one massive event at Rutland Sailing club. There were 220 windsurfers and it was pretty busy on the beach and on the water, but thanks to some good organising, the event went very smoothly! There were 27 raceboards entered, of which 6 were youth: the highest youth entry for a long time.

Myself: focussed mid gybe (photo by John Liddy)

On Saturday, the wind was quite light and very shifty, which lead to lots of shuffling up and lead changes during the race which was pretty exciting stuff. It was the kind of conditions which Rob Kent and Guy Spreckley excel in. Rob got it wrong in the first race (and Mark Kay got it even more wrong) allowing me to win with Guy in 2^nd, but in the next 2 races, he sailed brilliantly to take the win, whilst I was playing catch up having ended up on the wrong side of some shifts. By the last race, the wind had picked up to about 10 knots or so: enough for me to plane all the way downwind and be faster than most upwind, with a good start and a tactically sound upwind, once ahead I just had to play it safe in the middle of the course and won comfortably. Myself and Rob ended the day on tied points, with Guy in 3^rd.

Guy Spreckley (photo by John Liddy)

On Sunday, there were some gusts up to 15 knots but still lulls of 8 knots or less. It was still shifty, but with the wind slightly more easterly than Saturday, there was usually a big gain on the right side of the course. However there were a few shifts and gusts that undid this gain, and there were a few times when I had to dig myself out of a bit of a hole. Having a sail with the power to keep pointing and railing through the lulls yet convert gusts into acceleration rather than drag really helped me to keep my speed up through the gusty conditions and capitalise on shifts to recover some sticky positions. Like the last race on Sunday, my downwind speed was best than most, and I managed to win all of the races.

Tom Naylor giving it some power downwind (photo by John Liddy)

Mark Kay found another gear and was fighting back with 3 2nds and a 3^rd, he was certainly a lot quicker than on Saturday, and it sometimes felt like he was attached to the back of my board by a 50m bit of string! Rob Kent did just enough to keep his 2^nd overall, Guy Spreckley didn’t quite have the speed to keep up his amazing performance from the first day so slipped into 5^th overall behind an outrageously consistent Tom Naylor. Tom was flying upwind as usual, and put some effort in downwind to get 9 4^th places and a 5^th: enough to get him 1^st veteran and 4^th overall.

Annette Kent (photo by Andy Watkinson)

With 8 sailors racing on 8.5 (youth + ladies) there was some noteworthy battles there as well. Lewis Barnes usually races as a heavyweight 9.5, but borrowed an 8.5 to win the Youth national title by an impressive margin. Annette Kent was first lady: only two points ahead of Lewis and 3 ahead of Harriet Ellis. 2^nd and 3^rd youth was too close to call, with Jenna Gibson having the edge on her XR-Race 8.5 over Robin Mcallister on Saturday. Robin fought back in the stronger winds on Sunday to finish on tied points, but ended up in 3^rd on the tie break rule.

Robin McAllister (photo by Andy Watkinson)

I have to mention Phil Hards, who had some of the best starts in the business as well as some serious upwind speed, all he needs now is a Starboard Phantom and he’d keep up downwind too! Also well done to my brother Ross who borrowed my 8.5 Lightning and ancient Megacat in his first National contest since Team 15 cup in 2011 (on 5.8) he was very quick upwind, especially when it got windy.

Ross Morris (photo by Andy Watkinson)

Full results here

Raceboard Results summary:

1^st Overall - Louis Morris, 1^st Lightweight (Tushingham/Starboard)

2^nd Overall – Rob Kent, 1^st Master (Tushingham/Starboard)

3^rd Overall – Mark Kay, 1^st Heavyweight (Demon/Starboard)

4^th Overall – Tom Naylor, 1^st Veteran (Tushingham/Starboard)

1^st Lady – Annette Kent, 6^th Overall (Tushingham/Starboard)

2^nd Lady – Harriet Ellis, 8^th Overall (Demon/Starboard)

3^rd Lady – Jenna Gibson, 12^th Overall (Tushingham/Fanatic)

1^st Youth – Lewis Barnes, 7^th Overall (Demon/Starboard)

2^nd Youth – Jenna Gibson, 12^th Overall (Tushingham/Fanatic)

3^rd Youth – Robin McAllister, 13^th Overall (Tushingham/Starboard)