Summer of 2017

It's been a long while since I wrote a blog, so in (the unlikely) case you've been waiting since February, dying to read about my windsurfing, I do apologise.

Like most summers, I've been racing a lot. Its been a bit of a funny year though. I've not trained very much. Actually, I trained two or three times between May and and September and didn't sail my raceboard once during the winter. I guess there are a few reasons; I couldn't find anyone to travel to the world championships with, so didn't have a big event to really motivate my training. I normally have to drive for 90 minutes to sail my raceboard, or buy membership of Axbridge reservoir, and my kit lives in a friends garage the other side of Bristol. I'm not 10 minutes from the lake, or working at a beach anymore, excuses, excuses!

None of this means I enjoy racing any less though. We've had some brilliant events this year, and in some windy conditions too.

We started the season early, in April, in Weymouth. The wind was mostly very light, and I had a hard fight to stay ahead of Lewis Barnes and Rob Kent, but I was very happy to come out on top and get back into the racing game.

Light wind racing in Weymouth. Photo by Andy Watkinson.

Next up was Rutland - tactial, shifty, marginal. I like that kind of thing, it's hard work but rewarding. We did the Rutland Marathon long distance race too, which was deservedly won by Rob Kent. On the Sunday, it was proper windy, which gave rise to some really exhilarating racing. Strong winds have never been my best conditions, but this year, something seems to have clicked, and I have never been so fast in windy conditions. I won that event too.

Racing in Rutland. Photo by Andy Watkinson.

Then in May, I went to Morocco for some wavesailing with friends, where I worked on my jumping a bit and had a nice holiday.

Wavesailing in Morocco.

Christchurch was the second coastal event and the forecast looked pretty light, so I didn't bother to pack my 8.5. This proved to be a mistake. After a morning of light wind racing, a sea breeze kicked in on Sunday, and I was left hanging onto my 9.5 as it gusted up to 28 knots! However, my overall performance for the weekend let me win the event by a fair margin anyway.

Cruising in Christchurch.

Knowing that I would be missing the final two events of the series, I made the treck up to Bridlington for the next event. It was one of those competitions where you had to think! With very gusty and shifty winds on top of some strong tide, it was pretty interesting! I managed to win most of the races again. One more event win would seal the series win for me. So then I went to Herne Bay in Kent for the next event. The wind was mostly pretty light and marginal, with very strong tide. I won most races again, but had to fend off a charging Lewis Barnes, who took two of them. Winning the event handed me my 3rd national raceboard title with two events to spare, which I'm super happy with.

Racing downwind in Herne Bay. Photo by Andy Watkinson.

After a holiday in Ireland (lacking in wind and waves, but plenty of mountains and beautiful scenery), I raced in the RYA/UKWA National Windsurfing Championships at Grafham water. This is always a really cool event to go to because it brings together all the adult and youth UKWA fleets together with the young team 15 windsurfers. Off course, it had the usual gusty, shifty conditions, which I actually really enjoy, and we even had some strong wind action. It was almost the perfect event for me, and I won every race except the one which Lewis absolutely nailed!

Overall, I'm mostly really happy with how I sailed this year. I seem to be pretty fast in every wind strength and the Severne sails are working really well now that I'm used to them. They are particularly amazing in medium-strong wind conditions, where they are really stable and efficient. On the other hand, I made a few mistakes and jumped the starting gun more times this season then in all previous seasons combined! I think it would be really good to go to the Worlds or Euro's again next year, with some training, I am sure I can push myself to a higher level. It just depends on how much I want it, compared to the time and money commitments and of course, the addictive distraction of wavesailing! Here's to a windy and wavey winter!