Fat Face offer you a 10% Discount

Fat Face are one of my main sponsors. They are a great company to be involved with. For a limited time only they are offering you the chance to get 10% off their winter range when you shop online with them. Nice huh!

All you have to do is enter this code when you get to the check out page on the website XM8SW.

Go to http://www.fatface.com/ to start shopping.

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For a few days I'll be the main banner profile on the Starboard Website. Check it out here http://www.star-board-sup.com/

Svein's Olympic Dream

Svein Rasmussen from Starboard has a dream for a new Olympic windsurfing board class. Click HERE to read the letter. He raises some interesting points. With the 2012 Olympics being held in Weymouth UK, this potential change could be very interesting to home waters.

Back to School

Last night saw me back in the School Hall for a presentation and talk evening at South Molton Community College in North Devon. I was invited along to the Sports Presentation evening by the PE department and I gave a 30 minute talk about my life as a professional windsurfer and how I got to have that as a job title! It seemed to go well, but the only lights were on me so I couldn't see if the audience were awake or not, but they seemed to stir into life at the end with a big round of appaulse so I'm thinking (hoping) they liked it.

I love passing on my passion for windsurfing and next week I move on to Oxford Sailing Club on Tuesday night and Datchet Water on Thursday night for yet more evening demos and talks.

It's good to have something to occupy me at the moment as I have a back injury, which is keeping me off the water and away from any events. It's been howling recently and with such a long period of no wind it's hard to watch the trees bending and not be able to sail. I hope to be back in action for the European SUP Distance Champs at the Paddle Around the Pier event on the 5th July in Brighton.

1st place in BSUPA Contest

After my 2nd place at event one in May I was pretty keen to try and make the top spot in event two.

Last weekend saw the second round of the BSUPA champs. The event was held at Gwithian Beach in Cornwall. The waves were tiny and although I had some good heats beating well known longboard surfers such as Ben Skinner, Tim Mellors and Elliott Dudley I could only manage 3rd in the final. Not too bad I guess, and it keeps me in contention for the rest of the season. Well done to Chris "Guts" Griffiths for taking the win in the surfing. My main focus considering the poor surf conditions was the Distance Race.......

Neal Gent stormed the win at the first event and after that I knew I had to work on my fitness and technique. I basically spent a month getting my paddle stroke more refined (still more work to be done) and concentrating on fitness. It seemed to work and although I was pushed the whole way around the course by Neal and Elliott Dudley. I managed to come out ahead and take the win in the distance comp. Neal is a super competitor though so if he can stay out of the bar the night before the next event I think he'll be back on course to try and take the win. The season is certainly shaping up to be a good one.

A big thanks to all the sponsors for putting on such a cool event, especially the team at the Sunset Cafe on the cliff top at Gwithian and the crew from the BSUPA. You can read more about it on www.standuppaddlesurf.co.uk

It looks windy now for a few days so I'll be back out on the windsurf gear before entering the European SUP Endurance event from Worthting to Brighton Piers in July.

2nd at first Stand Up Paddle Event of the year

This weekend saw the first BSUPA event of the year. I came in 2nd in the distance event after three pretty gruelling races. I also came 2nd in the Surf Expression Session. The guy that one it (Patrice Guenole from France)has competed in the European Longboard Champs before though so I don't reckon I did too bad.

A couple of weeks back I was invited to the English Surf Nationals to compete in a SUP Exhibition comp. I placed 3rd in that so I'm getting better all the time. The next event is in Cornwall at Gwithian Beach, 14th-15th June. I'm hoping for some good swell and I'm hope to do well in this contest.

Heres a shot of my Starboard SUP boards (from L-R 9', 11'2" and 9'8"):

Brush Boarding

I've been working with the creators of the Brush Boarding machine since January. It's all been top secret stuff - I was swarn to secrecy and most of the testing has been done at night in a locked warehouse. Finally the concept and the machine is ready for public consumption. It's a great work out (My heart rate hit 170BPM) when I was on the "ramp". It's great fun and has improved my boardriding already.

I love riding it. I think this could really hit the mainstream. It's pretty cheap to run and transportable. Check out the website www.brushboarding.co.uk and check out this Video




It's all being launched to the Public at two special events at the Crealy Leisure parks (Exeter and Wadebridge) nex week.
It's going to be great fun

Don't ask just vote it as sizzling

Go to www.doritos.co.uk and rate "Lost Dog" very highly please..... You'll find it in the "gallery" section" - search for Lost Dogs. Post it in your status update or send them all a message

National Windsurfing Week is this week

National Windsurfing Week starts on 3rd May. There are loads of special events taking place. I'm hoping to drop into a few during the week. The Second round of the UKWA Four Nations Event is happening next weekend up in Rhosneigr so I'll be there promoting the sport along with all the other entrants.

To find your local event check out the National Windsurfing Week Website HERE

It's been a while

Sorry for the lack of updates. Life has just been hectic. So what's been going on you ask?

First off Maui was great fun. Not a classic trip but some good days of windsurfing and some nice paddle boarding sessions too. I got delayed by two days trying to get home, which sucked a little as I almost missed the first UKWA Four Nations Wave Sailing event of the year. As it was I had to drive for 24 hrs after landing from my 18 hr flight in order to get to the West Coast of Ireland in time for the event. As you can imagine my Jet Lag harsh and trying to get into a mast high bone cruncher while your body is trying to tell you it should be asleep is kind of hard.

I finished 3rd, which was ok and still leaves me in contention for the Overall title for 2008. It's going to be a tough year though as there are lots of guys gunning for the title. May the best man win.

I've updated a few of the pages on the site- events being the main one, so you can now see what I'm up to. I've got loads of pictures to go into the gallery but just got to find some time to get round to it.

Maui two days in

Plenty of wind here on Maui, but not on the North Shore. So no Hookipa, Lanes, etc - the famouse Maui Beaches.

We've been out on the water everyday though, down on the south side at Kihei. We've done loads of Freeride shots on the Futura Boards and my 6.0 TBird has been getting alot of use. It's actually been howling to the point of overpowered - most of the freestylers have been on 4.7 sails! If anybody remembers the old Neil Pryde Videos (moving target, Rigmarole, etc) then they will recognise the shots we got as this is where a lot of the flat water shots were filmed for these vids

We had the helicopter up yesterday and had a great photo session pacing behind the chopper. It's pretty cool to be going at full whack with a helicopter going at the same speed, side ways only meters in front of you! We had photographers and video dudes in the chopper so I reckon we would have got some great shots.

Looks like a great day for sup today, so we are just about to pack the vans and head off.....

Maui

I've been in Maui now for two days. So far we've had pretty minimal swell and wind, but I'm hopeful of some good conditions as we go into the weekend. I'm here for the Starboard SUP and windsurf photoshoot and staying literally meters from the famous North Shore of Maui, pretty much right next door to Mama's Fish House a famous North Shore restaurant. I'm here until the 13th April so I will try and bring you some more pictures as the days progress.

Spaintastic

Ok, I'm back from Spain now. Didn't quite manage the daily updates but here's a few pics from the trip. Chris at Errant surf looked after us well and we got some great surf conditions for surfing and Stand Up Paddle. The wind has returned now I'm back home so I'm off down the beach. Enjoy the pictures. Film clip coming soon......
All pics http://www.willblair.com/

Bottom Turn

Pull in!

Paddle Session

Sunset Sessions

Northern Spain for some Fat Surf

Today my travels have taken me to the stunning coastline of Northern Spain. I'm here with the Fat Face crew to do a photo shoot for their new range of surfboards as well as some Stand Up Paddle Surfing pictures. We are staying at Chris Thomson's Surf lodge "La Hosteria" in a small village HERE.

We arrived late yesterday afternoon to a rain filled sky and no waves. This morning the sun is filling the sky and the surf is on the up. We just cruised into the village for some breakfast and then did a beach check. There are so many cool beaches with high cliffs. Looking down on the surf there appears to be lots of different banks and a whole heap of different types of waves from cruisey, long board mellowness through to hollow point breaks. We are here until Sunday and the forecast for swell is looking good. I'll try and update each day from here.

The Hibbard Cargo Short!!!!

Fat Face have named a pair of shorts after me!! You can now rush out and buy the Hibbard Cargo Short! They are available in their Spring range, which is in store and online now.

Pretty cool to have a item of clothing named after me. Pity I don't get royalty payments!!

FAT FACE ONLINE STORE

SeaSports Southwest

A new era in windsurfing is happening in Teignmouth, South Devon: SeaSports SW are preparing to open their doors to one and all in March. They will be offering windsurfing tuition/hire/sales. It's owned and run by Tim and Sue Cox. I learnt to windsurf in Teignmouth so it's great to finally see a windsurfing operation arrive in town. Click on the logo above to find out more. Or go to www.seasports-sw.com

Driven By Wind - The quest for the World Record

This event starts today from Southend in Essex. The aim is to break the world and mile speed records. Dave White, the UK's top speedsailor is running it and some of the world's best speedsailors are in attendance including Team Tushingham guys Bob Cunningham and Paul Simmons. You can keep up to date by following these links or clicking on the picture:

GPS Speedsurfing

Spectator Sport - this is a cool link. You can watch real time movements of the sailors

Pagham Provides!

Had a good fun session at Pagham on Sunday along with about 50 other windsurfers!! Man it was busy out there, but I kind of like it when it's like that. It restores my faith in the sport. Not that it is really lacking anyway.

There was plenty of action going on with a high standard of sailing. Only saw one minor crash, which looked was more funny than painful. The cold is a funny thing - I always find that the first 45 mins is really good, I land most of my jumps and feel pretty good about everything. Then after that the cold starts to seep into my head and hands and it all gets a little more unpredictable. You can see it in other people too. Even Andy King, who is usually "Mr Back look consitstent" eventually starts to drop the jumps as the cold gets to work. Maybe I need a warmer wetsuit?

I almost didn't sail yesterday and was very close to turning round and going home when I relised that I had left my 4.7 and 5.2 down in Devon! Luckily for me as I was just about to leave the wind picked up and it was perfect on my 4.2 Rock and Evo 75. In fact I'd rather have been on my Evo 70 but that was in my van half a mile away from the beach (it was busy in the car park!). I've never left my sails behind before - Must be the cold affecting my brain!

I reckon Pagham would've been good today but I had other things to do. Back to Devon this week so hoping for some more great winter sailing.

You gotta love this sport for the variety it can give you. One day starboard tack onshore jumping and then 2 days later cross offshore down the line. Bring it on!!

Winter Wonderland

It's been a great start to the New Year, with plenty of wind around. The past week has seen plenty of wind and rain (!) and tomorrow looks like it could be quite good. I'm up in Surrey for the weekend so will probably head for Pagham on Sunday.

National Windsurfing Week

Happy New Year. Wishing you all a windy 2008.

National Windsurfing Week is coming to a beach, lake, river near you in 2008. Spread the word.