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.