Professional Freestyle windsurfer

Wednesday 7 September 2011

Windy England!

Last weekend was the National Windsurfing Festival on Hayling Island (NWF) It was the first time I've been to the event and it definitely wont be the last! It was amazing to see so many sails out on the water, there were over 400 people registered for the event and the majority were freeriders. www.nationalwindsurfingfestival.com For more info! I managed to win the night tow in session and come 2nd in the freestyle event which I was pretty pleased with!



Since the event finished the wind has been non stop! Check the videos at the bottom to see what I've been up to in more detail. After spotting the ridiculous forecast I consulted with Chris "Muzza" Murray and it was decided that I would stay with him on the south coast and not bother going back to Essex. On Monday we headed to Shoreham so I could collect a wave board and also make the most of the wind! Since Muzza was busy at home finishing of the video for the NWF we got to Shoreham a little bit late and the shorebreak was in full swing! Muzza paid the price for that one (Check the Pic!) Whilst packing up we were wondering it it would be possible to sail in the Widewater lagoon! I did a few runs but it was pretty shallow and the lagoon stunk once I stirred the mud up a bit. Check another Vid at the bottom of the page! I was pretty happy to stick a Skopu with only a 5 second run up!!!!

With the forecast looking even better for the Tuesday we decided a freestyle session would be in order, we gathered a big crew and headed off to West Wittering. It was absolutely howling and once we arrived it was hard enough to open the van doors let alone walk down to the water with our kit! It was gusting up to 50 knots and was easily one of the windier days I've attempted to freestyle in. Given the conditions we all landed some good moves but the crashes that went along with it were far more entertaining which is probably why the video got over 3,000 views in under 24 hours of being uploaded.
After the epic freestyle session I knew it was time to keep Muzza entertained and head on to a wave spot for the following day. Hayling Island was the most obvious option as when the tide drops a nice sand bar pops which the waves wrap round creating some nice straight on jumping. Now starboard tack jumping is most definitely not one of my strong points but one of my main aims for the year is to improve it. With Bubble and Muzza going for it I joined in; consequently my left but cheek is savagely bruised!!!! To make matters worse in the hunt for a flat spot I managed to sail over a sand bar that I hadnt spotted! I tried to resist the catapult which is always a massive error when your fins already in the sand and then went round the front so hard I snapped the head on my boom oooops! SO I had a lovely sail back with my boom wobbling around at the bottom of the cut out lashed on with my uphaul ( so glad I put that uphaul on for the tow in!! )
Not content we headed on to Witterings for another freestlye session! It was good but we were all feeling it a little bit. It looks windy again for tomorrow so check back for some more pics and videos!

Cheers to Dave White for the night tow in Pic & James Underwood for the Shaka at NWF pic.

Muzzas NWF video!


Muzza gets eaten at Shoreham!!!


Skopu at Widewater lagoon!!


Wipeouts at West Wittering!

More Windsurfing Videos >>

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