Saturday was really crazy, with insanely shifty 3-13 knots. The kind of conditions where you have to think a lot (tactically) and pump a lot! I managed to do both, and the XR-Race proto worked pretty well in these conditions, so I won all 3 races.Sunday was near perfect. SW’ly 10 knots building to about 16 by the end of the day. Clean wind, bit of tide, bit bumpy, with emphasis on choosing the right side of the course and just going fast! Racing was really close at times, and I took two more race wins, a DNF (mastrack malfunction), and a 2nd.

I used my Starboard Phantom 377, with Tushingham XR-Race 9.5 (light wind prototype), and 50cm Black Project fin, in every race.

The previous weekend, I took part in the SWA/BUCS student nationals.It was a very fun weekend. I took my Phantom with the idea that I couldn’t possibly loose the racing on it! However, it didn’t come down to board speed in the end. With about 30 people on one very short figure of 8 slalom course, it was absolute carnage. After avoiding a few crashes, messing up a few gybes, pumping a lot, and getting disqualified from over-eager starts a couple of times, I’m happy to say that my board was unscathed. I’m not sure where I finished, but it wasn’t on the podium. 5th time lucky next year?

Anyway, I raced in the team racing for Bristol and Cardiff. Bristol won and Cardiff second. I also got out on my 9.5 for a bit of race training, and it felt great to get comfortable on my race kit again after a bit of a break.

The SWA now owns a fleet of Tushingham Concepts, purchased using a Sport England Grant, to allow all the students to get out on the water and have fun, as SWA events normally have over 100 attendees, most of which do not have their own gear, somewhere to keep their own kit, or a car to transport it.

I love the SWA; it was so nice to see so many young windsurfers having a tonne of fun on and off the water!