BKSA Hunstanton

Fitting into the calendar quite nicely I had a spare weekend off sailing regattas, so travelled up to Hunstanton in Norfolk for a round of the British Kitesurfing Association Freestyle tour.  These kitesurfing events are always so much fun with a good bunch of friends riding and pushing each other on the water.
It is always a bit of a shock for me riding in uk conditions, with the tidal range causing forever changing conditions on the water, not like Cas en Bas beach! Oh and riding with thermals and wetsuits takes some getting used to!
The Saturday of the event was an eye opener, and made me realise how hard core the british riders really are, as in lashing rain all day the riders still went out and put on a show (back home we'd normally be in the bar with a rum on those conditions!).  Luckily the pros heat were not held till Sunday, when the rain cleared up and made for some sweet riding conditions.
Once again only having a 10m kite in my quiver and the rest of the girls riding 7/8m's I for sure had plenty of power to play with, a bit too much at times which could only mean a bit of old school riding to mix things up!
Riding around with a smile on my face all day, this event was definately good fun and it was nice being on the water with some other quality riders all enjoying the moment.
I came out with a podium position of 2nd place, which I'm happy with and as I learn how to ride in competition formats will improve on that.

Next stop is back in the Laser at the Olympic Test event down in Weymouth.

Ride hard and live the moment

Roadtrip to Germany

After the disappointment of spending 3 days of the sail for gold regatta in hospital, was time to recover fast and move on to the next event on the calendar.....the ISAF World Cup in Kiel, Germany.
Getting their a few days early to train the wind was light, and good for seeing where my speed is at against the rest of the fleet.  Conditions are always changing in Europe, and the few days of training before the regatta were in beautiful warm but super light winds, with the event being held in offshore winds averaging 15-20 knots.
Was definately a tough regatta both physically and mentally with long days on the water in extremely cold conditions.  The offshore wind meant that the sail back in after racing was a long one (with no LCA coach boat to tow behind, was over an hour sail back), and with rain squalls coming through above 25 knots I was still managing to sail with a big smile on my face. A huge thank you to Steve from roostersailing.com for sorting me out the day before I left to Germany with the correct layers of clothing to keep me warm out on the water.  I definately enjoyed the event a lot more thanks to the extra layers!
The racing was good fun, and I'm excited to be in the next phase of my training.  Sailing back in a big fleet shows me where I'm at, where the boat speed is and what I need to work on.  Overall things went well, as I'm back in the top half of the fleet and knowing the key areas I can come away and train harder at.
My thoughts when quickly interviewed on the slipway before launching can be seen here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XBN_abq_hY

After Kiel, some downtime was needed, so timing was perfect as starting a few days later on a beach close by in Sylt was the Kitesurfing Course Racing World Championships.  I was here to support good friend Ben Todd in his endevours to master the art of going extremely fast whilst holding down a huge kite.  Unfortunately no-one had a spare race board I could borrow for the event, but I learnt a lot for my future plans in the Kite Course Racing.  Conditions got pretty extreme for the racers, with 20-25 knot winds plus 3m+ waves to race in, big respect to all the girls and guys who took on mother nature at this event.
While I was their, it turned out they were holding a freestyle kitesurfing event as well, as the first stop on the 'Kitesurfing Tour of Europe'.  As I had my freestyle board with me I decided to enter for some fun.  My only kite was a 10m, and with all the other girls on 7m kites, I was literally hanging on to a lot of power.  Overall of 5th place in my first true freestyle event.  I have to say it was a bit different from St Lucia's annual Kite Fiesta!

I'm back in the UK at the moment catching up with family and preparing for the next event which is the Olympic Test Event in Weymouth.

Enjoy whatever challenges Mother Nature throws at you