West Kirby, Merseyside, UK 29th September 2012

In the week leading up to the weekend of the 29th & 30th of September it was looking like it would be another speed session and as i was working nights all week, i checked the forecast when i got up on the afternoon of Friday 28th it was forecasting 20-30 knots Westerly going WNW mid morning but the tide was going to breach the wall at around 11am so it was definitely gonna be a another dawn session. As i had to be on the water at first light I drove up that evening arriving at 11pm, parking in the usual spot in Morrisons and went to get a couple of pints and relax before heading back to the van to get some sleep.

I didn't get too much sleep and when Mark Bailey woke me up just after 7am i was pretty tired but itching to get on the water. The forecasted wind strength was spot on so it was an easy choice to rig my 6.6m KA Koncept and got my Mistral Speed 73 ready with a 21cm Vector Maui Fins Delta Speed Fin which i've been wanting to try, got into my wetsuit and hit the water. Shortly after my first run the wind switched round to WNW earlier than expected which made the speed course very broad and also brought the dreaded death chop. It started to get hard getting long runs in when the wind switched direction, because when you bore of down the wall you ran out of power quickly but myself and Mark kept trying to get decent runs in. I managed a couple of 36 knot peaks, but the one good thing i learned from the session is the 21cm Vector Maui Fins Delta Speed Fin worked very well in the Mistral Speed 73, being rock solid and giving me the confidence going broad through the chop that was building knowing the fin wouldn't loose grip causing me to crash.

As it was a pretty high tide and the wind direction giving a bit of a tidal surge the tide started breach around 10am so myself and mark came of the water and got changed and went to get some food at Morrisons and wait for the tide to recede.

Shortly after the tide to get back on the receded enough to get back on the water just after 1pm the wind dropped off to around 10-12 knots but i decided to hang around to see if the wind would pick up. Luckily i didn't have too long and it picked up to around 12-16 knots so i rigged up my 7.5m KA Koncept got my 2013 Mistral Slalom 112 ready with a 38cm Vector Maui Fins ZX Fin and got back out on the water. I've had this board for a couple of weeks now and a board of this size is my most used board as they have such a big wind range. I managed to get a few runs down the wall on it and my first impressions of the board are good. It planes pretty early with a couple of pumps and the volume distribution is pretty even throughout the board so slogging off the plane is easy, unlike my old iSonic 111 which had hardly any volume in the nose. Having volume in the nose makes it easy to tack and it's also pretty easy to gybe, it's definitely gonna be a great board to have in my quiver :-D

We both came off the water late afternoon knackered but stoked to have had a good sail, packed up and i headed to a mates house where i was staying, got some food and had an early night.

The next day most of the boys headed out on the tide but i didn't have wave kit with me so i hung around to see if i could get out on the lake but the wind never really filled in enough to get out speed sailing so i headed back home to Solihull early afternoon hoping that it won't be too long before i get back here for a sail.

New Sponsor

I'm very pleased to announce that through windsurfingfins.co.uk i will become a team rider for Spartan Wetsuits and i will be getting measured up for my new wetsuit's at Weymouth Speedweek in a couple of weeks. I am stoked to be joining a UK based wetsuit company and look forward to representing them in the coming future. With over 50 years of experience making wetsuits Spartan make suits that provide ultimate warmth and comfort and i can't wait to get my new winter suit in time for this winter. Being UK based Spartan are also able to provide a service where they can alter any suit in their range making sure they fit every customer that buys one, which means i will be able to get a wetsuit that fits me perfectly. 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my old wetsuit sponsor Pro Motion for their support over the past 3 years

West Kirby, Merseyside, UK 14th September 2012

I'd been keeping an eye on the forecast all week keeping my fingers crossed that there would be wind carrying into the weekend but by Thursday the weather settled showing hardly any wind on Saturday and Sunday, but Friday 14th September was showing winds gusting upto 35 knots from the west. As i was starting work on Friday afternoon at 12pm i made the call as i finished work at 9pm on Thursday evening to make the drive up to West Kirby and get a quick dawn session i before returning back to Birmingham in time to start work. The main reason though was earlier in the week i took delivery of my new 2013 Mistral Speed 73 Speedboard (73liter/47wide) and i couldn't wait to get it out on the water.

The drive up was easy enough with too much traffic and i got up just before 1am and i parked up in my usual spot in Morrisons car park and got some sleep ready for my Early start. After being woke a couple by the wind i got up at 5.45am and made my way over to the marine lake and despite it being dark i got my gear ready and as it around 25-30 knots and having a short window of sailing i would only be able to rig one sail i decided to rig my 5.8M KA Koncept and got my new 2013 Mistral Speed 73 ready with a 20cm KA Starboard Asymmetric Speed fin and got into my wetsuit. As everyone had been posting on Facebook about making the trip here all week i knew who was gonna turn up so i wasn't surprised when Ian Richards was first to arrive as i was rigging and Chris Bates, Farrell O'Shea and Michael George arrived not long after i was rigged.

After catching up with everyone quickly i got out on the water at 6.45am and on my first run i got a new PB of just over 39 knots :-) so i was pretty stoked. As usual here when it's windy now it's flat at the top of the lake and then the further you get down the wall the size of the chop increases so gets a bit hairy at the bottom end when slowing down but the new Mistral Speed 73 goes across the chop like it's not there which is a definite advantage to have as you can just concentrate on sailing quick rather than having the board bouncing out on the chop. Also when i first got going on the board it felt like i had been sailing the board for years as it was so easy to sail so my first impressions of the board were pretty good. After a couple of runs with 37/38 peaks i made my way back to the top of the lake to take a quick 5 minute break but just as i was about come of the water the wind started to pick up so i lined up for my run and slingshot down the wall just as a massive gust hit and the acceleration from the board was amazing and it felt pretty quick but it wasn't until i got down the end of the lake that i saw just how quick, i looked at my gps and was stoked to see 41.22 knots on the display, YES, finally I've achieved my goal i set for myself when i started to speed sail, i broke through the 40 knot barrier and joined the elusive 40 knot club :-D

As i got back to the top of the lake i saw Mark Bailey, Matthew York and Tristan Haskins had arrived and i told everyone what i had just achieved and you couldn't shift the massive smile on my face. Everyone was as stoked as i was and after a quick drink i got back out for some more runs to try and get a decent 5x10 sec average and just after 8am i had to come off the water to get back to Birmingham on time for work. One thing i can tell you is there is definitely more to come form the Mistral Speedboards and the decision to change from Starboard to Mistral was definitely a good choice :-D

After getting De-rigged, changed and saying my goodbye's i headed back down the M6 pretty gutted i couldn't get longer on the water but still stoked to finally have a 40 knot plus run. Hopefully now this is the start of decent wind for Speedsailing in this country after not having any decent wind since June. My achieved speeds are below and i hope to see you on the water at West Kirby when the next big storm hits

Average speed	37.19 knots ( 40.35 38.91 35.74 35.63 35.33 )
Max. 2 sec. (software)	41.06 knots
100 m run	40.83 knots
250 m run	39.8 knots
500 m run	35.6 knots

Later that day i heard Matthew York also joined me in the 40 knot club and it was great to see a good friend also achieve his long standing goal just as i did

For Sale

I've just updated my for sale list so if your looking for anything, check it out here http://irl-250.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/for-sale.html

Not listed there at the moment but available in the coming months when my new sails arrive are as follows

2011 8.5m KA Koncept (Yellow/Black) - £270 Available late October
2011 5.0m KA Koncept (Black/White) - £250 Available January
2008 4.4m KA Koncept (Red/White/Black) - £180 Available Late October

I will add pictures soon but f your interested in any of these sails i can take a deposit and reserve them for you

Weymouth, Dorset, UK 4th August to 8th August 2012

I had made plans for a mountain bike trip to Wales but in the week leading up to this weekend it soon became apparent that the weather was not going to play ball with rain forecast the whole weekend so i quickly checked the forecasts around the country on Friday 3rd August and as Weymouth was the only spot showing any decent wind i decided to head down and check out the Olympics and get some time on the water.

I got up early on Saturday 4th August to try and miss the traffic going into Weymouth, leaving Solihull at 6am  and arrived down in Weymouth just before 11am parking up at the Ferrybridge Car Park as the sailing academy was off limits due to the Olympics. After catching up with Lea Spencer and Duncan Adam, who i haven't seen in a while i decided to get my windsurfing gear ready and rig up. The wind was gusting upto around 16-17knots from a Southerly direction so i decided to rig my Mistral Screamer 123 with 42cm Vector Maui Fins Canefire fin and 7.5m KA Koncept, got into my wetsuit and went out on the water. As the Olympics was underway here there was a line of white buoys stretching across the whole Harbour which massively reduced the sailing area in this direction but i still had a great time on the water in the Sun with no sign of the forecasted rain :-) not even getting a bollocking from the Police on jet skis when i got too close to the white buoys on a few occasions detracted from what was a great day on the water and later that evening i retired to the Ferrybridge pub for a  few pints and some food, a great Thai Curry which you must try if you get the chance before retiring to my van for some much wanted sleep after not having much the previous night.

On Sunday i headed back over to the Ferrybridge Car Park but there wasn't much wind so i decided to chill out and relax on the beach for the day and watch the Olympic Windsurfing in the distance through binoculars which was great to see. Later that evening i got a Curry in the Indian by Windtek before parking up in the Ferrybridge Car Park for the night.

On Monday the wind was back, around 8-10 knots but from the normal South Westerly direction so after some Breakfast i rigged up my Mistral Screamer 123 with 44cm Vector Maui Fins Canefire Fin and 8.5m KA Koncept and waited for the wind to pick up which it was forecasted to do around 12-1pm. Sure enough the wind picked up at mid day so i got changed and got out on the water and had a great afternoon blasting around, didn't get any great speeds, only around 28 knots but it was great to be back on the water in the warm sunny conditions. Later that evening i went into Weymouth to the Gurkha restaurant for the all you can eat buffet which is great value for money and a must visit pace for food if your down here and after a great meal headed back to the Ferrybridge to park up for the night.

On Tuesday there was a possible chance of a sail late in the afternoon but more importantly and the main reason i was down was the Olympic windsurfing and today was the last day and the medal race. Nick Dempsey was in a great position in the Silver Medal spot going into this race and Bryony Shaw was in 7th so it was looking good for Nick to get a medal and Bryony with an outside chance of getting one. The men were up first and Nick sailed a great race coming in second winning the Silver medal but unfortunately Bryony lost out and finished 7th overall. The wind never picked up enough in the afternoon so after watching the medal ceremony online as we couldn't get into the academy to watch it i got some food in The Cove restaurant on Chesil Beach and headed into town to the Royal Dorset where we got invited to Nick's celebration party which was a great night and probably a once in a lifetime experience as having the chance to celebrate with a Silver medalist in my home country probably will never come around again.

After sleeping of my hangover on Wednesday morning i made the trip back up to Solihull having spent a great few days down in Weymouth and i can't wait to get back down here for Speedweek in October

UKWA Inlands Round 4, MWA Round 5, Rutland Marathon Rutland Reservoir, Whitwell, UK July 14th & 15th July 2012

A couple weeks ago after finishing work on the afternoon of Friday 13th, i loaded up my van and made the trip over to Rutland Water where i was going to competing at Round 4 of the UKWA Inlands. It was also Round 5 of the Midland Windsurfing Association Race Series and on Saturday the annual Rutland Marathon was to run as well. Rutland for me is one of the furthest locations away from Birmingham but still only 80 miles away so after a 2 hour drive i arrived early evening at 7pm. After catching up with friends i headed to the local pub to have a few drinks before heading back to where we were camping to get an early night ahead of the racing the following day.

On Saturday morning after breakfast and registering i decided to get my gear ready. With not much wind forecasted i rigged up my 10.5m Raceboard Sail, my 9.5m KA Koncept and got my Starboard Phantom ready with a 50cm Vector Maui Fins Canefire Fin and waited for racing to start. Just after 10.30 we were called out onto the water and as the wind was 4 knots gusting upto 7-8 knots i grabbed my 10.5m Raceboard sail and hit the water. As it wasn't that windy i was finding it hard due to my weight which is now down to 95kg, but still too heavy to be competitive and with the wind shifts the upwind legs were a bit of a lottery as most of the time i was in the wrong place at the wrong time when the shifts were coming through so i couldn't take advantage of them and we managed to get in 3 races before lunch. The call was made to have a long lunch and then run the Rutland Marathon.

Just before the Marathon was due to start the wind disappeared completely so we were put on hold until there was enough to run the race which after an hour the wind direction swung 180 degrees and with the wind now gusting upto 10 knots it was game on. When the start line was laid we would have been beating upto the first tower but with the wind shift we were now reaching downwind for the first leg and after 2 recalls we got underway but now the wind was steadily dropping off making the going tough but i carried on regardless as i wanted to finish this year. After 2 hours of pumping and pain i was making my way back towards the finish line when the heavens opened as i was about 500 meters from the finish and the wind swung again picking upto 10-12 knots before disappearing just as quickly as it came. I finished 24th overall and 1st Raceboard Unlimited and after 2 previous attempts i finally finished so i was pretty stoked as you can imagine. After some food and a few drinks that evening i got an early night ready for Sundays racing.

On Sunday there was a bit more wind with the wind around 8 gusting upto 16 knots so when we were called out for the first race i grabbed my 9.5m KA Koncept and hit the water. Not long after the racing started the wind dropped off to around 7-12 knots unfortunately and we had another 3 races before lunch. Unfortunately though when i came off the water i started to feel a bit of pain in my back so decided to call it a day and use my 2 disguard's for the scheduled 2 races after lunch rather than hurting my back my more which could mean having to take time off from my job which i can't afford to happen as any time taken off is taken into account when i am due to get my Land Rover contract in January and could mean i don't get offered one.

I finished the event 27th Overall, 2nd Overall in the Raceboard Unlimited Fleet and 6th Master. Still waiting for the overall 2012 rankings to be updated and the Midlands Windsurfing Association results to be uploaded to the net but it looks like I've won the Raceboard Unlimited Fleet again this year so happy with that. The next event isn't till September now so time to recharge and get ready for the last few events of the year, see you on the water.

New Sponsor

I am very pleased to announce that i have been sponsored by Sea Specs who are an american based Sunglasses company, that make sunglasses specifically designed for outdoor sports and have a non removable adjustable strap that keeps the sunglasses on your head while doing extreme sports. I suffer when it's sunny and up till now I've been wearing my expensive Oakley sunglasses while on the water and hoping that they didn't fall off so i'm happy to now have a pair of sunglasses specifically design with Watersports in mind and i look forward to representing the company in the coming future. You can check out their website here and their Facebook page here