MWA Round 1 Hollowell Reservoir, Northamptonshire, UK March 24th 2012

On March 24th i made the short trek over to Hollowell Reservoir in Northamptonshire from Birmingham for the 1st round of the Midlands Windsurfing Association Race Series. As i am now based in the Midlands in the UK this race series was one i wanted to take part in as quite a few of the guys i race against in the UKWA national events take part so it is great practice for the national events.

On arrival at 9am there was little to no wind but the forecast was showing it to pick up as the day went on to around 5 knots the race officer laid a box course as we all rigged up. As there was little chance of there being any strong winds the decision of what to rig was easy so i got my Starboard Phantom 380 Race with 50cm Vector Maui Fins Canefire fin ready and rigged my 10.5m Raceboard sail and registered and got changed as the first start was going to be 11am so i wanted to be ready. The first 3 races were held virtually back to back with a short rest between them in very testing conditions as the wind was only around 4-5 knots and very gusty but i had decent speed upwind keeping up with everyone but once off the wind i was finding it hard to keep up with the others as they weighed so much lighter (20kgs in some cases) than myself which i have known for awhile has been an issue for me but one i am working on trying to get my weight down to 80kg.

After a quick lunch we had another 2 races before the race officer called it a day and although i don't like these light shifty conditions i had great fun on the water with some very close racing between myself and a couple of the sailors. I finished the day 7th Overall and 1st in the Raceboard Unlimited fleet which is a good start for the year and hopefully i can build on this and get a decent final ranking once the race series has finished. The next event for me now is the Round Hayling on April 6th so i will hopefully see some of you on the water if your down there

Events I'm Competing In This Year

It's now time to decide what events i want to try to get to this year. I am now restricted to taking time off work at set times during the year when the Land Rover factory is shut and have to work at all other times it is gonna be hard to get to any Speed World Cup event's other than Weymouth Speed Week so for this year as it's a new job i have decided to concentrate on work for this year and then next year try and get to as many events as i can to get a good ranking. As i'm now working Monday to Friday getting to the Irish Speed Events is going to be impossible which i'm pretty gutted about as i would need to take 2 days off work which i am unable to do but i wish the lads well with the Irish Speed Championships and hopefully in the future i am able to make it over for some events.

Now i'm in the UK i will continue to do the UKWA Inlands and see if i can improve on my 10th place from last year and also as i'm now based in the midlands i will also do the the Regional Midlands events. I will also attend Weymouth Speedweek again and also the Round Hayling Island Marathon next month.

The events i'm planning to go to this year are:-

MARCH

Midlands Region Round 1, Hollowell SC, Hollowell Reservoir, Northamptonshire, England

(24th March)

APRIL

Round Hayling Marathon, Hayling Island, Hampshire, England

(6th April 2012)

UKWA Inland Series Round 1/Midlands Region Round 2, Northampton Sailing Club, Pitsford Reservoir, Northamptonshire, England

(21st to 22nd April 2012)

MAY

UKWA Inland Series Round 2, Bewl Valley Sailing Club, Bewl Water, Kent England

(19th to 20th May 2012)

JUNE

Midlands Region Round 3, Barnt Green Sailing Club, Upper Bittell, Reservoir, West Midlands, England

(9th June 2012)

UKWA Inlands Round 3, Oxford Sailing Club, Farmoor Reservoir, Oxfordshire, England

(16th to 17th June 2012)

Midlands Region Round 4, Notts County Sailing Club, Hoveringham Reservoir, Nottinghamshire, England

(23rd June)

JULY

UKWA Inlands Round 4/Midlands Region Round 5, Whitwell Sailing Club, Leicestershire, England

(14th to 15th July 2012)

SEPTEMBER

National Windsurfing Festival, Hayling Island, Hampshire, England

(7th to 9th September 2012

Midlands Region Round 6, Location To Be Confirmed

(15th September)

OCTOBER

Weymouth Speedweek, Weymouth, Dorset, England

(6th to 12th October)

Midlands Region Round 7, Bartley Sailing Club, Bartley Green Reservoir, West Midlands, England

(21st October 2012)

NOVEMBER

UKWA Inlands Round 5/Midlands Region Round 8, Whitwell Sailing Club, Leicestershire, England

3rd to 4th November 2012)

As always i will have my KA sails available for demo at all events i will be attending. Come and find me at the beach, look for the KA Flags

Fresh Start And New Beginnings

I have to apologize for the lack of posts over the last few months but this is because in January i moved over to the UK to start a new job with Jaguar/Land Rover in Solihull, West Midlands and haven't had the time to post on here. After being out of work for so long it is great to be back in work and earning money again and I'm gonna miss Ireland but as there is no work there for me the best thing was to move to find work.

Thankfully my back is much better after completing my physio treatment. I also had it X Rayed to see if there was any damage and thankfully there was nothing found so after the last event in November i stayed off the water to give it as much rest as possible. To make sure that i don't injure it any more in the future i have joined the local gym to work on my core fitness and give my back more support so hopefully i won't have any more problems in the future.

I haven't had any water time since my back got better as i am now restricted to windsurfing on weekends due the the new job and each weekend had been pretty windless but hopefully i will get the chance to get out soon as my new 2012 KA Koncept's have arrived and they look awesome. I decided to get the 5.8m, 6.6m & 7.5m to replace my 2010 5.7m, 6.4m & 7.3m and got a 2011 8.5m to replace my 2010 8.3m, when i get the chance to get some photo's i will post them on here. Can't wait to get out on them.

Haven't got my new Mistral's but hopefully they will be here by the end of the month.

Not long now till the competition season starts with the Round Hayling marathon just a few weeks away so keep checking back and i will keep you updated as to how i'm getting on

Mistral 2012

Not long now till the new 2012 Mistral Boards will be available in Europe, Check them out :-))

Irish Speedsailing Championships Round 6 Dungarven, County Waterford, Ireland 26th November

Unfortunately for me my back injury flared up again in October so that has kept me off the water since the middle of October but last weekend was the last round of this years Irish National Speedsailing Championships. We watched the forecast all week and Dungarven was the only location showing a decent forecast of winds gusting up to 35 knots, but only for Saturday so the call was made to run this round as a 1 day event and the call went out to meet at the usual spot by the church at Dungarven.

As money is tight for me i couldn't afford to pay for accommodation so i decided to drive over from Kerry on Saturday morning, planning to leave at 5am to get there in plenty of time for the briefing but when i went out to start my van, it wouldn't start so not really the best start of the day for me. After waiting for a couple of hours for the AA, they got the van started for me and i eventually got underway at 7am. Arriving at Dungarven around 10.30am i was disappointed to again see little to no wind when it was howling elsewhere. Never the less i decided to get my Mistral Screamer 95 ready (which is currently my biggest board until my 2012 Mistral's arrive) with a 36cm Vector Maui Fins SL9 Alfa Fin & Starboard iSonic W53 Speed Special with 25cm Vector Maui Fins Delta Speed Fin and rigged my 6.4m, 7.3m & 8.3m KA Koncepts so i was ready if the wind picked up.

Just after mid day the first signs appeared that the wind was picking up and with most people planing on 7-8m sails in the gusts the call was made to measure the event on a 10 second average of your 5 best 10 second runs because of the gusty conditions, so i got into my wetsuit and grabbed my Mistral Screamer 95 and 7.3m KA Koncept and hit the water. I became apparent very quickly that it was very gusty with massive holes in the wind and i was struggling to get going. I was also suffering with my back so made the decision not to use my 8.3m in case i hurt it further. I got a few runs in, but nothing special as i was underpowered so i asked one of my friends, Brian Doyle if i could borrow his iSonic 111 so i had a bit of float to help me get going in the lulls and put my 42cm Vector Maui Fins Canefire Fin into it and went back out with my 7.3m KA Koncept. Before i got my deal with Mistral my own iSonic 111 was my go to board in conditions just like this and i found no problem at all getting it going with the extra volume as the lulls were so big but my back was really hurting now but i still managed to get in enough runs to get a result which i was happy with as i could hardly move my back.

Unfortunately i only managed to finish 8th overall and 5th Master but considering i went against my physios orders to compete as i had to do so to get a result otherwise i would have dropped down the rankings, i am still in 4th position overall with just the 2 GPS rounds left to run until the end of the year so i am hoping that my physio can work her magic and get my back sorted so i can get another Speedsailing session in before the end of the year. For me this year my back has hampered me competing and also kept me off the water at times which has annoyed me so i am hoping once and for all i can get it fixed.

For Sale

It's now time replace my sails so my current quiver of 2010 KA Koncepts (8.3m, 7.3m, 6.4m & 5.7m) will be available for sale in late December/Early January when my new sails arrive. I have updated my For Sale section here http://irl-250.blogspot.com/2010/01/for-sale.html or you can click the For Sale box on the right hand side of the page and all sails can be seen here in County Kerry, Ireland and i can supply further pictures upon request. I can accept a deposit for any of these sails to secure the sail when they become available for sale in late December/Early January.

I also have available for sale a 6.4m KA Kult (Freeride/Bump & Jump/Wave Sail), a 10.5m Demon Design VG5 Raceboard Sail with 580cm North Viper 100% Carbon Mast and some wave fins and these are all available for sale now.

I can deliver the sails to any of the Irish Speed and Slalom events or i can arrange postage/shipping at the buyers cost.

As always i can do a bit of a discount if you buy more than one sail from me so let me know if you might be interested in anything i have for sale

Invited To Become An Author on www.speedsurfingblog.com

A few days ago Erik Loots contacted me and asked if i would like to become an Author on his website www.speedsurfingblog.com and i happily accepted his invitation. I have followed the Speedsurfingblog for a few years now and i find that there is alot of very useful information for speed sailing on the site and it's also a great source of all the latest speed sailing news.

My own blog here is only a few years old and i am honored that Erik has been following my own blog posts and feels that i can provide a useful contribution to his own website. I hope that in the coming future you will find what i post to the Speedsurfingblog informative and useful and that you continue to follow my news updates here.

See you on the water :-))