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

West Kirby, Merseyside, UK 22nd & 23rd June 2012

I made the late decision to make another trip up to West Kirby when i saw the Forecast on Thursday evening that it was forecasting winds of over 40 knots for Friday evening and as soon as i finished work at mid day on Friday, finished a few things that needed to be done before i could get away i finally got on the road at 2.30pm. Unfortunately the traffic was a nightmare and normally a 2 hour journey took me 4 1/2 hours meaning i arrived at West Kirby at 7pm.

When i arrived Mark Bailey who had been here for a few hours already had come in and was changing down to his 5.8m from 6.4m as it was gusting over 35 knots which was a good sign that the forecast was materializing so i rigged up my new 2012 5.8m KA Koncept for the first time and got the Starboard iSonic W53 Speed that i borrowed again from Chris Bates ready with my trusty 25cm Vector Maui Fins Delta Speed fin, got into my wetsuit and hit the water.

The wind was pretty square meaning you had to slingshot and bear off into the chop but this didn't deter me and i set off down the wall for my first run locking onto a decent gust and when i reached the end of my run and checked my GPS i was ecstatic to see an new PB max speed of 38.93 which was nearly 2 knots more than my previous PB. I knew i had also probably broken all my other PB's with that run but i would have to check that later and i made my way back up the wall for my next run. The 5.8m KA Koncept felt so light in my hands and has the rock solid stability and endless power i have found in the other sizes and i know this helped me get the speed i had achieved.

I spent the next 2 hours getting in more runs but unfortunately couldn't get any faster speed but i didn't mind as i already had a PB in the bag so i came off the water as it was starting to get dark, packed up my stuff and headed up the my mates, Tristan Haskin's parents bar with Steve Thorp, John Palmer & Sam Gooch for a few celebrity pints, before retiring to my van just outside the bar for a much needed sleep.

I awoke early and got down to the lake for 8am and there really wasn't alot of wind so i went upto Morrison's to get some breakfast and got back down to the lake just before 9am to see it had started to pick up so i rigged my 2012 6.6m KA Koncept and get my Mistral Screamer 95 ready with a Vector Maui Fins SL9 Alpha Fin, got changed and got out on the water. I had a couple of runs but felt way underpowered so i came in and rigged my 2012 7.5m KA Koncept and went back out, had a couple more runs until the wind picked up so i came back in for my 6.6m KA Koncept and went back out. This was what happened for the rest of the day as the wind speed was up and down meaning changing sizes to make sure i was powered up but still had great fun. No great speeds as it was square again but still managed a 33 knot max speed and most of the other max speeds were over 30 knots so i knew i had a 30 knot plus 5 x 10 second average. I came off the water in the middle of the afternoon exhausted after a great few days at West Kirby.

Hopefully i will be a windy summer now and i soon will be bale to get another crack at breaking my PB's again soon as i'm now so close to getting through the 40 knot barrier and i know when the next big westerly hits West Kirby i will finally achieve that goal as i'm getting alot more used to sailing at higher speeds after all my practice at West Kirby.

Thanks to Sarah Jane Owen for taking the picture :-) and you can check out my PB speeds from Friday 22nd June on www.GPS-Speedsurfing.com here

UKWA Inlands Round 3 Oxford Sailing Club, Farmoor Reservoir, Oxford, UK June 16th & 17th 2012

I wasn't able to get to the last round that was held at Bewl last month so i was looking forward to getting back out racing on my Phantom 380 at the next round of the UKWA Inland series. As with most of the Inland events for me now this was a short drive from my new home in Solihull but as the England vs Sweden Euro 2012 match was on the TV on the Friday night i stayed in Solihull  to watch it and got up early on Saturday morning to make the short trip over to Farmoor Reservoir near Oxford, arriving at 8am.


I soon became apparent that i was going to be a windy day just like the forecast had said with gusts of over 30 knots already. I soon made the decision to leave my 10.5 Raceboard sail in the van and rig up my 9.5m, 8.5m & 7.5m KA Koncept's and get my Starboard Phantom 380 race ready with a 48cm Vector Maui Fins Canefire Fin and awaited the start of racing for the day. Just after 11am we were called out onto the water and it was gusting over 30 knots so i grabbed my 8.5m KA Koncept and went onto the water for the first race. Not long after the start the wind picked up again as the race got underway for a 4 lap race. I got round the 1st lap alright but half way up the 2nd beat i along with half the fleet got flattened when the gusts started registering close to 40 knots and i was just able to make it back in to the beach after retiring to find that once the race was finished they were postponing racing until the wind dropped so we went in for lunch.


After lunch with no sign of the wind dying most of us that had the gear with us rigged up our short boards and went out for a play. I rigged up my 5.0m KA Koncept and got my Mistral Screamer 95 ready with a 30cm Vector Maui Fins EX Speed Fin and went out on the lake next to where we were racing just the other side of the dam which was flatter. It was hard to get an good speeds as one minute i was massively underpowered and then the next massively overpowered but still had a good session on the water. At around 4pm the call was made to cancel racing for the day so we all packed up and a few of us headed into the local village for some pub food and a few pints and then retiring to our vans in the pub car park for some much needed rest at around 11pm.


I woke up early around 7am and headed back to the lake and saw it was not as windy as before but still gusting to 16 knots. After some breakfast and i decided to rig up my 9.5m & 8.5m KA Koncept in case the wind decided to pick up and as the wind was still around 15-16 knots when were were called out for the first race at 10am i grabbed my 9.5m KA Koncept and hit the water. The sail size was fine in the gusts giving me plenty of power but there was massive lulls in the wind so i was finding i was underpowered in these so when we went in for lunch i rigged up my 10.5m Raceboard sail so it was ready for the afternoons racing. In total we had 5 great races on Sunday the variable gusty conditions and it was great fun.


I finished 21st Overall, 1st Overall Raceboard Unlimited Fleet (4th Master) which leaves me 17th overall for the year with 2 events left so i'm hoping i can do well enough at the next 2 events to give myself a good chance of finishing higher up the fleet come the end of the year

West Kirby, Merseyside, UK 8th & 9th June 2012

I'd been watching the forecast all week and i became apparent that by Thursday 2 speed spots in the UK, The Ray in Southend and West Kirby up in Merseyside were going to fire up and right up till 7pm on Thursday i was still undecided as to which direction to head from Birmingham as they are similar distances away. In the end it took a couple of West Kirby regulars, Mark Hayford and Howie Rowson to persuade me that West Kirby was gonna be good and as i hate the walk at Southend the decision was made, i was heading North up the M6.

As the wind wasn't forecasted to start picking up till lunchtime i left Birmingham at 9am finally arriving at West Kirby just before mid day. It was great to see David Temple here , having made the trip up from Devon for a Festival close by and sacrificing a days music to check out the Kirb for the first time and not long after i arrived Chris Bates turned up. Mark Bailey also made the trip up and Mark Hayford also managed to get here as well. David was already on the water saying the wind was building and was nicely powered on his 6.8m so decided to rig my 2012 7.5m KA Koncept and get my Screamer 95 ready with a 34cm Vector Maui Fins SL9 Alfa Fin, got into my wetsuit and hit the water. I didn't last long till i was back to change down as the wind picked up and i couldn't even sheet in the 7.5m so i rigged my 2012 6.6m KA Koncept and went back out on the water. On my first run down the wall i managed a PB on the Screamer 95, a 35 knot max speed. When i first used the 2012 7.5m a few weeks back i was blown away with the performance but after my first run on the 6.6m KA Koncept i was speechless with it's performance. It was rock solid and stable in the biggest gusts and the surge in acceleration as you slingshot and bear off down the wall is awesome and the sail feels like it has an endless supply of power. I definitely think that this will become my favorite size. Soon the wind had started gusting upto 35 knots so i went in and grabbed the W53 iSonic Speed i had borrowed from Chris Bates, cheers mate, as my new Speed Boards haven't arrived yet and stuck my trusty 25cm Vector Maui Fins Delta Speed fin into it and headed back out on the water and on my first run i got just over 36 knots but the best was to come on my next run as i manged to lock into a gust and after my run saw 36.66 knots Max Speed on my GPS, yes a new PB :-) Unfortunately i couldn't improve on this as the wind was really gusty and square making bid speeds hard to achieve but i spent the next couple of hours trying until i came of the water exhausted when the wind started to nuke but at that point i couldn't hang onto the boom any more but it was great to see how much wind the 6.6m KA Koncept can handle. Steve Thorp turned up at this point and gave us another masterclass in Speed Sailing which was great to see. I packed up around 9pm and headed upto my mate, Alan Jones house who kindly let me stay again, cheers mate, had a few beers and got some sleep ready for the next day.

I awoke pretty early and got down to the lake at 8am as it was forecasting around 25 knots of wind and as the wind was forecasted to drop by mid day i wanted to make sure i got another session in but on arrival i found the wind was around 10 knots and no one was there so i headed upto Morrison s for some Breakfast and got back to the lake just before 9am and there still was not too much wind and no one there. As i was pretty tired i decided to have a quick nap in the van only to only to wake at 12.30, oops and see the car park was full and the wind had picked upto 15-25 knots. Jon White had made the trip today and had already been out for an hour on his 7.3 and was well powered up. I decided to rig my 6.6m KA Koncept again as i wanted to see it's lower wind limit and grabbed the W53 iSonic speed again with my trusty 25cm Vector Maui Fins Delta Speed fin, got changed and headed out on the water. It was great to find out the 6.6m KA Koncept was giving my enough low end power and grunt to get going in 15 knots and after hanging onto it in 35 knots yesterday it has a massive wind range which is great to know. I had a great couple of hours on the water where i managed to get a peak speed of 34.77 knots which was good as the wind was square again with big holes in the wind. Later that day i came off the water and made the trip back down the M6 exhausted but stoked at such a good couple of days Speedsailing and hope that it's not months before my next trip back up there.

Big thanks to Karen McBarrons for taking some pictures of the session, you can see them here

You can also checkout one of my runs captured on video, thanks to Mark Hayford for taking the video

Fleetwood Saturday 26th May 2012

Now that i have been back in work for 5 months it has meant i am restricted to getting on the water at weekends and usually there has been wind during the week and once i get time off at the weekends there has been little to know wind and i can't remember the last time i got out on my smaller kit at a weekend as i'm usually on my Raceboard and 9.5m but last weekend i made the trip up to Fleetwood in Lancashire which is a spot that since i have heard about i have been waiting to try out once the right wind direction was forecasted which has to be a North Easterly through to East South East. 

On Saturday i finally saw the forecast was right but as low tide was at 10am it meant an early start from Birmingham, getting up at 4am and on the road by 4.30am. I had arranged to meet Mark Bailey at his house and then share the rest of the drive up as Mark has sailed here before so could give me the low down on the location. Arriving just after 8am we saw the winds were around 15-20 knots and there was sunshine with little to no cloud cover so i knew this was gonna be a great session on the water. Chris Bates also made the trip up so it was good to catch up with him as well. I decided to get my Mistral Screamer 95 ready with a 36cm Vector Fins Maui SL9 Alfa fin and rig my new 7.5m KA Koncept, get into my wetsuit and hit the water. The Koncept this year has a shorter mast and longer boom so more low aspect and I've been dying to get them on the water since i got them.

Heading down the beach i should have watched where the guys launched as you have to stick to the rocky parts, which i didn't and what looked like dark sand was in fact mud so i had to get through ankle deep mud to get on the water, definitely won't make that mistake again. On my first run down the channel i kept close to the channel buoys to make sure i didn't hit any of the sand bars and i soon became apparent that the wind direction was pretty square so i knew there wouldn't be any big speeds today. The new Koncept is awesome though and yet again Jesper Orth has improved an already great sail. It's so stable in the gusts which now were gusting upto 25 knots meaning i was was massively overpowered but the sail stayed rock solid and once going just wants to keep accelerating and the cams rotate like there not there. On some of my runs on the day i tried some slingshots off the wind for a few seconds to see it's potential broad off the wind for when i am at West Kirby and i'm stoked with the surge of acceleration you get in the initial bear off and the continuing acceleration from the sail, can't wait to try the smaller sizes :-D

After a couple of hours i was knackered sailing so overpowered for the first time in so long so i headed in for a rest and while on the beach the wind speed started to drop so i called it a day but happy i made the trip up. As the wind was so square i only managed a couple of 29 knot peaks but as the Screamer is more of a freeride board i was happy with my speeds and now i need to get a few more sessions on the 7.5m to get in more tuned so hopefully i won't have to wait as long to get out on it again. If you want to try out the new Koncepts get in touch and i'll hopefully be able to meet up with you so you can get the chance to try these awesome sails for yourself.. 

The picture at the top of the post was taken by Mark Bailey