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Following on from Ireland, it was time for Wales to deliver the goods! The forecast was promising where even as late as Thursday night weather sites were predicting south-west winds and swell.
But someone ‘up there’ must have forgotten about the forthcoming windsurfing competition and low & behold by Friday morning, it was all looking still & calm. However, this is Rhosneigr; with its own unique weather system. In the history of windsurfing competition, never has such a bad forecast produced such great conditions! Flat but windy 5.3m weather on the Friday, a dusk practice wave riding session that night and then a Saturday afternoon of 5m weather and head high waves – Wales delivered!
Man Friday
Friday afternoon and the wind picked up enough for some freestyle action. This didn’t count towards any result but still the Pros, Youths & Juniors revelled in the chance to win some awesome product prizes and also get wet after a morning of hanging around in the sunshine. Andy King (Pro), Graham Woods (Youth) & Aleksy Gayda (Junior) won through.
Competition was called off at 7pm as the waves just didn’t materialise as the tide came in. However, Steve Thorp was seen an hour later enjoying some port tack riding on his biggest sail in the dying light. Had the judges just made the worst decision of the weekend? With sailors showered and fed, there was no way to muster up the troops and to be fair, not a lot of heats would have been completed until dark took over.
Saturday Surprise
This wind & swell was bucking the trend of every weather site on the net and to the judges relief and to the annoyance of the sailors who had stayed away based on the forecast, the wind returned Saturday afternoon and this time the tide brought in head high swell – enough to compete and actually some of the best conditions this event has seen over the last few years.
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Some new faces in the Junior fleet but it was the regulars who scored the points; Dave Woods (younger brother to Graham) was a stand out as well as Finlay Forster-Davies but it was Aleksy Gayda who at the moment is sailing at a level above the rest of the fleet with wave selection & riding abilities some of the Pros would be proud of! He won quite comfortably.
The battle continued between Graham Woods & Rich Jones although Sam Neal was a threat but just not consistent enough with his jumping. It was Team Airborn rider Graham that won again giving him two out of two in this Four Nations competition.
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Now here was the shock of the event! The winner was local sailor Janine Guest, mother of two young boys and all round ripper & looper who decided to have ‘a go’ at competition. Ruth & Louise had been trying to persuade her for years; they probably wish now they hadn’t! But it was close; Louise won the first round picking the set wave of the heat and riding it in all the way to the beach. The second round went to Janine scoring high with her clean loops. The third round went to Ruth Elliot who had struggled to find form until the wind picked up and she was then looping around the bay! But to no avail as after the points were all added up, Janine came out on top, Louise in second. |
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If you thought the Ladies was close, the Pro fleet was even closer mainly between the top four; John Hibbard & Steve Thorp for third & fourth and Andy King & Ben Proffitt for first & second. It was declared at the beach that Andy had won Round 1 beating Ben in a close final. So into Round 2 where the same sailors went head to head but this time Ben won leaving a tie for first place. With a really, really dire forecast for the Sunday, the sailors were working out how to split the big, juicy cheque in half. But after re-counting the heat scores in the comfort of the Funsport shop, a mathematical error was spotted which meant Andy had not won Round 1, Ben had. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride, Andy King took the ‘new’ result on the chin and gave in gracefully for a second place. Proffitt was victorious on his home ground and made up for that ankle injury in Ireland. |
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Let again, Dave Buckland and his Team organised hot lunches for the sailors and a cracking evening meal at the local pub as part of their entry fee.
Shop Manager Lucas had been busy for weeks getting together the product prizes and every competitor went home with a proper goody bag. Although the Ladies fleet only just about managed to forgive him for putting LARGE O’Shea shorts into their bags!
Thanks also goes to the Judges: Fred Willis, Mark Hosegood, Greg Martin and Farrel O’Shea.
Event Sponsor: Funsport
Product Prizes provided by: Fat Face, O’Neill Wetsuits, O’Shea, Circle One & Ultrasport
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| Results |
| JUNIORS: |
1.Aleksy Gayda
2.Dave Woods
3.Forster-Davies
4.Steven Tyson
5.Matthew Leonard
6.Ben Harwood
7.Sam Coldham |
| YOUTHS: |
1. Graham Woods
2. Rich Jones
3. Sam Neal
4. David Booker
5. Rich Myerson |
| LADIES: |
1. Janine Guest
2. Louise Emery
3. Ruth Elliot |
| PROS: |
1. Ben Proffitt
2. Andy King
3. John Hibbard
4. Steve Thorp
5. Mark Bell
6. Rich Potter
7. Pip Pardoe |
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