Introducing
Bryony Shaw: Raceboard World Champion
2004!
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Ms Shaw may not have been seleted to go to Athens this year but she is currently
20th in the Mistral One Design
world rankings after winning
the Raceboard Worlds in June and the UK's young hope for the next Olympics in 2008.
We decided to check her out!
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Q: Raceboard World Champion:
not bad! How did you do it?
To be honest it was a mainly a training
event for the Mistral One Design competitions
and I was working on improving my starts.
It was light winds all week, and we
started and raced with the men, so
it was great practise. Winning showed
that all my training had paid off.
Q: Why don’t the women
always race with the men?
There are huge differences in the
size of fleets as well as in strength!
Basically the men are very good at
board handling on the start line, so
putting girls up against guys on the
start line is tricky. The women can
be really competitive in light winds,
but as soon as it gets windier the
men excel as they are generally ten
kilos heavier. Being stronger also
gives you more power and endurance
to pump your way around the course.
The ideal weight for a guy is 68kg
and for a girl 56-58kg (I’m 58kg).
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Q: What
sort of training do you do?
My windsurf programme is
based around my goals. For
example, I have been training
in Israel specifically to get
better in light winds. Off
season I concentrate on speed
and technique with my coaches,
Barrie Edgington and Nick Sturges. |
In the build up to a competition,
I step up my intensity with interval
pumping, start line practice and board
handling skills.
Off season I do lots of long duration
cycling between 2 and 3 hours. In the
build up to the competition season
I will step up the intensity and do
a lot more rowing.
Q: Do you ever just go for
a sail?
If I fancy just going for a sail,
I’ll go short boarding. I have
not had enough time to focus on my
wave sailing and freestyle but hopefully
this summer when the Olympics are on
I can do that. When I’m on my
Mistral, I’m training.
Q: How
are you funded?
I am on C level funding from
the National Lottery which
comes through UK Sport. This
basically covers my living
costs. With the money that
is distributed through the
RYA I get equipment funding
every quarter. |
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This covers travelling to events and
entry fees. I get my wave kit from
JP/Neilpryde, free ropes from Marlow,
free clothes from Fat Face and Boardwise
also help me out.
Q: Would you like to compete
on the PWA?
At this stage it is not where I am
aiming. Trevor Funnell (UKWA Freewave
organiser) thinks that I should make
a move in that direction and train
in freestyle and waves. If I did it
I would want to be competitive against
the Moreno’s and that’s
going to take some time. Up until now
I have been a full time Mistral sailor
and that is how I get paid. In order
to get to the top UK level and beat
Louise Emery it is one or the other,
and you don’t get RYA Lottery
funding to wave sail.
The other reason I like Mistral is
that there is more competition in the
Women’s Mistral class than any
other windsurfing discipline. We get
70 women from 25 plus countries at
the major events. The PWA events get
no more than 20 women turning up. There
is no doubt in my mind which is the
hardest and most competitive discipline. |
More
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Last month's winning caption:
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