Doing well at a freestyle contest

Name: Lucy Robson
Age: 24yrs
Home town: Brighton

I don’t want to start my column with another spiel about “where has the wind been?” but really where has it been?!! This winter and early spring has just been plain crap for windsurfing. I was hoping to get loads of sailing in before the Rhosneigr Wave Championships but as a result of the no-wind saga I have spent more time down the gym, going surfing and idling on the internet planning my escape to somewhere more inspirational that the south coast of England…

…But back to reality. At least I had a few days off work booked and was looking forward to the UKWA wave event in North Wales which I hoped was going to bring some really nice swell and give me the opportunity to put to show (and good use) some of the training I did out in Fuerteventura in February. A few days before the event everything was looking good and I was managing to stick with my usual pre-event prep of avoiding night clubs, parties and all my deviant friends in Brighton. So far so good. That was until my trusted van decided to properly have a strop and just stop working – battery flat, lights on the dash going mad, the whole shebang. In the usual female way of trying to skirt the issue and hope that all would be ok I was jump-starting it to get to the beach to go surfing and then thrashing it on the motorway in an attempt to put some life back in it. Funnily enough it was just having none of it and after the 5th go of getting it home with the assistance of the Brighton surfing fraternity I got it to the garage to be told “oh dear… this is bad… what have you done to this thing? Needs a bit of love doesn’t it? It’s gonna be about £1500 to fix and will be at least a week” Hmmm, ok, the comp starts tomorrow and I have no way of getting there, just perfect!

Trying to rack my brain to think of a nice geezer/gal on the circuit who might just help me out; the guy that sprang to mind who was pretty good at freestyle and apparently had the dress sense of a road sweeper: Terry Luxton. I wasn’t quite sure where he lived but I got on the phone! Seconds later the boy came good and although he was going to have to get from Exmouth in Devon to Rhosneigr via Brighton he did not complain in the slightest. Good skills Terry!

After Terry had arrived at mine and we set to task putting the gear on the roof we drove off like a couple of migrant Moroccans to Louise Emery’s place in Llandudno who had very nicely said we could stay! Several detours along the way we finally got there at about 3am . However, some muppet (I think it was Paul Hunt) had locked us out so we then wandered around the house knocking on all the windows and waking up most of the Pro men fleet in the process who had also taken advantage of Louise’s hospitality!

Getting to the beach the next morning on saw a distinct lack of wind. However just wanting to get on the water and not waste the day drinking tea and bickering I went for some light-wind freestyle practice, which was further complemented by an epic session (windsurfing) back at Louise’s place. Not wanting to spoil Louise’s private playground, suffice to say this “secret spot” near her place is absolutely wicked and myself, Terry, Chris Audsley, Adrian Jones, the King twins and Skyeboy had a really nice dusk sail before heading back for a BBQ at the house.

Friday saw a similar no wind /swell scenario at the event site so again I did some light-wind free-sailing with Sonia Pavelin and then we all headed to the pub for quiz night and drinking. Finally Saturday came and proper wind with it! Still no sign of waves but the judges informed everyone that the comp would be “freestyle expression” and heats were drawn up. The wind was steadily dropping though as the heats progressed through the pro-mens to the girls and once again it was a task of sail flipping and light wind old school tricks to get the scores on the board. After the day was out and after 4 rounds I was third behind Sonia and Ruth and pretty pleased with myself considering I was doing all my light wind tricks on my wave board!

Saturday night saw the crew head to Bangor and the Student Uni for some proper drinking however I stayed in and just decided to take it easy! On Sunday the final rounds were run and at lunchtime the competition and my expedition to Wales was drawing to a close. Pocketing some prize money and getting on the road, Terry and I set on the Moroccan tour to Brighton chatting all the way about windsurfing (of course) and me doing my best sales pitch: “So wanna buy a van then Terry…?”