Courtesy of , Ezzy Sails, RRD & Da Kine. Photos by Simon Crowther.

Intro

The Four Nations Cup was the new idea to refocus the UK wavesailing title and replace the Triple Crown. The idea was to have an event in some of the most popular windsurfing locations in Britain; Brandon Bay in Ireland, Rhosneigr in Wales, Tiree in Scotland and West Wittering in England. Each round got a result; two eliminations in decent waves in Ireland , one elimination at Rhosneigr with just enough wind & waves and then the Tiree event which witnessed some classic conditions at The Maze and also acted as the qualification event for the PWA Wild Cards. So this just left West Wittering to come up with the goods and decide the titles.

The Build Up

As we saw one of the closest races for the title in the 2007 PWA waves, we also took it to the wire for the British series. In the youth fleet Richard Jones and Graham Woods have been battling it out all year after really improving over the winter. They were separated by very few points as the English leg approached. In the Pro fleet Andy King lead John Hibbard by 1 point, with Ben Proffitt in third place whilst the Amateurs fleet was lead by Simon Crowther. But with a discard left after completion of the West Wittering event, all that was about too change.

The Friday was warm and sunny, Saturday was cold and marginal, Sunday was blowing a hooley; raining and bang onshore. That is when the action started and tension tore its silent way through the heats. But with Saturday’s legendary compeer, Jem Hall, and the usual Head Judge Fred Willis off on some kind of marathon run on the only windy day for weeks, the contest got away to a quieter and slower start than usual come Sunday morning.

Bang Bang Onshore

The wind started south-west and swung more onshore as the tide rose. The early morning session kicked the day off with many of the latest and not so latest moves as the 48 strong fleet tuned up and got sails ready. Those who had many sails rigged benefited as the conditions changed through the day.

First casualty of the day, quite literally, was West Wittering’s chief instructor Adam Humphrey who just before the start pulled the tendon’s away from his shin on a bad landing. Off to casualty for him!

It’s Pro Time

An hour into the contest the 16 strong pro fleet got underway which included John Skye, Tristan Boxford, Chris Audsley, James Cox, Jamie Hancock, Paul Hunt and of course John Hibbard and favourite for the event Andy King.

To win through you had to get two good jumps and one waveride. As there was no set definition to the waves, the waveride split opinion on what counted. Most just accepted linking together some of the white-water mush on the way in, in some form or the other. Andy King dominated the first round with a hugely impressive display of big loops and a flaka entry onto the wave. As the heats progressed everyone else upped their game also. The second semi-final proved the most controversial. With Andy King up against Chris Audsley, Jamie Hancock and Paul Hunt, you always knew it was going to be a tough one. Many onlookers did not know how to call it although the commentary thought that Paul Hunt and Andy King might have just edged it but it was not too be and King was out!

During competition Andy King is not a man of many words, and as usual his answer to disappointment at not being able to sail against John Hibbard for the title was shown on the water as he went and sailed harder than ever pulling off some crazy doubles and regretting he didn’t try them in his heats.

Despite Andy not being in the final, John Hibbard still had to finish in second place or higher to take the title. This was still a challenge which Hibbard rose to superbly. To be honest the conditions backed off in the final and it looked to be a close call between Hibbard and John Skye for first place, as Paul Hunt didn’t seem to get it together as well as he had been doing all day.

When the prizegiving was called it was John Skye ahead and John Hibbard in second. This meant that John Hibbard and Andy King were tied on points. There were no sailing instructions to separate the two and many wanted them to go out for a sail off. In hindsight after 48 hours of discussion, rules, debates and the International Windsurfing Association getting involved that would have been the sensible thing to do!

In the end a very elated John Hibbard took the title and had this too say:

“I'm really happy but also gutted for Andy. We both started competing at the same time at the same event in Cornwall some 10 years ago. Andy is a total legend of a sailor and is amazing to watch. He's a good friend of mine and a national title is something both of us have been working towards for many years. I hope that Andy can take the title in 2008 and then the story will be complete. I have total respect for Andy, he is an amazing sailor and I wish him good luck for the 2008 season.”