Back to Latest News
The 2003 windsurfing season was a mixed blessing. Whilst we all enjoyed
the warm sunny weather and the excellent beer supplied by the bar there was
a definite lack of wind which made organising events difficult at times.
Racing
Conditions for the Tuesday night racing tended to be all or nothing - as is
often the case. There was some strong wind sailing at the beginning of the
season but this was then followed by mainly light winds as the warm weather
arrived. This led to some gruelling pumping matches for the top end of the
fleet. It was encouraging to see some new faces achieving good results which
can only help to strengthen the racing fleet on Tuesday nights.
Many thanks must go to all who helped organise the events with everyone,
as usual, mucking in as necessary. I would however, like to particularly
thank Willy and Steve who predominantly took on the race officer role and
also to Gill who did an excellent job of providing food for us.
The fickle winds affected the RNLI Race, which had to be run over two
weekends as the first event was cancelled due to lack of wind. Luckily ideal
conditions followed 2 weeks later and we were able to complete the event.
The warm weather failed us for the Ship Inn Race. However, we had
excellent conditions for the more experienced sailors to show what they were
made of. The normal B-B-Q celebrations at the Ship Inn were unfortunately
curtailed by the wet, cold, miserable conditions.
Club sailors were successful at other events this year with Mark Carney
taking 3rd place in the UK masters, Arran Farnes coming 1st in the long
board class at Wimereux and Dad - Barry Farnes taking 2nd in the round the
Isle of Sheppey Race.
Elliot Carney gained 2nd place in the Under 15 National Junior class (6.5m
Aloha).
Oliver Brooks gained 3rd place in the Under 17 Mistral Junior One Design
Class (6.6m IMCO).
Training
Six windsurf training sessions took place at the Redoubt Lake where around
16 beginners and 8 improvers enjoyed conditions, which were ideal for
training. The sessions had the right balance between fun and learning.
Trying to occupy this number of youngsters proved challenging but we were
rewarded by many enthusiastic recruits to windsurfing plus several families
who joined the club. A special thanks to all the trainers and mums and dads
who gave up their time to make this training such a success.
Beginners training is key to supporting our Team 15 and should be geared
towards preparing youngsters for training and racing. The main barrier to
achieving this is the number of windsurf instructors. Our trainer base has
been depleted due to other commitments. The task for next year is to find
more volunteers to take on this role. This could allow us to resume adult
training sessions at the weekends.
Long Board/Formula
Another consideration for next year is the introduction of formula board
racing. Windsurf racing has changed and we need to change with it. We have
some very talented youngsters coming through he T15 route who may choose to
compete in the formula fleets. The recommendation is to set up this class
for next season so that we are able to run these events should club members
wish to do so. Obviously long board racing would continue alongside formula
racing as this has been the mainstay of our club.
Back to Latest News
|
