The second round of the UKWA freestyle tour took place at West Wittering and was sponsored by 2XS,  X-train and WWWC, Boards catches up with the team from the centre and some of the pros to find out more about one of the best freestyle events to hit the UK in a while!

Andy Bubble Chambers

Pics by Simon Bassett /2XS.

With a lack of wind the forecast mid week the event was nearly cancelled but Thursday morning after a wind abyss a 25 knot South Westerly forecast was predicted for all day Saturday.

The event started around 10.30am – the legendary Wittering Trench formed up at low tide and the contest began.  Julian Du Vall, Trevor Funnell and David Bradley were judging, it certainly wasn’t tropical conditions and the heats blasted through as the wind increased.  Heat after heat went through, in the end the beach event crew did four complete rounds.

The Pros had four heats, two a piece for Bubble and Max Rowe which led them into a fifth heat, which was known as the Super Final – both of them were sailing on top form and Bubble just pipped Max in the dying minutes.

This year the amateur fleet are pushing at a really high level with big moves coming from all competitors throughout the event – even the younger kids really going for big moves .

BUBBLE:

“Wow!! What an event!! Literally the best freestyle conditions i have ever competed in! The West Wittering trench was at its best! Great to see so many people on the water having it! The level of freestyle in the UK is getting better and better and with events in places like West Wittering i’m sure we’ll see the UK’s next rising stars coming up. Great competing against Max as it really pushes me! He was ripping on his new sails.”

Max Rowe

MAX:

“It was definitely the best conditions I’ve ever experienced at any contest. The trench is truly a world class spot so it was great to have a contest there. I was battling with Bubble all day for the first place and after winning two rounds each we had a sail off which he went on to win so congratulations to him as he was ripping. I was using the new 2014 North Idol ltd’s and the sails are feeling amazing which gave me loads of confidence.”

Saturday night in The Old House at Home, West Wittering,  there were plenty of tired bodies after a full day of competition and when Sunday came around it was decided not to run a tow in event as the previous day’s competition had been so successful.

Ollie Acton

Ben Lee

Pro top three: 1st Andy Bubble Chambers, 2nd Max Rowe, joint 3rd Oscar Carmichael and Nic Hibdige.

Ollie Acton, competing in West Wittering

Boards will have a full report for you very soon, but first of all we catch up with second placed amateur Ollie Acton. 

This was by far the best conditions I’ve ever competed in! 2XS at West Witterings provided the venue for the second event in the UKWA Freestyle calendar, and what a location to hold a competition in.

The Tushingham Team at Student Nationals

The 27th – 28th April 2013 saw the final event of the SWA series and with that the National BUCS event held at Calshot. With several titles still up for grabs it was a great event with lots of action both on and off the water

The Tushingham Team was well represented by all our student team riders, each of them delivering the goods once again! here is a summary of their results and a brief write up from each of the team!

Ollie Acton – SWA Freestyle Champion (2 years in a row)
1st in BUCS Team Racing with Solent

Jo Wright – Overall 1st Female (2 years in a row)
4th Freestyle (mixed with boys)
2nd female in BUCS racing

Louis Morris – Second BUCS individual Race
1st Overall SWA race series
2nd Overall SWA (all events combined)

Sam Sills – 1st BUCS Race Champion
1st in BUCS Team Racing with Solent

The action at Student Nationals

Ollie Acton - This year on the SWA Freestyle Tour has been the most epic year ever!  Starting with Aussie Kiss and then onto all the core competitions, no event has disappointed with universities around the country pulling out all the stop to make this year bigger and better than ever.

Determined to win the freestyle tour again, I went to every core event to try to claim the top prize of a brand new freestyle board.  We had a wide range of conditions on the tour this year, with good high wind freestyle at both Liverpool and Nottingham, tow-in at Aussie Kiss and a lightwind freestyle competition at Bristol.  These differing conditions have made it awesome for competition but also really difficult with more students entering with a really high sailing level!

The final event of the series was the SWA Nationals at Calshot, with the wind not playing ball a lightwind freestyle competition was organised.  This style of competition means anyone on their day could have won, with Louis Morris, Adam Chubbock and Will Jones all having the ability to claim the top spot.  I grabbed my 4.2 Edge and spun and twisted just enough to impresses the judges and win the freestyle competition and claim the overall freestyle series!

The SWA tour and the Nationals were a great success for myself and Solent University.  I won the freestyle series again and along with Adam Chubbock and Sam Sills we achieved BUCS gold in the team racing and won the team racing series!  Thanks to Andy Biggs, Tushingham and Sport Solent for all their support throughout this year.

This was my last year as a student so I would like to say a final massive thank you to the SWA for running such amazing competitions over the past few years!  Cheers guys!

Jo Wright - Nationals saw the conclusion of the SWA series and it certainly went off with a bang! I managed to borrow a raceboard for the BUCS racing on the saturday, which took place in a gentle 10-15 knots. I was also using Tushingham’s 7.0 X15 which worked well in the changeable winds. It was my first time on a race board, so the first couple of races were extremely sketchy! The footstrap positioning and huge mast track took a little getting used to but I really enjoyed the challenge and finished 2nd girl overall behind seasoned IMCO racer Kirsten O’Callaghan. Even managing to give the boys a bit of a run for their money in a few of the races!  The boat party lived up to expectations, everyone certainly seemed to be having a great time on the Saturday evening!

Check out more from Jo, plus a run down from Sam Sills and Louis Morris here.

Nationals from Duncan Dumbreck on Vimeo.

The Solent Boys

One of the newest members to the SWA Circuit, Solent Windsurf Team was set up only two years ago.  From meeting on their first day at University the boys knew had one thing in common, a love for watersports and windsurfing.  Keen to compete at the 2011 BUCS nationals, Adam Chubbock and Ollie Acton quickly set up the windsurf team at Solent, enabling them to enter the event.

Since then the team has grown considerably, consisting of students of all abilities with a passion for windsurfing and having a good time.

Solent Team

Being in Southampton means the boys have access to some of the South Coast’s great windsurfing locations. Those keen on freestyle head east to Hayling Island or West Wittering for perfect flat water locations, whereas those looking for waves head west to Highcliff or K-bay.

The 2011-2012 academic year proved a great success for the team, with a good number of new club members all attending the SWA events around the country.  Former World Champion Sam Sills joined the ranks, furthering the progression and ability within the team.  The finale to the year included many awards at the 2012 BUCS Nationals and Solent University’s Sports Awards, including:

SWA Team Race Champions

SWA Freestyle Champion – Ollie Acton

BUCS Team Racing Champions – Adam Chubbock, Sam Sills and Ollie Acton

BUCS Individual Racing Champion – Sam Sills

Solent University Sports Man of the Year – Sam Sills

This year the boys are pushing for even more success, attending every SWA event.  The next event is the BUCS nationals at Calshot where most of this year’s tour titles will be decided.  With the Solent boys on home turf they are fired up to dominate!

Ollie Acton

Name: Ollie Acton

DOB: 15/04/1990

I started windsurfing about 7 years ago and really got into it after a holiday to Dahab with my Dad.  I have competed at several UKWA freestyle and slalom competitions, as well as the majority of SWA events.

Ollie Acton, switch chachoo

I’m supported by a local shop on Hayling Island called AndyBiggs Watersports.

I windsurf because it’s so different to any other sport I’ve tried!  I have made some great friends through windsurfing and there aren’t too many sports where travelling around the world is the norm.

Watersports Studies and Management – 3^rd and final year.

Solent Windsurf Team has given me the opportunity to travel around the country, make new friends and compete at the legendary SWA competitions.

My most memorable moment with the team was at our University’s sports award evening.  They presented us with our SWA winnings in front of all the other sports team, on top of that we were awarded with sports team of the year and Sam won sports man of the year, a great  advertisement for our windsurf club and our sport in general! SWA Events have really helped push my own ability but also publicity where through the articles and reports sent out by the SWA Tushingham noticed me and I have recently become a team rider.

Adam Chubbock

Name: Adam Chubbock

Nickname: Chubsey

I tasted windsurfing when I was about 14 but didn’t fully get hooked until I was 18 working in a windy area of South France.  The place was full of good windsurfers flying around and I knew I had to get involved.  Since then my life has changed completely (for the better).

This year I have competed on the full Student Windsurfing (SWA) Tour, which includes Racing, Freestyle, Wave Riding and Team racing. The tour has

Chubsey

taken us all over the country and we have had a lot of fun on the way.  It has been my first year competing in the waves which I have really enjoyed (even managed to finish joint 2^nd).  I have also competed in the UKWA amateur slalom series, which I would recommend anyone to get involved in.

There is no other sport like windsurfing, it has taken me to some amazing places

Who let the Bears out? Bristol SWA!

and I have met some awesome people along the way. It’s more like a way of life really, always offering new challenges and opportunities.  I owe a lot to windsurfing and the amazing experiences I’ve had because of it.

Coaching is another aspect of the sport which I love.  Working at Club Vass for the last three years has enabled me to share my passion for windsurfing and take my coaching to a new level.   I also dabble in a bit of DJing at the famous Globalshots raves.

Apart from a degree in Facebook; Watersports Management 3^rd Year

I am very proud of Solent Windsurf Team and everything we have done in the last two years, from having the best fancy dress on the tour, to winning the BUCS nationals.  We have such a positive attitude within the team and some very talented individuals, I like to think we are a good advert for the university and windsurfing in general.

Sam Sills, Adam Chubbock and Ollie Acton.

DOB: 15/04/93

Years windsurfing and windsurfing level: 10 years, Olympic Transitional Squad

Why you windsurf:  Freedom man

What are you studying?  Yacht and Power craft Design

What do you like about Solent Windsurf team? We smash the party, then we smash the race.

There has been two: winning sports man of the year 2012 at the university sports awards and drawing a permanent tash on Ian from Boardwise and making him part of our crew!

Why do you think you’ve been so successful as a team? We have legendary Zen guru Adam Chubs to guide us.

How often do you hit the water and where do you go? Most weekends, Weymouth or my home back in Cornwall whenever it’s windy.

Solent Windsurf Team would like to say a massive thanks to our sponsors; we couldn’t have done it without their help and support:

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/solentwindsurfteam

Like your students a little more feminine? Check out the Exeter Ladies feature here on Boards. 

More action at home came from West Kirby last weekend, where some incredible speeds were notched up by some of the UK’s, Ireland’s and Holland’s finest, check out the gallery here and a video from Ant Baker here. 

This week also saw the launch of a great new APP from Puravida Boardriders, making searching the latest info on their windsurfing equipment a lot easier.

And our final highlight for this week is to remind you that entry for the amazing Defi Wind is now open, all the info is here and we look forward to seeing a lot of Brits taking on the event this year!

Until next week….

Ollie will be competing at the upcoming SWA events including the Plymouth and Exeter wave event this weekend. Check out more info here. 

Esso 30-01-2013 from Ollie Acton on Vimeo.

SWA Pompey Wave

The 8th and 9th of December saw 35 students descend on Portsmouth for the first round of the SWA Puravida wave series.

The Tushingham team was well represented with Ollie Acton (Solent University) and myself (Exeter University) competing along with Muzza who came down to help run the event, provide demo kit and give advice to all the students.

Adam Chubbock, Ollie Acton and Jo Wright.

After some last minute car failure, I drove down on the Saturday morning and met up with Ollie and Adam ‘Chubsy’ Chubbock for a SUP off Hayling Island sea front. The weather was perfect with not a cloud in the sky! Massive thankyou to AndyBiggs Watersports for lending us the Starboard SUPs. There were some small waves breaking just off the sand bar, so we paddled about 20 minutes out and had great fun riding the waves. This was my first time venturing out in waves on a SUP and I now fully understand what all the hype is about – It was awesome!

We then headed into Portsmouth to catch up with the rest of the SWA guys. They had enjoyed a few rounds of Mini-golf, which if you didn’t know already, Carl Lobato (Portsmouth University) proudly won. Back in our hosts houses, we all enjoyed some Dominoes pizza and then donned our Christmas attire ready to dance the night away at ‘The Fleet’!

Check out the full report from Jo on the Tushingham news page here.

Ollie Acton

Ollie Started windsurfing aged 15 and was instantly hooked, practising at his home spot in Emsworth. These days he mainly windsurfs at Esso on Hayling Island or West Wittering.  Ollie is also an intermediate windsurf and SUP instructor.

Ollie first started competing at the National Windsurf festival in 2010 where he won the amateur fleet. The following year he competed at the national freestyle championships at Poole Windfest and won the men’s amateurs, after that event he was picked up by Andy Biggs Watersports and bought a quiver of Tushingham Edges.

He is currently a student at Southampton Solent University where he has helped to set up and run the windsurf team there.  Although they are a small team they have been doing very well at the SWA events since the teams inception. In the 2011-2012 season Ollie was crowned the student freestyle champion and won BUCS Gold in the mens team racing along with fellow Tushingham rider Sam Sills and Adam ‘Chubbsy’ Chubbock.

Ollie Action at Wet Dream 4

Following the immense SWA festival Aussie Kiss, the freestyle, wave and race series is now underway where select Universities around the country host the ‘Core’ event series.

Last weekend was BrUWE’s (Bristol University and UWE) turn at hosting the first event in the core series…Bristol’s Wet Dream 4!  Although not on the same scale as Aussie Kiss, the SWA and the Bristol Universities put on an epic weekend of beginner tuition, off-the-scale parties, freestyle and racing competition.

The forecast for the weekend wasn’t great so a light wind freestyle contest was held on the Saturday.  I rigged my 4.2 Edge and a massive floaty board to spin around and get very dizzy on.  Ducking manoeuvres, strimmers and jumping body and sail 360’s were being pulled off in every heat but I just managed to win the contest, with some close competition from fellow Solent University student Adam Chubbock.

Next event in the core freestyle series is in Liverpool, which is on the 23^rd – 25^th November. See you all there!

Check out this video from Ollie’s time in Fuerte this summer too!

For more news from Ollie and the rest of the Tushingham team head to their website here.

You might also like to read:

Ollie Acton. One handed funnell.

SB: Ollie, your freestyle competition CV seems to be expanding quite rapidly of late.  Have you matured like a fine wine aged over many seasons, or is this the start of something larger?

Haha well, Sam, I love the competition side of windsurfing and I really enjoy competing in both the SWA and UKWA freestyle events, I seem to do quite well in the amateurs but the step up to Pro level is quite big so we shall see….

SB: What made you decide to put yourself forward to the most awesome exciting freestyle event to ever invade the UK shores?

Apart from SWA events of course…  The windsurfing at this event is going to be another level and I’ll be more than happy just to watch but also I can’t refuse the chance to compete at a European freestyle event!

Ollie Acton

SB: I saw you using the new Tushingham Rock at the UKWA event in Weymouth, tell us about it, is it a freestyle/wave sail?

The Rock is Tushingham’s main wave sail, but because it rigs quite flat with little downhaul it also makes for a perfect freestyle sail.  I mainly used the Tushingham Edge but wanted something with power and stability at around the 5.5 size and the Rock ticked all those boxes.

SB: There should be a good SWA following at the event, knowing the bunch as you do, how do you expect the party time to be at King of the Wind?

I’ve heard a lot from the guys about the Globalshot parties held in Vass so I can’t wait to go!  We will be bringing a few members from Southampton Solent windsurf-team so expect some outrageous behaviour but maybe not as much nudity as the Aussie Kiss 11 party!

GlobalMixtures from GlobalShots on Vimeo.

SB: Do you have a target standing to aim to achieve at the King of the Wind, or are you just going for broke?

I have no targets for the competition at all, I’ll just try to be consistent with my moves and let’s see what happens.

Ollie Acton

SB: You did a few seasons, do you think the watersports season community experts are the main force behind UK freestyle, or do you see a few weekend warriors kicking ass fresh from their weekly desk jails?

Well, being on season you will have more opportunity to windsurf, but the UK is a windy place and there are loads of UK based sailors who defiantly sail at the top level. The guys who sail in the UK will be better suited to the conditions, which might favour them during the competition. 

SB: If you qualify for the Monday night bonfire tow-in, with another chance to win some cash, is this an aspect of your freestyle you feel confident about?  Being relatively new aspect on the freestyle scene, I doubt everyone has had the opportunity to try it yet.

I had a go at tow-in at the UKWA West Wittering Event and Aussie Kiss 11. It’s really different to anything I’ve tried before and I do find it really hard but have finally managed to land a few moves more recently.

SB: What are you most looking forward too about the event?

Seeing the top pros sail in the UK and the Global-Rave Party!

SB: Finally, do you have any advice for any freestyle newbies or young guns thinking about stepping into the scene from T15, or developing freestylers who are thinking about competing?

For freestylers new to competition, I’d say go for the easier moves but ones that you can land consistently, as the heats are quite short landing just 4 or 5 moves should get you though most heats.  UK competitions are always fun and with the addition of tow–in to most events it’s definitely worth coming down and giving it a go.

Ollie Acton is supported by Southampton Solent University – Andy Biggs Watersports, Tushingham, Starboard

Entry closes for the King and Queen of the Wind on Friday 26th October at midnight so if you haven’t already get yourself entered today right here http://www.kingofthewind.co.uk/