BWA on mass to Ireland with Stena Line!

If you’re thinking of making a last minute decision to head over to Brandon Bay for the competition, we have two words of advice: DO. IT. Stena Line ferries very generously offer a fantastic deal for all BWA competitors, so get in touch with Jim – jim@puravidaboardriders.co.uk 02920711946 / 07970420998 – to book your spot now.

Check out more about Stena Line and more of their great deals here.

SB Windwise coaching

Simon Bornhoft Windwise – Saturday 6th July

Instructor courses are run all around the country by various windsurf trainers, take  a look at the RYA website for more info and for dates check out this link.  Trainer and well known coach, Sam Ross, has recently released the dates of the courses he will be coaching in 2013, it looks like he’s got a rather full calendar!

Boards would especially recommend the courses run at the OTC Puravida Centre in Weymouth, Lagoon Watersports in Brighton and Bray Lake Watersports in Berkshire. So check out the links and get involved!

Want to become an instructor in 2013?

Cheers, Jim

Gibbo In Action

After London’s Olympic Opening Ceremony on Friday, Weymouth hosted its own take of an opening ceremony on Saturday evening from the LIVE site on the beach. The show was called Battle For The Winds and depicted the struggle against the elements to ensure good conditions for the event. We were honoured to be asked to be part of it by show organiser Jon Beedell of the performing company Desperate Men.

Full story here

OTC Olympic Ceremony - Weymouth

Where – Gwent Adventures, Llandegfedd Reservoir.

What - a family fun and demo day with  local BWA Club members helping to get people on the water windsurfing and paddling (SUP).

Get your mates on the water, teach your kids or anyone who wants to have a go. There will be stacks of demo kit from many of the brands  available and rigged up to check out and try on the water.

Kit to view and try from -

Boards – Fanatic, Starboard, Mistral, Simmer, Quattro and brand new Patrik boards.

Sails – North, Simmer, Ezzy, Naish and Tushingham.

SUP – Fanatic, Starboard, Naish, O’Shea

There will be a BBQ available from Gwent Adventures, and if the weather does let us down there will be an event marquee, changing rooms and an event shelter in the rigging area to keep everyone dry.

OTC/Puravida – All of the equipment  from both centre’s in Weymouth is heading to South Wales and will be available to test and also for sale with many clearance deals.

Wetsuits – there will be a full selection of summer suits available to try and buy.

Puravida Demo Van – (planned but not promised) the boys are working on a kitting out a big wagon with rigged sails and a selection of windsurf boards and SUP’s that can head to the lakes and beaches of the UK which hopefully will be ready for the 29th.

Starboard/Tushingham representative and top windsurf/SUP coach Sam Ross will be on hand with coaching tips.

Sam will be offering free clinic time, demos and rigging advice as well as some SUP coaching for any newcomers to the sport. Sam will also have a selection of demo kit from Starboard and Tushingham to compliment what OTC/Puravida are already bringing.

So far the weekend forecast looks really good with a nice breeze that should work well at the reservoir.

For more info check out the Facebook event page here

Sam Ross demonstrating a new move?

Lucy Robson returns to compete on the BWA tour for 2012 and beyond ……

It’s great to see the women’s scene thrive in the UK with the likes of Sarah Bibby (Puravida/Simmer/No Limitz) having progressed from the SWA at University to British Women’s Champion, and Sophia Gilje Joy (Puravida/Fanatic/North/Ion) also a student competing in Tiree 2011 for the first time and earning future support right away.

Lucy training in Fuerteventura. Image credit Sailboards Fuerte.

Cornwall’s Debbie Kennedy (Hotsails) has become a familiar face on the tour now and after some time out having a baby girl Marina, now two years old, and thanks to a very helpful mum….Lucy Robson is getting back into the swing of things.

Hailing from the South Coast and local to Nik Baker it was a no-brainer for Lucy to join Sophia on the Fanatic/North team with his support. As soon as she mentioned competing again Nik was happy to offer some valuable advice and coaching tips for the future.

Nik “Lucy has been sailing here for years and there is no question she rips in some solid conditions, giving plenty of the guys a run for their money at Shoreham! We talked about her joining the team with help from Puravida and I’m hoping to offer some useful help myself on making the most of the less ideal days you sometimes get on tour…basically being prepared.”

Lucy Robson

Lucy admits she is naturally competitive and really enjoys the banter with the other girls and the fun on tour….but wants to win!!

“In my first competition I had only been windsurfing for about nine months and I was pleased to even turn safely on to a wave, I was only about 24 years old and it was exciting. There was a similar size fleet back then in the girls, and I remember Trevor Funnel telling me I could be on the podium one day.”

Lucy took on the solid conditions in Cornwall last year for the podium top spot and currently sits in joint 2nd for the tour with team mate Sophia going into round three in Tiree.

Lucy training in Fuerteventura. Image credit Sailboards Fuerte.

“Back then I really took part just to get the experience and improve my sailing and mainly enjoy the scene. Now with more experience and with a more mature attitude I really want to do the best I can and enjoy the competition.”

“I did the UK wave tour for two years and then travelled to some great wavesailing locations like Cape Town, Western Australia and Indonesia and was stoked to come second in the Western Australia Wave Tour 2009 which gave me a real boost and stacks more confidence! That was three years ago and since then I took a break to have my daughter Marina, but not for long and got straight back in the water five days after she was born!”

So having a baby didn’t phase Lucy and what’s she been up to since then?

“I went back to Cape Town for their summer season in 2011, when Marina was five months old taking her with me and really properly getting back into my sailing with the consistency of conditions you get there. I then got the opportunity to travel to Morocco and spent time chasing forecasts in the UK at the beaches with the optimal conditions before hitting the Gwithian comp in 2011. It was a last minute decision as I didn’t plan to compete again, but all my friends from Brighton were going and they talked me into entering..I am lucky that I come from a town with a small but devoted windsurf scene and I have some very supportive friends that have been with me since I started windsurfing and never stopped helping me out and encouraging me. At the risk of sounding cheesy my friends and family make it possible.”

Lucy Robson. BWA Ireland by Dave White

It looks like the training paid off?!

“Gwithian was such a great comp with windsurfers everywhere., I remember looking down at the beach from the cliff and thinking I was at a festival. It was totally epic and the most fun I’ve had in the windsurfing scene since I started out. It’s been really cool to go full circle from a newbie full of questions to just enjoying competing alongside a great group of girls. I was SO STOKED when I found out I’d won, I knew I caught some great waves and really got stuck into the conditions, I couldn’t have been more pleased to hear I got first place.”

You’ve decided to do the entire tour in 2012?

“Absolutely! It seems I’m hooked now and more motivated than ever to do everything to the full. I’m really lucky my mum likes to see me enjoy windsurfing so she has offered to look after Marina so I can windsurf and compete. She knows I get miserable if I don’t windsurf and simply I just love it. So I’m very fortunate to have the opportunity to do the tour and I hope to do well!”

Would you encourage other girls to get stuck in?

“Definitely, the standard of kit has really improved and it helps that the kit is easier to use and lighter so girls can get on well without too much of a battle to control the gear. From the early days the comps improved my sailing much more than just hanging at the local beach, and with groups like Flow Watersports there are more girls around who want to do it. The locations are awesome, it’s great fun and great for your sailing skills…..do it”

With a few more trips planned and the rest of the tour ahead Lucy may even be tempted to have a shot at some PWA events so stay posted and follow her progress.

Lucy Robson. Wales BWA by Dave White.

Don’t miss your chance to join the action and progress with your wavesailing among some of the best riders the UK has to offer in Tiree and Cornwall for the last two rounds of the BWA tour.

Follow the latest news and updates online at boards.co.uk and boardseeker.com

For BWA news and information about the upcoming events please like our event pages on stay posted at:

www.britishwavesailingassociation.com

www.tireewaveclassic.co.uk

www.cornwallwaveclassic.co.uk

Interview Jim Brooks-Dowsett, BWA Amateur Rep

Hidden Talents is a series of interviews, by SWA media man and Boards columnist Will Jones, uncovering both UK born riders, and those talented youngsters that now reside here. Originally, this series was on our sister site www.boardseeker.com now on Boards, we will use the series to showcase the best of British.

Our June Hidden Talent is Tom Bennett-Lloyd, the 2011 BWA Youth champion, who is really stepping up his wave riding and busting out big jumps, proving he can really mix it with the best.

Check out the Hidden Talent from May – Nic Hibdige.

Tom Bennett-Lloyd. Image courtesy BWA/Dave White.

Name: Tom Bennett-Lloyd

Age: 19

From: Norwich

Years windsurfing? Maybe like 8 or 9 I think. I properly first started when I was about 10. I’d maybe had a few goes before then.

Favourite discipline? Waves.

Local spot?  East Runton, in Norfolk.

Occupation?  I finished school last year and next year I’m going to start Ocean Science at Bangor University. At the moment I am just travelling, seeing some more of the world.

Sponsors? I’ve joined the PuraVida team, which is cool! I’m going be in Wales where they are based and Jim is really positive about getting people windsurfing.

How did you get into windsurfing? My Dad was really into his surfing when he was younger, but then he was living in Wales. When he moved to Norfolk he learnt to windsurf, living in Norfolk there’s not much surf so he got more into windsurfing and then got me into it.

Tell us a bit about where you live and your local spots? Yeah it’s really good. There’s so many spots like Hunstanton which is really good for freestyle and slalom, then there’s Wells which is good for freestyle with a bit of a wave. Also Brancaster is quite good for waves but we don’t go there that often because if it’s good there, it’s probably better to go to East Runton. That’s probably my favourite spot nearby.

If you go even further east there’s Lowestoft and Southwold, which can both be good. There are quite a few good spots near me, all facing different directions, so whatever the wind there is normally somewhere pretty decent to sail.

Tom Bennett-Lloyd. Image courtesy BWA/Dave White.

When did you start getting into wavesailing?

Once I got planning really, it was the first thing I wanted to do. Dad took me down to East Runton. I remember it being about shoulder high, which I guess that would be about waist high now! I couldn’t waterstart then so was still on my 100litre board, but I loved it and it was all I wanted to do. It made me determined to learn to waterstart and get back out there on a smaller board, which I did pretty soon after. I went to one of those wave camps Trevor Funnell used to run, where I learnt a lot and soon after that went to my first UKWA event in Rhosneigr, which was awesome. I’m really looking forward to being at uni right next to Rhossy pretty soon!

Tom Bennett-Lloyd

Where have you been over the winter? Tell us about your travels…

More from Tom on page two…

Kev Greenslade runs us through the first windy BSA event of the year:

The waiting was over, after a windless Hayling competition, the forecast for Weymouth promised to deliver.

It was time for the questions would be answered, would Ant Baker’s dominance from last year continue? Who had been training hard? What difference would people’s new gear make? How would the sailors moving up into the pro and amateur fleets fair?

Can Ant Baker reign supreme in 2012?

The new and improved OTC, powered by Puravida Boardriders, were event sponsors with a free hog roast to all competitors, free party and the opportunity to settle any differences on the water, with a gladiator style pugle stick arena, this event was sure to be great fun for all both racing and spectating.

On Friday evening it was hard to imagine what the weekend would bring. Sitting outside the OTC enjoying a chinese, whilst the sun went down over Chesil beach, who knew this would be far from an option come the following morning.

71 competitors woke on Saturday morning, to driving rain and a solid north easterly 14-18 knots. Race officer Paul Sibley set a five buoy downwind slalom course, whilst Brian Tilbury got the master blast fleet underway, making the most of the conditions.

In the masterblaster fleet, with the Page Possie moving up to the race in the amateur fleet there was a new kid on the block in the form off pro kite surfer Dan Sweeny. Obviously having Ant Baker as a boss and windsurfing mentor is paying off for Dan, as he only started windsurfing last year and after a grueling day of 19 races, Dan came out on top in front of Charles Milner and Rob Duggan  (nice one Dan!).

I would also like to congratulate the local T15 team, with Joe Adams finishing fourth in his first ever event, Emma Stevenson first lady and second overall,  plus Scotty (the legend) Stalman finishing eighth overall at just ten years old, well done team, good work!

All images courtesy of Dave White

The amateur fleet is looking fiercely competitive this year, once everyone gets familiar with the heat system etc this is going to be a hard fleet to call, with several sailors capable of taking top honours.

Simon Langley started where he left off last year with a bullet in the first, only to be overhauled by Lee Marrs in the next two finals. Tony Attfield came good at the end to take third. Well done to Kate Strange, finishing fifth overall and first lady, as well as local Weymouth U17, Tom Wells (OTC/Puravida), both of these youngsters will be ones to watch for events in the future.

All images courtesy of Dave White

Lee Marrs’ two wins meant he took the top prize of the weekend, with one weeks free hire from the OTC in Tenerife, well done Lee!

There has been an obvious absence in the pro fleet so far this year, with Alan “all action” Jackson missing the events, for a good reason though, congratulations to Alan and Caroline on the birth of your son, Rory. Big love from everyone on the BSA circuit, we all look forward to seeing the Jackson family soon.

Close racing at the top of the Pro fleet

The pro fleet kicked off with a bang, with most of the usual suspects progressing through to first final.

Everyone was completely on it from the first start, unfortunately yours truly was out in front when the fleet got recalled. On the re run it was James Dinsmore, who would take the honours, with Si “the Hulk” Cofield hot on his heels.

In the second round, I again found myself out in front, but this time a sloppy gybe gave Ant and James the opportunity to slip past. Round three saw a RS:X star, Sam Sills smoking off the start line, managing to hold his nerve with James and Ant breathing down his neck the whole way round, this left James the overnight leader followed by Ant, then Sam in third.

On to the party, a massive thanks to “party Steve” Howlet who spent his whole Saturday getting the party zone ready for action. At 7pm the pig was ready and the beer began to flow, some chilled tunes were spun on the decks from party Steve, whilst everyone ate. Then the local rock band, The Cheap Shots, got the weary limbs of the racers moving and limbered up for some Gladiator action.

All images courtesy of Dave White

With Mark Steen (from Bustinskins) on the mic, myself and Mistral Simmer team mate Simon “Willie Wonka” Pettifer opened up, but wasn’t long before I found myself on the canvas walking off with my head held low. Si continued to dominate, until he came up against Dave White, who finally beat him in three rounds.

The random name generator then selected Reece White, which made for the Gladiator bout of the evening, with the younger of the mighty Whites coming off best. The band and party continued late into the night. Anyone heading off early for an early night was bitterly disappointed, as outside it blew 50 knot plus and chucked it down with rain, which made sleeping well in a van almost impossible.

Jim Crossly FB quote “Omg shit nights sleep in the van! Now got to rig in 40 odd knots and rain, and slip into a wet wetsuit. Here goes 3 2 1″ 

The next morning sure delivered wind, and lots of it, with the forecast to drop and swing, the race crew gave the pro fleet the choice of figure of eight in 40-50 knots or wait for the wind to swing and drop a little. The grim prospect of rigging lots of sails in these conditions meant that the majority voted to sit it out and wait.

All images courtesy of Dave White

At 11.00am the decision was made to race regardless, as the wind showed no sign of subsiding. But sure enough, just as the first race was about to start the wind swung and dropped, to nothing. Shortly after this the decision was made that there would be no more racing this weekend, what a way to end great weekend!

I would like to congratulate everyone that took part over the weekend and thank all those who were involved in making it all happen.

See you next time, Kev.

Kev Greensalde is sponsored by OTC, PURAVIDA, SIMMER, MISTRAL, SPARTAN and C3.

James Dinsmore’s view on the weekend and full results on page two…

We will have a full report online very soon, from none other than slalom supremo and new centre manager Kev Greenslade, but in the mean time we caught up with the men in charge of the OTC and Puravida respectively, Tris Best and Jim Brooks-Dowsett, for their thoughts on the weekend.

“This was the fifth time we’ve hosted the BSA at OTC UK … and the fifth time we’ve had enough wind to get a result! The event keeps getting bigger and better and was a great way to celebrate our union with Puravida here in the UK.

Got to thank Steve “party man” Howlett for all his help in organising the evening’s activities and Kev Greenslade for instigating the pugil sticks ents – definitely going to be more of the same in the future. Exciting times ahead…and then there’s the Olympics!” Tris 

“Despite some challenging weather the number of competitors and guests was amazing!  It was a fantastic weekend with credit to all who helped, we were stoked to host the event and have three team riders in the to 10″ Jim

 Full results will be available soon, but here are the top three from each fleet:

Pros

1st James Dinsmore

2nd Ant Baker

3rd Sam Sills

Amateurs

1st Lee Marrs

2nd Simon Langley

3rd Tony Attfield

Masterblaster

1st Dan Sweeney

2nd Charles Milner

3rd Rob Duggan

Want to improve your slalom skills?

Check out the Boards technique section, in particular:

Sam Latham sharing his slalom secrets  and Ant Baker guiding you through the perfect carve gybe

Images courtesy of Dave White, click here for a full gallery.

With an absolutely stonking forecast for the coming days, the BSA Slalom event at Portland Harbour promises to be an incredible one. Hosted by the OTC and Puravida, there will be stacks of great demo equipment to try. The first event of the year at Hayling Island saw no result, so it’s all to play for going into this second round of Slalom.

Plenty of wind this weekend in Weymouth...

To celebrate the launch of the new collaboration between the OTC and PuraVida (more details here), there will be a huge party on Saturday night to kick off the new venture. Local band ‘The Cheapshots’ will rock the party tent following a big BBQ. For any non-windsurfing family/spouses, the OTC will be running taster sessions at an incredible £5 per person! The perfect way to get into the sport…

OTC Centre manager Kev Greenslade, will he take victory this weekend?

Last weekend the SWA in partnership with BUCS and Southampton University hosted one of our biggest events of the year, the Nationals. However due to the slightly unfortunate timing I’ve had to write this article before the event, so can’t really tell you anything about what happened. I’m sure it was epic. Watch out for a full write up of the event appearing on www.studentwindsurfing.co.uk and http://boards.mpora.com/ very soon!

Last month I proposed that in these difficult financial times clubs are the future. Read the article here. Thank you all for the kind feedback I received and it’s great to hear that many of you agree with me. I’ll definitely check in with Will Rycroft in a few months time and keep you up to date with how he’s getting on with starting a Club at Northumbria Uni.

I really do believe clubs will play an important part in the future of our sport. Being at Uni in Cardiff I was very lucky to have the opportunity to get involved with a well established and very successful club. Cardiff today continues to be flourishing each year, attracting a healthy sized group of new members. In addition the advanced sailors can regularly be seen tearing up the beaches of South Wales and have scored some good results on the SWA series this year. However I think in the first year I was involved (2009/10) the Cardiff club was definitely at an all time high.  So what made the club so successful that year?

First of all I think credit where credit is due; Leah Pickering was an exceptional club president and she had the support of a dedicated committee. Leah was a very capable windsurfer but no superstar; it is by no means a requirement of the president to be the best windsurfer in the club. She was super organised and put beginners and club members windsurfing ahead of spending time herself on the water. At socials and events she led from the front, pretty much always the most enthusiastic party animal.

Secondly at the centre of the club was a solid windsurfing core. That year myself, Rob Richardson, James Goody and Seb Willis would take every opportunity to get to the beach, and I seem to remember we were lucky enough to enjoy what seemed like a never ending spree of 3.7 sessions. Leah and the four of us attended every one of the SWA events that year, joined by a good group from Cardiff at most of them, and we were pretty successful with results on the series. That year the SWA was supported by Plasma and I think between us we have the entire catalogue of T-shirts. Seb won the overall race series and both Seb and Goody scored well in the freestyle series and some good results in the waves. One highlight of the year was Rob, Seb and I winning the team racing at Nationals and Cardiff bringing home the BUCS trophy. I don’t think it was our windsurfing level that helped the club to flourish. I think more just the fact that we took every opportunity we could to windsurf and were eager to help out the rest of the club; teaching beginners and coaching improving windsurfers.

Further, attached to that windsurfing core was an equally core group of members with varying degrees of dedication to windsurfing but an absolute devout dedication to the clubs social side. Our socials would regularly see 40 or 50 members turn out with often a further splattering of friends, not attached to the club, brought along just to see if windsurf nights out lived up to their reputation. Windsurf nights out that year were legendary (and really have continued to be so ever since).

One other particularly important factor that made Cardiff a very successful club and continues to do so today; is the support we have fortunately received from industry. Just a few miles out of Cardiff is the head quarters of industry leader Puravida who have supported the Cardiff Uni club for several years now. This year Puravida has taken their support of students to the next level and become the lead sponsor for the wave series. Further to that Puravida are the lead sponsor to the BWA and sponsor a number of team riders too. I caught up with managing director Jim Brooks to help explain what Puravida do.

WJ: What support do you provide to the Cardiff Club?

Jim: Basically what we do is provide part subsidised club kit and discount to all club members. But really, and I think more importantly, it’s just about supporting the club. We help them with the organisation of any special events and bring along demo kit for everyone to use. We’re also able to attract some big names from the industry; in the past we’ve had Ant and Nik Baker come along and give talks or run clinics at the events. They run great clinics but also really help raise the profile of the club. One other thing our business does a lot of is running things like entry level wave clinics. Quite a lot of them are based around South Wales so we try and get the guys from the club involved in them, again at a heavily discounted rate.

WJ: What encourages you to support the club and what do you get back from it?

Jim: Well the reason I really wanted to support the club is because I went to Cardiff Uni and I remember trying to get support when I was there. Really there wasn’t much available. So in 2007 when we opened the shop one of the first things we did was get in touch with the Uni club and look at how we could help them progress and move forward. What I get back from it is simple; the way I see it the more people we get into windsurfing the more customers I will have in the future, and you never know; some of the guys coming up through the club might turn out to be future champs.

WJ: You’ve now moved up to support the SWA as a whole becoming the lead sponsor for the wave series. What prompted that? What support do you provide?  And how has your first year been so far?

Jim: There were two important things really that prompted it. Firstly over the last few years I’ve really seen the SWA grow and mature and embrace the industry. Now seeing the way they market themselves and have brilliantly embraced the media (Will’s note: I asked him to say that) they have really become a proper brand. Secondly seeing the number of ex students that come back to the SWA events once they have left Uni has really impressed me. It really shows they must be doing something right and it’s great to see so many of those ex students using their skills to help further improve the SWA; be it journalism students with the media or people who have gone on to work with computers helping to produce a website. The whole SWA is now run very professionally and is at a level where I thought I could really help by bringing in my experience from running the BWA.

My first year with the SWA has been great. I think they have a very similar ethos to us just being really eager to promote the sport and get people windsurfing; it’s been great working with such a passionate group. Each Uni that’s hosted a wave event really put their heart and soul into doing so. All the events have run really well, flowed really nicely and had a nice not too serious atmosphere. We’ve just been a bit unlucky with the wind.

WJ: You also sponsor quite a few individual riders. For people out there looking to pick up sponsors what advice would you give to them and how should they go about approaching potential sponsors?

Jim: My first peice of advice is to not think getting sponsored is just about your windsurfing level. As long as you’re active and improving your windsurfing and getting to the beach as much as possible you can be of interest to a sponsor. We want to get back exposure, so you need to be good at promoting yourself. The best people to sponsor are those who really embrace social media, keep blogs, get to the beach a lot and send people to our shop. We’ve never asked anyone we sponsored to produce results.

When I first started supporting the Cardiff Uni club at the wave event they ran I met Sarah Bibby. I was so impressed with her, not just for her sailing but for her enthusiasm and attitude. Particularly as a woman you could see she was going to attract loads of other women to the sport. So I offered to help her out a little bit with her kit whilst she was at Uni and from that she became a team rider and as we all know she has gone on to great success, last year winning the overall BWA women’s championship. She worked hard and she earned it. Someone with her attitude is exactly what sponsors are looking for.

WJ: Anything else you want to add?

Jim: I would just say that for the SWA and student clubs you don’t have to spend a fortune to make difference. Just a little support from a business can have a big impact. Just bringing along some kit to demo is always a great help and for any business it’s great exposure. I’m not trying to be the lone sponsor of the SWA, I think more the more businesses that get involved the better it will be for students and the industry.

WJ: Thanks Jim

Here is what Sarah Bibby had to say about the perks of being sponsored:

‘Having come through the SWA and now competing in the UK Wave events, it is great to have a sponsor like Jim on board to support me. Obviously there are benefits through discounted equipment, which helps a lot when new windsurf kit is so expensive or you break some! I also receive support through Jim at UK events and I am really excited to be riding one of his new custom boards which he has shaped specifically for me. There are plenty of benefits to being a sponsored rider, and I enjoy promoting Puravida through my blog, videos, articles and sailing’

I think most clubs out there, be it student or other, exist because a few individuals give up their time to make it happen. If they can get people sailing on old worn out kit and wearing dodgy retro wetsuits, clubs will be happy, they just make do with whatever they’ve got. But as Jim said ‘Just a little bit of support can make a big difference’. To those involved in running clubs, if you want your club to grow and be successful in the future you will definitely benefit from attracting some support from a local business. To do this you need to be proactive in publicizing your club, the more publicity you offer the more attractive you are to any potential sponsors. And the same goes to any individuals hoping to gain sponsorship. The more you windsurf and promote windsurfing to others the more attractive you are to sponsors. And to the businesses out there with the potential to provide support, clubs don’t just need money pouring into them. Just a little bit of time and effort from someone with some know how can make a big difference.

By Will Jones

Puravida rider Tom Malin joins North Sails. Hailing from the South West but often seen travelling to Brazil and Maui to train, Tom is excited to be using the new North Hero to push his wave sailing to the next level. Here’s what he had to say about his new Norths…

Tom and his new North Hero

“I have been sponsored by Pura Vida Boardriders for 3 years, focusing entirely on waves. Through them I’ve now started riding for North Sails with their super manoeuvrable 4 batten wave sail, the Hero. They’re so much fun to use so I’ll 100% be using them for all my adventures and UK competitions of 2012. Thank you to North Sails for their fresh support and thanks to Pura Vida Boardriders and Quatro boards for their ongoing support.”

Keep up to date with Tom’s latest exploits on his blog HERE.

“It’s been freezing over here this past month (down to 17 deg!!!), but I have been braving the elements and have in fact just put together a bit of video from a couple of days earlier this month on the North Shore…”

Despite the ‘severe’ cold, Stephen is still ripping and enjoying the wave conditions in the Canaries – check him out below.