Sensational, historic Under 15 World Championship double

In a fantastic finale at the Windsurfing Junior World Championships in Poland this weekend, British boys took the U15 Gold and Silver.  After a week of extremely close racing in a wide range of conditions ending on Saturday 13 August, Ali Masters came first and Dave Woods came second after holding their nerve and moving ahead of the top German, French and other contenders.  They were backed up by excellent results from several other British juniors.

Ali and Dave regularly train together at Axbridge and both cut their teeth in the Team 15 programme. Ali’s progress to World Champion is breath-taking, since he has been windsurfing for just 25 months.  After first trying the sport on holiday, he joined his local Team 15 club, the Axbridge Animals, and progressed rapidly through all levels of the Youth training scheme joining the National Squad in the spring. Take two talented lads with highly supportive families, feed them into a great training programme with enthusiastic backing from a community of other windsurfers and result is world-beating success. 

When Ali hung Nick Dempsey’s Olympic medal round his neck and shook him by the hand at the London Boat Show in January, it was not obvious how fast the magic would rub off!