BOARDS Mag once again need your help in deciding who will be the UKWA Windsurfer of the Year 2011…
The boys and girls at the UKWA have been hard at work, furiously whittling down the long list of worthy sailors who have performed exceptionally in their field over the last 12 months. It’s now down to five nominees from the five disciplines of Wave, Slalom, Speed, Freestyle and Racing.
So this is where you come in. In true reality TV style, you the windsurfing public get to decide who, out of the cream of talented sailors below who will receive the accolade of UKWA Windsurfer of the Year 2011.
The nominees for WOTY 2011 are:
WAVE – Ben Proffitt
Ben is a larger than life character who started windsurfing at the age of nine and would have represented us in the Olympics if not for a back injury. He has gone on too much greater things now in wave sailing and a lot of hard work and training during the winter season in South Africa has obviously paid off. Ben has dominated the UK scene this year with two bullets and two 2nd places and won the legendary Tiree event in its 25th year.
SLALOM – Ant Baker
Ant Baker has been racing slalom since he could walk; turning pro at the tender age of 16. He competed successfully in the PWA tour in waves and Slalom and was consistently in the top 10. His career since then has taken him all over the world but he has now settled back in the UK, running the Baker Academy. Ant still has what it takes in competition winning this year’s very competitive BSA – UKWA Slalom title with 3 wins out of 5 races.
SPEED – Zara Davis
Zara has been our queen of speed for some time now. She holds two speed world records, and is the ranked No 1 in women’s speed in the world right now. This season however has been one of the best in her career to date. Starting with achieving a new women’s production speed record in Namibia then winning three rounds of the Euro speed tour to become the ISWC European champion for the second time. She also won Weymouth speed week for a record 6th time as well as the women’s British GPS 2011 ladder.
FREESTYLE – Adam Sims
A very popular guy on the freestyle scene, he is always friendly and approachable. The student fraternity will surely also be keen to vote for him as he attends all their events to offer help and advice. Adam has finally proved that he can compete with the top freestyle guys Bubble and Max this year by winning the UKWA 2011 Freestyle Tour with a solid performance including two event wins, two second and one third places. He also made it into third place in the NWF Night Tow in Freestyle Contest. Adam also competed in the PWA Freestyle Event in Podersdorf, Austria this year and achieved a creditable 25th place.
Racing – Kieran Martin
Kieran is a mere 16 years old but has achieved a lot in his short career. He was under 15 European Champion and collected a bronze medal as the UK’s representative at the first ever youth Olympics. 2011 has seen Kieran make the transition to RS:X further loading his busy schedule. However despite the different techniques needed to compete on RS:X Kieran has not neglected his Techno and at the World Championships in san Francisco Kieran was once again crowned under 17 World Champion. Hastily packing away his Techno Kieran then jumped on his RS:X finishing an astounding 3rd overall in the under 19 fleet.
Your vote counts – so use it wisely at ukwindsurfing.com/woty
Only one vote per person, voting closes on the 30th December and the winner will be announced the 1st week of January 2012.
