The team at the BWA, Funsport and Puravida Boardriders report on a disappointing weekend…
With all the ingredients well and truly in place, all we needed was some good wind and swell….and early on in the week it was looking epic to say the least! As the weekend approached it was showing strong South winds for the saturday and a 2m swell that would have been perfect at Broadhaven giving clean head high plus waves and a dead cross shore wind – but mother natured decided otherwise!
The stormy winds seemed to blow through the night rushing on, and left a fairly solid westerly breeze in the morning, turning south. The sun came out to set the scene but the wind never quite filled in. It had turned south but stayed light until 4pm when it delivered a last hour and half of sweet conditions for a bit of freesailing.
Earlier on in the day, head judge Lucas from Funsport decided to run an expression session to asses the conditions and warm the guys up. Amateurs went out first and put on a good show in the light onshore breeze and waist high waves, with the standout guys really making the most of the conditions. Local boy Matt llewhellin took an early lead with some good backside riding and the famous ‘Robby Naish’ sail lay down on the wave, but Cardiff Student Seb willis and Barry Boys Rob and Duncan Sheldon were hard to fend off…..In the end it was young Essex lad Aleksy Gayda who’s light weight and nimble moves, as well as sone impressive frontside riding took him to the winning spot to take home the Simmer Harness!
The masters heat was set to go, but with even less wind as it started to drop right off! This didn’t stop them and hot favourite ‘Bucky’ was full of enthusiasm but not quite enough to get him going…..Cardiff boys Screamer Dave, Dave Kent and Jonny Greatrex battled it out for the top spot, in the end it was nicely taken by Dave Kent with some good wave riding despite the challenging conditions.
No-one went home empty handed, or without a fairly decent hangover – the light wind sport of drinking is always there if all else fails! It was great to see so many people come out and support the event, and we eagerly await a good weekend for the re-run.
Massive thanks to BV Rees Fiat for making the champs possible, Gallion for showing us such a good time, the Sea View cafe for feeding us in style! Big Blue Kitesurfing for safety cover. Our prizes and goodies generously supported by Simmer Style, Fanatic, North, Mistral, Ion, O’Shea, Dirty Dog, Burts Bees and Firefly.
Results of the expression session warm-up:
1st Amateur – Alexy Gayda
2nd Amateur – Rob Sheldon & Duncan Sheldon
3rd Amateur – Seb Willis
4th Amateur – Matt Llewhellin
1st Master – Dave Kent
2nd Master – Jonny Greatrex
3rd Master – Screamer Dave
Keep your rashvests handy, join and watch the facebook group, look out for updates and be sure not to miss the next round as the comp rolls over! All entries are re-entered automatically, and further entries are positively welcomed…
More at britishwavesailingassociation.com
