Sarah Bibby K349 in Australia 2014 a Windsurfing video by sarahk349

I spent 6 weeks in West Australia travelling in a very tiny campervan with my boyfriend Stef Hilder. The main aim of the trip was to improve my jumping after spending some time in Chile which was predominantly riding. When we first arrived we went straight to the Lancelin Ocean Classic, which was great to watch but as it was my first day, I chose not to enter the wave competition. I’d love to go back with a bit of experience of Lancelin to enter the wave event and also the downwinder if I have the right kit!

We then went straight to Coronation beach (North of Geraldton), where we spent most of the trip in-between hospital visits to Perth for Stef (a long story, read our blogs here: www.stefk782.co.uk and www.sarahk349.blogspot.com). Coronation was my favorite beach for the fun easy conditions which resembled a playground. Crumbly ramp after ramp increasing in size made it easy to practise lots of jumping with no consequences. My backloop attempts got better but I didn’t have enough time to end up landing one unfortunately.

We also spent some time at Margaret River, a heavy reef break which sounded and looked a lot more daunting than it was, (but still risky if you got it wrong!). I had a few sessions there getting used to the wave; a heavy barrel at first then a crumbly shoulder. I entered the Margaret River Wave competition which I was really pleased to win!

We also travelled to Esperance but didn’t score a session there. It was absolutely beautiful though and I’d love to go back and ride the crystal clear blue waves! Nor did we get Gnaraloo, which definitely means we have to go back!

The spots in Australia are very spread out, we drove our little camper over 7000km! The North was so different to the South, from 40+ degrees to about 18, but the distance between was more than the length of the UK so that was understandable!

The best parts of the trip had to be the warm, fun sailing with friends, and the social side of living in a van, and being completely flexible to go wherever you want! We were also both extremely lucky to get two heli rides over Perth and Margaret River and I had my first ever heli photo shoot which was so exciting and an incredible experience!

Thanks to my sponsors: Puravidaboardriders, K4 fins, Nolimitz masts, Simmer sails and C-Skins wetsuits.

You can read more about my trips and training at: www.sarahk349.blogspot.com