Gower Madness Surf Competition 2012

 

Over the couple of days leading up to the Gower Madness surf competition the weather and surf weren’t looking very nice but on the Thursday before, it was decided that it would run.  It was planned that the comp site would be at Rhossilli beach and we would all meet at the car park on the top of the cliffs.

We travelled up to the Gower on Friday afternoon in fairly good weather but it was very windy.  When we got there, 5/6 hours later, the sun had come out and it was a lovely evening.  After setting up the tents we went for a walk along the coast to the competition site.  The surf looked really big and horrible, the wind was blowing onshore and just making it a big mess.

After an early night and a good sleep we got up in the morning to find that the wind had dropped as the forecast had predicted but it was still pretty strong.  We drove to the comp site and the waves looked a lot smaller than the day before but still not very nice.  When everybody had arrived we had a brief and we all started to carry our boats down the cliff.  It is a long walk down and I had to do it a couple of times as I had two boats and my kit as well.

 

The first heats on were the Men’s Open Short and my heats weren’t on till later on in the afternoon.  I helped judge a couple of heats and sat around and watched until it was time to get on the water.  My first heat was the Junior Short final.  The tide had gone out a fair way by now so we had quite a walk to the waters edge.  This was my second competition in my new boat and I hadn’t got fully comfortable in it yet so I wasn’t sure how well I was going to do.  I had some nice waves, though, and I really appreciated how fast it was compared to my old one!  At the end of the heat, which was 15 minutes long, I had no idea of how well I had done.  I felt I’d had a couple of good waves but compared to everybody else, I had no idea.

My next heat was the Junior Long final and it was decided that the top two would go through to the Men’s Open Long semi-final but I had quite awhile to wait before I was on again.  I helped judge again and then I stood on the beach taking advantage of the break to have a bite to eat and a drink.  Then I was on again and I thought I hadn’t done too badly. I have never felt that the long boat is my strong point but I was happy with what I had done.  I carried my boat all the way back up the beach as I thought I probably wasn’t in the top two only to find out a couple of minutes later that I was!  So, in a couple of heats time, I would have to carry my boat all the way to the water again for the semi-final of the Men’s Long and the tide had gone out a long way!

I didn’t do so well in the Men’s Long semi and I came 4^th, which wasn’t good enough to get me into the final.

It was time to get changed and start taking my boats up to the car park.  By the time I had got halfway up the cliff path it felt like my arms were dropping off!  After several rest stops to change my grip I got to the top and got all my kit in the car and my boats on the roof rack.

There was quite a wait for the prize giving, as everybody had to get up the cliff and get changed.  Finally though, the time came to find out how well I had done.  I came 2^nd in the Junior Long and 1^st in the Junior Short, which was great and made the trek up and down the cliff really worth it!

We decided that we would travel back home that day, as we didn’t really want to pay another lot of camping fees so we packed up and left.  The journey back was really horrible.  It was raining very heavily and the wind got up a bit as well so we were glad that we hadn’t stayed another night in the tents!

I’m really pleased with my results, a few weeks before the comp I was wondering if it was worth going all the way up to Wales but in the end it was definitely worth it!