The 2013 World Championships Of Surf Kayaking – Australia. « Palm Equipment Team Blog | The place to keep in touch with Team Palm and the latest canoeing and kayaking news.

The 2013 World Championships Of Surf Kayaking – Australia.

posted by James Gossan on 2013.09.16, under Whitewater

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I had been looking forward to and preparing for the World Championships of surf kayaking for the past two years. Ever since I came 5^th at the worlds in 2011 in North Carolina and found out that the next World Championships was going to be held in Australia. I knew from the start that it would be hard job raising all the money needed to go but in the end I managed it. It was a close run thing though, I wasn’t sure I was going until about 3-4 months before it all started. I found a reasonably priced ticket just before Easter and decided to go out to Australia for 1 month. The competition was only ran for about 2 weeks so I went out 2 weeks before it all started so I could get over jet lag and get used to the breaks we would be surfing on. Back in 2011 I arrived only a few days before the worlds and I definitely didn’t do as well as I could have done so I was determined not to make the same mistake twice!

In the weeks preparing for the worlds I searched for ways to take two surf kayaks with me but in the end I found that it would cost way too much and in the end just took one with me as my checked in baggage. I was flying out from London Heathrow, through Dubai and Melbourne before arriving at my final destination, Brisbane. The flight from London to Dubai was only 6 hours long and as my flight was late arriving I went straight on to my next flight. This one wasn’t as short! It was a 12 hour nonstop flight through to Melbourne which was very interesting! It was hard to sit still for so long and as I don’t sleep that much on planes I watched several films and listened to a lot of music. When I got to Melbourne I had to collect my kayak and all my baggage and check it in for my domestic flight. While I was waiting for my kayak to arrive in the large baggage department I met a very friendly chap who was emigrating from Ireland to Australia. We helped each other out with our kit and it was great to have someone to talk to while waiting for my next flight. I got to Brisbane and I had to wait for awhile before the chap who I was sharing transport with arrived to pick me up.

I had arrived at 10.15 in the morning and as I walked out of the terminal I realized I was in for a nice time. It was so hot compared to England! One wanted to stay in the cooler places as much as was possible. As soon as I was picked up we headed straight to the beaches and within two hours was surfing a sucky point break with 40 board surfers, 10 kayak surfers and about 15 surf skis. It was busy! After that I headed out for something to eat and then for that night crashed out in my friends van. The next day we headed to another point break called Moffats and had a great time. In the afternoon I looked up and found a backpackers that had some room before heading out to the shops to get some essentials and some food. I stayed at that backpackers for several weeks and then moved and shared accommodation for the final weeks with someone who had come over from Wales for the Worlds. This worked out very well, we had a good time and it ended up cheaper as well. The next week or so went by in similar bliss. Getting up early and getting a 2-3 hour surf in before the breaks got crowded, get off the water and either go looking around the local area or just sit and sun bath.

In my time before the worlds I surfed a fair few different breaks. I got quite a few lifts with Darren Bason one of the organizers so I got to surf some of the breaks that were further away from where I was staying more often than I would have otherwise. I also got to see what lengths they were going to organize it which was good. It was a great place to hold the worlds. Everyone was very friendly, and most people were into some sport or another. Surfing was really popular but a lot of people had never seen a surf kayak before! I had people coming up to me as I walked up the beach and asking what it was I was doing. I had been expecting everything to be extremely expensive as lots of people had been warning me but I found that although most things were more expensive than back home one could keep an eye out for things on sale that made it all a bit cheaper. Also there were a few cheaper restaurants around that were ok. There was one Chinese that I’m sure used one kind of meat for all the Lamb and Pork dishes and just tried to disguise it in different sources! There were also lots of BBQs around the beaches that one could just go and use for free which was very useful.

Towards the competition dates the rest of the England Team started to arrive and unfortunately the surf and weather started to deteriorate. On the registration day it was the first time all the contestants had been in the same place at the same time so it was great to see how many had come from all around the world, including Japan, America, Canada, Portugal and many others. Quite a few people had booked into a resort further up the coast which meant that when free surfing one didn’t get to see them. The first day was a separate competition called the ‘Gath Shootout’. The way it was run was that everyone had a heat of 15 minutes and one surfed like usual but when one had a ride which was the best one thought one would get in that heat they would raise their paddles to claim it. Then at the end of the heat the scores for each paddler would be compared and the top two would go through like in the usual competitions. It was a good way to make sure that everybody was familiar with the flag systems and that everything worked ok. There were quite a few swimmers that day as the surf was pretty powerful but everyone was ok in the end.

For the first few days of the World Championships it was decided that they would run the first few heats of the individual competition. Mainly the Men’s HP as there were a lot of entrants. The way it was run was that in the first round the person who came first went through to the 3^rd round and the rest went through to the 2^nd round. This meant that everybody surfed in at least 2 heats which was great as it meant that the ones who didn’t get through wouldn’t have gone all the way to oz just for one heat. All the heats were hard and the level of surfing from everyone was very high. In my heat I had a fellow England Team paddler, actually he was from the same club as me so I had to make sure I beat him! When the heat came we went down and the surf was a good size, pretty heavy and not very clean. One couldn’t have very long rides and I didn’t think I had done very well but to my surprise I had won my heat! That meant I was through to round 3 which was great.

In the Men’s IC I didn’t do quite as well which was a surprise but I have a good excuse! In my first heat I did reasonably well getting a 3^rd place which meant I was through to the 2^nd round. In the second round I got another 3^rd place which was not good enough to move into the next round. In that heat I couldn’t use the boat I usually would so I borrowed one of the demo boats and it was horrible. The hull flexed all over the place and it just didn’t want to surf at all! I think that possibly had I had a boat I was used to I would have got further. But, that’s how things go! It was a disappointing finish in that class as I knew I could have surfed a lot better but my later performance in the HP class certainly made up for it.

The first few rounds of the Individual competition and the Team event were held at Alex beach, It presented a great judging and viewing platform and I got quite a few photo’s while it was held there. Unfortunately though they didn’t have permission to run it there any longer than a few days so we had to move on to another beach. This was called Moffats and was a point break which meant that there were a few rocks one had to be careful not to miss and there wasn’t much of a lip to hit at the end of one’s rides. The 3^rd round of the individual Men’s HP was run here and in this round the top 3 would go through to the quarter finals. I was fairly confident that I would get through and although I didn’t feel I had done that well I came 3^rd so I was through to the quarters! This was great as I hadn’t expected to get this far as I had gone out mainly for the Junior classes so it was great to know that I wasn’t that far off the Men’s level of performance for my step up next year. My quarter final was really hard. By this time only the best paddlers were still in and I had the one I had thought had a good chance of winning the worlds. Plus 2 other really good paddlers. The surf was dropping off a bit when we paddled out. I had a really good wave at the beginning but that wave seemed to be the last of the bigger sets and I had to settle for several smaller waves after that. It was the top 2 to go through to the semi final and I was pretty happy with what I had done, but I had no idea of how everyone else had paddled but it was paramount to place ahead of another England team paddler who was in my heat as I knew him quite well. The scores were added up and then written onto the board and low and behold I had come 1^st! A really excellent result that I was not expecting. So I was through to the semi finals and when the heats were drawn up I had some really hard competition. The surf for the semi was not very good but I caught a few waves but I wasn’t happy with what I had done and I wasn’t too surprised when I came 4^th. It was still a great result as it meant I now have a ranking of number 7 in the world. Which isn’t bad!

It was decided that all the Finals would be run on one day at Mooloolaba right at the end. That day the surf was quite small but it had enough power in it to be quite nice. My 2 finals the Junior HP and IC were towards the middle of the days surfing. I got ready and was fairly confident that I would do reasonably well. In the IC I had a good time but I wasn’t sure if I had done enough as I felt that I had stayed too far from the pocket most of the time so it was a bit nerve racking as I waited for the prize giving when we would find out the results. In the HP I had a couple of good waves but I didn’t think I had done enough to win.

The end of the day finally came and everything was set up for the prize giving. I was very tense as the results were read out and everyone went up to get their medal and Koala Bear. At last they came to the Juniors and they started with the IC. They read the results from 4^th place up to 1^st and it was a great feeling to have my name called out last… I was the 2013 Junior IC World Champion! I had a really big smile on as I went up to receive my medal. It was a great feeling to have all the training pay off and to realized that all the thousands spent to get me to where I was, was worthwhile. In the Junior HP I got second place which I was happy with. It would have been nice to get 2 titles but I was definitely happy with just one! A couple of other England paddlers got 3^rd and 4^th places which was great.

In the first round of the Team event I was surfing in the Men’s HP and the Junior IC. My Junior IC heat went well with me winning my heat and my Men’s HP heat went well as well with me coming 2^nd which was what was needed. Everybody did well with nearly everyone placing in the top 2. By the end of the round it was the Jersey Team which was knocked out and the Teams that were looking the strongest were the Basque, Australian and of course England. In the next round I was in the Junior IC and the Men’s IC I got a second place in the Junior class which I was a bit surprised about but as I had tried something different I decided to revert to my original surfing style for the next round. In the Men’s class I won my heat which was good. At the end of round 2 it was the Americans who were dropped and the final consisted of the Basque who were looking very strong and the Australians who were showing they could put together a very strong team, and of course us the English!

The final was run on one of the last days in some interesting conditions. It was quite big and gnarly to start with and then as the tide rose it got a bit friendlier. I was in the Men’s IC and the Junior IC and I won both my heats despite having a swim in the Men’s heat! It was my first unintentional swim in years! I was borrowing someone’s boat and I was a very lose fit in it. I was on a big wave and then as I bottom turned I went straight down and got completely sucked out of the boat. At least there wasn’t much I could do about it… The team final was very tight. Coming in to the last couple of heats the Australians were not really in a position to win but between us (the English) and the Basque it was pretty tight. It went down right to the last heat but the Basque had one of their best paddlers in it and in the end we had to settle for another 2^nd place with the Basque winning for a 2^nd time in a row. Well done to the Australians for getting 3^rd as it was the first time they had entered a team.

It had been a great event, well organized and it was in a great place so I’m glad it was allowed to be run in Australia. I was heading back home the day after it all finished which was a shame as I would have loved to stay longer but my budget controlled how long I could stay for! My flight back was from Brisbane to London Gatwick via Dubai and my flight from Brisbane to Dubai was 14 hours long! By the time the flight had finished I was getting pretty fed up of sitting down and of flying in general! I had a bit of a wait before my next flight so I had time to stretch my legs which was good. After another 6 hour flight I was back in the UK. I arrived to nicer weather than that which I had left in Australia! I’m sure that it’s not supposed to be that way around! Anyway, it was a great trip with great results both for the team and for me individually. Roll on the next worlds! It hasn’t been decided yet where it’ll be held but I hope it goes to Spain which is one of the possibilities. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people/organisations who made my trip to Australia and consequently me winning the Junior IC World Championship possible. Thanks to the Penzance Canoe Club and the Lords Lieutenant Fund for help funding the trip, Palm for providing me with the kit to win in (!) and a special thanks to Andy McColough for sharing his transport with me, spending a lot of his time with me making sure I could get to the surf to get enough practice in and in general being a great friend. I’m not sure if I would have done quite so well if he hadn’t been there.