World Championships Of Surf Kayaking 2011

It all started for me when I was asked to join the England team earlier this year.  The months that followed we arranged the flights, car hire and accommodation in America.   The venue was at Nags Head on the Outer Banks of North Carolina and we flew into Washington DC from London Heathrow.  It was about a 7 and a half hour flight and after that we had to drive for about 6 hours to get to the house we were renting with some other people in the team.  Most of us were all on the same flight so we were all able to be around to help each other if it was needed.  We got to the house at about midnight on the 28th and got to bed about one.  We had about 6-7 hours of sleep and then everybody was moving around so we got up and met a couple of the team for the first time and then we all went down to the beach to see what the conditions were like.  That day was just going to be for getting used to the surf,  getting all the boats checked out to make sure they met all the rules, getting the judging stand set up and for all the competitors to get used to things.  The surf was very small but it was quite fun .  I went out for a couple of hours in both boats.  Later on, after the boat check in, we went off shopping to get lots of sun cream as it was extremely hot, in the 80s Fahrenheit, also some mosquito repellent as there were lots of them!  We all had to be back for the team parade in the evening and after that was a meal at the pier next to the competition site.

 

Next day was the first day of competing, round one of the team event which saw lots of good rides and placings for the England team.  I was in the junior short category with two others.  The surf was quite small that day and not that powerful but I had a couple of good rides and came second although I kept catching an edge which I think was partly because of nerves!  At the end of day one England were in 1st place and it was nice feeling that one had done something to help it get there.

 

Day two and round two of the team event, which was the semi finals, started with some quite nice surf.  It was a bit bigger than the days before and everybody went out for a surf before everything started and catching a wave was a matter of making sure that  you weren’t dropping in on anybody and then weaving your way around the surfers paddling out!  I was first heat on, in the junior long this time,  so after paddling in to get a bib I paddled out and waited for everybody who wasn’t competing to get off the water or to move out of the competition zone.  When it all started there were some fairly good sized waves coming through and they were the kind that I do best on so I was able to get some nice rides with lots of turns in.  I won the heat which I was very happy with as I had felt I had done well.  At the end of the day three teams moved in to the final,  England in first place, Basque in second and the US West team in third.

 

Day three the individual event started and I was competing in the junior short and long.  But I wasn’t going to be surfing in the long boat that day as it was going straight to a semi final.  I was not on till the end of the day in the short boat so I had all day to watch people surfing.  There were some very good waves surfed and some big moves scored.  In the men’s short lots of people were going for big moves off the lip like airs and pan-ams.  At last my heat came up and we got on the water.  I think we had some of the best waves of the day.  There were quite a few big ones coming through and some really nice rides to be had.  I had a couple and then I had a bit of trouble catching the waves so I didn’t have that many but I did well enough to come 2nd which was good enough to advance me into the semi finals.

 

Day four of the competition started and it looked like I wasn’t going to be surfing that day as all I had left were the semi finals of the junior long and the junior short and they wanted to do all of the semi finals on one day if they could.  But it was nice to have a drive around the area and to watch everybody surfing.

 

Day five and I was in the junior short first.  The surf was getting a bit bigger and I had some really nice rides and actually managed to get an air but failed to land it so it didn’t score that well.  I came third which wasn’t good enough to get me into the final which was a shame but I felt that I had surfed well so I wasn’t too disappointed.   Later on I was in the junior long and again I had a couple of nice rides but only came third and didn’t make it into the final.  This left me in 5th place over all in the juniors.

But there is always next time!!

 

Day six was the Team finals and the Teams in it were, England, US West and the Basque.

It was a very exciting day watching all the surfers compete and the level of surfing was very good.  At the end of the day the Basque team were in first place with England in second and US West in third.

 

Day seven the wind had changed direction so the surf was different for the individual finals and it looked like it wasn’t easy work.  I think everybody was pushing themselves a lot and it was nice to have a good place to watch them (being on the pier).  Everybody did very well – full results are to be found here.

http://www.worldchampionshipsofsurfkayaking.com/2011/10/07/victory-at-sea-full-individual-results/

 

Day eight we had a fun ‘iron man’ comp’ in which you had heats of about four and the one with the most impressive wave moved on to another heat.  It carried on like that until you had only two left and they surfed against each other for first place and Jorge from Argentina won.  The awards and closing ceremony were that evening and it was very nice as actually they took place just across the road from where we were staying!  Everybody had a good time and several people got thrown in the swimming pool!

 

The next day was our last day at the comp’ site as we and most of the England Team were flying back home on the tenth.  So we drove around and had a relaxing day in preparation for the long drive to Washington DC airport and then the flight back.

 

Next day we got up fairly early having about a six hour drive to the airport and we got there with plenty of time to spare, which was nice.  After a seven hour flight and collecting our kayaks we then went out to find our car and to find that it was very windy, cold and overcast.  A big difference from the 75 degrees Fahrenheit and clear skies that we had in America!

We all had a good time and I for one am looking forward to hopefully going to the next Worlds which are being held in Australia on the Sunshine coast.

Congratulations to the Basque Team for winning this years Worlds!