9th place at PWA Holland DAM7!

So after being pretty slack on here for the past 6 months I thought it was about time to get back into keeping this page a bit more updated. After feeling pretty excited about my result from the last event in Holland this finally gave me some motivation to start writing again.

Being the first PWA event in Holland for a long time it was great to go somewhere and have no pre conceptions about the event or conditions etc. I drove over there together with Gollito and Josh Willmot from Blacklab. It only took us three hours to get to Brouwersdam from Calais so its pretty feasible to head there from the UK on a good forecast. The forecast for the event was a bit all over the place at the start of the week but it help up and gave us some pretty epic conditions, I was praying for it to be mega windy 4.0 weather as thats when i felt I could do my best. I ended up sailing all my heats on the new 4.4 North Idol ltd which after seeing the full power conditions that some of the guys had to sail in wasn't a bad compromise at all....  For the finals of the single elimination it must of already been around 40kts and once they were done with that they decided to run the first round of the double elimination and by this time it was much nearer 50kts!! Luckily enough for me I'd advanced far enough in the single to be waiting in the third round of the double for my heat. I was sat in the van watching together with Bubble and all though we had both been praying for full power conditions we were pretty happy to be sat in the van as some of the guys were struggling to land more than a couple of moves!!

The following day the conditions were a lot more bearable and I was back out on my 4.4! After beating Yarden Meir who's one of my favourite guys on tour to watch sail as you never know whats coming next I then went on to face Niko Agkazicyan in the battle for 9th place. I'd never beaten Niko before so I knew I was going to have to sail my best to stand a chance! I was reading all the messages of encouragement from the boys in Vass in between my heats and this got me feeling more focused and relaxed than I've ever felt in a heat before. Feeling that relaxed meant that I went on to sail one of my best heats of the contest and it was a very close decision but I just managed to edge past him. After that I was up against Youp Schmit again another top sailor! This time I think I should of gone into the heat with a bit more belief that I could go further, the excitement of already being 9th distracted me from what I needed to do to beat Youp. He sailed unbelievably and went on to finish the event in 5th.

Overall I'm really happy with the result, especially as it almost guarantees me a spot in the top 16 for this year. The top 16 is so tight this year that it wasnt quite enough to move me up any further but fingers crossed if I get another good result in the next event in Sylt I will be able to discard my 16th place from Fuerteventura! For the moment its actually nice to be spending a week at home so I can chill out a bit before the next contest. We've even had some sick conditions here! Check out this Skopu clip from the other day at The Ray in Southend!

Single Elimination

Double Elimination

NEW Brazil video.

Check out my latest clip from a trip I did to Brazil in October/November. Really pleased with the reaction to the clip so far and its great to finally have a new video which I didn't have to scrape around looking for the best clips. Luckily it was windy everyday and we did plenty of filming so there was more than enough footage. Massive thanks to Josh Wilmot from Blacklab who did an amazing job with the editing and also to everyone that helped film especially Bethany Mercer. More news from my current trip to Cape Town on here soon.

NEW video.

Make sure you click on 1080p HD in the settings bar!!

Back home...

Jay Haysey/ www.globalshots.co.uk

Not exactly at home but I've been in England now for the past couple of weeks after yet another awesome summer out in Vass. After a tough draw in the PWA event in Fuerteventura I ended in 17th place and then quickly headed back to Vass for August. Once again I really had a great time out there and this year the wind has been even better which obviously helps a bit but really the team we had working out there this summer made the biggest difference. Check out the Vass edition of my monthly feature I write for Boardseeker- http://www.boardseekermag.com/features/windsurfing-action/the-ultimate-year-august.html

Jay Haysey / www.globalshots.co.uk

At first I wasn't exactly excited by the prospect of heading home but when I started writing my following months feature for Boardseeker based on the UK I started to remember what it was all about. So far it hasn't disappointed either; OK so maybe its not been quite as windy in September as the last two years but still its been pretty good. The first stop after Vass was the National Windsurfing Festival (NWF) Together with Colin "Whippy" Dixon we had a quick stop over at my house before rushing down there the following morning. It truly was another EPIC event, it was great to see so many windsurfers around and on the water. Its events like this we need to keep our sport going/growing and a massive thanks has to go out to the man behind it all Allan Cross.

www.2xs.co.uk

Unfortunately I couldn't retain my title of the night tow-in champion at NWF and was pipped to a close 2nd by good friend Adam Sims. As for the main event we didn't quite get enough wind in our allocated time slot to get a planing competition finished. It was a hectic weekend for me as along with the competing I was also commentating/ Interviewing for the Live Streaming side of the event. Again I was paired up with Colin "Whippy" Dixon for this one and we really had a great time doing it.

Pic by Dave White.

Check out my top UK spots in this Months Boardseeker feature- http://www.boardseekermag.com/features/windsurfing-action/the-ultimate-year-september.html  

Jay Haysey / www.globalshots.co.uk

I've been sailing at West Wittering four times in the last week in preparation for the 5th stop of the UKWA freestyle tour that will head there next weekend. After that I'm off to Sylt for the final PWA event of the season, fingers crossed for some wind this year. I worked out a funny statistic the other day that out the 21 days I've spent there in the last two years I've only sailed 1 heat with a total time on the water of 12 minutes!!!

www.2xs.co.uk

Not often you get the conditions to go for Backies in Vass!!! Cheers to Scott Perry for this shot.

Spring 2012!

JC/PWA

 After being pretty on it with updating my blog I’ve fell into a bit of a dry spell over the last few months. Since my last update in March time I’ve been to a PWA event, my first ever international photo shoot, driven round France, Spain and Portugal for a month and am now sat back in Vassiliki! 

The tow in event for me consisted of two massive wipeouts!! JC/PWA

 The first PWA event in Austria was a frustrating one for me this year, we only had enough to wind to run a single elimination in very tricky conditions leaving me in 17^th place to start the year off.

 Straight from Austria I travelled to Egypt for the Fanatic/ North 2013 photo shoot. It was an amazing experience and is best summarised in this article I did for Boards about my time there. http://boards.mpora.com/features/high-rollers-and-new-shapes.html

Now the reason I haven’t updated about my recent trip around Europe is because I’m saving the story + pics for the printed press so didn’t want to risk giving too much away.  Within the next couple of weeks I’ll try to get the video online! Also most of the pics I've got I'm using the 2013 board which wont be released until July 15th!

Burner in Sagres, Portugal

Ok so back to the present and I’ve been out in Vassiliki now for the last two weeks working again for Club Vass. It’s been great to come back out here for what will be my sixth summer. The wind has been awesome as well and it’s been great to catch up with all my mates. Jay Haysey from Globalshots fame is back out here again this summer and he took this shot of me doing a Burner the other day.

Jay Haysey- Globalshots.co.uk

I also competed in the Vassiliki watersweets festival slalom event out here the other week and managed to finish in 3rd. Was great fun to do some racing as I rarely get the chance, might have to order some slalom gear for next summer!

Hopefully getting back in the swing of updating and keep an eye out for more regular updates to follow as I’m off to the PWA event in Fuerteventura  in the next few weeks.

Cape Town- Video+pics

CAPE TOWN!

Just got back from an amazing first time trip to Cape Town!! Honestly in the past when considering winter wave trips I've always been more drawn to the Idyllic perceptions of places such as Maui or Oz, however when the news came out that the PWA Vietnam event had been pushed back to December and the realisation that a lot of my friends and top freestylers would be out there it seemed like a no brainer to just head straight out to Cape Town! After hardly any planning, no car booked, no idea where I was staying and a very relaxing 12 hour flight there I was! Luckily my 3.7 had arrived hours before I was due to fly and just a few hours after landing I was already out sailing on it.

First thing you'll probably notice when looking through some of the video + pics is the massive lack of any waves!! Don't worry I didn't go all the way there to sail on the lake everyday its just not very often I get the chance to sail any waves so the thought of wasting time videoing seemed a bit dull! Plus the actions probably not quite the same level as the freestyle stuff....
Thanks to Debbie Kennedy for the shots I did get in the waves.

The month went so fast but I feel like I got the most out of it! Ticked most the boxes for all the normal tourist attractions such a climbing the mountain, wine tasting, penguins, monkeys etc!

One of things I was most excited about was getting the chance to surf again! Since buying my board seven years ago I've very rarely had the chance to get out on it. Found myself waking up most mornings more excited about the thought of getting for a surf rather than heading to the lake. Unfortunately again no action shots from the surfing as just after Andraz took this shot it started pissing with rain!! Probably for the best during this session as it would probably be better described as a "swim with a board attached to my leg" rather than a "surf"..

I definitely felt my level in sailing both freestyle and wave improved a lot! With the freestyle it helped a lot having all the top guys around. With the freestyle the main things I've been focusing on this winter is getting more consistent at the switch power moves such as Air funnels and Burners! Feeling pretty confident now after doing almost nothing else!!



All in all an amazing trip and I'm pretty certain that I'll be heading back out next year.
Massive thanks to Andraz Zan for sorting the accommodation, car etc and for the Pictures. Also Ollie Stau (the flash master) and Ricart for the other shots! Should mention Bubble, Rob P and Sam Neal for driving me around the first week. Cheers guys!

Brazil video!

Had an amazing first week in Cape Town! But mack to the previous trip- Brazil! The Fanatic/North/ION video fro the trip is now out. Filmed mainly by me and then edited by Josh Wilmott who has done an amazing job! Check it out.....

Team Fanatic & North in Brazil from Josh Willmot on Vimeo.

More news from Cape Town coming soon!

Happy New Year!!!

So since my last update after leaving Jeri I headed to Icaraizinho for the Club Ventos press trip. We had an awesome week and got to do loads of cool stuff including suping through the mangroves and some bull cart racing! Luckily we were just spectating the racing as it looked pretty dangerous. I had visited Icarai last year and had forgotten how amazing it was, I was definitely regretting not spending more of the trip there! We also got the chance to do a Heli-shoot which was pretty exciting! I had no idea how close the chopper was going to be and on one occasion had to bail from a ponch attempt because I thought I was going to hit it!! Unfortunately I cant reveal all the pictures yet as the magazines containing the shots are yet to go to print. Try not to laugh watching this poor dog get mowed down by one of the carts! Luckilly he was alright!!


I'm lucky enough when I get home that I can jump straight into some restaurant work over the Christmas period. The 60+ hours a week has kept me busy enough but I have still managed to get out on the water a couple of times! My new ION winter gear was waiting for me at home and its been relatively mild so no excuses. The most interesting session were the two absolutely howling days last week, possibly the windiest two days I've ever sailed. The first was at the Ray, Southend with Reece and Whitey. I was ridiculously over powered on 4.2 but I wasnt the only one as Whitey was attempting to sail a 6.2 with his 63ltr speed needle, he gave up in the end and settled for sharing Reece's 4.2 and 95 freewave and he still got 37kts on that!!!!

The next session which is where the pictures were taken was from a few days later at our local spot Point Clear. I'd woken up late and Whitey was there already waiting to get a few shots so I rushed out on 4.2 as it felt windy. You cant see the water from where you rig so I got a massive shock as I was nearly blown over attempting to walk down into the water. I did two runs max. before deciding that an 89ltr was far too big and quickly ran in to get my wave board. To be honest in the gusts I was still struggling to even go along in a straight line comfortably. It all made a bit more sense when Whitey jumped on my 72 twin and flew off the beach!! All in all a few interesting sessions to keep me entertained before the next trip!
Talking about the next trip I had a bit of a last minute change of plans. We were expecting the first event to be Vietnam in March, however once the PWA calendar arrived Narm had been re scheduled for December!! Happy days this meant I had enough time + money for the moment to justify a trip to Cape Town. So without hesitating the next day I was already booked up for a month from the 23rd Jan. Very excited as I've never been on a proper wave trip before so it should be interesting!! So my next update will be from there!
Cheers to the Whites and Bethany for the pictures!

Jeri done for another year!

Coming back to Jeri now for the third year in a row I knew exactly what to expect and once again it didn't let me down! Just 4.2 & 4.7 and I probably could of got planing everyday in the last 5 weeks. I've been a bit slack on updating on here as I haven't had internet in the house which to be honest has been a nice change. Also when its windy everyday there didn't seem to be much more to say other than ohh windy again! The level on the water has been ridiculous as well with 10 of the top 20 in the PWA all here at one point!

A few weeks ago we had an awesome trip to Camocim which is a river mouth two hours way. I don't think its possible to find a flatter spot! I visited there last year for two days and it was epic so decided to go back for four days, which is probably about as long as I'd like to spend there. The sailing is amazing but there's not much to do compared to Jeri, its a small city and I think we must of been the only gringos in town as we were getting lots of funny looks! It was nice to get some new combos on the super flat water. Some of the local kids from the spot are absolutely ripping as well which was great to see.

Apart from that and a day trip to Lagoa Azul the majority of the trips been in Jeri. This year we rented a house that was a bit further out of town but we got a great deal on it and I would recommend doing that to anyone who's considering going for more than a few weeks as you can save loads of money compared to staying in a pousada!

I've been working on a few video projects whilst I've been here so there should be some clips on the way soon!

Fortunately the trips not quite over yet as I've just arrived in Icaraizinho for the Club Ventos press trip. I'll spend the next four days here before heading home to sunny England. There's some exciting stuff planned with the potential of a Heli-shoot which could be entertaining!

Sorry for the lack of pictures but the Internets just too slow...

New video!

England

So since my last update from Sylt I didn’t really expect to report on that much windsurfing action until I got to Brazil. As it happens I’m writing this on the plane from Rio De Jeneiro to Fortaleza where im flying into before spending 6 weeks in Jericoacoara.

Surprisingly enough I’ve had loads of time on the water whilst I’ve been at home. I’ve even managed to compile a video with all my footage of sailing at home from September until now. This is a first for me, as I’ve never had enough clips from home to warrant making a video. Could be to do with the amount of time I’ve spent there over the last few years! But now with more events going on at home and having to travel from home to go to events I’ve definitely been spending a bit more time there.

The main spot featured in the video is Point Clear, St Oysth, Essex. It’s not a spot I sailed once whilst I was growing up but after getting to know Whitey ( Dave White ) he couldn’t understand why anyone would bother going anywhere else. So I checked it out a few years ago, I rarely sail anywhere else if I’m at home. It is amazing as far as flat-water freestyle spots go. The rest of the footage is from the south coast whilst I was down there for the competitions. Big thanks to everyone at West Wittering as they’ve been extremely accommodating in letting us sail there and helping out with photographers etc. Check out www.2xs.co.uk yet another amazing spot. The best day we had there I sailed on the waves at high tide with some epic jumping conditions before the tide dropped to reveal the freestyle “trench”. The other main spot is the Esso Garage on Hayling Island.

Anyway so I hope you enjoyed the video! There will be another one coming very soon after this trip.

Right so by the time I post this I will have hopefully of had my first session in Jeri. I’ve only packed my 4.2 & 4.7 as every time before I’ve never ended up using my 5.0. Board wise I’ve got the Skate 89 and Newave twin 72 so better hope its windy!!!

PWA Sylt 2011

No wind at all for the final PWA event of the year in Sylt! Not even enough to complete one round of waves, freestyle or Slalom. Definitely the contrast to the conditions we normally get on Sylt it as it was sunny all week. I made the road trip down together with Bubble and Bryan Metcalf Perez and we had fully loaded the van with three suitcases full of the warmest clothes we owned ready for the trip!

Even though there was no wind the event organiser put on a few tow in sessions to entertain the thousands of people watching on the beach. Unfortunately for me its pretty difficult to get your name on the list to compete in these and I just missed out on the first one. Lucky enough for me on the second one they let a few more people get involved. I have been training the tow in a fair bit over the last few weeks so was stoked to get a chance to do it. I didn't get through to the final but still had a good go at a Burner but forgot that you cant turn out 540 if you haven't got any wind in the sail!!!


Unfortunately the conditions got harder as the tow in went on and the PWA decided to reduce the fleet back down to 12 people as it made the show faster!!! There was a great buzz about the tow in because of the weather maybe the beaches were even more crowded than normal it put on a great show for everyone! There were definitely more people watching than if it had been 5.7 weather onshore and raining and the moves were probably more spectacular!!

The rest of the week was mainly filled with a lot of waiting around and a fair bit of partying! Back in England now and the forecast looks pretty good. Hopefully going to the south coast for the next few days then back to Essex for the weekend!!!

This means I finish the year in 19th overall which is ok but not as good as I was hoping! Would have been great even to finish a single elimination as I would of been able to discard my 25th place from Aruba! Pretty happy still considering the level on the tour at the moment. Just booked my flights to Brazil for 6 weeks at the end of October so hopefully with a bit more training I can get in the top 16 overall next year.

My results for the PWA season were.

15th Vietnam
9th Austria
13th Bonnaire
25th Aruba
17th Fuerteventura




Pics by JC/PWA

1st place UK freestyle championships, Poole

Managed my first ever event win this weekend at the Poole windfest. It was great to finally have wind at the event as the name has plagued it for the last several years! We got in three full rounds of competition in 20-25 knot winds. I took the win in the first round and then 2nd in the following two rounds which was enough to take the event. I was neck and neck with Bubble before the third round as we both had a 1st and a 2nd, fair play to Sims who was sailing well and beat me on a split decision to get the win in that round.
I think the week of wind before definitely helped me get into the groove of the UK conditions. The first day I was sailing on my 5.0 & 5.4 ID's on the skate 99 which was a great set up even in the gusty choppy conditions. On the second day it was a bit windier with some more swell about. Nik Baker was out in the morning doing some wave 360's!!!! I was using the Skate 89 and my 4.7 ID all day which has to be my favourite set up at the moment.

Unfortunately I couldnt make it to all the events this year which meant I finished in 3rd in the overalls. Well Done to Sims for taking 1st and Bubble in 2nd. Hopefully next year I will be able to get to a few more!
The wind has still been relentless in England and I've been out the last few days full powered on 4.2. Ive started getting into the starboard tack jumping a bit more now so thats been fun. Also I had the best freestyle session ever at West Wittering the other day in the trench with loads of guys there that stayed down after the competition. I think the only spot that rivals how good it was is Camocim in Brazil and that's only cause you dont need a wetsuit!!!!! Lots of it is on Camera as well so hopefully the video will be coming soon.
Thanks to
Josh Wilmott
Gary Mercer
Bethany Mercer
Trevor & Carole Hibdige

For the pictures!

Check out Josh Wilmotts Video of the weekend!

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