“ If you don ' t live near the beach you miss too many opportunities to get on the water” opportunity I ' d missed during non-wind windsurfing days. I competed in my first race at the NWF( National Watersports Festival) in early September 2012 – about six weeks later.
I couldn ' t believe what an awesome
“ If you don ' t live near the beach you miss too many opportunities to get on the water” opportunity I ' d missed during non-wind windsurfing days. I competed in my first race at the NWF( National Watersports Festival) in early September 2012 – about six weeks later.
I always deny I ' m competitive. I ' ll admit I like to push myself, against myself. But I guess from the first time I paddled a race board I knew that was for me. At that time I had just completed a year of cycle road racing in the Surrey Women ' s Team which was a fantastic opportunity. But with no age grouping and having to really work hard to compete I guess I found SUP racing a whole lot less dangerous, plus really enjoyable and rewarding.
I don ' t mind solo training and for me chucking the board on the truck and hitting the water is pretty simple. Not a lot of fuss and you ' re out there. Bliss! Teaching people new to the sport is something else I really enjoy. This followed on from the racing and so I set up SUP4LIFE. I ' d love more opportunity to teach SUP fitness but realistically in our climate it ' s fairly limited. Paddle surfing is next! I ' m working on this. It ' s definitely something I enjoy, but I have a long way to go. I definitely want to have a good crack at it.
I ' m a bit of a cycling nut, both road and mountain biking. I ' m definitely now also a Strava bore, but I do find Strava is a great motivational tool. The bike work is important for cardio and I know gives me leg strength. I find during races my legs work really hard. A bike training partner of mine came to one of my SUP races and couldn ' t believe how much I was panting. The two sports are very closely linked in my opinion and complement each other very well. I teach spinning and practise Yoga also. And I ' ll get back to swimming once my shoulder improves.
I used to love pole fitness, but not sure my shoulder can take it anymore! We moved to Hayling Island for the windsurfing, which has for most of my life been my true passion sport. If you don ' t live near the beach you miss too many opportunities to get on the water.
My shoulder injury, and getting it put right, means I ' m only just back paddling proper. I ' m teaching on Fanatic Fly Air Premium 10’ 4s. They ' re a great board for beginners and an all round neat bit of kit. I have a Fanatic Falcon Flatwater 12 ' 6 X 24 " and use Fanatic Carbon Pro paddles. I sold my Fanatic Allwave and Open Ocean Falcon 12 ' 6 x 24 " just before Xmas last year.
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