10 COLUMN ZARA & PETE DAVIS
DAVIS
LOWDOWN
WINDSURFING ACCORDING
TO PETE AND ZARA DAVIS
Pete:
Since last issue both Zara
and myself have been to
Luderitz in Namibia. Zara
managed to win back her
women’s 500m world
speed record, which is
fantastic. I just wanted to
say how proud I am of her
achievements, she works
very hard and it’s fantastic
she’s reaping the rewards.
One of my very pleasurable
responsibilities with the UKWA
is organising the annual nominations and voting for the UKWA
‘Windsurfer of the Year’. We are extremely lucky to have a real
depth of windsurfing talent here in the UK. This does make it
tough to pick the nominees from slalom, speed, wave, freestyle
and racing. Nomination alone is highly regarded.
The award has been running for over 20 years and is highly
desirable especially as you can only win it once! 2017/18’s
quality line up that went on to the public vote to decide who
lifts this prestigious trophy, was no exception.
Ross Williams (slalom): without doubt our most successful
slalom racer of all time. Jim Crossley (speed): the quiet
speedster who is one of the fastest windsurfers in the world.
Adam Lewis (wave): number five in the world and lifted the
sword at Tiree this year. Nik Hibdige (freestyle): the rising star of
British freestyle and this year’s winner Emma Wilson (racing):
Youth RS:X World Champion for the third time and following in
her mum’s (Penny Wilson) footsteps to Olympic success.
The achievements of these guys and girls makes me so
proud to be part of the vibrant and talented British
windsurfing scene which produces such quality sailors who
fly the flag for our small island around the world.
With success in mind I believe we all need to keep
windsurfing in the Olympics to safeguard the future of our
sport. If you can find the time sign the partition on
Change.org and help to keep windsurfing in the Olympics for
2024 then please do so.
Zara:
I am very humbled to have received so many compliments
and congratulations on getting my women’s world record
back. Achieving the record this time I certainly felt like I had
uk
WIND
SURFING
Zara Davis is the current
Women’s Speed world record
holder and sponsored by O’Shea,
Simmer, Sonntag, AL360,
Synergy Worldwide and Walnut
Grove Clinic. Hubby Pete works
tirelessly behind the scenes for
the UKWA and organises the
yearly Weymouth Speed Week as
well as being an accomplished
windsurfer himself
really accomplished something. When I broke Karin Jaggi’s
record for the first time in 2012 it was a great
accomplishment and proved that my mile record back in
2006 was not a fluke. However, Karin was not there to
defend her record and it was on the then, a newly
constructed canal at this innovative spot in Luderitz.
I knew there was more to come and I went back in 2013 to
see if I could go faster but didn’t get the conditions and it
was not to be. This event is not cheap, the cost is
considerable and you have to commit at least a month to
give yourself the best possible chance of getting the right
conditions and there is always the risk to life and limb
hurtling down a narrow canal at over 50 mph with no brakes.
So I decided not to go back for a few years. In some ways
Karin breaking my record and taking it back was the incentive
I needed to try again.
This record consequently feels much more of a result for me,
as in lighter winds than Karin had, I managed to beat her.
Not by a huge margin by any means, only 0.18 of a knot to
be precise, but is this not what breaking records is all about?
Not by huge advances but they are accomplished by pushing
hard at tough existing records and at the same time leaving
the door open for other women who are looking at this sport
and thinking it’s possible and stepping up and having a go.
Records are as they say, are there to be broken.
I hope that my performance and the other girls who put it on
the line this year at Luderitz and set new national records
encourages more girls to have a go at speed sailing. Come
on girls get yourself a GPS and get out there and lay down
some speeds.