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Do you see much new blood coming into
longboard/raceboard?
Without being rude to the pathway classes it is clear they do
not suit everyone. This does not mean these less suited are
any less talented, you only need to see the likes of Louis
Morris, Lewis Barnes and the Kent sisters to name but a few
to see outstanding performances. The best thing about this
is that they attract other young sailors into the fleet and the
likes of Ali Masters and his contemporaries are no longer
embarrassed to be included and can often be found taking
part in UK raceboard events. With the Olympic uncertainty I
can only see the class growing.
Tell us about your role with the UKWA.
good sailors out there who never go anywhere near a lake.
They could learn so much tactically if they did. It’s no good
just banging the corners of a race course. You need to
understand wind shifts, angles and tactics. Lakes are the
perfect place to learn these skills.
Longboards and raceboards are still popular, even
though there’s limited media coverage. Why do
you this is the case?
I think in reality if you have had any training or experience of
Techno or RS:X etc. you can be competitive on a raceboard.
Unlike formula you will always get racing on a longboard
whatever the weather gods throw at us. It is true for a long
period of time the raceboard was perceived to be the poor
relation or just not sexy but the development of the batwing
boards has got people talking about raceboards again and
the junior and youth element shows strong growth. The
middle aged and older sailors can still compete so I think
raceboard is heathy in the UK and on the up.
I have been chairman of the UKWA since about 2009.
Before this I was events director for a couple of years. I see
my roll to publish a viable calendar of events across the five
disciplines we deliver: course racing, slalom, speed, wave
and freestyle. It is important to work with other organizations
– primarily the RYA as well as international set ups – to
promote the sport and understand the goals and bigger
picture. Windsurfing is run by volunteers on a shoestring
budget so the most important thing I can do is head up our
committee and support everyone involved.
On the ground effectively the UKWA has franchised out wave
sailing to the BWA and speed. These are such specialist
areas they need external expertise, ideally we would do the
same with freestyle which has always been difficult to
deliver.However there is to be a British Championships in
2018 for the first time in about three which is great news. I
personally run all of the course racing and slalom events in
the UK with a dedicated team which involves about 20
weekends per year.
uk
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SURFING