PKRA 2014

This calendar for the 2014 season was affected by some political wrangling between elements of the sports governing bodies.

I competed at the Mondial Du Vent event between the 26th of April and the 4th of May in Leucate, France. Tough conditions meant I ended up with a world ranking of 26th.

BKSA 2013

BKSA Freestyle Tour Events 2013

This years events are :

Barrow - 19th to the 21st of July.

Well, Barrow, the place where it is ALWAYS WINDY, except it seems when the BKSA is in town. Stoked to be competing in the Pro Mens event this year I was looking forward to strong winds and getting out on my 9m at least and perhaps my 7m ! But no. It was not to be, other than an impromptu evening sesh at Roa Island just down the coast on the second day with Ali Barrett, James Boulding, Craig Smith and Rosanna Jury. I managed to pick up a win in the Pro Mens slopestyle trick comp on the last day so

was stoked with that !

Troon, Scotland - 13th to the 15th of September.

All the UK competitors found out in Troon that the finals in Westward Ho! had been cancelled so this event was to be the championship decider.

Day 1, no wind. Day 2, not much better, BUT the forecast was for plenty of wind, albeit with a lot of rain thrown in on day 3, Sunday. Well it blew hard and I made my way through the early heats I found myself in the final against old hand Richard Flindall and current 2012 vice champion, Jon Bleiker.

In very strong winds I managed to land most of the tricks in my armoury, except my 5's and after nearly a 2 hour wait, was stoked to find out at the prize giving that I had won !

Kitesurf Tour Europe - Toulon, France 2013

Almanarre, Hyeres, France - 29th May to 2nd June 2013

This year I am competing on the KTE tour.

The first event was in Toulon, France on the French Mediterranean coast.

I have been getting used to having bad draws at competitions so it was no surprise that I was drawn in the first round against fellow Brit and the reigning British pro champion Dan Sweeney.

Thankfully I was able to land a good set of tricks and was able to beat Dan but then was knocked out by Ben Bowd in the singles, Ben went on to finish 4th and in the doubles after a good few heats I was knocked out by an onfire Stefan Spiessberger who went on to take 3rd overall.

I ended finishing 14th.

Big thanks again to my parents for supporting me and my dad especially for helping me on the beach and to my sponsors Liquid Force Kiteboarding, Hampshire Kitesurfing Centre and Tiki wetsuits....

Kitesurf Tour Europe - Sylt, Germany 2013

Sylt, North West Germany - 3rd July to 7th July 2013

This was the second KTE event of 2013 and was so far north in Germany it was almost in Denmark. In fact the island of Sylt used to be art of Denmark.

I was looking forward to a great event where historically there had always been good wind.

However over the four days of the event the wind failed to show up other than a little on day 2 where the organisers tried to get things running at 6:30 in the evening having been on standby since 10:30 in the morning. A few heats were run in round one and I was in round two having been seeded from my finish at the first event in Toulon. Then however in my heat, after three starts and three black flags, the freestyle was called off for the day and other than enough wind for the course racers to get in some more racing over the final two days it was back to standby and topping up the tan on the beach. No cable within a hundred miles meant that was it and not being able to compete despite being geared up and ready to go made the 12 hour drive back to the UK a bit more tedious than it might have been.

With shared points I was able to go up in the rankings and am now standing in 11th place.

Big thanks again to my parents for supporting me and to my sponsors http://www.liquidforcekites.com, http://www.hampshirekitesurfing.com and http://www.tikisurf.co.uk

The next KTE event is in Scheveningen, Holland on 26th to 29th September 2013

Kitesurf Tour Europe - Scheveningen, Holland 2013

Scheveningen, Holland - 26th to 29th September 2013

The third event of the KTE calendar took me to Holland just north of Rotterdam. After two days without winds the wind kicked but it was offshore. But, there were huge hotels all along the seafront which meant that the wind which was struggling to reach 15 knots was very gusty. The organisers decided to set the comp zone 100 metres offshore to try and get cleaner winds but my problem was not that but the fact that being 13 stones in weight on my biggest kite (13m HiFi-x) meant that after two trick with insufficient wind I was out of the comp box and had now way to get back in.

I had drawn Dylan Van der Mej who was at that time standing in second place in the Dutch National Championships behind Jerrie Van der Cop. he was on his 15 flysurfer and managed to stay in the comp box and took the win.

The doubles were scheduled for the last day, Sunday but because the winds dropped out didn't happen so that was it. a five day trip to Holland for 7 minutes of competition.

The result left me in 14th place in the European Championships which meant that finishing in the top 10 was going to be a whole lot harder..Still I met up with Youri Zoon again for a chat and was pleased to see that his recovery is going well.

Next event, Barcelona, Spain 10 to 13 October 2013...

Kitesurf Tour Europe - Casteldelfells, Spain 2013

Barcelona, Spain 10 to 13 October 2013.

So the final event of the KTE calendar saw me going to Spain and whilst the calendar says Barcelona the event was just down the coast at Casteldelfels. The sun was out pretty much for the whole event and Mini were there in force. This time I managed to get time and the opportunity to test drive the top of the range Mini Cabriolet. Nice !!

The winds were light and even the course racers were hanging about. There was one front of wind that came in on day two but I had a shocker. I had selected my 13m kite and just before the green flag went up the wind picked up and I was overpowered and struggling to keep off the beach. I failed to land even the most straightforward of tricks and so had a rubbish heat. I lost and once again, the wind Gods were against me and there was no more wind before the competition closed on day 4 so there was no doubles.

The result meant that I finished 16th in the Championships which at least meant that I was the highest positioned Brit.

It was good to meet up with Alex Pastor who I'd last met in Leucate in May. I gave him a few tips which I think he tool on board as he then went on to the PKRA events in China and won the World Championships and is now World Champion.

So, ups and downs through the year in the KTE and I didn't get into the top 10 which was my goal. I'll have to try harder next year so now I need to get some winter training in...

9th European Junior Kitesurf Cup 2013

St Pierre la Mer - France - 1st to 5th May 2013

This year I competed in the 9th running of European Junior Kitesurf Cup on the French Mediterranean coast. I had a tough draw in the singles but unlike last year when there was not enough wind to run the double elimination, this year the wind stayed with us and I was able to make my way back up through the tables and to challenge for 5th against Alonzo Alcazar who I had beaten in the PKRA event at Leucate the week before. The wind had started dropping of so I had to resort to my 13m kite for the first time in the competition and Alcazar was on his 15 and probably weighed 15 Kgs less than me.

The heat wasn't black flagged which as a shame and I missed out marginally so ended up finishing 5th.

That is a great improvement on last years result of joint 17th.

Big thanks to my parents for supporting me and my dad especially for helping me on the beach and to my sponsors Liquid Force Kiteboarding, Hampshire Kitesurfing Centre and Tiki wetsuits....

PKRA Leucate 2013

At the PKRA in Leucate I was placed joint 25th after getting knocked out of the trials by Valentin Garat, ranked 22nd. The other UK riders who also had to go through the trials were, Lewis Crathern, Sam Light and Aaron Hadlow but they managed to get through into the main event and Aaron went on to come 2nd in the singles and 3rd after the double elimination. I was awarded the best newcomer award and came away with a world championship ranking of 35th.

On the way through the trials I was up against the likes of Michael Schitzhofer ranked 15th, Carlos Madson ranked 17th, Stefan Spiessberger ranked 24th and Valentin Garat who ended my run after I managed to beat Stefan Spiessberger.

BKSA 2012

BKSA Freestyle Tour Events 2012

Clacton on Sea - April 6th to 8th. Great first result of the season coming second behind the current European Junior Champion, Tom Bridge.

Hunstanton - June 1st to 4th. No wind over the whole weekend means that no comps were run and the points were shared.

As Tom Bridge didn't enter this round this meant that I was standing 1st in the Championships. A great start to 2012 !!

Troon, Scotland - September 21st to 23rd. First win of 2012 so I remained in 1st place in the Championships.

Redcar, - October 5th to 7th.
Not enough wind to run my event although the pros got their results in on the Friday. So the points were shared so I was still standing in 1st place in the Championships going into the last event at Westward Ho!

Westward Ho! – Finals – October 18th to 20th. Once again not enough wind to run my event. But having gone into the final event up on points over Jordan Hurst in second place I am crowned British Youth Champion - Stoked !!

8th European Junior Kitesurf Cup 2012

St Pierre la Mer - France - 5th to 8th May 2012

This year I competed in the 8th running of European Junior Kitesurf Cup on the French Mediterranean coast. I was really unlucky with the draw for the fist round and was drawn against the Spanish national champion and current number 4 on the PKRA, Liam Whaley and Emmanuel le Judge from France. They both went on to go right through to the finals and Liam won and Emmanuel came third.

Because of a lack of wind the organisers were unable to run the double eliminators so I had to make do with joint 17th. Not good for my first event in Europe as I was hoping to get a top 10 place.

BKSA 2011

BKSA Freestyle events 2011

Redcar - May 6th – May 8th - Came 4th
Barrow - May 27th – May 29th - Missed because of other commitments.

Kimnel Bay, Wales - June 24th – June 26th - Came 2nd

Hunstanton - July 15th – July 17th - Came 2nd

Ayr, Scotland - September 23rd – September 25th - Came 3rd

Blackpool – October 6th – October 8th – Came 1st
Overall I finished 3rd in the Championships in my age group and first year of competition ! Result !!