Manic Monkey Alexei Murphy has been busy over the last few weekends. He took 3rd place in the 5.8m class at the RYA National Junior Windsurfing Championships over the weekend of 11/12th June at Rutland Water.
The competition was hard-fought with more than 20 sailors from all over the UK competing in the 5.8m class alone. With light winds on the first day and strong winds on the second day, the full range of skills of the young windsurfers was tested. Alexi started well in the first race and was in the lead when he was forced to retire – the clew connector snapped off his boom (all that manic pumping!).
Rapid repairs on land saw him back on the water for race 2 and he battled hard through the four races to end the day in 4th position. The 5.8 sailors took part in a junior course of the Rutland Marathon so were pretty exhausted by Saturday evening. Sunday started sunny and calm – at least allowing the tent to be packed dry! – but the day developed with gusty strong winds and rain by the time racing started. Alexei had some good races – picking up 2nd and 3rd finishes, and moved up into bronze position by the end of the competition – a good result for all the weekend’s hard work!
Alexei also competed at 5.8m in the first T15 of the season at Farmoor the previous weekend on Saturday 5th June. There was a good turnout with 50 young sailors competing in the four classes. Oxford Zoomers started with a club win in this opening round.
Unfortunately none of Alexei’s teammates could make the event and he flew the Manic Monkey flag alone. Conditions were tricky with gusty winds of over 20 knots, particularly at the windward mark. He had a good series of races, including a bullet when he caught a super wind shift and came home ahead of even the 6.8m sailors! Alexei finished 2nd in the class with 10 points behind James Hatcher (Axbridge Animals) who scored 6. James went on to win the Nationals the following weekend.
Contributed by: Noel Murphy
