The day was lead by Ryan James and Marie Buchanan. Both well known in the SUP world, Ryan for his ability to make most boards look like they are powered by an engine and Marie for her ability to compete at such a high level that she regularly beats a lot of the men’s fleet, girl power at its best!!

On land clinics included:

• different types of SUPing and the boards for each of the different discipline
• paddle choice and fin types and selection
• simulator session on paddling technique including correct body position, paddle entry and exit and the power phase of the stroke.

Paul Simmons was on hand from Starboard to give the group a low down on the flat water boards and their usage.

After a quick change everyone headed out on the water armed with lots of tips from the top and had the added benefit of Ryan and Marie being on hand to help with putting their new found technique into practice.  Most people were able to receive some one to one time with either Ryan or Marie, allowing them to work on specific areas and it was great to see smiles on faces as the penny dropped and they nailed their new technique!

After lunch we let the boys go off and paddle at speed round the lake and do some man type sessions, but instead of being left with the washing up….. us ladies went out for a ladies only session!

It was brilliant to see so many women on the water, at one point there were about 14 of us! It’s not often that you will catch me doing something that is specifically designed for only women to take part in, however sometimes it’s nice not to have to compete with a group of men for an instructor’s attention or ask a question that most men won’t even have considered!

So our clinic was great, asked what most of the ladies wanted to work on the resounding choice was to continue to work on practice paddle technique, but also to look at the process of turning the board, mark rounding and start line practice. With Marie on hand to give hints and help with any problems, I think the session was helpful to all and everyone finished the session having learnt something new or improved their technique.

The last session of the day was a nutrition talk by Ryan, who gave a great talk on the importance of correct hydration during racing, types of foods to avoid and the types and sort of food you should be eating regardless of sport but as a general rule. As he clearly could have talked for a week on nutrition for sport and athletes and he was only skimming the surface. But the information he gave was perfectly balanced and certainly made me want to change a few things!

All in all the day was a great success, lots of people on the water, lots of boards tested, lots of paddling styles and techniques improved upon! A BIG thank you to Ryan and Marie for running the day and the rest of the Starboard team for promoting the day and providing a few extra boards.

The Monday (1st April) on the other hand was a great success. It’s a really nice freestyle spot and flattest on port tack when the wind is coming from the east, which is awesome for me.  Low tide was in the morning so the cold hands were fairly brutal. I sailed ok considering the cold and landed lots of switch moves on port.

It was only my second session on my new Severne Freeks and Starboard Flare. Really enjoying the “Duckability” of the sails. I only messed up 1 duck out of about 20 which is awesome considering I often used to sail and mess up 20 in a row. I have tried my 4.4 and 5.2 Freeks now, having used the 4.4 down at the Esso Garage the other day.

I’m really getting on well with them and the extra speed of the board is really helping me get a lot more looks at Burners than I normally do.

I think that I might go for a cheeky Birthday windsurf tomorrow and hopefully make some progress with these Burners!

Contributed by: Jack S

Bray Lake race action

We ended up having some amazing conditions for racing with very light winds and above average temperatures for December. All the racers arrived about 9.30am ready to go and met with a stash of demo race boards from Nah Skwell, Starboard and Red Paddle Co. Big thanks to Richard and John from Nah Skwell and Sam Ross from Starboard and Red paddle Co, the kit went down a treat.

Healthy Turn Out

Race – 3K

The Bray Lake 3K course was more technical than most, with a total of 5 right and 3 left hand turns. The fleet of 18 set off on a mixture of 12’6, 14’0 and cross over boards, some inflatable and some hard boards. 3K is not an easy distance to pace, but everyone gave it there all and we had some great results from the locals.

Check out the results below (broken down into race class).

14 foot – 3K

• 1st – Sam Ross
• 2nd – Mark Hatton
• 3rd – Simon Hemsley
• 4th – Ali Pereira
• 5th – Sandra Elston

12’6 – 3 K

• 1st – Charlie Grey
• 2nd – Colin Elston
• 3rd – Simon Frost
• 4th – Phil Richards
• 5th – Miles Jones
• 6th – Tom Hicks
• 7th – Mark May
• 8th – Lucy Mccormick
• 9th – Richard Marsh
• 10th – Candice Betts

Ladies – 3K

• 1st – Ali Pereira (board size: 14′)
• 2nd – Lucy Mccormick (board size: 12’6)
• 3rd – Candice Betts (board size:  12’6)
• 4th – Sandra Elston (board size: 14′)
• 5th – Susan Jones Cross

Inflate – 3 K

• 1st – Sam Ross (Board size: 14′)
• 2nd – Phil Richards (Board size: 12’6)
• 3rd – Lucy Mccormick (Board size: 12’6)

The Sprint

Based on 3 and 4 man heats, the sprint tournament was run in a knock out fashion with the first from each heat proceeding to the next round. To make the sprints fare all competitors used 12’6 Red paddle Co race boards.

We ended up with a close final, with Charlie Grey winning with Sam Ross in second. Sam and Charlie faced each other in their first heat and finished at exactly the same time putting them both through. In the final they were both itching to get one over on each other.

Well done to Colin and Mark for winning their races in the B fleet finals (fastest loser’s finals from the opening heats).

Lucy put in an amazing performance in the ladies tournament to come first. See the results below;

Mens Sprint Final

• 1st – Charlie Grey
• 2nd – Sam Ross
• 3rd – Simon Frost

Mens Sprint (B) Final

• 1st – Colin Elston
• 2nd – Mark Hatton 2

Sprint Ladies

• 1st – Lucy Mccormick
• 2nd – Candice Betts
• 3rd – Susan Jones
• 4th – Sandra Elston

A different format from normal, but enjoyed by everyone. The day was topped off with a prize giving, with all the winners in their respective classes receiving Bray Lake branded shot glasses. I think shots were the last thing on everyone’s mind after a long days racing, but the prizes went down well. The next big SUP race will be in the New Year, with our winter race series finals in March and the Bray Lake SUP festival on the 15th – 16th of June. Till then we look forward to seeing all the competitors at the Lake over the coming weeks in preparation.

Join us on facebook.com/braylake and at www.braylake.com

This year we only had 1 day of 4.5 weather and 4 days f 5.3m weather. Now I am sure that many of you are thinking of two week trips where you haven’t got out at all and think that I should button it. But in Dakhla, perhaps more than anywhere I’ve experienced, there is nothing whatsoever to do other than windsurf. The only commonplace activity seems to be fishing, but in Dakhla it’s completely pointless, because although you catch fish literally every 30seconds, they are always tiddlers with spiny backs. There is nowhere to go and visit, and its all sand (although possibly the Tropic of Cancer which is actually just a signpost and some sand). There is no booze. There is nothing to buy other than piss-poor fake clothing. There is not even a smidge of culture (museums, concerts etc.) to speak of. There are some real Arab-chav architectural monstrosities in town that were entertaining the first time I saw them but soon started to really offend me. Even sitting and reading is thoroughly unpleasant because you are at the complete mercy of the flies.

So the sense of bitterness that I am sure is coming across does not relate just to the lack of wind.

We had 5 days of awesome windsurfing at the best freestyle spot in the world but my ungrateful tone is due to a long string of mishaps that were thrown down to us from on high. Our baggage arrived 48hours late, apparently this is normal for Royal Air Maroc who prioritize hold space for frozen fish over tourist baggage. This is particularly surprising because the King or Morocco, who still owns the airline, is on an enormous drive to boost tourism along the Moroccan coast. This, in the end, proved to be a minor inconvenience, because the first 4 days of the trip were not windy.

However, on the way back from the airport with our gear we had a lorry-strap malfunction and my board flew off the car and bounced along the road. The rails were totally ruined. Fortunately, I learned to repair boards whilst working in Egypt and, ever the pessimist, had epoxy and glass with me. I was just about able to fix it up, but it is no longer a looker. Initially, we were staying in a kitesurfing camp called Rio Aquila but we were forced to move after Jon (my kitesurfing buddy from Architecture School) had his iphone stolen from his pillow whilst he slept! Hugh had his iphone stolen from the very same campsite on the last night of our trip last year so this year we were being super careful, we just never thought that they would be so cheeky as to come into our tents while we slept.

We moved to an awesome camp called kite1max about 2km upwind of Rio Aguila. The food and hospitality was just incredible. The downside though was that kite1max is  2km further upwind from the speed spot. With the wind being on the light side it meant that we did a serious about of dragging kit upwind. Probably over an hour each way if you include the walk across the spit back from the speed spot as well.

The final major piece of misfortune came a couple of days later when up the top of the lagoon (very fortunately right next to Club Mistral) my brother Hugh got stung by a stingray on his ankle, through his boot and wetsuit. This really did seem like an act of God. The Club Mistral staff were very quick to act and soon got the pain down by submerging his ankle into very hot water and a whole bottle of bleach. He did have to go to the delightful Moroccan hospital for an injection, which threw up by far the darkest episode of the trip. Even darker than having people steal from your bedside in your sleep.

Just as Hugh was being given his anti-venom injection, directly into his vein, the needle point of the syringe fell off, the doctor picked it up off the floor and gave the injection, complete with a sizable bubble in the syringe, before Hugh was able to say anything. As it turns out, only a bubble of 1cm³ is big enough to cause real problems, but it did make for one hell of a nervous 12 hours as we tried to get hold of our medic friends in the UK to find out whether he was going to drop dead.

These four bad things did all happen in the first week of the trip, but our bad luck was by no means over. I broke a footstrap and UJ at the speed spot on 2 consecutive windy days meaning that my sessions were cut short. Jon had great trouble getting a police report for his insurance and we got stuck without a means of getting home at the police checkpoint for a couple of hours one night. All these events had us believing that we had majorly offended the Dakhla deities in some way, and as the trip went on we started to pray more and more to that vengeful Dakhla God. In some ways he answered us by not sending any more disasters but he didn’t send any wind either. If you asked me whether I would be going back in 2013 a couple of weeks ago I would have given a definitive no, but having edited our minimal video footage into a little clip and re-watching our videos from previous years, I have remembered just how good the speed spot is. Now I think I might be going back sometime soon.

Saharwi Style 2 a Windsurfing video by ukjacksaw

Contributed by: Jack Sawbridge

The National Windsurfing Festival returned but this time with the addition of Stand up Paddleboarding and Kite Surfing on the menu, and with a change of name to the National Watersports Festival and with a recently retired Alan Cross able to spend more time marketing the event it was bound to be even better.

It wasn’t until I drove over the bridge and onto Hayling Island and spotted the sign that I fully registered that this year something was different and that the Windsurfing Festival had actually evolved into a Watersports Festival, such is the rise of the SUP and Kites over last few years and need for Windsurfers to satisfy and maximize their on water playtime.

Things were busy, very busy with numbers no doubt swelled by the glorious weather and it was by far the biggest NWF to date. Winds were light on Saturday so SUP conditions were good; sailing was still accessible to all those still game to get involved and with large numbers on the start line and many in fancy dress. Due to the light winds the freestyle boys had to do what they could to entertain the crowds by flying off the back of a jet skis while the poor kites  just hung limp on the beach!

After partying the night away to the Heathrow Jets, Sunday saw a few more knots of wind for the sailors to get over their hangovers and numbers in the first race, although good, were slow to muster. Plenty of Bray Lake members were in attendance both on the water and at the party, with many taking part although some preferred the crucial role of cheer leader. Those that signed up did Bray Lake proud with several winning races, classes and events. Mr Hemsley and Graham won in various windsurfing classes and Linz won the Ladies SUP Sprint and 14 Mile Round The Island SUP race.

Something to aim for next year, to participate and not just spectate I think.  Maybe not the 14 miles round the island to be fair, but no doubt now I’ve said that the wind will be spectacular and I’ll be struggling to rig a hankie!

See you on the water.

Contributed by: Candice

It’s great to see so many people getting into flat water paddling at Bray Lake, with some taking their racing to the next level and competing in races as far a field as Dartmouth, Christchurch, London, Hayling island and Holland.  It’s incredible to think some of the racers started racing less than a year ago at one of our local ‘Coke Bottle races’. Looking back over both the summer and winter series its remarkable to see the improvements made by all who have competed on a regular basis, not only to their speed and fitness but there overall paddling skills.

Before we get into results we have to congratulate Ben Swails for his multiple efforts over the past 12 months.  Firstly we have to thank him for his integral part in running the SUP Boot camp on Monday evenings and for continually promoting the sport and the Lake to anyone and everyone.  Ben has been a real asset in growing the sport at the Lake and the Bray Lake Team would all like to thank him for all is hard work.  To top off his efforts at the Lake he has also found time to train for several top flight events this year including a 26 mile marathon off Brighton beach and the iconic 11 Cities Tour SUP race which is a gruelling 220km marathon through the canals of Holland.  Ben battled hard over 5 days to gain 10^th place overall, beating a bunch of full time professional and sponsored riders.  Congratulations Ben, what an effort.

Results time! Having tallied up the result from all the ‘Coke Bottle’ races over the past year we are please to publish the official results. Here are the top three in all categories. The full results tables of both the summer and winter series can be found on the club house notice board.

Winter series

 Men’s Cross-over

Summer Series

Mileage results (Sam Ross)

Earlier in the year Tushingham and Starboard set a challenge to all SUP clubs to clock as many miles as possible, with 10 trackers, during one day of paddle boarding.  With a total of 222 miles Bray Lake managed to win over stiff competition from clubs all over the UK.  The following club members clocked up the most miles in their category. Well done to all who put there miles on the clock.

Thank you to all who have taken part over the past 12 months. Let’s hope the fleet expands even more next year.  We all look forward to another year of SUP racing at the lake. This year will be bigger, with more formats, more fun and new kit.

Contributed by: The Bray Team – more photos on facebook.com/braylake

People ask me how the event was and are very pleased to hear me say that I finished within the top ten. I provide a few details and cover the basics, however, I know that they will never truly understand what it means to paddle this race. It is special. Maybe it’s best left as an unspoken acknowledgment between those of us who competed, but paddling for as long and hard as we did is truly an accomplishment to be proud of. The 100 year history and legacy of the race only help to make the entire event all the more meaningful. How could I not want to be apart of it again in the future. I am already making preparations for next year.

As for a few specifics pertaining to the day to day…

The SUP 11 City Tour is all about strategy. Had I been aware of how each day would likely unfold I truly believe that I would have been able to cut an hour or more off my overall time. And whilst I realise that I might not want to share any insider information in order to gain some personal advantage in future races, I’ve always believed that competition breeds excellence. So enjoy. I hope to see you next year. (Side note: what follows probably doesn’t pertain to the lead group as their race experience is very different than the rest of us in the main pack.)

To begin, the start of each day is critically important as it is these first few miles that dictate how the rest of the given stage will unfold. As the count-down begins, each paddler maneuvers into position with an aim to draft the back of anyone likely to lead the race or group. On day one, it would have been helpful to have previously studied the 2011 race results to better understand who I would need to match and paddle against from the get go. (It is important to know your average mph/kph speed beforehand.) As soon as the clock begins the group makes a unified mad dash off the line. It is a weird form of chaos as we dodge wakes, boards, paddles, and people in an effort to pull away from those behind us whilst also attempting to form a group with whom to paddle; and most importantly, draft. On the first day I missed a huge opportunity because I paddled on my own for the first five or six miles. It was much more effort and I quickly fell towards the back of the pack. It wasn’t long before I realised the importance of drafting from the beginning of each stage.

A note about drafting: Rhythm is key. If you can match and adapt to the rhythm, style, and stroke rate of the paddler in front of you they will help to carry you towards the front of the field and leave others behind. It’s a lot of work, especially if the overall speed is faster than you are used to paddling. Fight to stick with these faster competitors at all costs. You will be surprised when your body decides to adapt to the speed and it will pay dividends at the finish line.

One thing that really surprised me was the drive, motivation and speed of those paddling within the Tour, Team, and Day Stage aspects of the event. These combined groups would start each day five minutes after the Solo Competition and were not limited to the 14′ board length dictated to the competition class that I was in. Many of these paddlers were using 15′+ boards that were incredibly fast and streamlined. It wasn’t long before I started to utilise these faster paddlers as part of my daily strategy to move up the field. An hour or two after the start of each day, I would see these 15′ boards approaching. The need to catch the draft and match the speed of these paddlers was critically important as I inched closer to securing a spot within the top ten. To put it into perspective, Crispin Jones, one of the other paddlers from the UK, managed to stick to the back of one of these 15′ Team/Tour groups on the last day of the race and finished the stage nine minutes ahead of me. Once again, drafting strategy is key to paddling well in the 11 City Tour.

Beyond the ability to start and draft well, fuel and hydration played a crucial part of the daily routine. Each day I probably consumed between four to six thousand calories and drank between seven to nine litres of water and electrolytes. Bathroom usage each morning was interesting to say the least, but also proved to be a topic to bond over with fellow racers each night over a cup of tea on the canal boats that we called home throughout the duration of the race.

Throughout my life I have been lucky enough to do some really unique and special things. I have kayaked off waterfalls, climbed mountains, and trekked through rain forests. And yet, the SUP 11 City Tour is by far one of the most challenging, beautiful and difficult events that I’ve come across. There is a point each day when the pain, blisters and fatigue plead for you to stop. It is unbearable. But these things are all incidental. Lessons learned about persistence, strength, and stamina shine through and help to make my experience in Holland one that I am increadibly proud of.

Thanks again to everyone for helping me along the way. I wouldn’t have managed to get this far without your encouragement and support.

Contributed by: Ben Swails – read more about Ben

We started by covering the basics on the on land simulator where both ladies had the chance to practice on land before heading out on the water. It didn’t take long for Annabelle and Sarah to want to get out on the water and show off their skills they have been practicing. After a couple of falls it wasn’t long before they were standing up and managing to turn around and sail along. Needless to say both of my ladies were very pleased with their progress!

If you’re looking to learn something new or maybe just improve some existing skills, meet new people or just simply to put a thrill into your Tuesday mornings then our Ladies that Launch is just the thing. We are always happy to welcome new or returning ladies regardless of skill or age.

Contributed by: Emma (Ladies that Launch Instructor)

Competing in the 6.8m U15 Class, he eventually finished 12^th overall in the Silver Fleet and 56th overall of the 88 competitors in the class.

A great experience – including an opportunity to meet the newly-crowned Olympic Champion, Dorian van Rijsselberge.

Contributed by: Noel Murphy

Last Friday we headed for the trench at West Wittering with the plan being to do a spot of wave sailing before low tide. Low tide was at something like 7 in the evening. We met Tom down there (we haven’t sailed with Tom for over a year so we were very keen to show off how much we had improved without him in Dakhla last year). When we got down there it was going mad, about 40knots of wind and the super fine West Wittering sand flying everywhere. After a bit of mincing I rigged up 3.7 and my 74 litre wave board, which hasn’t been out for about 2 years. Tom persuaded me to do a forward on the first run which I duly obliged. I haven’t been doing many forwards recently so Tom’s annoying persona was the little push I needed to man up and get forwarding again.

As it turns out that little push did even more than that. Later on in the session after a few goes I managed to stick a push loop! I always thought that back loops and push loops were supposed to take ages to learn. As I always thought, WAVE SAILING IS EASY!!!

The three of us sailed for much longer than we intended in the waves and were properly exhausted for the freestyle in the evening. We relaunched at little later and the wind had calmed just a little to make freestyle possible on our 3.7s. We were the only windsurfers out and along with a couple of kiters up the other end of the trench we hadn’t a single watch between us. We somehow managed to time it spectacularly well though and got away just before the gate was locked at 8.30!

The following weekend another trench forecast was on the cards, this time with low tide perfectly at around 3.30. I had just about finished removing the West Wittering sand from my sinuses when it was time to go back!

Rik’s van was out of action so it was a day for ‘how many people can we fit in my Peugeot’. Both my brothers, Hugh and Arthur and Andy B were all coming so it ended up being 4 people in the car with 5 peoples’ gear in the trailer (myself and Rik were taking 2 boards on top of that). Rik also ended up going on the train with 2 boards. Somehow we made it even after a couple of near disasters with slipping straps.

It was again super windy and the wave sailing was pretty extreme. I did the biggest 2 or 3 forwards I have ever done and the pushlooping was going pretty well too. Rik managed to snap his 86L board in two trying backloops which was pretty impressive!!! We saved a bit of energy for the freestyle this time. It was super windy and at times just a bit too much on a 3.7. Max R was out so it was really fun to see what he was doing. We managed to get a bit of video footage so I’ll put a little clip together soon and share the fun.

Hugh and Arthur were sailing really well, taking some pretty huge catapults though. Arthur was trying his first few chop hops which is pretty ballsy considering how windy it was. Arthur’s mast became the second casualty of the trip on the equipment side! Rik finally overcame the funnel hurdle landing his first one right at the end of the session! So all in all it was another amazing day of windsurfing!

This weekend is also looking great. Long may the BAD weather continue!!! The tides are wrong for West Wittering so I was thinking of heading to the Esso Garage however West Kirby is pulling me back north!!!

Thanks to the Guys at West Witts for sorting us out!

Keep it real

Contributed by: Jack K108