How long have you been a judge for the
BWA? What experience do you bring to the sport?
I have been a
judge for the PWA since 2007 but I came into the BWA a few years ago. I was one
of the UK pro windsurfers and always tried to compete on the world tour but had
serious injuries, it was after one of those injuries that the PWA approached me
to judge so I got into it that way.
I've been around for donkey’s years in many
different capacities; coaching, running shops, testing equipment, judging!
What are you looking out for when
judging?
We’re looking
at the difficulty of move, how clean it’s landed, how much flow and speed there
is and the style.
On a personal
level I like to see things done with speed and flow, I dislike things that are
forced when they shouldn't be, they should be integrated in with what
conditions allow.
What attracted you to Wavesailing?
I like the
freedom of it, personally doing it, it’s a feeling of flying when everything go’s
quiet and you’re really high. Its constant thinking, speed, flow, movement and
adjustments.
Describe Wavesailing to an outsider?
You know those
cold, wet, windy days where people don’t want to go outside? Were the ones that
are out there having amazing fun! Floating, jumping, looping, flying! When everyone
else thinks the weather is miserable we think it’s wonderful and it’s great to
see.
Who are you sporting heroes?
When I was a
kid my hero was Robby Naish. Also Francisco Goya, Jason Polakow
What advice would you give to anyone
looking to get into Wavesailing?
Come to the
events! If you’re into windsurfing and you want to get into Wavesailing just
because it’s a national event don’t let it put you off, you learn an awful lot
by being here.
When I started
out I used to learn more in one week in this environment than I would in 6-9
months trying to do stuff by myself. It raises your aspirational game, you
learn a lot, the people are really cool and friendly and really generous with
their advice.
What's the best piece of advice you have to give about Wavesailing?
The best thing I've learnt is that if it’s going wrong, it go’s wrong for all sorts of people, just
take 10 minutes out then go back out there.
Where is the future of Wavesailing
headed?
If you look at
what the top guys are doing on the world tour it’s like seeing something out of
a computer game, what was impossible 5 years ago is now the normality in
competitions. What’s impossible now won’t be in the future, more rotations,
higher height – pretty radical!
Best trick you've ever seen?
Philip Köster doing a higher jump than I have ever seen any one do with a stalled forward
loop then landed planing full speed and that was when he was about 16 years
old!
Any insights for this year’s
competition?
In the pro
fleet it could be pretty interesting we have current and past world tour
competitors. I'm coming back this year after having not competed for years! Who knows,
it’s difficult to say who will win it, on any given day the top three could
change completely.
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