I had a cracking evening out at Budle bay, all on my own in glorious conditions. I created the following video from 3 minutes of continuous footage. I hope you like it :)

I was fortunate to get hold of a few Shinn boards on loan to do some testing, now that we're allowed back on the water.

Check out my thoughts on the new Shinn Slicer split board - it was a very pleasant surprise and certain defied my preconceptions.

Check out the full review here:
2020 Shinn Slicer Board Review

Check out my review on the all new Shinn ADHD distortion.

A cracking new board with an all-new mould.

It's fair to say i was very sad to hand this one back.

2020 Shinn ADHD Distortion Board Review

Get your dose of kiting while the lockdown is on! Some great 360 footage to enjoy on your PC, phone or VR headset!
https://youtu.be/AyzvYUIEz70

Its review time again!
I've heard people rave about the Vantage, and now it's my turn to try it out!
Check out the full review here:
Airush Vantage V3

Check out my reviews of these two brand spanking kites from Airush Kiteboarding!
Airush Ultra II
Airush Union V4

Something a little different.... Enjoy :)

The forecast for the weekend was looking pretty marginal, with only a small window of wind early on the Saturday morning. I started the long journey down from the North East on Friday morning, and arrived in Hunstanton mid-afternoon, hoping for a pre-competition session. 
Sadly the wind wasn't quite playing ball, so we spent the afternoon chatting to fellow competitors as they arrived in the comfort of the sailing club.

The evening's events revolved around the BKSA annual general meeting, which was a first for me and very interesting to get some insight into the running of our national governing body. There was a great deal of passion expressed throughout the meeting, and whilst there were some heated debates it was clear that there are a lot of people willing to help in pushing things forward in order to improve matters for everyone.
A 7am briefing had been planned for the following day, and registration immediately followed the AGM, after which most people took an early night to be ready for action the next day.

The competition had been relocated to the nearby beach at Heacham which allowed competition to run in the high tide conditions. There was a solid 20mph breeze blowing to start the day, and after the briefing the beach was covered with kites of all shapes and sizes.
Due to the decreasing forecast, the Pro's were the first to take to the water, followed by the masters then am's. The music was cranked up, and Richard Flindall was in fine voice doing the commentary.
As is quite often the case, kite size was a key decision in every heat. The wind was clean, but varying from one minute to the next, and there were quite a few heats in which the competitors had chosen significantly different sizes. The high tide chop reflecting off the beach made conditions incredibly challenging, and the early heats were very tentative but as the tide dropped the conditions improved a little and the riders started to get their repertoires nicely dialed.

As the wind dropped further and the water became shallower, the decision was made to move the event back to the sailing club in Hunstanton. We all packed up and made our way over in the hope of enough wind to complete the rest of the event; but sadly this wasn't to be the case. The competition was called off later in the day, and we all enjoyed the sunshine and chilled out on the beach and outside the sailing club.

As the afternoon drew to a close the prize giving was held, and it was announced that competition would not continue tomorrow due to the poor forecast, meaning that the full championship results would be announced and there would be no holding back on the drinking! 
The day's pro results were first up, with Rosanna Jury taking the victory over Sukie Robertson and Danielle Durrant, meaning Rosanna secured an incredible 3rd Pro championship win. 
In the men's competition it was announced that Richard Flindall had triumphed over Sean Murphy and Craig Smith, with the overall championship being awarded to Sean Murphy, followed by Richard Flindall and Oli Sweeney.
The other categories remained as they were at the end of the previous event, with Dynamic Duo - Dan and Lucie Turner taking the title for the amateur classes, Kevin Matthey taking the masters crown, and Harry Way being one to watch for the future taking the Juniors championship. 
One very nice touch to the event was the raffling off of all the amateur prizes which weren't awarded due to lack of wind; everyone got something ranging from kite apparel up to a board or harness. It was nice to see that nobody went away empty handed.

The evening then started to wind up with some simply awesome food courtesy of the Hunstanton sailing club crew. The burgers were simply mouth-watering, and very well appreciated by the ravenous competitors. Most people had started the drinking early, and things were in full swing as the sun slowly went down over the horizon. The tunes were then pumped up and plenty took to the dance floor to strut their stuff until the early hours.

The 2015 Championships were a great reboot of the awesome times we've had on the tour in recent years. There had been problems along the way but they'ed all been worked though, thanks to some brave decisions from the organisers, a small army of helpers from the local clubs which hosted the events, and a great positive attitude from everyone concerned.
There are a lot of people who deserve a whole heap of credit for making the year the success it was : Rou, Jim, Mary, Danielle and their teams for all the organisation and great effort at every event; The clubs who stepped up to host each one and went to great efforts to make it happen; The kite industry who supported come rain and shine and all attendees for their support and co-operation.
Its always sad when the competitive year ends, but it does so with a great deal of hope that this could be the start of something... 

The beach itself was shelving with a road behind, and marker buoys were to be placed in the water inside which no tricks would be scored for safety reasons. These buoys would soon become a challenge for many riders and the source of great controversy later in the weekend. It wasn't the original intended location for the competition, and hence the timing of the event with the tides proved to become an issue, especially on the Sunday. The shingle main beach led to a 100m wide section of inhospitable cockles, mussels and oyster shells, which shredded any unprotected feet given half an opportunity; making coming on and off the water very difficult and didn't help with communication between the organizers and riders.

The Pro's opened proceedings, and put on a great show for everyone on the beach; the variable conditions were clearly making things difficult though, and it was a battle at times to get into the right location to be able to score.

Sunday proved to be very different to the day before. A 9am briefing was called with an early start for the juniors and amateur ladies as the wind was forecast to increase throughout the day. The sunshine had been replaced with continuous rain, but the wind was now onshore which would cause issues for everyone needing to stay upwind of the inner buoys in order to score. 
The juniors, ladies and then am's all took to the water and put on a good show whilst everyone on the beach hunkered down behind any cover they could find. It was massively appreciated when Mike Birt erected his giant Airush tent, which became a very popular spot to dodge the elements. There was no such luxury for the volunteer marshals and organizers though - props to them for toughing it out!

Before long it was my turn to take to the water for my round 2 heat against Doug Lloyd and Rob Woodford. Rob didn't make it onto the water for whatever reason, and Doug struggled to get upwind into the box in order to score. I landed a raley to blind early on and just piled on the points from there, so left the water with a degree of confidence that I'd progress.
After a couple more heats, it was semi-final time, and I was drawn up against George Treadwell who had progressed over me in round 1; I knew I'd have to perform at my best in order to ensure victory. I started with a comfortable raley to blind in the low tide flat water, and followed up with a back to wrapped, and then a huge blind judge, cheered on by Craig Smith who was standing in the water. I then bagged a nice S to Blind, and as confidence was high, went for a powered 313 which I duly crashed. I saw George land a very nice kiteloop to blind, but I knew that when I came off the water I'd done everything I could, so would be happy whether I progressed to the final or not.

After a little while, word got around that I'd done enough to get to the final against Kevin Matthey who had won the previous event and had also made his way to the final despite losing his first round. 
It was due to happen shortly, but the event was put on hold for a couple of hours as the tide was too low and water too shallow to run any competitions. This gave us all a good break to have some lunch and to get our gear ready for the increased winds forecast for the afternoon.

Shortly after the restart it was time for our final; the wind had picked up since the morning so opted for my trusty 11m Razor. The heat started well, and landed a Blind Judge quick smart and a nice clean 313 on the return tack. I then went for a Back Mobe, and when I hit the water I knew instantly that something was wrong. I was being continuously dragged toward my looping kite, and it was only after about 10 seconds when the kite settled that I managed to get my bearings and inspect my bar and lines. The Bar was facing toward me rather than parallel, and I could see that my leash had clipped around one of my steering lines. It was a bit of a struggle to unclip it, after which I proceeded to try to unravel my lines, but they were in too much of a mess to have any hope of continuing. I had to settle for the fact that my final was over, so I pulled the 'Oh Sh*t' handle on the end of the bar, as I knew the main safety was too tangled to be effective and made my way ashore.
I looked back and saw Kevin Matthey continuing to trick, and whilst this was painful to see, I knew I knew I'd bagged 2 good scoring tricks which I sometimes wouldn't land in a full heat. It was also really nice of Nathan Cullingford to trudge out through all the underfoot debris to come and help me bring my gear back ashore.

That was a wrap for my competition, so packed up whilst watching the action from the later heats. Richard Flindall was on top form on the mic, calling out each trick and adding plenty of witty banter in between. One of the highlights of the day for me were Nathan's sick double backloop kiteloops which looked so much like he was on the brink of disaster but somehow seemed to always ride out of!

Competition for the day reached its climax with the much awaited Pro Men's final between George Dufty, Tom Bridge and Sean Murphy. They were all a little late on the water, and the heat had started before most had gotten upwind of the safety buoys. 
When the green Brazilian flag had gone up they all started tricking. It was a great display from all riders, but Tom's riding was really shining through with his double half cab's and a some really nice 540's mobes.
Midway through the final, Richard Flindall (on the mic) noticed that George Treadwell was running around like mad man trying to attract the attention of his team-mate George Dufty, and it soon became apparent that the vast majority of the tricks landed up to that point were not being scored by the judges due to being on the wrong side of the safety buoys.
There was then a frantic rush upwind in the closing minute or two of the final to attempt to get a scoring trick, but time was up before they all could do so.

As the riders came off the water there was a big controversy about whether the vast majority of the tricks would actually score or not, and we wondered whether the riders had been told that they could trick inside the buoys for the final. 
It seemed that there was no such rule change and would have huge ramifications on who the victor would be. We all packed up the beach and made way to the pub for the results.

I'd heard a lot of things about kitefoiling/foilboarding over the past few months; and being someone who is always up for trying something new was excited to give it a go.
My foilboard arrived on Friday, and when I saw the 9-13mph forecast for Saturday I knew there was a good chance of giving it a go straight away.

I opted for my 18m vantage, but the wind was much gustier than forecast, probably in the range of 8-20mph, but I knew it would cope with this without any issues.

Maneuvering the foil on the water is one of the biggest issues you first encounter - it's best to keep the board close to you with your hand on the top rail pulling the foil out to the water away from you. In this position you can make good progress upwind once you get the balance of things right.
Getting on the board was easier than I was expecting - providing you're quick - get the feet in position (close to the windward rail) and dive the kite before the foil sinks. The foil and the board both give resistance and its not too difficult to get yourself upright.
However, this was where the problems started :)
Initially, I found that once upright the board would do what ever it could to squirm out from under me - kind of like a board with no fins, but even worse. After a few failed attempts I tried keeping the board more angled toward me, and this paid dividends and I managed to get my first few runs on the surface for a short distance.

At this point the foil was still well and truly submerged and providing no noticeable lift and it was just a matter of getting used to riding the board on the surface. But before long my submerged friend had to join the party and all of a sudden the whole board would lift totally unexpectedly - chucking me into the drink and mocking my progress. 
This became the modus operandi for the next dozen or so attempts - ride along, feel somewhat comfortable, then get chucked off abruptly :)
It was only after I could start to predict this pattern that I made further progress - as my board speed picked up I learned to creep my feet forward and lean more to counteract the increased lift; and although it was still like a bucking bronco ride which I only lasted for 5-10 seconds, it was a definite improvement on before.

Once I managed to wrestle a tiny bit of control, the feeling was awesome; It's truly is like what I'd imagine riding the hover-board out of Back to the Future II would be, yet with much less control of the outcome! The lift you get is surreal when you don't expect it, but I can see why everyone who has foiled before raves about it so much :)

From there onward the trend continued - I was starting to travel a bit faster whilst learning to anticipate what the foil would do, and doing my best to counteract it. 
The strangest feeling is when you're riding along in comfort then all of a sudden the board just rises out of the water as if its possessed by some rival kite manufacturer - I'm sure when you try it you'll know where i'm coming from - trust me ;-) 

Here's a quick video from some of the footage I gathered, plenty of wipe-outs and a few runs which have been carefully edited to look like I know what I'm doing :)