Jim from Puravida had given the call for all wave sailors to head to the Bluff for 11am on Saturday, whilst everybody else headed to Siblyback Lake. The wave sailors were met with an overcast sky, low winds and no sign of any descent swell, so this twinned with everyone’s hangovers resulted in a pretty low mood at the beach. However, spirits were lifted when Jim, Sarah Bibby, Stefan Hilder and Ian Manuel Ross provided an interesting talk including board design, fins and kit choice, which we all found extremely useful. With the wind showing no sign of improving, Sam Ross and Luke Green from Tushingham stepped up to the plate and tempted everyone into their wetsuits with the promise of a one-design windSUP competition with prizes provided by Tushingham.

17 competitors took to the water and with the help of the increasing sized waves, an enthusiastic commentary from Sam Ross and a bit of friendly competition; everybody was having a great time. Due to the incoming tide, we moved the completion round into the river mouth where we were met with some pretty meaty waves. Shapes were being thrown left, right and centre on the SUPs and the final came down to Louis Morris (Bristol), Tom Firth (Cardiff) and I. However, at the end of my semi-final I suffered a knock to the head from the SUP, and therefore struggled to make any sort of impression in the final. So it was a two horse race between Tom and Louis. Tom caught the bigger waves and impressed the crowd with some death-defying moves to clinch the win.

During the ladies final, argued by some to be highlight of the competition, the biggest sets of the day came through. Rachael Ince (Exeter) risked all to catch the wave of the day, even slicing her lip open in the process to take the win, with myself finishing 2nd and Charlotte Stokes (Southampton) coming in 3^rd.

Sunday offered a much more promising forecast, so everyone travelled back to the Bluff for 10am. A similar set of conditions to Saturday morning greeted us but Jim and Ian promised better conditions were on the way and ensured we were all rigged and ready to go. At around 12.30, the wind finally came and with the in-coming tide the waves were improving too, so the heats were drawn and everyone took to the water.

The judging team made up of Sarah, Stefan and Ian commented on the high level of skill shown by all sailors. Due to the onshore conditions, they were judging two wave-rides and one jump. The girls were thrown into the mix with the guys; I really enjoyed competing with the boys and found it really pushed my level. After some last minute deliberation, I opted for my 5.2 Rock and Flare 90 as the wind was very onshore and kept changing. I felt I did some good backside riding but my jumping was quite up to the mark (in hindsight I definitely should have gone for my 4.7!). In the end the women’s result stood with Charlotte Stoke taking 3^rd, Rachael Ince 2^nd and I took 1^st.

The overall result was an extremely tightly fought affair with Will Jones (Cardiff), Mike Ellis (Southampton), Jony Price (Cardiff) and current tour leader Ben Page (Southampton) all making it through to the final. Will was competing on Starboard’s 2013 87 Quad, putting it to great use, nearly landing a few back-loops. However, he couldn’t quite find the consistency he had shown in earlier heats, so took 4^th in the final. Mike showed how all his recent time on the water is paying off with a great forward off the lip and some solid wave riding to take 3^rd. Jony who has just returned from his storm-chaser mission to Ireland, stole the show when it came to wave-riding, achieving the highest wave score of the day to take 2^nd. Ben put in a stellar performance throughout all of his heats and after pulling off the forward of the day in the final and showing some great wave riding skills, he took a much deserved win.

I’m already looking forward to the next SWA wave event hosted by Cardiff University (22^nd -24^th February) see you there!

Jo Wright