TOO much wind forced Monday’s first scheduled Guernsey to Jersey competitive windsurfing race to be scrapped. ‘It’s a bit ironic that we’ve been praying for wind and we got too much,’ said Guernsey Boardsailing Association president Matt Le Poidevin yesterday.
‘The ideal would have been 15 to 20 knots but yesterday it was gusting over 30 knots.
‘The sea would have been to heavy for the guard boats and they wouldn’t have been able to keep up so we abandoned it. We’ll now probably do it in the autumn.’
Instead of the long-distance race, a wave jumping competition was planned at Vazon Bay. But this also had to be called off when the Jersey sailors arrived and were clearly in no state to compete.
‘They were so seasick on the boat coming over, in the end it wasn’t going to be fair on them as they weren’t up for it,’ said Le Poidevin.
‘They came over on a rib with all of their equipment. We were just very pleased that they made the effort.’
Along with the Jersey contingent, two top-ranked English professional windsurfers were also in the island.
John Hibbard, who is Britain’s most extreme champion and former British freestyle champion Ben Proffitt came to Guernsey over the weekend to write a magazine article on the local windsurfing scene. Condor Ferries had provided the pair with free travel and it was the first time that Hibbard had been to the island. The 30-year-old was impressed by the conditions at Vazon and by the standard of the local windsurfers.
‘It’s been awesome: the wind and the waves have been good,’ said Hibbard.
‘We get to travel around the world and there are very few places where you get a core of guys this good. They’ve been doing forward loop rolls and you don’t see many guys do that.
‘We’re pretty busy with our competition schedule but, if we can fit it in, we’ll definitely come back.’
Le Poidevin said it was an honour to watch them in action.
‘It was fantastic from our point of view to get guys of this calibre to come over,’ he said.
‘Being out there with them on our own break has been great. I think Guernsey has been better than they anticipated.’
Article posted on 9th May, 2007 - 12.00am
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