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5-01-09 - Happy New Year The new year has arrived, but bringing with it a very dominant high pressure and very cold temperatures. With there being no possibility of any sailable wind I have been busy running to keep up my general level of fitness. I am now up to 10 miles in a around 1 hour 30 mins. Looking ahead I am hoping to run a half marathon before the summer. The 2009 events have now been posted and the national circuit starts in May. I am planning on competing in the Hayling winter series in February and March aswell. This is a 5 series event over 5 consecutive weekends. With our baby due to arrive on the 10th March Karen is insisting I sail with a phone!!! |
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5-2-09 First Competition of the Season On Sunday 1st February 2009 I started the 2009 season at the Hayling Winter Series. Despite the snow and the very cold temperatures the day went well and I finished in 2nd position behind Dan Simpson. I am back to Hayling this coming Sunday for the 2nd event of the series. The forecast is not looking to promising at the moment. |
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11-2-09 2nd Heat of the Hayling Island Series On Sunday 8th February 2009 we continued the Hayling Island Winter series. Despite our optimism there was no wind and the event was abandoned at 1430. |
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22-2-09 3rd & 4th Heats of the Hayling Island Series We continued with the 3rd and 4th Heats of the series but with very little wind. On the 15th I tried to pump my way around the course but with an ongoing shoulder injury, found it to painful to continue. After the 2nd race I withdrew from the event and watched the rest of the heats from the club House. Sunday the 22nd dawned and Chimet was reading 20 Knots NW at 0700. By the time I got to Hayling the wind was down to 10 Knots and still decreasing. I stayed for coffee and then left as the keen long boarders rigged ready for another 5 heats of pumping around the course. In the morning (23rd February) I am off into hospital for surgery on my shoulder. I am hoping that it will only keep me off the water for 4-6 weeks and I can then start training for the national series starting in the middle of May. Karen is due to have the our baby in the next 2 weeks - watch this space for news on the new arrival!!!! |
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15-3-09 The Arrival of Emily-Rose On Friday the 13th March Karen gave birth to Emily-Rose. Weighing in at 8 pounds 15 ounces Emily-Rose was born in the birthing pool at Worthing Hospital. We are hoping the introduction to water at such an early age will mean that she will grow up to love water as much as Vinnie. Both Karen and Emily-Rose are home and doing very well. |
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19-3-09 Windsurfing4CancerResearch On the 3rd May 2009 I will be joining the likes Dave White and many other like minded sailors around the world in a Charity windsurfing event. We Intend on sailing from Sunrise through to Sunset to raise money for Cancer Research. I am going to sail at Hayling island and we aim to break the record for the most sailing craft on the water at any one time for a charitable cause. Please click on the logo above or the link below to go to my sponsorship page to make a donation. Thank you. To donate please click here………. |
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2-4-09 Neil Pryde I am proud to announce that I have now secured sponsorship from Pryde Group UK. I am now going to be riding on Alpha’s for my wave sailing and RS Slalom’s for racing. With my shoulder now recovering nicely I hope to be out testing the new equipment by the Easter weekend. Along with the sails I will also be promoting Neil Pryde wetsuits, harnesses, booms, lines etc. I am excited at this new opportunity and would like to thank all involved and Pryde Group UK. |
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5-8-09 The Year So Far Firstly I must apologise for the lack of news updates in the last few months. It has been an incredibly busy first half of 2009 and it looks like the 2nd half will be much the same! I took part in the Sunrise to Sunset charity sail at Hayling island on the 3rd May and managed the full 15 hours launching at 0530 and finishing at 2030 only coming back to shore for refreshments. I raised over £200 for cancer research, so thanks to all those that very kindly made a donation. May saw the 1st event of the 2009 UKWA/Pryde slalom Series. The event was held at Rhosneigr in North Wales. The Saturday greeted us with 40 knot+ wind and a challenging sea with 4m waves. The Sunday was the complete opposite with very little wind and the event was finished at 2pm. I held my own well on the Saturday and finished as 2nd Master. This was the first podium finish for me in the top flight / pro fleet in the UK. In June the tour moved onto Aberdovey also in Wales. The forecast was always looking like wall to wall sunshine and no wind but I still went for the weekend. The forecast was right and we only managed light wind freestyle and master-blasts but I topped up the tan. July’s competition has been postponed until later in the year so I have been concentrating on training. I have been on the water lots over the last few weeks with my team mate Jamie Hawkins. He has been pushing me hard and getting me going quicker and improving my gybes. Ant and Nic Baker have started organising weekly slalom events at Worthing or Shoreham. I am using these to help prepare and train for the next competitions. Sailing along side world class sailors like Jamie, Nic and Ant certainly helps focus the mind and improve your sailing. I am working hard on strengthening my shoulder and my general fitness running in between training on the water. |
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2-11-09 - End of the season Its been a couple of months since my last post and again lots has been happening on and off the water. Both events in September ended up being none wind events. I travelled down to sandbanks for the Animal event and topped up the tan in beautiful sunshine but the wind failed to deliver. It was the same at Windfest in Brighton. The bonus at Brighton was the live music in the sunshine. It was not the way any of us wanted the 2009 series to be decided but the final rankings were decided on the one and only day at Rhosneigr in May. I am waiting for the 2009 Slalom rankings to be confirmed but I believe my provisional position to be 3rd Master in the Top Flight and 10th Overall. In October I went to Weymouth to compete in the annual Speedweek. The forecast looked promising, but again the wind let us down in the end. We had one day of proper competition on the Sunday with two other days of light wind racing. I finished 17th Sailboard with 27.69 knots, one place behind the ‘Mighty Whitey’. After the success of the Winter Series at HISC in February they decided to arrange a Autumn series. On 24th October I competed in the 1st of a 4 event series. I won all races on the day and finished in 1st. On the 31st October they held the 2nd event in very light winds. I did not compete as my Slalom gear does not perform well in very light winds! The next event is on the 7th November. Lets hope the Autumnal storms start rolling in. |
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27-1-10 - An exciting year ahead Following a successful year in 2009 i have been working hard on plans for 2010. Team mate ‘Jamie Hawkins’ and I have both secured sponsorship with Pryde Group UK riding on JP’s latest boards and Neil Pryde sails. We will be holding regular demo days on the local beaches, so you can try the latest kit. On a good forecast we will post on www.gbr203.co.uk, www.worthingwatersports.com, and on my twitter page (look for Vinnie203 and follow me) the details as to where we will be and when. I of course will be competing in the National slalom series this year and the local slalom events too. I plan on improving my PB at Weymouth Speedweek in October and trying to get a higher national speed ranking. Lets hope that this cold weather moves on soon, allowing the Atlantic Lows to pile in giving us a windy rest of the year. Off skiing next week |
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2-8-10 - Injured shoulder again When competing at the HISC Autumn series in November last year I dislocated my left shoulder again holding down the 9.2m RS slalom. I of course won that event but not without some serious consequences. It has now been confirmed that I will be going into hospital on the 13-8-201 to have open surgery on my shoulder to re-encapsulate the joint. This has meant that so far this year I have been unable to compete , but my consultant has said that I may be able to start training again in 12 weeks and should make a full recovery. I have not been sitting back relaxing this year I have been concentrating my efforts on fitness, primarily running. I joined a local running club in January to help my motivation and training. It has worked and so far this year I have run the Brighton half marathon (flat road marathon) in 1:56:26, The Three Forts Half (a very hilly cross country) in 2:13:56 and the Salomon South Downs Marathon (26.2 miles. Hilly cross country along the South Downs Way) in 4:58:24 and finally on the 26th July I ran the Jack & Jill Ultra marathon (Very hilly 30 miles cross country along the South Downs Way) in 6:55:16. Updates here soon |
