Hey! Firstly, I want to apologise for going a bit MIA on the blog! I have been super busy recently, but I hope to update you with everything I've been up to in some blog posts soon!
Anyway, I have just got home from the British Nationals that were held over the weekend in Jersey, Channel Islands. I had an absolutely fantastic time over there with team Wales and am stoked I got to represent my country! I thought I would give you guys a little run through of the weekend below!
So the contest started on the Saturday (25th May) and I was to be in the first mens heat of the day! Conditions were tricky, but I felt very much at home with light onshore winds and shoulder high peaky waves. I managed to make it through my first heat in 2nd place advancing straight to the 1/4 finals, avoiding the dreaded repechage heats!
Onto the 1/4 Finals with a pretty stacked 3 man heat. Seth Morris representing England and Ben Chapman for the Channel Islands was never going to be an easy challenge. I managed to grind my way into 1st place and make it into the semi finals. It was a heat with a lot of lulls, so making sure you made the most of the waves you caught was super important! I took a long left hander at the start of the heat, and backed it up with a right hander with a few turns on the outside.
My Semi Final heat was always going to be hard. With Noah Capps and Barnaby Cox repping England, and Nathan Elms from the Channel Islands. I made sure I got a quick start, posting two mid range scores in the first five minutes. The other boys were hot on my heals, and lots of waves were caught in this heat. Towards the end, I was sitting in 4th place needing a score, and I scrapped into a right hander and managed to wiggle out two turns which was enough to put me up into 1st. Nathan Elms then backed up his top score and took the top spot which left me in second. I didn't mind however, as all I wanted was my spot in the Final!
The final didn't quite go as planned, I had a quick start with two decent scores with the hope of building on these, but the waves didn't seem to go my way and I ended up with 4th! Old boy Jay Quinn took the W. And it was well deserved. Well done Jay. Big well done to all of the other competitors and my fellow Welsh Team Mates!
Wales finished up 3rd overall which is a great result considering we only had 1 woman competing Jo Denison! I want to say a massive thank you to all of my Sponsors for supporting me! Especially Animal for their amazing wetsuits and warm clothing that got me through the weekend as well as their support to get me to Jersey. Also my Surf Club CCSC and Porthcawl Surf School who have both backed me all the way and without them, I would have really struggled to get myself to this event!
So hope to keep you guys a bit more updated! Although, I am currently packing to head to the Maldives tomorrow so will do my best to keep you all up to speed whilst I'm out there! Super Stoked to take 4th in Britain! But I am definitely hungry for more! Roll on the next event :P
