Exeter wave event rocks! The second event in the RRD/Ezzy wave trilogy saw the strongest winds ever at a SWA event. The Exeter Uni hosted Bigbury wave event will go down as one of the classic all time competitions.

Dance of the Southern Fairies

Windsurfers started arriving at Mountain Water Experience on the Friday night with the excitement of a windy weekend ahead. After a few casual drinks most went to bed ready for an early start.

We arrived at Bigbury beach on Saturday to find marginal winds. When the gusts arrived there was some good windsurfing, but it didn’t last long enough to hold heats. Instead we decided to postpone the competition for the nuclear winds forecasted for the Sunday. Despite the lack of windsurfing, there was plenty of excitement, with a few rescues off the cliffs, and a board and a sail lost in the strong rip.

Saturday night was a chilled out party, but it didn’t stop some dressing over the top for our fairytale theme. JD from UWE could have worryingly been mistaken for a girl and ended up winning the fancy dress prize.

Everyone woke up early on the Sunday in anticipation of a very windy day and the conditions didn’t disappoint. There was 30-40 knots of wind and 6-8 foot waves. We held an expression session so that the competitors could show off all of their jumps and waverides. The standard was very impressive with Alex from Imperial backlooping, Will from Plymouth going for spocks and Bob from Southampton pulling off some trademark one-handed forwards. Alex was very determined all day, tackling some monster waves outback and getting huge air, even after partaking in several rescue efforts. 

The prize giving took place at a local pub with Bob taking 1^st place closely followed by Alex. Keeno and Sam came 3^rd and 4^th with Maeli winning the ladies, all three heralding from Southampton. Full results from this and all the events so far this term are in the results area (you need to log in to view them).

A raffle was held and raised £30 for Surfers against Sewage, equally £30 was given to Climate Care to offset the CO₂ emissions resulting from the weekend. Many thanks go to Mountain Water Experience for their hospitality, and to our sponsors Reactive Watersports, RRD/Ezzy, Rowsell Sails, Edge Watersports and Urban Surfer.

This puts Bob in a prime position to take the overall wave series and the RRD wave board, with just one event to go, at Rhosneigr in North Wales.  

Kit Damage Report (most in the light winds on Saturday):