As the rendezvous at the Bristol SU approached, all the Uni’s swarmed into Bristol with high expectations of the windsurfing-Brexit-leaving party ahead.
They would not be disappointed.
The SU karaoke proved to be just as tuneful as expected, with some damn decent voices being horribly drowned out, or at least interrupted, by the screeching choir of students gearing up for a wild night out at the first private event of the weekend at Doghouse.
A noteworthy mention to the massive over-representation from Bath at the karaoke as some inter uni/inter degree social was also taking place – still not sure which degree??
The club steadily filled up, getting more and more cosy until we couldn’t fit anyone else in “the Doghouse is full!”.
With everyone on top form busting moves of all descriptions, as universities arrived at all hours of the night.
Hell, even Liverpool managed to get in before midnight, and then spent an hour trying to park… one day.
Saturday morning encroached on the weary heads of a post SWA bender...
“Did we really just leave the club? Well how on earth are we going to find our way to the lake now? We were promised an 11:00am briefing!”
Foreshadowing the delay of Brexit, a fairly slow start to the day “even by SWA standards” followed.
Lighter winds meant all-out war for the biggest rigs around, the foil managed to negotiate a 9.1 with great results...
... and frankly carnage ensued the intermediate racing…difficulties in getting around the Irish gybe proved too much for some, and some even resorted to enforce their own border security to get at the gybe mark by means of kamikaze/fashioning a wall from their rigs… mentioning no names Robin from Swansea and Mike from UWE…
Beginners:
1 Elise de Wildt Birmingham
2 Ed Hulbert Birmingham
3 Hettie Rogers UWE
Intermediates:
1 Matt V (AKA Russian Matt) Southampton
2 Joe Rubens Birmingham
3 Alex Mclean Birmingham
It was great to see so many beginners getting to grips with windsurfing, and how quickly they were combining all their skills to go racing. The more competition the better.
Returning to Bristol for a bit of R & R before heading back out on the lash allowed for the prep for the independence-day celebrations and soon after an old bucket was filled with punch, the leaving party commenced.
Vibes were good and spirits were high, the uncharacteristically unanimous decision was made to migrate to Taboo, another exclusive night of SWA only partying.
Amazing brexit-themed fancy dress (some of which was urine soaked from the night before… Cheers SWAnonymous) was made it out in force, but the most hard line costumes were sadly left at the door.
Fast forward to the morning after, several hosts were being hosted elsewhere… it was time to make the most of the stronger and more stable morning winds!
A certain clutch decided to go for a no-deal and crashed out, leaving some members with an impromptu tow home.
Almost everyone else made it to the lake, with folks blasting around on the awesome boardwise kit until it was needed for team and advanced racing.
Tight Team-racing saw Bristol narrowly beating Brum , who were closely followed by Southampton.
Next up was advanced racing on a line start, pumping proving essential as always in the sub-planing winds.
Advanced results
1 Jake (Swansea)
2 Toby (Bath)
3 Ross (Brum)
More free sailing ensued with everyone trying to soak up that last of the sun and wind, which left only the beloved jelly wrestling to settle any beef, or mostly bragging rights.
Aim of the game, get your opponent out of the paddling pool while covered in high grade Hartleys jelly.
Various tactics were adopted: Hiding in a corner of the paddling pool with a low centre of gravity, using heads to pry their victims from the pool, all out manhandling, and some matches being separated by a photo finish as to who touched the ground first.
Just a quick clean up and de-rig left the prizegiving, of copies of article 50 signed by the president of the Bristol Brexit society, high gloss portraits of Jacob Rees Mogg and the blue parcel trolley acquired during pres training and donated by Leckie and Garfield to the Taffy Osborne award.
What an awesome weekend guys! Hope you recovered reasonably quickly to enjoy the coverage of the real life Brexit proceedings!
See you at Nationals!
