What an incredible event. Even with only a few knots of breeze the Fat Face Night Windsurf has been hailed a great success by sailors, manufacturers and spectators.
The packed itinerary for the weekend of masterblaster races, elimination rounds for the main night event and the Fat Face Academy of clinics from some of the UK’s top sailors and “gurus” of the sport kept everyone a busy as they wanted to be.
All the races were contested and with 300 competitors registered the “le Mans” style beach starts were a true spectacle. The course was simple – from the beach round a buoy and back to the beach then sprint up the beach through the “funnel” to the finish. The execution of the race not so simple – with very light offshore breeze right by the beach making it difficult to get anywhere it was chaos as sails knocked people off creating a domino effect in some areas as others gave up and swam their board out to a bit more clear wind and space. However it was the long boards and big sails that really shone through and a very impressive demonstration of “pumping”. The real eye catcher was one of the original 40 year old Windsurfers complete with old triangular sail that proved that in light winds length does matter!
Somehow in about 6 knots of wind Xavier Ferlet managed to clock an impressive 19.8 knots on the speed gun “Time in Motion” challenge promoting the exciting new range of Fat Face Watches.
The Fat Face Academy of clinics proved very popular where Fat Face Team Riders and technique gurus Peter Hart and Simon Bornhoft and pro rider John Hibbard, National Student Champion Tanya Saleh and Gold Medallist from the recent pre Olympic regatta Bryony Shaw were joined by other top names in the sport to give some very useful advice, tips and pointers as well as answer any questions.
As 60 competitors lined up with glow sticks taped to all parts of anatomy, boards and sails for the Night Masterblaster the flood lights came on. Again in tough conditions of light wind these guys did incredibly well to even get off the beach let alone sail to a buoy in the pitch black and then get back again. The final results were in 3rd Andrew Craig, 2nd Neil Perry but the Winner of the first ever Fat Face Night Masterblaster was James Cartwright.
The main event of the weekend was the Fat Face Night Windsurf which was the culmination of 4 eliminating rounds during the day giving amateurs the opportunity to go up against some of Europe’s top sailors. The final line up saw the top 8 sailors going head to head and with a prize pot of £2,500 there was all to play for – sabotage even entered the competition (apparently). The riders had to sail a course completing “tricks” on each leg and Fat Face Team Rider John Hibbard was looking good on the last leg on the “converted for sailing” Starboard Stand Up Paddle Board but he could not quite keep it high enough on the final up wind leg and it was Xavier Ferlet who sailed through the fleet on the Starboard Serenity, which looks like a sea kayak with a sail, who took first with Ben Profit in second and Alan Jackson in third.
Prize giving was quickly followed by a great party in the marquee and in the bar at the Inn on the Beach with incredible music from the Fabulous Fug Band.
Sunday was even tougher as the sea breeze cancelled out the Northerly but still the races continued. At the final prize giving the Pebble Dashers won the Neilson Team prize of £1,500 holiday vouchers with another £500 being given as a prize pulled out of a hat! The Under 18 prizes were donated by Grasshopper porridge who were on hand to keep the riders sustained over the weekend.
The event has proved to any doubters that you can have a top quality windsurf event even in very little wind!
A massive thanks must go to Allan Cross the Race Director and the whole team from the UKWA for laying on what will go down as one of the best windsurf events of all time. All the industry partners that were involved in promoting the event, in particular Tushingham, Fanatic, Dakine, Neilpryde, Starboard and North Sails who all sponsored races with prizes.
Be sure to check out the pictures in the gallery and have a look at the forums on Boards, Windsurf and Boardseeker where you can make comment on the event. If you have any feedback please send an email to nightseries@fatface.com.
