Kit Guide

U19 Techno Plus 8.5 World Championship, 2017 - by Finn Hawkins

The event was at Quiberon for the U19 2017 Techno Plus 8.5 World Championship and this event was a youth Olympic Games qualifier where the top 6 countries qualify for the youth Olympic Games. We had a few training days before the event but I felt ready because I had already trained at the same venue for a week in June.

I was especially excited because I had just received a package from Rooster containing everything I needed for the event, this included: a Diamond Overhead Buoyancy Aid, long and short sleeved Rash Vests and a Thermaflex™ Longjohn, all of which were perfect for the conditions we had.

The GBR squad coach for this event was Oli Woodcock and I was looking forward to have him coach me for this event. I cycled to the event site every day from our campsite, where we had our camper van parked. At the start of the event it was light winds all the way up until the the fleets were split into gold and silver and I was doing quite well. It was sunny most of the time which was nice. Once the fleets were split it was windy for the rest of the races and I dropped back some places. The wind direction we had made it very difficult racing as it was gusty and shifty. I came 11th overall just behind Josh Carey in 8th, we were both in the top 6 countries and qualified GBR for the youth Olympic Games.

I tried to rest as much as possible before the U17 European Championship in Lorient. The weather at Lorient was not as good as Quiberon and the event site was really busy but it’s always great to meet up with my friends from around Europe.

I was camping away from the event site and my parents drove me there every morning in the camper van, during the event. The conditions we had were very similar all week but sometimes the wind strength changed a little also it was colder here in Lorient than Quiberon but I still wore the Rooster Thermaflex™ Longjohn. There was a strong tide and big waves making starting difficult and we had a lot of general recalls (when lots of people are over they restart the race). It wouldn’t be a championship without a couple of protests and in both occasions I managed to get redress.

I came 8th overall which I was pleased with but felt I could have done better if I hadn’t done Quiberon the week before.

After these two events Aurelio Terry, a Spanish windsurfer who shares the same birthday and sail number as me, stayed at my house for two weeks where we went hydro-foiling, wake-boarding, paddle boarding (with seals) and resting.

Ali came down the second week with Isaac, Adam also joined us and we had four really good days of training at Mylor, it was Falmouth week and we went out with gran and grandad on their boat to watch the red arrows which were really good.

It was time for Aurelio to go home, we had a really good time and will look forward to seeing him again at the world championships in Salou in October.

Next event is the UKWA in Pwllheli.

Check out Finn's personal blog: www.windsurffinn.com Save