Strange coincidence that Birmingham went from bringing five freshers to AK to only one to Northern Monkey, and the wind was incredible for us. Is anyone else thinking that some sort of sacrifice to the wind gods must have occurred?

On Friday night, began a little slowly with people having a staggered arrival made more clear by all sharing a hall for the much anticipated indoor camping at Unity. Massive congratulations to Southampton who arrived first despite being the furthest! We then rallied the troops and headed to the Einsteins’ balcony for beers and a good chinwag.

After dusting off the previous night’s cobwebs, we made our way to West Kirby on Saturday, where we were met with excellent winds and for once, no rain! Keen inter and advanced windsurfs were inching to go out, swarming the caravan and begging for wristbands. Beginner lessons were well underway provided by the fantastic instructor team and organised by Jack. People patiently waited to go out on the water with windsurfers, wingers and even the Soton tandem making an appearance. 

As the sun set, we returned to Unity where many a windsurfer conked out to be awoken to a wonderful dinner of scouse, veggie curry and mushroom soup. Shout out to Soton’s Erik and everyone else who helped with dinner prep and clean up. Superstitious dress-up donned we were ready to head to Arts Bar for our specialty Northern Monkey cocktail. Before too long a flurry of windsurfers descended on Spoons and then headed to Electrik, Levels, and some members even braving more promiscuous venues.

Despite a heavy night, we were out of Unity nice and early (which Liverpool are very grateful for). Now, it is not a windsurf event without rain but Sunday’s weather did not put a dampener on what was to come. Beginners were able to get out onto the water in the morning, with the SWA’s very own Fin providing training. The winds started to pick up soon after, in anticipation of races! The high winds allowed for more experienced windsurfers to showcase their skills during the team and advanced races.

Team racing results: 

• 1st Place: Soton 1
• 2nd Place: Bristol 2
• 3rd Place: Soton 2

Advanced Racing: 

• 1st Place: Chris Hui (Birmingham)
• 2nd Place: Anton Mozolevskii (Warwick)
• 3rd Place: Theo Hallet (Loughborough)

Best instructor: Fin Atherton (Southampton) 

Best Dressed Club: Cardiff

Jedi Award for Acts of Kindness: Erik Sier (Southampton)

Liverpool would like to give a huge thanks to Cam and Rhea from the SWA for their support, all those who volunteered their time over the week as part of the power boat and instructor teams, and their committee as a whole, especially Jack who ran the bulk of on the water activities.

Soton Wave is just around the corner (anticipated date 1st-3rd of December) and then we will return to Southampton for their core event in February! Don’t miss us too much!