Monteynard Lake from Bastien Rama on Vimeo.

I just got back from a wicked week in Esperance with wind, waves everyday and a couple of good surfs…  mostly 5m to 4.7 down the line riding at ’9 miles beach’ (So called as its nine mile from Esperance.. makes sense) couple of sessions at 4 mile (yes, you’ve guessed it…  4 miles from Esperance) and even a starboard tack day..  full power 4.7.

Now anyone that knows me will probably know what i think of starboard tack but i have to say that day was the highlight of the week!! haha…  i mean it was cross on and only head high waves but super fun and i learnt a load..  ended up getting my Taka’s, back side 3's sorted… i nailed the first 2 front side 3's in a row..  and even was going round on a few backside grubbies!!  now dont get me wrong there was a lot of falling in and swimming but it really felt like a good learning day and i’d took a big step forward. The jumping was far from Pro level..  but my backies were finally stating to look a little better than bum out, eyes closed and wait for the landing!! haha..

I also took some time out to put the Go pro and new Fly mount (xmas pressie.. cheers chick) into action. The fly mount is an impressive bit of kit mostly because of the ease of  fitting, so i can see me getting a fair bit of use out of it. I just need to get some spray to put on the lens as i had a bit of an issue with Water sticking to it (see pic). Sailing wise.. 9 mile was going off..  and its quite a punchy wave even when it was small. in fact it felt puncher when it was smaller if thats possible…  and it took its fair share of people kit. None of mine i’m glad to say (just my ankle..  but more on that in a sec) but masts were breaking all over the place!!

I should really mention the steps too..  my god there’s is a lot of them..  and after a few hours on the water there feels like millions as your climbing your way back to the car park…!!  But as i was told by one Local ‘JB’ stop your whinging…  it was only a few years ago it was tires and sand!!!    …now that must have been hardcore!!! s the steps are bad enough..  but i think it does help keep the numbers down!!

On the last day at 9 mile it was taking me a while to get into it as the waves were a bit strange (left over from the starboard tack day before) and i just couldn’t get it together..  i decided it was best to come in and have a break but before doing so i’d hit one more aerial…  hmmmmmm…  bad decision as i totally kooked it up and for some reason extending my back leg far too early and landed hard on my ankle..  which it didn’t take too kindly to and swelled up pretty badly!! …i still sailed on it for the rest of the day but it just got worse (haha.. funny that) so with the forecast showing only one day left in it i decided that my Esperance experience had come to an end and it was time to head back to Perth..   Which is where i am now..  8hrs + later… checking the forecast for Margies as a comp has been called…   just not sure my ankle is going to let me make it…  well still a day to fix its self!!!

Wind and Snow from Lion Production Justin Denel on Vimeo.

The UKWA  (United Kingdom Windsurfing Association) is very pleased to announce the winner of the UK windsurfer of the year Zara Davis. Zara had a fantastic year to gain her nomination including achieving a new women's production speed record in Namibia. Then back to back wins, in three rounds of the European speed tour to become the ISWC European champion for the second time in her career. She also won the UK Weymouth speed week for a record 6th time as well as the women's British GPS 2011 speed ladder.

She was up against some tough competition from the other nominees from the cream of windsurfing including Adam Simms (Freestyle) Ben Proffit (wave sailing) Ant Baker (Slalom) and Kieran Martin (Racing) Zara’s win was decided by online voting and closed on the 30th of December. Zara won by a clear margin over her rivals and means she joins a long line of previous winners including Bryony Shaw and Nick Dempsey our Olympic medal winners.  Zara said “ I was absolutely thrilled to have been nominated in the first place but to win against such a well known line up is fantastic and tops a great year for me. I would like to thank all the people who voted for me.”

Bob Ingram the president of the UKWA said “ This is the fourth year we have put nominees out to the general public to decide a winner on an online vote and it has proved to be very successful. It is particularly valued by the winners because they are voted on by their peers. Well done to Zara a worthy winner ”

The UKWA is looking forward to another full year of windsurfing competition which will include Wave, Slalom, Speed, Freestyle, Formula and long board racing. It will obviously be given a great boost by windsurfing in the Olympics on home turf at Weymouth.

Stay tuned with Zara at: www.zaradavis.co.uk

Arrianne Aukes in Brasil 2011 from arrianne aukes on Vimeo.