Cornish Through & Through
Stats: D.O.B - Dec '77
Height - 6'2 Weight- 83kg
Nationality - Cornish/British
Stance - Regular, No Straps
Fave Kite - North Dyno for racing & North Neo for waves
Fave Board - JP Freakstar 6'0 with Inlayz
Fave Pasty - Philps Standard Mince
Highest World Ranking-5th IKA Wave ranking, Nov 2011
Professional Goals-
My goals include defending the UK Wave Champion and to win as many BKSA Foil Race events as I can. To promote strapless wave riding and Kite Foiling around the UK and to further the growth of the sport. Over the coming months and years I am looking to undertake some exciting video projects showcasing my sport around the UK as well as some adventures to discover new spots in far away lands.
For latest competition results click Here.
History
Being born in the darkest depths of Cornwall, into a fishing family, I first ventured onto the sea only a couple of month’s old and started surfing age 5. At age 8 I took up sailing and sailed at international level up to age 18, winning a national championship and numerous other titles. In 1996 I started work as a dinghy and windsurf instructor, working at some of the windiest places throughout the Med and Caribbean, saving enough to allow myself to travel to some of the best wave spots around the world during the off season for 10 fabulous years.
Whilst working in Greece in 1999, a new sport (Kitesurfing) suddenly popped onto the scene and I was instantly hooked on this extreme sport, which enabled you to get massive air on flat water. Living in some of the windiest places in the world, I was in the perfect environment to learn and I quickly advanced to a high level and started competing in freestyle competitions, the highlight winning Best Trick and placing 4th overall at the Lefkada Greek Open in 2004.
During 2005 advances in kite technology suddenly allowed us to ride waves properly with a surfboard and finally I had found the perfect sport for me- KiteSURFING.
Basing myself in West Oz for a year I trained hard before coming home to Cornwall and finding that the waves which were always too inaccessible or too big to ride just with a surfboard are now there for the picking with a kite and with the crazy weather we’ve been having lately, I’m now finding myself kiting 60% of the time and surfing 40% and riding more waves than anybody else.
I work as a fisherman (which pays the rent) back in my home village of Newlyn, and run my own Kitesurf and Watersports school, Pasty Adventures at Gwithian and Marazion. Kitesurfing and passing on my knowledge is a big part of who I am and something that I always want to do. Just a shame the teaching season is so short here in Cornwall, but that does mean I get all the big winter storms to myself ;)
2008 was my first year competing on the kite world tour in the wave masters and course racing. After competing in 3 out of the 4 rounds, I finished 7th overall for the waves with my best finish of 5th in Morrocco at the finals.
In 2011 I qualified for the elite KSP World Wave Tour which traveled to the best Kitesurf Wave locations in the World with the top 24 men and 12 women riders from all corners of the globe. Finishing 10th overall I re-qualified for the 2012 Tour and managed to finish 9th in the two events where we had wind but couldn't make the final event in Hawaii. Unfortunately the KSP no longer exists.
In 2013 I won my first British Kitesurfing Championship and plan to defend it for as long as possible.
As an Ambassador for Cornwall Sport Partnership, I aim to promote and further the growth of the sport within the county as much as I can.