Colwyn Bay Surf Ski Races

It was race 3 of the NWSSP Winter series on Sunday so I headed off to Colwyn Bay once again. It was a lovely drive up with no one else on the roads, not even a Mansell Davies lorry! Once there things were looking pretty calm. Flat water, light winds and even some sunshine. Soon everyone else started to arrive and a nice collection of surf ski’s started to accumulate on the sands.

The first race was a mass start from the beach. I headed off into the front and was pushing hard. James inevitably caught me just before the turn buoy. Progress had been good with the outgoing tide but things slowed a little on the way back despite having the wind and waves in our favour. Dave nearly caught me at one point as I eased up a little on the way back but once I caught sight of him just behind me I put in a bit of a spurt to finish in second place. It had been a hard race though and it would have taken its toll..

After a little rest on the beach it was time for race two. This time we started off in little groups, handicapped based on our finish time for the first race. I started with Mark and Dave. Mark had a bit of a headstart with Dave right on his tail and I was still pretty much on beach starting my watch as they headed off ahead of me. I managed to catch them by the turn but had to go wide and lost some ground once again. I did regain some of it on the way back in to pull up alongside Dave but I didn’t have enough left in the tank. As we caught and overtook those who had started ahead of us I lost a bit of ground to Mark and Dave again to finish just a few seconds behind them. All good racing.

It was then off to the café for hot chocolates and a sausage roll and the prize giving with prizes donated by Think Kayaks.

The drive home was a little slower thanks to more traffic but pleasant enough. Things were quite different here though with a raging sea and huge surf. Probably a good idea I didn’t attempt to paddle at home today as I would surely have broken something in such conditions!

Tags: Race Report